East Blue
On a fairly ordinary island with many villages.
But one of these villages was a bit special.
This village was called Shimotsuki, after its founder, Shimotsuki Kozaburo.
Kozaburo was a famous blacksmith from the Wano Country, who created two kinds of meito O Wazamono: Wado Ichimonji and Enma.
Many years ago, he secretly left the closed Wano Country, taking Wado Ichimonji with him, and went to East Blue, later settling on one of the many ordinary islands.
There he founded his dojo.
It is called Isshin Dojo, which is now run by Kozaburo's son, Shimotsuki Koushiro.
Not far from the dojo, on the outskirts of Shimotsuki village, a large crowd of people gathered.
The atmosphere here was very somber and depressed.
"I'm sorry... we can't pay such a sum."
Koushiro bowed in front of a dozen pirates and handed them a small bag, "This is all the money my dojo could raise, spare the village, please..."
"That's all?!"
The man leading the group of pirates reached out and snatched the bag of money from Koushiro's hands, then weighed it and snorted coldly, "Yes, you must have hidden most of the money!"
The pirate stepped forward and grabbed Koushiro by the collar, lifting him up in front of him, then grinned cruelly, " Don't play jokes in front of me, our boss is that golden lion! If you don't give me the money, your village will be annihilated!!!"
"This is really all the money."
Koushiro looked at the pirate who was holding him by the neck and said helplessly, "Please.... let us go..."
"Shut up!"
The pirate roared furiously and waved his hand, knocking Koushiro over.
Koushiro flew a few meters and crashed with a clatter into a building on the outskirts of town, but it seemed that he wasn't hurt at all.
He sighed helplessly and stood up, intending to continue negotiating with the pirates.
But.
Just at this moment, the voices of two children came from the side.
"Father!"
"Master!"
Two children ran out of the village and shouted loudly when they saw what was happening.
It was a girl and a boy.
The girl, who looked to be about twelve or eleven years old, had short hair and wore simple clothes, but held a sword in a white scabbard, which was one of the meito class of O Wazamono: Wado Ichimonji.
The short green-haired boy who ran beside the girl carried two simple swords in his hands and his gaze was filled with anger.
Shimotsuki Kuina!
Roronoa Zoro!
"Bastards..."
Zoro pulled his swords out of their sheaths and glared coldly at the pirates.
Kuina raised the Wado Ichimonji in front of her and looked worriedly at the large number of pirates in front of her.
"Kuina! Zoro!"
When Koushiro shouted, in an attempt to stop Zoro and Kuina, the pirates had already turned their attention to them.
The pirate leading the group laughed out loud, looking at Kuina and Zoro holding swords in their hands, "Hahaha, where did puppies like you get real swords from? do you really think you can cut me with them?!"
"You're not welcome here."
Kuina said quietly.
Zoro exclaimed angrily, looking at the group of pirates in front of him, "Get out of here!!!"
"Ha ha ha, you arrogant puppies."
The pirate laughed loudly and pulled his sword out of the scabbard, coldly addressing Kuina and Zoro, "Now uncle will play with you!!!"
Klang!!!
At the moment of the sword clash, many flashs flew sideways.
Two Zoro swords and one Kuina sword.
Three swords got in the way of the pirate's sword, but Zoro and Kuina were still not strong enough to stop this attack.
Zoro and Kuina are the geniuses of their dojo, far surpassing any of their peers, but at this moment, a pirate with a bounty of 3 million belli was standing in front of the two children!
The children simply couldn't resist such an opponent!
"Ah..."
Kuina and Zoro's feet began to slip on the ground, and their hands were shaking violently.
"Where did these puppies come from?"
The pirate was a little surprised when his punch, in which he invested more than two-thirds of the force, failed to sweep Zoro and Kuina away in one blow.
But then he snorted coolly and intensified the attack, abruptly throwing the two boys backwards.
Whoosh!!!
The pirate immediately ran straight at Kuina, not hesitating at all because of the fact that they are children.
Kuina was very frightened, but she still gripped the hilt of her sword tightly and responded to the oncoming pirate's attack with a shout.
Klang!!!
The sound of clashing metal thundered.
Kuina's hands shook violently, unable to hold the hilt of her sword.
Wado Ichimonji fell from her hands, flying several meters to the side.
"Kuina!!!"
Zoro exclaimed loudly and without hesitation ran towards the pirate in an attempt to help Kuina.
The pirate smiled disdainfully and waved his sword wildly.
Klang!
After a brief collision, Zoro's swords also flew to the side.
"Die, puppy!!!"
The pirate grinned bloodthirstily and with a shout waved his sword, intending to cut Zoro's body into two pieces.
Zoro's eyes snapped open and his hands shook violently.
The swords were already missing, so he could only move his arms unconsciously in an attempt to block this attack.
The moment the pirate's sword was about to cut Zoro's hands, along with his entire body, into two pieces, a helpless sigh came from one side.
In the next moment.
Klang!!!
The sound of clashing swords resounded.
Wado Ichimonji appeared in front of Zoro, firmly blocking the pirate's sword.
But the person holding Wado Ichimonji was not Kuina, but Koushiro!
"Father!"
Kuina, who was standing nearby, exclaimed loudly.
"Master..."
Zoro staggered backwards and fell to the ground.
His clothes were drenched in cold sweat and his chest was throbbing rapidly.
"We're going to be in big trouble..."
Koushiro sighed helplessly, gripping the hilt of the Wado Ichimonji tightly.
Whoosh!!!
In the next instant, Koushiro's figure became a blur and disappeared before the pirate's eyes.
The pirate's eyes snapped open, filled with horror and incomprehension.
A straight, bloody line appeared on the pirate's body, from his left shoulder to his right side.
Pooh!
The pirate's body shuddered and fell limply to the ground, accompanied by many splashes of blood gushing from the cut.