Capítulo 426: Cute Little Students
Cherry packed away quite the haul of goodies, most of which was meant for Merry and Usopp.
Most of the perishable goods like Mrs. Meredith's apple pies wouldn't usually last the weeks it would take to reach Wano, but it was simple enough for Cherry to keep organic material fresh.
She said her goodbyes to Kaya, Merry Sr. and the townspeople, did a quick perimeter check of the island for Big Mom pirates, then snuck back into Kaya's mansion to borrow her den den mushi.
There was only one last place to go. Zoro's homeland, Shimotsuki village.
This one actually gave her a bit of trouble in searching for it. She found herself going to den den mushi at her own home on Boulder Island multiple times because that was what she subconsciously associated with the words 'sword dojo'. Ultimately she was able to find the right place. She was quite certain when she found a den den mushi whose dream self was a replica of Zoro, except it was wielding all three swords in its mouth instead of just the one.
"Now that's just silly," Cherry commented.
"Iwushousiwi!" the snail attempted to exclaim something that might have been "I will show you silly!" before charging her.
Cherry gave the den den mushi a fishman karate chop on the head, then returned to the real world.
Shimotsuki village was a place with an overabundance of peace and quiet. Even the dojo, which was easy enough to find, seemed rather serene despite a few dozen students practicing in the courtyard.
It was hard to believe that a wild man like Zoro was trained here.
A bespeckled man in simple robes watched over the students. Someone less perceptive than Cherry might think he was just slacking off, but she could tell he was paying close attention to them; and to her as well, she noted.
Cherry brazenly walked right up to him without any regard for etiquette, but the man did not show any sign that he was upset or offended by this.
"Pleasant weather today, isn't it?" Shimotsuki Koushiro asked softly.
"Mm, perfect weather if you ask me," Cherry said. "For a duel, that is."
"Hmmm?" Koushiro hummed without concern.
"I, Harpin D. Cherry, chief disciple of the Harpin dojo, challenge the master of the Shimotsuki dojo to a duel!" Cherry's voice was not loud, but it echoed across the courtyard like a gong. "Only a dojo filled with fools who disgrace the way of the sword could produce a swordsman who holds a sword between his teeth like a beast!"
The students had all frozen in their positions, jaws dropped as their eyes flitted between Cherry and their master.
"I see," Koushiro said in his same lazy tone of voice, though there was an edge hidden beneath it. "I suppose that you have left me no choice…"
His students held their breath. They had never seen their master in this light before.
"I admit defeat," Koushiro took a sip of tea.
All the students promptly flopped to the ground as the tension left their bodies. Soon after, they were up on their feet, shouting at their master and demanding that he fight for the honor of the dojo. Koushiro only laughed.
"As expected, Zoro had a good teacher. Too bad that he's the sort to learn things the hard way," Cherry nodded in appreciation.
"That's true. Perhaps he would have learned more from someone like your grandmother than he did from me," Koushiro said.
"Have you met her before?" Cherry asked.
"Every five years or so, the martial arts dojos around the Four Blues meet up together. I don't normally go, but I went to the one nine years ago since they held it in East Blue that time and not too far from here. I had the good fortune to meet your grandmother there, and she talked my ear off about you," Koushiro explained.
"Did she say anything nice?" Cherry asked.
"She had nothing but complaints, I'm afraid," Koushiro gave her a cheeky smile.
"Yeah, that sounds like Grandma," Cherry nodded.
The first shocked, then angry students were now very confused. This lady just showed up out of nowhere, insulted their master and their dojo, and now they were just chatting it up like old friends.
Cherry glanced at the students with some amusement glinting in her eyes. "It looks like your students are disappointed that they didn't get the chance to watch you fight."
Koushiro looked over and his students scrambled to look like they hadn't been eavesdropping, which only made them more suspicious because they were all pretending to be doing anything except training like they were supposed to be doing.
"I don't know about that. They all seem to be busy slacking off," Koushiro said with a good natured smile.
The students, realizing their mistake, scrambled to take up their wooden blades and start swinging in a basic form.
"Perhaps a little sparring match would serve to motivate them?" Cherry said.
The students did their best not to react, but their eyes were shining in anticipation. It was rare to see their master spar with someone, and none had ever seen one that wasn't at least partly choreographed for educational purposes. Certainly they had never seen him get serious.
"That wouldn't be a very long match," Koushiro spoke with a joking provocation in his tone. "I probably wouldn't be able to make a single move against you."
"Yes you would, master!" "You're the best swordsman in the world!" "Kick her ass!" His students seemed much more sure of his victory than he did.
Cherry didn't get the sense that he was being humble, though. Either he was a very good liar, or he genuinely believed that Cherry would trounce him.
Still, she wanted to see what he could do, so she said, "I'll take a handicap, then, let you show off to your cute little students a bit before I trash you. I'll even keep my feet well away from your crotch, out of respect."
"Hmmm, that is a tempting offer…" Koushiro said, stroking his chin with a teasing smile as he watched his 'cute little students' jump around in their excitement. "I wonder if it will truly motivate them though?"
"Of course it will!" "Show us what the pinnacle of swordsmanship looks like!" "Don't hold back!"
"Very well, but if I don't see some results from your training, then we won't be doing any demonstrations like this for the foreseeable future." Koushiro stood up as his students cheered.
Both he and Cherry held their hands out and the students quickly bestowed a wooden blade in each hand. Soon they stood across from each other in the courtyard, with the students forming a semicircle around them from a distance and still hooting and hollering and jeering at Cherry.
Cherry marveled at the man. Nothing about him or the way he moved betrayed the fact that he was a warrior, let alone a swordsman. It was as if it were the very first time he'd ever held a blade.
This did not mean he was a fraud, however. Rather it meant the exact opposite, that this man had mastered his art to such a depth that he could recognize and suppress all of his habitual movements. It made him hard to read or predict.
"On my signal!" a burly looking student with bushy brows declared. Seeing both his master and Cherry nod, he shouted "Begin!"
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