Zoro, Kuro, and Kuina were running throughout the island.
Kuina was ahead, Zoro was in the middle, and Kuro was right behind them.
The three of them were very happy to train with each other.
As for what kind of training they were doing, it was to increase stamina and speed.
Coming across a tree, Kuina stopped under its shade.
Zoro came in and also stopped as did Kuro.
The three of them lay and rested under the tree.
They breathed tiredly with energy and smiles.
Kuina started boasting with happiness.
"Looks like I'm first again."
"Like that's unexpected," came Zoro's reply.
"You two are monsters," chimed Kuro.
"You need to work harder Kuro," Kuina encouraged.
"I'm more of work smarter and not harder person," Kuro explained.
"Why not both?" Question Zoro.
Kuro shrugged, "Too much work I guess."
Kuina rolled her eyes, "Just tough it up."
Kuro smiled, "Toughness isn't really my thing."
Zoro got up, "Shall we continue?"
"Yeah," Kuina got up and started running.
Zoro followed after her as Kuro quickly got up and followed after them.
After many hours, the three came back home and started eating food Koushirou prepared for them.
The three of them ate ravenously with Kuina eating the most.
Zoro thought of entertainment as he ate.
"Got any interesting knowledge Kuro?"
Kuro looked at Zoro as he ate, "What kind of interesting knowledge do want to hear?"
Zoro thought of Kuro's question, "I want to hear about strong people."
Kuro smiled, "I know a few."
"Let's hear them," Kuina chimed as she also wanted entertainment.
Kuro started talking about a villain he remember.
"There's a pirate captain called Kuro of a hundred plans in the east blue."
Zoro and Kuina stopped eating and looked at him incredulously.
"I don't believe you," Kuina stated.
"Me too," Zoro stated.
Kuro shrugged, "Well sorry, but my source is trust me bro."
Zoro and Kuina looked at each other to see if they were both hearing the same thing.
"Go on," implored Kuina.
Zoro nodded to see what more Kuro would say about this Kuro of a hundred plans.
Kuro continued knowing they'll either be impressed or won't believe him.
"He is also known by the alias Klahadore but anyway. He has long legs and those long legs of his allow him to run fast. He can run so fast people and he himself can't even see where he's going. Using gloves with blades, he runs around unseen cutting down both allies and enemies alike. That's most of what I know about him."
Kuina and Zoro thought about whether Kuro's words were believable.
"I won't believe it till I see it with my own eyes," Kuina stated,
"Me too," Zoro stated.
Kuro shrugged, guess they didn't believe him.
The three continued eating as Kuro told them of more strong people.
In a forest, Zoro, Kuina, and Kuro were blindfolded as it was observation haki training day.
The rules were simple, try to hit each other with wooden sticks until only one person was left standing.
Kuro started the countdown.
"Are you ready, kids?"
Kuina and Zoro yelled in unison even though they didn't fully understand why they had to yell such a thing.
"Aye aye, Captain!"
"I can't hear you!" Kuro lied.
"Aye aye, Captain!"
With the ritual done, the three of them attacked each other.
"Three Sword Style," Zoro gritted.
"Swallow Dive," Kuina yelled.
"Random bullshit sword technique," Kuro raged.
The sound of clashing wooden sticks was heard as they tried to defend and attack each other.
The first to manage to land a hit was Kuina.
The second to manage to land a hit was Zoro.
The third to manage to land a hit was Kuro.
As they hit each other, they counted how many times they'd successfully hit each other and how many times they'd been hit.
With their great stamina and endurance, the three continued hitting each other as minutes passed by.
Kuro was the first to fall and he took off his blindfold.
Only Zoro and Kuina were left and the two were going at each other like wild animals.
If Zoro was a tiger, then Kuina was a dragon.
Looking at Zoro while breathing heavily, Kuro could see that Zoro was giving it his all and best.
As the minutes passed by, Kuro could see that they were about to reach their limit soon.
He could see that both Zoro and Kuina's bodies wanted to give up.
The two were holding on and standing against each other with sheer will.
Kuro wondered if Zoro was finally going to win against Kuina and tried to lighten the mood.
"But alas, one shall fall and one shall stand."
Hearing Kuro's words, Zoro and Kuina fought more intensely against each other.
"Dragon's wraith!" Kuina roared.
"Ashura's wraith!" Zoro roared back.
Kuro wondered if he should cringe but then remembered to cringe at himself.
Zoro fell and Kuina was barely able to remain standing.
