Just as expected.
Zoro shouted and charged forward, looking fierce and full of energy—but in the next second, he let out a miserable scream and was sent flying, crashing to the ground.
He rolled over and jumped back up, glaring at Kuina beside him. "Hey! Why didn't you make a move?!"
"Weren't you the one who said you wanted a one-on-one?"
Kuina replied irritably, but still adjusted her position to form a pincer attack with Zoro. With a low shout, the two slashed out at the same time.
Despite the bickering, their coordination was pretty solid.
Unfortunately…
In the face of overwhelming stats, all fancy techniques were meaningless.
Even though Shano tried to hold back his strength, with just three swift moves, he knocked all three bamboo swords flying, then followed up with two clean strikes to send them both to the ground.
A plain and simple 5-star S-tier combo.
"Damn it!" Zoro pulled at his hair in frustration, unwilling to accept reality. "How could this happen?!"
"Losing to Shano-san… isn't that just natural?" Kuina said.
She instinctively wanted to mock him—this guy had lost to her so many times already, shouldn't he be used to it by now?
But seeing the way Zoro looked, she swallowed her words, bent down, and helped him up with a smile.
"Alright, get up. At the very least, this shows you that there's always someone better out there. It's a good thing to have a higher goal. Let's work hard together to catch up!"
"But I'm still so frustrated!"
Zoro clenched his teeth.
He knew deep down there was a gap, and he could accept losing—but he hadn't expected to lose this badly.
He couldn't even see the opponent's sword swing clearly… How could someone who didn't look much older than him be this skilled with a blade?
Kuina patted his shoulder and didn't say anything more. She lowered her head to look for her bamboo sword in the dim light of the backyard, finally spotting it behind a beam.
Zoro, still downcast, followed her to retrieve his own—but before he could bend down, Shano picked up his bamboo sword first.
"?" Zoro stared wide-eyed at him.
"I'm confiscating this. It's punishment for your earlier bad attitude toward me. I'm super petty, you know."
Shano said with a grin, "Don't look at me like that. If you're not happy about it, then train harder and get it back with your own strength someday."
"Of course, by then, you might not even care about a bamboo sword like this anymore. If you can defeat me one day, I'll give you the blade on my back."
"Really?!"
Zoro's eyes lit up, immediately forgetting all about the bamboo sword.
He'd been drooling over real blades for a while now—he never expected the other guy to offer up a challenge like that on his own.
What a nice guy!
"It's a promise!"
He puffed up with confidence again, stood on his toes, and held out his pinky.
"Pinky swear! No take-backs! Just you wait—one day, my swordsmanship will surpass yours, and I'll make you willingly hand over that blade!"
"How childish."
Shano sighed, but in the face of that determined green-haired kid, he eventually held out his pinky too.
"Pinky swear, hang it high, no changes for a hundred years!"
With that loud chant and a pinky hook, Zoro dashed off excitedly.
The way he couldn't wait another second… no doubt he'd gone straight back to training like a madman.
So rude. When will he ever grow up… Kuina watched his back disappearing into the distance and sighed.
Then she turned to look at Shano and gave a deep, sincere bow. "Thank you, Lord Shano. It was an honor to spar with you—even though…"
She smiled wryly, "Your blade was just too fast. My eyes and skills are lacking—I couldn't learn anything from it, which I do regret."
Shano didn't quite know how to respond, so he laughed awkwardly and changed the subject. "By the way, I haven't sharpened my sword in a while. Do you guys have a whetstone here?"
Whetstone?
Kuina nodded. "Yes, but since the dojo mostly uses bamboo swords, it's rarely used. We keep it in the attic. I'll go get it for you."
"No need," Shano quickly said. "Just show me the way. I'll get it myself."
Don't risk your life over this, girl!
You think I brought this up for nothing? I'm doing it to earn points, sure—but also to save your life in the process.
If I let you go get it on your own and you die ahead of schedule, I'd feel guilty for the rest of my life!
...
A remote storage room.
Shano stood before the wooden ladder, staring up while rubbing his chin, still finding it a bit unbelievable.
Seriously? The attic isn't even that high—at most, three meters. A trained swordswoman who can beat normal adults… and she dies from falling off this?
He glanced at his system panel.
The bamboo sword he tricked out of Zoro had already been successfully sacrificed.
[Sacrifice: Zoro's bamboo sword]
[Quality: Fine]
[Value: 500 points]
[Appraisal: One of the bamboo swords that accompanied Zoro through countless days and nights, bearing the marks of his sweat and effort. Though he may replace it with famed blades in the future, he'll never forget these original companions.]
[Remaining Points: 10825]
Five hundred points—just as expected. Shano was fairly satisfied.
"But I wonder… is this a lot, or a little?"
He gently placed his palm on the ladder in front of him, attempting to offer it as a sacrifice.
[Sacrifice: Kuina's Great Fall Ladder]
[Quality: Epic]
[Value: 1500 points]
[Appraisal: The cause of Kuina's death is a subject of many theories. The only certainty is that she fell while trying to retrieve a whetstone for her beloved Wado Ichimonji. From that moment, the timeline shifted. The seas lost a promising swordswoman and gained a man who vowed to become the world's strongest in her stead—"I'll grow strong enough for both of us, until my name reaches the heavens!"]
Fifteen hundred points?
This time, Shano was genuinely shocked. Technically speaking, Kuina was a side character, and her current strength wasn't significant—normally, an item from her shouldn't be worth more than a hundred or two.
As expected…
Beyond the three rules he'd previously deduced, there was another special one:
—Items that shift the course of the timeline and are tied to iconic scenes often carry much higher value.
Shano looked at his points bar.
[Remaining Points: 12325]
He had almost fully replenished what he'd spent earlier—and the Great Fall Ladder had played a major role.
So then… just how many points would Luffy's straw hat be worth?
It might be even more than he initially expected.
Shano now looked forward to it even more.
Around this area, he had more or less exhausted all the high-value items for sacrifice.
Once he got his hands on that final straw hat, he could return to Cocoyashi Village and begin his secluded training.
After that—
For a long time to come, he wouldn't need to worry about points again.
Pulling back his thoughts, he looked toward the dojo outside.
The rain was falling lightly. Kuina was still waiting in the courtyard.
Thinking it over, he rummaged through the warehouse for a brush and some ink, then strode out.
As the saying goes, if you take from others, you owe them something in return.
After scoring so many points for free, it was about time to give a little something back—like saving Kuina's life, for example.
Even if the ladder was gone, and the whetstone moved downstairs, it didn't mean the danger of her death had vanished completely.
This wise, well-mannered, and exceptionally gifted girl… Shano actually liked her quite a bit. Deep down, he didn't want to see her leave this world in such a laughable way.
Absurd as it may be, there was always a reason behind everything.
Just now, he noticed—when Kuina was searching for her bamboo sword, she fumbled around for quite a while before finding it. The lighting was dim, sure—but not that bad.
Could it be...
Just like Tashigi, who looked exactly like her, Kuina was also severely nearsighted?