It was noon, and the sun was high in the sky. In East Blue, Shimotsuki Village. On the loess road leading to the Shimotsuki Dojo, in the rice fields on both sides of the road, many farmers were bent over, waving sickles in their hands, and harvesting the ripe rice in the fields.
Sephiroth walked towards the Shimotsuki Dojo with his hands in his pockets, admiring the pastoral scenery. As he was about to arrive at his destination, he saw Kuina sitting on a rock by the roadside, constantly wiping away tears with her handkerchief. Her eyes were swollen and red. She must have been crying for a long time.
Seeing this scene, Sephiroth took a few steps and squatted down. With a puzzled expression on his face, he looked at the little blue-haired lolita:
"What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
"Today I told Dad that I want to be the greatest swordsman in the world," Kuina sobbed. "But he said that girls have physical disadvantages... He said, 'You can never be the greatest swordsman in the world.'"
Hearing this, Sephiroth immediately chuckled. He reached out and touched the top of the little lolita's head, comforting her:
"Don't listen to your Dad's nonsense! What determines whether someone can be the number one swordsman in the world is not gender, but talent and perseverance."
"Really?" Kuina stared blankly at the silver-haired young man with a somewhat dazzling face, and a glimmer of hope rekindled in her eyes.
"True, of course. This world is vast, with various different races!" Sephiroth continued, "According to your Dad, the race that can produce the greatest swordsman in the world should be the Fish-Man race, who are born with ten times the wrist strength of humans, or the Giant race, who are born with huge and incredibly strong bodies...."
"In that case, the greatest swordsman in the world has nothing to do with ordinary humans like us."
"But in fact, no race whose physical fitness is stronger than ours has ever reached the position of the greatest swordsman in the world!"
"Forget it! I won't talk about other races. Let's just take strong women among us ordinary humans as an example!"
"In the New World, there is a domineering Emperor of the Sea, Charlotte Linlin!"
"She's a woman, but her strength surpasses 99% of the men in the world. Many famous swordsmen are no match for her."
"Therefore, gender and race have never been limiting factors on whether someone can be the number one swordsman in the world; talent and perseverance are what determine it."
"But Dad...." Kuina's lips trembled a few times, and a hint of hesitation flashed across her face. She believed her father more than the silver-haired young man.
Seeing this situation, Sephiroth suddenly smiled mischievously, and he continued:
"Your Dad, Koushirō."
"He's just an ordinary swordsmanship teacher who teaches villagers to practice swords in the village dojo. How can he see the vastness of this world!"
"Just go and ask Koushirō if he has ever heard of Charlotte Linlin, who also uses a sword and is a woman."
"You let him be honest and say, can he defeat that person?"
"He definitely can't defeat that woman, I guarantee it!"
"Since he himself can't defeat a woman, how can he be sure that female swordsmen can't become the greatest swordsman in the world?"
"Oh~! I'll go ask Dad right now."
Little lolita Kuina sniffled, a flash of excitement crossed her face, she quickly stood up and ran towards the dojo.
In the Shimotsuki Dojo: The Truth Revealed
After a moment, she saw Koushirō, who was standing in the kenjutsu dojo, teaching kenjutsu students.
"Dad, I want to ask you something!"
"What is it, Kuina? What do you want to ask?" Koushirō asked hesitantly.
"Have you ever heard of the woman Charlotte Linlin?"
"Erm!?... In the newspapers, she's a Great Pirate who traverses the New World."
"Dad, she's a woman, and she also uses a sword.... Honestly, can you beat her?"
"..."
Feeling the gazes cast by the students, Koushirō suddenly felt an inexplicable pressure in his heart. It was at this moment that Sephiroth, with his hands in his pockets, also entered the dojo and looked at him with great interest.
In the end, Koushirō chose to tell the truth anyway:
"Cough!... I can't defeat Charlotte Linlin."
In the end, he explained to the people around him:
"The opponent is an Emperor of the Sea who dominates the New World. She is one of the greatest powers in the world. It's normal that I can't defeat her..."
