Chapter 20 - Wobbly legs

(Pietas D. Gauge POV)

"Can you also train me? I need to become stronger." The new kid, Law, asked me after the girls had left to find the village. Looking down at Sugar who I was about to spar with to improve her Rokushiki I had an Idea.

"Ok I'll teach you, I planned on it anyway." He was about to speak again before I cut him off, announcing with a wide smile on my face while raising my arms grandly.

"To start with I want to see what level you're at. I was about to spar with Sugar here for her training so let's use this as an opportunity to determine where you're both at." This made both of them look at each other for a second before speaking at the same time.

"Isn't she too young to face me?."

"I don't think that's a good idea." This caused both of them to look at each other again but with different reactions this time. Law was surprised at her words while Sugar seemed to just drop her usual personality as her eyes became cold and in an expressionless voice spoke to Law.

"Get ready." Walking a little bit away from the ship Sugar got in a stance to show she was ready to fight before motioning Law to do the same. Turning his head to look at me I told him while shrugging.

"I don't know but you brought it upon yourself." Still clearly not convinced that Sugar could be a challenge for him, Law walked 5 meters away from Sugar and got in his unpracticed stance.

"Ready...Fight." As soon as the words left my mouth Law raised his arm to create a room around himself but right as his arm was in front of himself so was Sugar who had used Soru to instantly close the distance between the two while simultaneously throwing a punch hardened with Tekkai, straight at his stomach.

'Well, at least she went easy on him but still…" Stopping my thoughts I dashed forward and caught Sugar's fist before she broke Law's Ribs. Annoyed at this Sugar looked me in the eyes for a change before speaking.

"Why did you stop me? He hasn't paid yet." Her words shocked me so ignoring the gulp I heard coming from Law I asked.

"What did he do exactly to make you so mad?" Now it was Sugar's turn to be shocked as she asked me in response.

"Isn't it obvious? He insulted Sis." Now it was Law's turn to be confused as he asked.

"When did I insult Monet?" Turning to look at Law with Narrowed eyes Sugar spat out.

"When you called me weak. I'm Sis's favorite thing so insulting me like that means insulting her and no one is allowed to insult Sis." Breaking the tension in the air Geina Jumped off the deck of the ship before landing next to Sugar squatting at eye level with her ruffling her hair while speaking.

"Law didn't mean to insult her and won't anymore." Turning her head she glared at Law causing him to quickly nod his head while speaking.

"Right, I didn't mean to. I'm sorry Sugar." Turning to look back at Sugar Geina then said.

"See? It should be fine now right?" Blushing a little bit after calming down Sugar coughed into her hand while looking at the ground before speaking in a quiet voice.

"Sorry, sorry, I should have known you wouldn't insult her." Smiling at Sugar's sudden change back to her normal self Geina stood back up before looking at both the Kids and instructing them.

"Go to the ship and gather enough food for everyone to eat for dinner later. We are about to be heading out." Looking at her I was about to ask what she meant before I noticed Robin coming in our direction.

'Looks like she won.' Walking up to us Robin started to explain.

"I found the village and set it up for Emma to challenge the dojo later today." Responding to her with a smile on her face Geina praised Robin.

"I'm so glad you're on Emma's crew. I expected her to ignore the village we docked at and randomly explore for Shimotsuki village but not Monet as well."

"HAHAHA, that's because I made her think about something else. Speaking of that." Turning to look at the retreating Sugar before stopping her with her ability and then walking towards her Robin continued speaking.

"I now have the power to now choose Monet's mask but I don't care so you can choose it but don't let her know. I want her to think I chose it so she doesn't like it." At first, being confused as to why she was stopped now Sugar held a smug smile.

"SHUSHUSHU, you underestimate our bond. She will know that I chose her mask even if I don't tell her." Ignoring Sugar's confident words Robin patted her head before turning to look at me.

"Can you go get Emma and Monet?"

"Yeah, that would be best." Agreeing to her request I asked Geina for both their locations before heading off to get them so we can regroup at the ship.

After retrieving both of them and bringing them back to the docks I couldn't help but ask. "How did you both manage to end up on opposite sides of the island nowhere near the village's location?"

Sighing Emma then shrugged her shoulders. "I follow my heart. Given time I would have been correctly guided to it."

Scoffing at Emma's words Monet pointed at her eyes shamelessly ignoring the glasses she had on.

"YAYAYA, at least Robin knows how to find things." This seemed to shock Monet before a look of realization and then horror appeared on her face for some reason. Pointing to her while looking at Emma I was about to ask before she told me.

"Don't worry about it." Nodding at her words I let Monet have her breakdown in peace while we all prepared to head to Shimotsuki dojo. Once we were at the mountain range Robin had us all line up before saying,

"I'm going to throw us all over and then catch us on the other side." Ignoring the protest from Monet, Sugar, and Law Robin created giant hands and grabbed them before also making ones for the rest of us to climb into ourselves, Emma and I were excited to get thrown over a mountain while Geina also seemed to find it amusing.

After being caught on the other side and being sat down Sugar was about to cry while Monet, on wobbly legs with a shaking voice, tried to calm her down. Law however didn't seem fazed by being thrown just annoyed at it.

'He must have had a high-flying childhood….I need to work on my dad's jokes more before I say them aloud' After a while of me being lost in thought about making jokes we finally reached Shimotsuki village without anything else of note happening.

(Shimotsuki Kuina POV)

'One of these days I won't be able to fight with them anymore.' Looking around myself I found everyone in the dojo sparring with someone else. Looking down at my chest that's starting to show I couldn't help but curse in my mind.

