Chapter 60: Departure.

Two days later.

...

Tah!

Tah! Tah!

Tah! Tah! Tah!

Tah! Tah...!

On a certain lowland of a certain island, the striking sound of shinais clashing against one another kept resounding out in the air since the very first light of the sun has enlightened this beautiful day.

Tah! Tah!

Fortunately, the said lowland had a lot of distance away from any house making so that those annoying sound didn't reach the houses in the surrounding.

Tah! Tah! Tah! Tah!

The two perpetrators of this noise were a black-haired boy and a green-haired boy namely Edam the falling star, and Zoro the green brute.

At the side, a couple of meters away, a blue-haired girl was sitting quietly watching the contest going on between the two guy. This girl was of course the sword genius, Kuina. Her gaze was concentrated and even piercing analysing the fight thoroughly, searching for any weak points that she could possibly use against this monster of Edam...

On top of her head, a full dark and small bird ressembling a cute miniature eagle could be seen lying there as if it was its nest showing no shame nor respect to her and weirdly it didn't seemed to bother her that much too.

That bird was in fact Black Snow or called "little guy" by Edam. Anyway the said little guy had a day ago appeared out of nowhere and flew right toward Edam's face and nearly hit it if not for Edam's reflexes.

The little guy was a bit stupid and had the weird habit to rush at people's faces or belly... but it was kind of cute so...

And it really made Edam happy to see this little guy. After they had reach dawn island, black snow had immediately left his side to explore the island and mess around a bit and so he didn't have any news about it since then.

During the two days, her and Zoro had continuously challenge him and they... They surprisingly had some victories added to their track record. Althought it was purely based on their skills and not their overall strenght, it was still something to win against him.

Indeed, it has been two days now, and it would be the last day that Edam would stay here as the ship would come to pick him up this afternoon.

And so this also mark the last day of their training with him... a training which has been really fruitful to say the least. Training with someone who could improved at such a tremendeous speed was maybe a bit frustrating at first but afterward the gains coming out of it were just as nice considering the small amount of time they spent together.

However do not be mistaken... it was not in any way funny to spar with Edam...

Everytime they found a flaw, he would corrected it right away on the spot making it harder and harder to beat him in the next spar, and this case happened again and again and again continuously for two days straight... truly a nightmare for sparring partners.

...

Anyway, concerning Edam this time, what seemed to be a smile would flitted across his lips from time to time... although it seems to be a sad one...

There was only when it was time to eat that a true and genuine smile would appeared on his face as he engulfed the massive amount of foods down his stomach.

Apart from eating dinner with Koushirou and Kuina (and Zoro sometimes) he would sometimes go to the mountain to hunt down some additional preys to eat as the daily portion wasn't enough to satisfy his bottomless pit of a stomach's needs.

It was again a wonder how his stomach could contain so much foods, a wonder indeed...

But this maybe explained why he was so powerfull as such an age. A dragon no matter how small it is need a massive amount of nutrients right ? Maybe it was the same for him ?

Anyway the spar finished after four hours of practice long enough for the sun to brighten this small island as Zoro and Kuina fell down on the ground in exhaustion.

"Well... I guess that's it for now huh..." Edam let out a breath and looked at both of them lying down on the ground with a small smile, his shinai resting on his right shoulder.

"...You just wait a bit... I will beat you someday...!" Zoro said at him while still laying on the ground.

"Well I will wait for this day to come then..." Edam laughed lightly as he added.

"But... before thinking about beating me, you should think about how to beat her first." He pointed at Kuina who was just beside him.

"Beside I'm really looking forward to the day where both of you will compete over the title of strongest swordman." Edam said with a lot expectation in the depht of his eyes.

"And you ? Don't you want to be the strongest swordman too, you seem to have the qualification to do so..." Kuina asked Edam.

"Hum... I will pratice it from time to time but I don't have this dream, you two will have to find out about who is the strongest." He smile at them.

"And of course I will win...!" Zoro said with a somewhat wicked smile.

"Dream on... I won't be surpassed by you... not in this life nor in the next...!" Kuina glanced at him and exclaimed proudly as a reply.

And so they began to bicker as it end up in a fight that Zoro obviously lost.

...

Afterward, the three of them left the lowland and returned to the dojo where Koushirou the dojo master was already teaching some people, men and children.

