Whoosh, whoosh.
In the empty kendo dojo, Naoya, dressed in a kendo uniform, swung his bamboo sword with all his might.
Drops of sweat fell thickly onto the wooden floor. On his sweat-drenched face, only one emotion was evident.
Frustration.
'Damn it, damn it.'
The image of the special-grade curse he had faced yesterday vividly played in Naoya's mind.
His legs had refused to move when he faced it.
Haibara's urgent voice echoed in his ears.
"Watch out, Naoya-san!"
Whack!
Naoya's bamboo sword drew a large arc as it struck the scarecrow in front of him.
"There's too much unnecessary destruction."
At the sudden intrusion of a voice, Naoya flinched and turned around. Leaning against the dojo entrance was Zoro.
"Swinging a sword blindly with only force is a waste. You need softness too."
More precisely, you need to know when to be soft and when to be strong, and move your sword accordingly.
Naoya clicked his tongue and placed the bamboo sword on the floor.
"It doesn't matter. I'm not a swordsman anyway."
"Then why were you swinging a bamboo sword in the dojo?"
Faced with the pointed question, Naoya clamped his mouth shut. After a long silence, he called out to Zoro.
"Zoro-kun."
"What?"
"Have you always been like this since you were born?"
Zoro's gray eyes turned towards Naoya. He could see Naoya's black pupils trembling.
"Like Satoru-kun or Toji-kun, were you destined to be the strongest?"
Unlike the two comrades who could at least move in front of the special-grade curse, Naoya had been overwhelmed and could barely move. It was because he had joined the school relatively late and hadn't had as much training with Zoro and Toji.
If Haibara hadn't urgently pulled him out of the way, he might have been seriously injured.
That fact infuriated Naoya.
Even at his age, he still couldn't even come close to the heels of Toji-kun, Satoru-kun, or Zoro-kun.
Naoya thought of his technique, Projection Sorcery. It was a decent technique, but it couldn't compare to Limitless, and it lagged even behind Heavenly Restriction.
He recalled the innate talents of the three strongest people he knew.
The eyes and Limitless that the Gojo clan had awaited for hundreds of years.
A strong body capable of taking down Grade 1 sorcerers one after another.
Genius and unique swordsmanship that could easily cut down special-grade curses, even at a young age.
Was he never going to reach their level because he wasn't born with any of those?
Because he wasn't born that way?
Zoro looked at Naoya quietly.
"I did have talent."
"...."
"But I wasn't destined to be the strongest."
Zoro, recalling old memories, continued.
"There was a friend I could never beat."
"…? Who was that? Was it Toji-kun?"
Zoro chuckled at Naoya's naive question.
"I said a friend. Her name was Kuina."
"That's a girl's name."
"She was a girl."
"A girl beat you?"
"Yeah. Over 2000 times."
To be exact, it was 2001 losses in 2001 matches. Two thousand times in bamboo sword duels, and once in their final match with real swords.
"She was always much better than me."
Even though he had the talent to hold a proper stance from the moment he picked up a sword, and despite breaking numerous bamboo swords through countless nights of training, Zoro's sword never once touched Kuina.
Not even once.
He still vividly remembered the sensation of his bamboo sword flying out of his hand with a sharp crack. Whenever he struggled to get up after being knocked down, the short-haired girl would smile triumphantly at him, her bamboo sword aimed at him.
"You're still weak, Zoro."
The voice he could never forget, even after decades had passed.
"Can you still not beat her?"
"Yeah."
"…Why?"
"She died."
Naoya stiffened. Zoro spoke calmly.
"That's why I said it before."
As long as you're alive, the possibilities are endless.
As long as you're alive, you can move forward. One step, or even a tiny bit. If you can't continue on the path you've been walking, you can find another path.
"Even if you're not born overwhelmingly strong like my father or Satoru, you can still become the strongest."
Zoro had always been someone who lagged behind. He wasn't entirely without talent, but there was always someone much stronger than him.
In his childhood, he never once beat Kuina. When he first ventured out to sea, he quickly realized how far away the strongest truly was. Throughout his adventures, he faced numerous overwhelmingly powerful enemies that seemed unbeatable.
Even so, Zoro never complained about it.
"I hate that excuse the most."
Being born a girl, being a swordsman, being human, not being a special race—those were reasons for not being able to win, for not becoming the strongest.
Zoro hated those excuses the most.
"Don't make excuses to yourself."
In Zoro's eyes, Naoya hadn't even reached his limits yet. Hearing him talk about whether he was born the strongest or not was frankly ridiculous.
'What would you do if I was born the strongest?'
Are you going to give up because you weren't born that way?
With such a flimsy mindset, you can't aim for the position of the strongest. Zoro spoke sternly.
"You can't be the strongest as you are now."
Naoya's eyes lit up. To him, it sounded like there was a way to become the strongest if he fixed his current issues.
"What should I do then?"
"First, get rid of your hesitation."
If you hesitate, you won't achieve anything. You need to decide what you really want and at least reach a point where your mind is unwavering. Naoya nodded.
"I understand. And then?"
"Train, learn, and fight."
In both his past and present lives, there wasn't a day Zoro didn't train unless he was unconscious. By training consistently, he could seize opportunities for growth when they came.
"What do you mean by learn? Are you telling me to learn that Haki or whatever?"
"Not necessarily."
Of course, if Naoya wanted, Zoro was willing to teach him Haki. But that wasn't what this conversation was limited to.
"I'm telling you to interact with many people and learn what they know that you don't."
"Even from people weaker than me?"
"Just because someone is weaker doesn't mean you can't learn from them."
Zoro's technique of cutting fire was something he learned from someone weaker than him. That person knew how to cut fire.
Everyone has their limits. Something one person can't think of might be an idea another person can come up with. Therefore, interacting with others is itself an opportunity to break through barriers.
By building a foundation through training, gaining inspiration from others, and finally being able to freely utilize the power you've developed in real combat.
That's when a person truly becomes stronger.
'I understand the frustration of feeling like you can't become the strongest.'
But complaining about the world won't solve anything.
'All you can do is keep moving forward until you can't anymore.'
And then you calmly accept the results.
Even if you can't reach the position of the strongest,
at least you'll be closer to it than you are now.
Naoya nodded with a determined expression.
"I got it. I'll do my best."
I'll train hard, learn diligently, and fight fiercely.
Someday, I'll stand where they stand.
I will.
...
[Author's Note]
Vote with your power stones, it motivates me to keep posting chapters.
If you're interested, you can read 20 advance chapters on my Patréon.
patréon.com/fumiaki