"Y'all need to chill," Kuro expressed.
Kuina sat down and breathed heavily with Zoro tiredly sitting back up.
Although Zoro lost, Kuro could still see a fierce will burning within him, in fact, it seemed stronger than before.
"I'm getting closer to you," Zoro breathed out.
"Yeah yeah," Kuina breathed back.
"Results for our two-hour fight!" Kuro yelled.
"543 hits and 132 taken hits," stated Kuina.
"321 hits and 529 taken hits," stated Zoro.
"248 hits and 451 taken hits," stated Kuro.
Kuro then laughed out loud and Zoro and Kuina followed after.
The numbers showed and told they had improved.
When they first started, their fights lasted ten minutes and slowly increased little by little till they were now at two hours.
As for they how they were able to tell the time, it was with a small clock they brought with them.
With every fight, Kuina got more hits in and took fewer hits in.
As Kuina's hits and taken hits fluctuated, so did Zoro and Kuro as they had to keep up with her in order to balance the hits and take hits.
The more hits they got in and the fewer hits they took in meant they were improving rapidly.
When it's just Zoro and Kuro fighting, the statistic is pretty even.
But when it was Kuina against one of them, the statistic was skewed more towards her.
At some both, Kuro and Zoro question how she was improving so rapidly.
For Zoro, he believed Kuina had a greater will than him so she was improving more rapidly.
For Kuro, he somewhat believed the greater a swordsman or swordswoman's weakness is, the greater their growth rate is.
Well, maybe they were both right or neither was right.
Thinking about how much she was improving, Kuina was starting to believe that when she finally got hit around zero times, that would mean she had obtained observation haki like Kuro said she probably would.
"I feel hungry," Zoro exclaimed.
Kuina nodded as her stomach grumbled.
Kuro got up and set up a picnic.
The three of them immediately started feasting.
Kuina and Zoro looked at Kuro wondering why he was in a forge making swords instead of training with them.
"Kuro, why are you making swords instead of training with us?" Kuina questioned.
Kuro looked at the two of them and becked them to sit down at a table.
The three sat down and Kuro drank a cup of cold water.
"Sis, Zoro, you two dream of being the greatest swordsman right?"
Kuina and Zoro nodded as they told him about their dream long ago.
"To answer your question, I'm gonna have to tell you a story, you ready?"
Kuina and Zoro nodded again.
"You see, great swordsmen need great swords and great swords aren't just lying around anywhere. The two of you and I need good swords to be good swordsmen so I've taken up the task of making swords for us. I have found my dream and it's to at least make a supreme-grade sword. In fact, I want to be known as the greatest swordsmith. A very humble dream if you ask me."
Kuina and Zoro became awed at Kuro's dream and got excited at the thought of getting amazing swords.
"How confident are you?" Kuina curiously questioned.
Kuro smiled confidently, "You see, our gramps Shimotsuki Kozaburo was a great swordsmith as he made both Wado Ichimonji and Enma so it should be easy peasy lemon squeezy for me if you know what I mean."
Remembering her grandpa, Kuina became sad.
Zoro stayed silent as he watched her.
Kuro patted her head with a smile.
She immediately smacked his hand away with a tick on her forehead.
"You got to stop treating me like a child."
Kuro shrugged, "More like a sister and you're still a chi..."
Seeing that she would attack him if he finished his sentence, Kuro stopped and decided to move back onto topic.
"Anyway just know that I'll be spending less time training and more time sword smithing, now sho sho."
With that, Zoro and Kuina left to train together.
Humming to himself, Kuro kept striking a sword over and over with a hammer.
Every time he finished the sword, he would reforge it over and over.
As for why he kept reforging it, that was because practice makes perfect.
As he kept reforging the sword, he felt himself get better and better at swordsmithing.
It was like rerolling a weapon to try to get better trait over and over.
As he kept striking the sword, he only wished it would cut down the toughest of enemy while staying strong.
Wado Ichimonji was most likely going to be inherited by Kuina so Zoro would need a good sword and this sword was gonna be it.
Kuro planned to spend ten years making this sword for Zoro.
He could already imagine it, ten years of experience, ten years of effort, if it couldn't become a great sword for Zoro, Kuro was going to feel very stupid when he has to buy Sandai Kitetsu and Yubashiri for Zoro.
As he kept hitting the sword, he glared at it trying to somehow make it turn out good.
If the sword could, it would probably sweat drop right now.
