Zoro opened his mouth and a few words left it:
"Sure do what you want." Kuina smiled at Zoro's words, he was a simple guy so he didn't really care if Kuina followed him or not as long as she was ok. Koshiro coughed a bit and got the attention of both of them.
Koshiro looked at them and said:
"I know you want to leave already and I have no problems with that but first let me teach you the one more important aspect of Haki before you left, you don't even have to master it, just learn how to train it."
Koshiro's hand clenched up into a fist as it became dark blue like ink he then took a wooden sword from the rack of swords that was nearby and made it the same color. Both of the children looked at him in awe and Kuina asked:
"Father, what is this technique supposed to do?" Koshiro smiled at her words then started to teach both of them slowly:
"Well you haven't encountered devil fruit users yet and you don't know what devil fruits are so let me first start with that."
Koshiro started to explain the peculiarities of devil fruits and their users to the duo, as they listened Zoro posed a question:
"So with this new form of Haki we should be able to cut those logia types?" Koshiro nodded his head and continued:
"Haki doesn't only let you cut down logia types but it can enhance your techniques and power, while as you saw can also be imbued in your swords for example or the weapon of your choice."
Koshiro reverted his Haki covered arm and sword and suddenly he clutched his chest and a little bit of blood seeped through the corners of his mouth which he quickly cleaned with his arm. Kuina ran to support him and said with a grim look on her face:
"Your illness is acting up again father?" Koshiro shook his head and said:
"Let me tell you the truth Kuina, it's not really an illness, it's an old injury I got from when I fought Mihawk, I can't use Armament Haki excessively anymore due to it as it puts a strain on my body and injury, fortunately, I can still use Observation as it doesn't put any burden on my body." He coughed a bit then started to balance himself right back.
Zoro didn't know what to say here so he just continued to listen, Koshiro continued to explain:
"Training Armament Haki is different compared to Observation, Observation can be unlocked through combat and special training while Armament is only gained through special training, well I can't really say its special, let me put it in simple terms, you have to make the will surround the part you want to be encased in Haki and then punch out at a hard surface till you can use armament, its a crude training technique but even the best in this branch of Haki trained and perfected it this way."
Koshiro mumbled to himself as he remembered how Garp trained his haki by smashing mountains, at his peak Garp was the strongest Armament Haki user now he was overtaken by Kaido the beast but the difference wasn't big.
Zoro viewed this new training as any other training, it didn't make a difference to him as it was similar on the way he trained himself, he just added one new training way to his repertoire. Kuina would have a harder time unlocking Armament but it would also be faster than normal since she already unlocked Observation even though her mastery over it was crude.
Zoro decided to unlock both of the Hakis before he left the island, Kuina would do what Zoro did as she wanted to follow him around anyway so the both of them started training their Haki the same day.
Zoro easily started to punch boulders but no amount of Haki could be felt in his punches, they were just normal gorilla strength punches, the strength was there but the intent was missing, Kuina couldn't destroy the boulders with her above-average strength, even though she could easily cut boulders of the same size easily her strength was higher than normal adults by a huge stretch but it wasn't superhuman yet.
Zoro trained his body ever since he learned how, of course even though his strength was inhuman his technique was lacking immensely due to no one teaching him any kind of swordsmanship before but the memory fragments from Miyamoto solved his biggest flaw.
As Kuina and Zoro trained day in and day night they both started to grow as time passed by, hot summers cold winters calm springs and the in-between autumn. It's been exactly three years since Koshiro taught them about Armament Haki, Zoro clenched his hands as his arms muscles bulged up and a dark hue started to appear on them finally they turned dark blue. Kuina looked at him from the porch of the dojo and clapped her hands at him:
"Your success rate seems to be around forty percent, some more training and you can get to one hundred percent!" Zoro smiled but then his hold on Haki escaped and his arms turned back to normal, he now grew even more and stood at one meter and seventy-two centimeters while Kuina grew up to one meter and sixty-three centimeters.
Kuina also learned armament in these three years but she had only a fifteen percent chance of success on using it, Zoro learned and mastered Armament way faster than her, he also unlocked Observation and he was only a tad behind her in his mastery of it, it seemed Zoro was talented in both Hakis while Kuina leaned more towards Observation.
Koshiro was watching them interact with a smile on his face, Zoro was fifteen now and Kuina was seventeen, Koshiro thought that they were both ready to take the east blue by storm, there were no people in east blue who could match them now, while they wouldn't have a hard time in paradise it wouldn't be easy either, but with their half baked Haki skills, he guessed they could barely survive in the new world.
