An unknown ceiling is the first thing Zoro sees when he wakes up. He looks around and finds out that he is in a kind of a hospital room judging from the equipment there. It also seems to be night already because the outside is dark.
"Torao, you there?"
Upon his call, Torao comes out of his shadow and jumps above him.
"What happened to me?"
"Well, basically, you were knocked out by the 4th Raikage and was brought to this hospital to receive treatments. It's been around 5 hours since you were defeated."
"I see, so I lost. What about Raikage?"
"Your last attack hurt him nicely although it was healed easily with medical ninjutsu."
"That's not too bad then. But it seems the gap between our power is still huge, huh? I got too full of myself after holding Kyuubi alone and even killed Danzo. But I could only hold Kyuubi because he didn't have great battle skills despite being so powerful and I took out Danzo easily because I used a surprise attack. Fighting a well prepared ninja with a power equal to Tailed Beasts is still too much for the current me, huh?"
"I think your strength is not too bad compared to the 4th Raikage although it's still lower. But your speed is definitely far below him. Your senses could catch his movements, but your body can't follow it."
"Sigh, yeah, that's indeed a big problem."
Speed is important in battles against ninjas. A lot of ninjas are very fast although not everyone is as fast as Raikage. He is among the fastest in the world, after all.
But there are still many who are faster than Zoro. If he only relies on his senses that can catch up to even Raikage's speed, then his only option will just to wait for the fast enemies to attack him at a close range.
The problem is if they can attack from afar or he can't move fast enough to catch them, then he will just become a sandbag like today.
"Also, I think you need to make your own moves. Don't just keep using what the original Zoro uses and teach you. You are yourself. It's okay to learn and use what is taught to you, but it's also okay to have your own techniques. This world is different from One Piece and the power in this world is also different, so the ways to face them are also different. You have integrated chakra into your swordplay, so why not try to find your own style, your own identity?"
Torao's words make Zoro realize that he has just been copying the original Zoro's swordsmanship all these years. He never thinks of finding his own identity in swordsmanship.
Everyone is different, even if they are twins or have the same body. Each swordsman needs to have their own identities even if they are taught the same skills by the same master.
"I can use all the skills he taught me, but the way I fight doesn't necessarily need to be the same as him. Just because he emphasizes strength into his swordplay, doesn't mean I need to be like that too."
"That's right. Just think of everything he taught you as the basics."
"Calling them all basics is a bit.... Well, I kind of understand what you mean. You want me to improve everything he taught me into skills that suit myself and my preferences, right? Phew, it won't be easy."
Till this day, his swordsmanship is not his, but Zoro from One Piece's swordsmanship. He has felt stagnant for a while and he thinks he finally knows the cause now.
It's because this isn't his swordsmanship. He is Zoro, but it's just his body. He is not the same Zoro as the one in One Piece, so till this day, he never thinks of that swordsmanship as his even though it's used by the original Zoro.
To develop further, he thinks he needs to make this swordsmanship completely into his even if he doesn't change the techniques. For now he still feels like he is just borrowing it, that's why this isn't his swordsmanship yet.
"But how do I make this mine? Damn, this will be difficult."
"Why don't you ask around? There are some swordsmen you can ask about this kind of thing, right?"
"Ah! You're right. And I think it's not just swordsmen. I can also ask other fighters about how they make their own styles even though they are taught the same jutsus with many others."
The next day, he finally can leave the hospital and B is picking him up. Though B isn't alone. Yugito is also there.
"You were watching the fight yesterday, right?"
"Yes, and I was impressed by your power, that's why I'm here to ask a few questions." Yugito looks so serious.
"Questions? To me? Sure, but I'm not a ninja, so I'm not sure if I can help you."
"That's alright. My questions aren't related to being a ninja."
"Then let's talk while eating. I'm starving."
They go to a small restaurant and Zoro orders a lot of food. B and Yugito are surprised by how much he wants to eat, but they don't say anything.
While they eat, Yugito asks questions of how the battles polish Zoro's skills. She is intrigued by what Raikage said after defeating Zoro, about how he is someone polished through deadly battles.
Other than that, she also asks about Zoro's experience to understand how he can be this strong at his age because she knows talent alone isn't enough to get this result.
Zoro answers all her questions while still keeping things about other villages as secrets. He is a bounty hunter who lives from those villages, so he can't dissolve information about them to outsiders.
"So you are saying you will purposely restrict yourself when fighting weaker enemies to make the fight harder for you and stimulate your growth?"
"Yeah. I always use weights except for when I sleep and fight strong opponents. But sometimes those weights aren't enough, so I put more restrictions like closing my eyes, using sticks instead of swords, or not fighting back and just dodging until the enemies run out of energy. Then when I fight powerful enemies like Raikage, I remove all limitations and go all out."
"What weights are you talking about?"
"Weights that can be strapped into your body. Torao, come out!"
Zoro calls Torao who then comes out of his shadow, surprising Yugito and B a little. But they calm down soon seeing it's just a cat with a scroll on its mouth.
"Is that your summoned creature?"
"Yeah, he likes to stay in my shadow, so I rarely send him back."
Zoro takes the scroll in Torao's mouth and unseals the weights sealed inside. Torao put it in there just now as a show because they don't want to reveal that Torao has a spatial storage jutsu.
"Oh, weights with seals, huh? They certainly are convenient and comfortable because of their size."
Yugito only looks and doesn't dare to even touch the weights because she thinks it's impolite. But B just grabs the weights and tries to lift them.
"Eh?!"
However, he is surprised by the weights he tries to lift.
"So light?"
"Those are the ones I used a long time ago. Each bar is just 1 kg, so each strap is 10 kg because there are 10 slots. But now I wear much more than that every day. I only take these ones because I don't want to break the table."
"I see. Physical power is very important for a swordsman like you or Taijutsu users, after all, so I understand why you use weights. It's a form of training and restrictions for you. But as I have a different way of fighting, I will need to use different methods, right?"
"Yeah, I think so, but I don't know what."
"It's alright, I will look for it myself."
"Alright, then it's my turn to ask questions."
Zoro asks about how they find their own way, their own path as a ninja. He realizes what he lacks is a path as a swordsman for himself.
After thinking a whole night, the techniques themselves don't matter, it's his ideal as a swordsman, the path that he wants to walk on that he needs to find.
"My path, is it?"
"We ninjas call it The Ninja Way. It's basically just our ideals, our dream, something we want to achieve, things like those."
"I see."
Zoro frowns because he surely has a dream and ideal. But maybe it's because what he wants is the same as the original Zoro that it doesn't feel like his own dream.
He can't think of anything now, so he decides to take it slowly. After all, he is sure he will find the answer to this difficult question.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Read up to +20 chapters ahead in my p@treon page
p@treon.com/creampuffs69
Chapter 69. 7 Kills
Please like and support this book too if you like it, thank you