6. Special Training

With his chakra unlocked, Zoro can finally start his real training. He will start training his swordsmanship now. His training starts the next day after he unlocked his chakra.

"Wait! Who will teach me the swordsmanship? Will it be you, Torao?"

"No. I am a cat, so I can't teach a human how to use swords."

"Huh? Then how will I train? You don't expect me to just read books about swordsmanship, right? I don't think that will work."

"Of course, that won't work. That's why God has prepared a special training method for you."

Torao tells Zoro to sit cross-legged and close his eyes. Then Torao sits on his lap and suddenly Zoro's surroundings change. He suddenly appears in a dojo that looks very similar to the one that One Piece's Zoro used to train in the past.

"T-this is...."

"This is Shimotsuki Village's dojo that the character Roronoa Zoro used to train in his childhood."

Torao suddenly appears beside him.

"T-then, are we in One Piece world now?"

"No, this is simply an illusion, a very powerful illusion that I made, a Genjutsu."

"What?!"

"This is a special genjutsu God created just for you to train your swordsmanship. You will train your skills here every day to make you understand Roronoa Zoro's swordsmanship."

Suddenly, a tall and muscular figure with green hair appears in front of them.

"This is your instructor, the copy of One Piece's Roronoa Zoro. Well, calling it a copy is also wrong. You can say he is an illusory being made based on the real Roronoa Zoro. He doesn't have Roronoa Zoro's personality and only has his skills that he will teach you. But be careful, he is a strict instructor."

Zoro gulps his saliva while looking at the adult 'Zoro'. Then with that, his training in the genjutsu realm starts.

"THAT'S WRONG! IF YOU HOLD YOUR SWORD LIKE THAT, YOU WILL BREAK YOUR WRISTS SOONER OR LATER. YOUR STANCE IS ALSO WRONG! IT NEEDS TO BE LOWER!"

Instructor Zoro is really strict with his teaching and he keeps yelling at Zoro.

"Hmm, calling you both Zoro is making me confused. Then I will call him Instructor Marimo to make it easier."

"W-what are you saying, Torao? Huft, huft..."

"Nothing, just talking to myself."

"DON'T GET DISTRACTED, YOU LITTLE SHRIMP! DO YOU THINK THE PATH OF SWORD IS EASY?"

Zoro is still training the basic which is just the basic stance and the basic swing. He still just uses 1 sword instead of 3 right away because it's still the basic. But it's already very difficult because Instructor Marimo's training is too harsh.

He trains in the genjutsu realm for just an hour because it's the limit of this genjutsu techniuqe. So he needs to continue training in real life to make good progress. Torao prepares the necessary tools like bamboo swords and a dummy for him to train in the real world.

In the real world, he doesn't just train his swordsmanship, but also his physical power and chakra control. Instructor Marimo only teaches swordsmanship skills and theories. For physical training, Zoro learns it from books, and Torao teaches him chakra control.

His daily training routines since that day are physical training in the morning, swordsmanship training in the afternoon, and chakra control training in the evening. He does all that while still hunting animals with traps too.

His days are getting harder each day, but he is actually enjoying it now. It is very tiring and he feels like dying almost every day with all his harsh training. But it's also very fun seeing himself get better and stronger every day.

He never had something he enjoyed doing and wanted to do out of his own will before. In his past life, he just did things out of necessities to survive. Now, he actually finds something he loves and earnestly wants to be good at.

He doesn't have a grand dream like the real Zoro who wants to be the Strongest Swordsman in the World. What he wants is simply being better and better every day in his swordsmanship. He wants to keep growing until he reaches his limit.

"What will you do once you hit your limit?"

"Then it will be the end."

"Huh? You give up just like that? I thought you would say you'll break that limit."

"Torao, if a limit can be broken, then that's not the limit. That's simply an obstacle I need to break through. A limit is the end of the way. It's like death. When people die, that means they have reached the limit of their life. There's nothing they can do about it. But if they are sick, then no matter how serious their illness is, there is always a chance of them getting cured even if it's very low."

".... I never thought about it like that."

"No one actually knows their limit. When they think they've reached their limit, they might actually just encounter a very big obstacle that they can't break through. Then they either give up before breaking it or they lose the chance to break that obstacle forever if they die."

Torao is very shocked right now. He isn't shocked by Zoro's theory, but more shocked by the fact that Zoro can think of all of those things.

"A-Alright then, work hard."

Torao says that with a disbelief expression. He just doesn't know that Zoro once heard it from his colleague who repeated what his boss said. It just sounds cool, so he remembered it even though it was just the boss's way to make the employees work harder.

Anyway, it's aligned with Zoro's current wish. What he wants is just to keep growing until he really can't grow anymore. If then he becomes the strongest, then so be it, it's just a bonus of him growing stronger.

"In my past life, I was dreaming of being a very rich person who lives in a big mansion and being served by many servants. But when I read the stories, I realized how fascinating this world is. There are places that I want to see myself like the hidden villages, the giant frog's mountain, the snail's forest, the snake's cave, and many more. Having money is important, but it is just a tool to help me get what I want and now I want to see the world and get stronger."

"Getting stronger, huh? What a typical dream for people in the world of power."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, it's not wrong, just that it's very generic."

"Well, it's not like I want to be a Kage or get those important positions. Being free is the best. I can do anything I want and go anywhere I want. But I also need power to make sure no one can get in my way."

"Don't you want to change the story now that you know what will happen?"

"Why should I? It's not like I have an obligation to do something. They are also strangers to me, so I don't need to help them. It's not like they are my friends or family. I'll just do what I want without thinking about them. Besides, they are ninjas, right? They are trained to fight and they should be ready to die anytime. So even if it looks pitiful in the story, the death of many characters is something that they should be ready for as ninjas. The same also applies to those people in One Piece as they are pirates or Marines. If something happens in the future that makes me need to interfere with the story, then I'll do it then. But I don't care about being involved or not in the story. I want to enjoy my 2nd life for myself. This is my life and I will dedicate it for myself, not others who are unrelated to me."

Once again, Torao is surprised by what Zoro says. This time, what Zoro says truly comes from himself, from his feelings and desires. If he devotes himself to change the plot of the story, then his 2nd life will be meaningless because he gets it in exchange for the years of life he lost in his past life.

For him, helping others is not wrong, it's good. But if that costs him his happiness, then he won't do it. He will help if he has the ability and time to do it. Helping when he's unable to is the same as giving others false hope

"I will pursue my own happiness and now what gives me happiness is getting stronger, so I'll keep getting stronger."

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