"Dad, you can't even defeat a woman, so why do you think female swordsmen can't become the greatest swordsman in the world?"
"..."
Confronted with Kuina's rhetorical question, if the other party hadn't mentioned Charlotte Linlin, he could still have fooled her with the same rhetoric he usually used, but now he didn't know how to refute it.
Sephiroth chuckled and shook his head, turned and walked towards the backyard. Shimotsuki Kozaburō would officially start blacksmithing today. He would observe and learn, and by the way, he would help lend a hand.
Shimotsuki Dojo, backyard Blacksmith Shop.
As soon as Sephiroth entered the open door, he saw Shimotsuki Kozaburō place a glowing, large iron bar on the forge, wielding a hammer, and exerting himself in a "clang clang clang!" "beating" to remove impurities from the iron bar.
The large red-hot iron bar was thicker than an ordinary person's backhand and was extremely difficult to strike. During this process, it needed to be reinserted into the furnace from time to time to heat and maintain the temperature. Sephiroth also proposed whether Shimotsuki Kozaburō needed him to get a forging machine to speed up the forging, but the other party directly refused because he could not use his Haki power to refine the unformed sword.
Shimotsuki Kozaburō hammered for a while, and being overly exhausted with domineering Armament Haki energy, he chose to let Sephiroth come to relieve him, and continue to beat the iron bar, giving the last tips from time to time.
Dang-dang-dang....!
Scorching heat emanated from the red iron bar, and every time Sephiroth swung his hammer and smashed it, sparks flew.
Seeing the sun outside the window gradually setting in the west, Shimotsuki Kozaburō, who had been smoking dry, made him stop.
"Okay! For now, if this processing continues, it could have a bad effect on the composition of the Fire Stone in the material."
"If you want to make a great sharp sword with fire attributes, or even a Saijo O Wazamono (Supreme Grade Sword), you have to pay attention to these seemingly trivial factors."
"You'll continue to come and help tomorrow afternoon."
"Okay!"
Sephiroth nodded and placed the iron bar, which was gradually cooling, back into the furnace.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he walked to the well in the backyard and punched a bucket of icy well water to wash his face. Quietly, Shimotsuki Koushirō, with his narrowed eyes, had already appeared beside him.
"Mr. Sephiroth. You're the one who taught Kuina what she said this afternoon, right?"
"Erm!?... That's right!"
Sephiroth flicked his long, silver shawl hair, which had been dampened, and he smiled a little awkwardly and looked at the other.
"Actually. The reason why I told Kuina that female swordsmen can't become the greatest swordsmen in the world..."
"It's because... I don't want her to be on a path that is destined to be full of fights," Koushirō's voice was a little muffled.
Hearing this, Sephiroth suddenly remembered something. How audacious, this old man of the "Gentle Faction" was worrying about his daughter!
"In my opinion. Everyone has the power to choose their own path, and Kuina, unwilling to be ordinary, wants to be the number one swordsman in the world, and make this her goal."
"As a father, you should support her...."
Koushirō opened his mouth and just wanted to retort a few words. The door to the backyard, occupied by someone, "bang!" With a sound, he pushed it open, and Monkey D. Dragon, holding a stack of manuscript papers in his hand, hurriedly ran to them both.
"Comrade, can you help me revise this revolutionary program?"
"I wrote it all night, and I want you to check it out."
When Dragon spoke, his face was full of unconcealable fatigue, but his eyes were full of fanaticism. Ever since he had a long breath with Sephiroth last night, he kept tossing and turning and found it difficult to sleep! It was true that the other party wanted to trick him into buying weapons, but the ideas he proposed had great feasibility! Therefore, Dragon unbearably wrote down Sephiroth's content that night, and combined it with his own understanding, he began to work tirelessly for the Revolutionary Army and wrote a series of revolutionary programs.
"Erm!?... Okay!"
Sephiroth looked at Dragon's feverish gaze and couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat from his forehead. In desperation, he could only take the manuscript papers handed over by the other party, read them, and recount his opinions from time to time.
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