Chapter 110: The Will to Break Chains
Marine Headquarters - Gion's Dojo
Kuina's finger hovered over the golden box. All she had to do was reach a little further, and she would touch the fruit that could overturn her fate.
But she didn't move.
The fruit lay quietly in the box, its purple-black veins writhing like living blood vessels, whispering, tempting her.
It was an abyss, inviting her to step into a place from which she could never return.
"If I eat it... am I still a 'swordsman'?"
Her lips trembled, her eyes filled with conflict.
"Kuina." Roy's voice broke the silence, calm but carrying an undeniable firmness. "Eating the fruit doesn't mean you've betrayed your path."
Kuina looked up sharply, searching his steady, ocean-deep eyes for an answer.
"You've never sought to rely on power alone," Roy said slowly. "You've always sought to win through your own strength. Eating a Devil Fruit doesn't change that!"
"I brought this to you not because you lack diligence, talent, skill, or will—but precisely because you have all of those things!"
"The only thing you lack is a body that can support you until the very end!"
Gion stood silently by, her eyes moving between them, but she said nothing.
Roy looked at Kuina, his expression serious.
"I considered other ways."
"Scientific modification? I rejected it completely."
"Life Return? That's just a way to precisely control your existing biological functions with your mind."
He raised a finger. "It lets you use your stamina at 150% efficiency, but it doesn't turn your stamina base into 150%."
"Think of it this way. If your physical limit is 1,500..."
"A man born with a naturally strong physique, like Zoro... his limit starts at 2,000, or even higher!"
Kuina fell silent, her fingers tightening. That familiar, bitter frustration welled up inside her.
"You give everything you have just to fight him to a draw."
"And he's using less than seventy percent of his strength."
"That unfairness isn't because you 'didn't work hard enough.' It's because the body you were born with simply 'does not allow it'!"
Roy's voice was quiet but laced with a cold anger.
He looked down at the fruit. "We can't change what we're born with. So, I just want to help you take back the 'starting line' that should have been yours."
Kuina's eyes trembled. Her lips parted, but her throat felt blocked.
She looked at the fruit, then at Roy, and finally whispered, "But if... if I win using this power... does it still count as my win?"
"Of course it does!" Roy replied instantly.
"Because I'm not giving you a 'cheat code' for instant victory."
"The Vampire Fruit won't improve your sword skills, and it won't fight for you."
"It only ensures that in every second your blades clash, you won't collapse early because your body failed you due to a natural disadvantage!"
"You still have to train your swordsmanship, step by step, and ultimately win with your own blade."
"Only this time, you won't be forced to stop because your 'stamina ran out'—a ridiculous reason to not be able to show your true sword!"
Roy walked closer and closed the box, but he didn't take it away.
He looked into her eyes, his tone softening. "It's not your destination. It's not your answer. It's just the starting point for you to gain 'fairness'."
"Even if you eat it, you can choose not to use its powers. You can choose to fight only with your sword."
"But when you face a truly strong enemy, when you must endure until the very last moment—"
"It will give you the right to keep standing!"
"The path of the sword you protect has never been tainted, because the hand holding the sword has never let go."
Kuina stared at him, as if truly understanding the meaning of the fruit for the first time.
Her fingertips finally touched the lid, feeling the cold metal.
"It just gives me the right to compete 'fairly' with male swordsmen..."
She murmured to herself, and the obsession that had gripped her for years seemed to loosen, just an inch.
It wasn't surrender. It wasn't giving up.
It was reaching a height that "pure swordsmanship" alone could not reach, with an even stronger stance.
Roy didn't push her. He just stood there, watching the moment a new chapter of fate was about to open.
Gion looked at Kuina and said softly, "Kuina. This is your choice."
A night breeze swept through the dojo, blowing a damp strand of hair from her forehead and stirring the knot in her heart.
Kuina closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and finally—opened them. The confusion was gone.
"I understand."
Her voice was low but firm, as if compressing ten years of obsession into a single sentence. "If this allows me to stand on the same starting line as them... to truly climb to the peak as a 'swordsman'..."
"Then I accept!"
Without hesitation, she reached out and grabbed the eerie, silent fruit—
The moment she bit down, the air seemed to freeze.
The flesh was cold and rich, and an indescribable energy exploded inside her!
Kuina shuddered, dropping to one knee, driving Wado Ichimonji deep into the floor.
Her pupils contracted sharply, then slowly turned a deep crimson, like the cold eyes of a creature of the night, carrying a stillness beyond human.
Her face, soaked in sweat moments ago, became even paler and more translucent, as if bathed in moonlight, radiating a strange, quiet beauty.
Something seemed to pulse behind her back, as if wings were trying to unfurl, but they didn't fully manifest—
That restraint... it was as if even the will of the Devil Fruit had been tamed by her "Will of the Sword"!
Gion instinctively tightened her grip on Konpira, but seeing Kuina in that moment, she slowly relaxed her hand.
"She hasn't been consumed by the fruit's will... She's suppressing it."
Roy just watched her back, a small smile touching his lips. "Good... It seems the fruit acknowledges your 'Sword Intent' as well."
Kuina slowly stood up. She looked down at her hands—paler, but filled with a new power. She could clearly feel the vitality in her blood—
Stamina, perception, recovery... even every heartbeat was incredibly clear.
It was as if all the heavy chains binding her had shattered in that instant.
She looked up sharply, her crimson eyes locking onto Gion. Her voice was still clear, but now it carried a chilling edge from the depths of the night. "Big Sis Gion... one more round!"
"This time... I won't lose!"
Gion paused. In that moment, she didn't see the lost little girl anymore. She saw a true swordmaster about to tear through the darkness.
She smiled, drawing Konpira, golden light flowing along the blade. "As you wish."
The next second, two figures clashed again!
This time, Kuina's sword wind wasn't just fast and precise.
Inside the sharpness, there was now an enduring fighting spirit and absolute conviction!
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