'Why did I have to be Born as a woman, If I was just born a man.' Stopping my thoughts there I sighed while getting ready for my inevitable daily fight with Zoro.

'It's only a matter of time before he beats me.' Watching the dojo door he arrived after a few more minutes but he wasn't alone this time. Standing next to him was a girl who was a little older than me with long black hair. Looking around until she spotted my Dad she walked up to him before asking.

"Could I assume you're the one in charge of this dojo?" Slightly nodding his head with his regular small smile on his face, dad answered her.

"Correct, my name is Shimotsuki Koushirou, the master of this Isshin Dojo. May I ask what your name is?" Smiling back, the girl said.

"Nico Robin, Sorry for the suddenness of it but my friend would like to challenge the strongest person in this dojo later today."

"Could I ask you why?" Shaking her head Nico Robin answered.

"She will tell you when she beats you and your father." Her response shocked me and I asked.

"You want to challenge grandfather also?" Looking at me in surprise for a second she asked me a question instead of answering mine.

"Are you Kuina?" Nodding in confirmation at her question I was about to ask her how she knew my name before she spoke again.

"Your Grandad is from Wano so obviously the strongest person on this island so of course, he'll need to be here." Dad's eyes were now shot open in surprise for some reason but not letting him ask anything Nico Robin said.

"I'll be back soon with everyone." As soon as she said that she disappeared from where she was just standing nowhere to be seen. Looking at my Dad I asked.

"What happened to her?" After a few seconds of staring at the door of the dojo, Dad pushed up his glasses and exhaled slowly.

"She kicked the ground below her 17 times in a split second causing her to dash out of the dojo at an insane speed."

"What?" Looking at the door where she left I couldn't help but ask.

"How? She only looked a few years older than me and there's no way I could achieve that feat by her age." Walking up to me Zoro got angry at my words.

"What are you saying, Kuina? You can also become that strong if you train hard like me now stop thinking about stupid stuff and duel me." Looking at Zoro I couldn't help but crack a small smile.

'I wonder how long you'll be able to say that?' Grabbing a wooden sword I got ready to face Zoro who was using three again.

"Why are you still using three swords?" Looking back at me he took the sword out of his mouth before saying.

"Two swords aren't enough to beat you so I need to use three." Putting the practice sword back in his mouth Zoro got in a stance and waited for me too as well. Getting ready I looked over at Dad who had been staring at Zoro since he put the third sword in his mouth.

"Is something wrong?" Looking at me he shook his head before signaling us to prepare.

"Fight in 3...2...1" As soon as he said one I dashed forward and swung down on Zoro causing him to block with all three swords. He was about to try and push back but noticing his legs and arms start to tense I jumped backward slightly catching him off guard as he pushed his swords forward causing him to trip slightly before I used this chance to quickly change the grip I had on my sword swinging it up towards his chin sending him flying in the air a few feet before slamming on the ground.

"Match Winner, Kuina, 1988 Wins, 0 Loses," Dad announced at the side. Slowly standing up Zoro rubbed his chin before speaking.

"One of these days I'll beat you." A bitter smile formed on my face for a second after he said that but quickly removing it I responded.

"I'm sure you will." Annoyed, Zoro was about to argue with me before dad cut him off.

"Kuina, we need to go see Grandfather." This made both me and Zoro look at him with confusion clear on our faces and after realizing he wasn't joking I asked.

"Does Grandad need to come out for this?" Nodding his head before sighing Dad told the both of us.

"I don't even know if I could beat that girl named Robin and I can only assume her friend is stronger." Thinking about the girl for a second I had a question about something she said but before I could ask Dad about it I heard a voice from behind us.

"No need to come and get me. I've been here the entire time, you're getting sloppy Koushirou." Hearing Grandad caused both Zoro and I to jump in shock while Dad only chuckled.

"I guess I am." Looking back at Grandad he asked.

"What are we going to do?" Scoffing while looking at Dad, Grandad answered.

"What else can we do but fight? I sensed them when they arrived on the island, two of them are much stronger than me while the other two, one of whom being that girl, are around my strength." Grandad admitting that girl from earlier is as strong as him shocked all of us.

'How is that possible. If she can become that strong then that means I can? No, she is probably just an outlier.' Sighing to myself I then heard Grandad say another thing while looking at Dad who was still in shock.

"You can at least compare to the other three I didn't mention." Pushing up his glasses Dad asked in a serious tone.

"So seven people total, most of them being as strong if not stronger than you." Shaking his head Grandad replied.

"Seven in total, two stronger than me, two my strength, and three around your strength."

"So we just wait for them?" Nodding Grandad answered while going to sit down.

"That's right, they don't seem to have any hostile intent or I would have already evacuated the village." That caused Dad and I to sigh in relief before I remembered my question, so looking at grandad I asked.

"That girl said you are from Wano. Does that mean something?" Shaking his head before motioning me to sit next to him he replied while sitting his hand on my head.

"Don't worry about where we came from, that isn't important now." I wanted to ask more but it was clear Grandad didn't want to talk about it. Walking towards Grandad Zoro asked.

"How do you know how many people came and their strength without seeing them?" Smiling like Dad, Grandad gave Zoro the same answer he always gives to questions about his strange abilities.

"You'll know when the time comes."

"Tsk, everything is always so mystical with you." After saying that Zoro went to do handstand pushups using only one finger on each hand and the rest of us waited for the challenger's arrival in silence.