As Kuina saw how she was overpowered by Zoro's raw strength she decided it wasn't time to clash against him anymore, she took a few steps backward and slid into a different stance from before, this stance favored speed and flexibility instead of her former stance which favored strength and accuracy.
She was going to fight differently from before, as Zoro launched himself at her she started to dodge his attacks but his speed was too fast! even though Kuina was already pretty flexible Zoro was attacking from tricky angles making her start to unable to dodge and having to block directly.
Unfortunately for her, there was a huge difference in strength between the two of them she skidded backward a few meters before she regained her balance, Zoro never gave her any peace as he suddenly put his two swords horizontally in front of him and slashed upwards afterward while saying:
"Two sword style: Two cutter Tower climbing!" Kuina was almost ready to throw the towel in when suddenly she remembered the lesson her father gave all of them that day:
"Breathing If I master this technique here..." Kuina closed her eyes as she started to breathe in and out at slower intervals than before, just when Zoro's swords were almost ready to cut her into two parts she dodged him barely a few strands of her hair being cut in the process.
Zoro eyes narrowed at her then he smiled:
"You have improved just now haven't you?" Zoro's smile continued to stay on his lips as he took the third sword that was sheathed on his back and he said before he put the sword in his mouth:
"I will use my full strength now, let's see if you can handle it!" Kuina smiled as well as she continued holding her stance trying to simulate the feeling from before.
Zoro's swords crossed as he charges directly at Kuina then said out loud:
"Three sword style: Demon Hunt!" Kuina eyes closed then opened as she suddenly ran and appeared behind Zoro as she sheathed her sword and said:
"One sword style: Three thousand strikes in one blow." The name sounded good but there weren't three thousand strikes in one blow only three, Zoro blocked all three with his three swords and staggered backward, actually, there were more than three strikes in that technique as some nicks appeared on Zoro's clothing and some strands of his green hair were cut.
Kuina didn't get unscathed out of Zoro's three sword style, however, three bifurcated slashes appeared on Kuina's clothes as they held back quite a bit both of them were uninjured, Koshiro clapped at both of them making them finally relax as they both fell back landing on their backs Koshiro was already near them as they looked up at him, he gave Kuina some new clothes while he used some ointment to treat Zoro's minor cuts.
They both sat cross-legged afterward as they rested Kuina opened her mouth to say something but Zoro beat her to it:
"You learned how to use the 'breathe' technique didn't you?" Kuina nodded her head and said:
"Well I didn't learn it, I just tapped into it into this fight, I don't know if I can do it again."
Koshiro smiled at their conversation, one you awaken your Haki once you would start to awaken it more and more till you would be able to fully consciously use it, training using correct methods would also help but Kuina naturally awakened it on her own demonstrating how talented she was.
Zoro nodded his head at Kuina's explanation then asked her with a serious look on his face:
"Could you tell me what you felt when you were in that state?" Kuina didn't feel like holding anything back from Zoro so she started to describe how she felt:
"Well it seemed like time was going way slower than before and I could see your silhouette moving in a certain direction before it moved, it was like my body was going on autopilot to counter your technique, I think this should be the 'breathing' technique right? I could also hear the sounds of everything more clearly.. the trees the people even the swords, I could hear their voices for that moment, this should be the technique right father?"
Koshiro nodded his head at Kuina's words and said:
"Yes you have grasped the fundamentals of the 'breathing' technique Kuina and I can tell you what the technique it's called now, it's called Observation Haki a skill very much needed for a master swordsman, the greatest swordsman in the world honed this technique to the peak and beyond already and it's a must learn if you want to reach the top and survive the grand line."
Zoro's eyes widened at Koshiro's words, the greatest swordsman in the world perfected this technique already? Zoro pondered a bit then asked Koshiro:
"Who's currently the greatest swordsman in the world sensei?"
Koshiro's smile stiffened at Zoro's question but decided to humor him:
"I was the student of the previous world's greatest swordsman, the new world's greatest swordsman defeated him in three moves as for his name, he is called Dracule 'Hawkeye' Mihawk he is currently over twenty years old, and I could say that I'm not his match at all."
Zoro's eyes bulged out at Koshiro's words, even after all the training he did he still couldn't feel Koshiro's limits and he told him Koshiro wasn't the worlds greatest swordsman match at all? Zoro's eyes started to fire up as he realized how far away he was from the top, which meant he didn't train hard enough up till now.
Kuina's eyes also hardened at her father's words she needed to train hard as well, even though she touched upon the basics of Observation Haki it wasn't enough even to stir the interest of the worlds greatest swordsman currently, she needed to train harder than ever to catch up to him!
Both Zoro and Kuina nodded to each other then walked away from the backyard of the dojo, they needed to intensify their training respectively and spar more often than before!