Seeing the three approaching, Koushirou said.

"Edam the ship is already here waiting at the port, I think they are supplying themselves so you should have some times left."

"Oh, thanks for the infos Koushirou-san I will go see it-..."

Growl...!

"..."

"Ha..haha...sorry, I didn't eat anything yet because they dragged me out early in the morning..." Edam rubbed his head embarrassedly.

"Oh, then how about we make a small feast for your departure alright ?" Koushirou suggested as he smiled gently.

"Uh no need to-..." Edam want to refuse politely but didn't even get to finished that a burst of happy "Yessss...!" reverberate in the air, coming from disciples training at the side.

Zoro "..."

Kuina "..."

Koushirou "..."

"..." Edam looked at them in surprise and then thought. 'Those poor guys are even happier than me..."

"Well I guess it will be a rather big one then." Koushirou then turn to Edam again while smiling a bit and said.

"Uh...alright..." He was already informed that Zaz and the sisters weren't going to come and were waiting at dawn island for a certain reason.

So why not stay for a bit longer...

...

And so a big feast was organized... where everyone got to fill their stomach happily.

Apart from disciples and such, there were even some citizens present who brought their own foods too.

Zoro even tried to get some sake but was busted by Kuina who reported it to her father who then reprimended him.

A lot of other jokes and such happened throughout the party and so fun was present from beginning to end.

...

*A hour after the party ended*

What had to come did come.

Everyone was present on the port... Zoro, Kuina, Koushirou, and even the disciples that were learning at the dojo were there to say their goodbyes to Edam... Even though Edam himself was kind of wondering why they were here as he didn't even know the names of the half of the half of them...

But it still touched him though...

Edam was standing at one side with Black Snow on his head ruffling his hairs into a mess while everyone else were on anlther side.

"Well those few days together have been fun... I guess..."

Edam said to Kuina an Zoro, to which both of them snorted and thought. 'Speak for yourself...'

"Oh right, here..." Edam exclaimed and took out the heavy shinai (that he would keep around him to play-...to train with whenever he was bored) and hand it over to Koushirou but the latter decided to gifted him the shinai instead saying.

"Keep it you won't forget us this way maybe..."

"Oh in that case thank you very much, I will take care of it, it's a promise and thank you for everything you did for me during those two days." Edam bowed his head slightly in gratitude and kept the shinai.

Koushirou just nodded at his gesture and said.

"Take care of you, and do train your swordmanship when you have time to."

"And do not forget to breath with each swings Edam..."

"Hum...I will..." Edam nodded at his words and then made his way to the deck before turning around to face them all.

"Then goodbye all of you, take care of yourselves." He said and added.

"Kuina, think about what I told you and do consider what I've suggested to you yesterday..." Edam smile faintly as he said.

She just nodded at him " Hum..." not wasting more words than needed.

"And Zoro keep it up, you will surely become a great swordman in the future." Edam put his right thumb up and then began to wave his hands in the air to say his goodbyes.

"Yea-...Yeah..." Zoro grimaced and waved his hand too awkwardly.

After a while, the ship was just a small dot going far away into the distance.

...

Edam who was still on the deck with his elbows resting on the border could, unlike the rest of anyone, still see Zoro, Kuina in the distance bickering like they are so use to.

He smiled faintly at that but then his eyes blanked slightly as he next wore a thoughtful face.

There was one thing that's been on his mind for a long time now, going in and out of his mind continuously.

How did he reach this island ? and why this island in particular...?

Well... he had already resolve the question about how... and it seems that his assumption about being able to fly wasn't just a joke or a dream coming out of his mind, it was a fact.

As for the why this island, he didn't have any reliable clues but just one single strange info from Kuina and Zoro.

Apparently, nearly on the same day that he fell from the sky, a weird looking ship with a dragon's bow appeared to asked the dojo for some supplies or so.

And from some other disciples, this ship came from right from dawn island...

A coincidence...? Maybe... but that is one hell of a strange coincidence then...

But anyway as it was just an improbable assumption he didn't really put it much thought about it and just looked at the sea.

After all even if there was much more to guess, the said ship was already far away, there was nigh no chance that he could possibly find it.

...

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My mistakes please...😪

Thanks...