Kuina walked towards Zoro and gave him a big hug that Zoro replicated awkwardly, he still felt strange around her now, especially since her boobs were now quite big, He still could feel her boobs pressing against his chest even though they stopped hugging.
Zoro scratched the back of his head then shook it, his three swords were strapped at his waist while Kuina's Wado Ichimonji was strapped at her waist as well. Zoro bowed towards Koshiro then said:
"Sensei, it seems it's my time to leave." Kuina bowed as well and said:
"I guess it's time to say goodbye for now father." Some tears started to seep out from the corner of her eyes but she quickly cleaned them with the corners of her shirt cuffs. Zoro wore the same outfit now a bit larger due to the increase in height and muscle mass, while Kuina now wore a simple white shirt blue jeans and black short combat boots. Her boobs were in full view even though she wore a bra as they grew quite a bit combined with her daily exercise and with the money from the bounty they and the other students could eat nutritious and good food.
Koshiro smile never left his face, he seemed a bit older than before as gray streaks started to appear in his hair but his face still had the same youth as before.
Zoro took a rucksack with him where he had some of his belongings such as change of clothes, some bellies he saved and other necessities, Kuina took a similar rucksack with her things and they were ready to leave the island, while the island was quite big it still had limits and they quickly found them.
Zoro bought a boat big enough to house both of them with his savings and he still had some money left behind, it would be quite awkward for him to live with Kuina on a relatively tiny boat like this but he had to make do, Zoro's first objective would be to get a bigger boat but for that, he would need money.
What was the fastest way to make money? Cash in bounties!
Zoro forgot to inquire how much a big enough boat would cost so he was in the dark about how much he needed to make.
Kuina also found it a bit awkward to live so closely with Zoro for long periods of time at sea but she didn't dislike it when Zoro came up with the plan of buying a bigger boat she accepted it quickly, having a bigger boat would make things less awkward between them.
Zoro also told her his plan of hunting bounties to get the money and she agreed with it as well, it wasn't really a plan like at all, Zoro just said that they should hunt wanted people for cash so they could get a bigger boat and she just agreed.
Zoro smiled to himself as he felt that he made great plans already, he took some food from the rucksack and chewed on it, it was a red shiny apple, they had quite a lot of fruits and they even took a barrel of it with them, scurvy was the biggest problem at sea and even though Zoro wasn't a bookworm he still learned some basics about what he needed to do at sea.
However, he had no talents in other regards such as navigating or cooking so they could only eat simple foods, Kuina could relatively navigate well so there was no problem here in east blue but they would need someone with talent when they would go to the grand line.
Zoro yawned as their boat took them along the sea, seagulls that looked like they were snickering at them passed them from above and some even tried to steal Zoro's half-eaten apple but suddenly Zoro sheathed and unsheathed his sword and the seagull became fish food.
Kuina looked at the seagulls with pity, who told them they could steal from Zoro? The other seagulls who watched their comrade die in vain started to sweat intensely then they flew away from the boat at extreme speeds leaving afterimages behind. Zoro scratched his head as he looked at the seagulls flying away, did he frighten them that badly?
Kuina opened a map that she got from her rucksack and said:
"The nearest island from ours is called Roaming Boar island and it has currently a cumulative bounty of three hundred thousand bellies if we can catch all of the criminals." Zoro already gave her some bounty posters he took with him before he left, he practically took all of the bounty posters he could and put them in the boat, some of them had the last seen location of the individuals on them and a few tens of them lived on Roaming Boar island.
Zoro nodded his head at her then jumped in the water, Kuina looked at Zoro with a questioning look on her face but when he started to push the boat at high speeds she realized what he wanted to do.
Kuina started to instruct Zoro in which direction he needed to push the boat to reach Roaming Boar island and it only took them five hours of navigating to get to the island.
Zoro anchored the boat at the pier while Kuina looked around, the harbor city wasn't very big but not small either, she tried to identify if any of their targets were at the harbor but tough luck as none of them were currently docking or leaving.
Zoro started to shake like a cat would after he finished tying the boat, he needed to get himself dry.
Kuina was only a few meters away from her so some saltwater landed on her, she glared at Zoro while Zoro smiled sheepishly and said:
"I'll make sure I won't do it again when you are around."
Kuina nodded her head at his assessment, it was time for them to begin their jobs as the bounty hunter duo!
Unknowingly to them, an orange-haired thief was also on the same island trying to amass money for her own reasons, would their fates intersect earlier or not at all due to the changes that happened to Zoro?
Kuina and Zoro walked away from the pier towards the local bar, where they could get some information on all the wanted men, it would be a long day before they could catch all of them.