Zoro himself took to training like a mad man, even starting to go into rivers while tying boulders to his waist to make swimming harder, he even tied some tinier boulders to his arms and legs, on the first attempt he almost drowned but with sheer will alone he got out of the water before he fully went out of oxygen.
Kuina started to train almost as hard as Zoro did before while increasing her agility and flexibility training, instead of sparring two times a day now they sparred five times a day!
Every time they went to sleep at night they would groan in pain and wake up all sore in the morning as their training continued like this after six months of 'hellish training' Kuina finally started to take control of her Observation Haki, with Zoro being the prodigy he was and not wanting to be outdone he also started to try and learn Observation Haki as well.
Kuina and Zoro were in confrontation as Kuina easily parried and dodged all of Zoro's attacks, even though she barely learned how to use Observation properly the difference between someone with Observation Haki and someone without was like the difference between the heaven and the earth.
Zoro growled as all of his slashes didn't find their targets then he suddenly started spinning and threw himself at Kuina while saying:
"Three sword style: Tiger Hunt!" The attack was too sudden so Kuina couldn't dodge it and if she blocked it she would be pushed back and her tempo would be lost practically giving Zoro the victory!
She decided to counter the technique with one of her own as she started spinning like a tornado:
"One sword style: Cherry blossom tornado!" The illusions of a fierce tiger colliding with a tornado of pink cherry blossoms appeared in between them, the tiger clawed and bit at the tornado while the tornado tried to shred the tiger to pieces, in the end, both of them dissipated into nothing as Zoro and Kuina appeared where the other stood before. No injuries could be seen on their bodies but they both sweated profusely.
After six more months of training, Zoro's outfit changed from his original gi into a white shirt black pants and black boots, Kuina also now sported a black T-shirt which hugged her budding form and normal green tracksuit pants, she wore black comfortable shoes.
Zoro sheathed all three of his swords which now were on his waist, as he started to grow up he could keep the katanas on his waist now instead of his back. He was already one meter and fifty-five centimeters at eleven and a half years old, Kuina was almost fourteen and she was a bit taller than him standing at one meter and sixty-one centimeters.
They both bowed towards each other afterward and started talking:
"You did great in this spar as well Zoro." Zoro scratched his cheek and responded:
"Thank you, I think I might be close on learning Observation Haki as well, thanks to you." Kuina nodded her head at Zoro's words and responded:
"There's no problem I can't have my rival be weaker than me now can I?" She smiled cheekily at Zoro while Zoro smiled as well at her words.
They were now both pretty equal in skill while their strength was of course different. No matter how Kuina would train in the future she won't be able to exceed Zoro's strength, as a male Zoro's physique was different than hers, theoretically, if Kuina and Zoro trained with the same training techniques at the same time Zoro would have better results. That's just how nature created humans, of course, brute strength didn't fully count in fighting strength even though it helped quite a lot, good enough technique could overcome brute strength.
Zoro was a balance of both while Kuina was inclining more towards technique her agility combined with her specialization in technique increased her battle strength to be similar to Zoro's taking into account Observation Haki as well.
Zoro decided to hunt some bandits so he could fund the dojo with a bit more money, they were getting tighter and tighter in the money department these days, children trained hard but their parents didn't have enough money to keep their studies going, they lived in a normal village where agriculture was the main income of money so there were times of the year where money was very tight.
Zoro walked towards the prison of the city where the posters with bounties would be generally posted, here he looked around for a bounty high enough to feed the dojo for a long while so they wouldn't have to ask the parents of the children for money.
Zoro felt bad for the poor parents who wanted their children to learn swordsmanship and become marines or bounty hunters so they could get a steady income. Zoro decided to take on Popoko a black-skinned man with a buzzcut haircut and scars on his face, his bounty was of five hundred thousand belli.
This amount of money could feed the dojo for more than five years! When Kuina heard about Zoro's plan she wanted to follow him but Zoro told her that it wasn't necessary he felt that he was strong enough to take care of a guy with a bounty of five hundred thousand.
The location of Popoko wasn't exact, as he was a bandit that liked to move his hideout so Zoro had to go on a journey in the Skiomotsuyu county they were in to find him, Zoro got himself a backpack with rations and food and bid goodbye to Koshiro and Kuina. Next time he came back to the dojo he would be five hundred thousand bellies richer!
As Zoro left Kuina looked at his back which was getting farther and farther away from her and she didn't know what to feel about it, she looked at Koshiro but Koshiro didn't know what to tell her, he buried his feelings for her mother after she passed away and it would hurt him quite a lot if he opened up again, so he didn't want to talk about these kinds of things as they would remind him of his dead wife.
Kuina knew about how her father didn't want to talk about things pertaining to love and such so she just kept her emotions to herself.
Zoro didn't know what was inside Kuina's heart as he walked on the road towards the south of the Falling Leaf Village he now resided in, Popoko was lastly seen in the Cold Autumn village at the local bar, he could go there and ask questions about his whereabouts first, currently, this was his only lead.