Chapter 406 - Kuraigana Island.

Chapter Size: 2300 Words.]

Third Person POV

New Word.

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The ship, with a giant snail guiding it, advanced through other waters of the New World as they approached a mysterious island, following the Eternal Pose that Luffy had given them. Finally, the island was near, and Kuraigana Island was right in front of everyone on the ship.

The first thing noticed about this place was the thick, almost ghostly mist covering the entire island before they could get a better look at anything else on it.

"Well, we've finally arrived," Zoro commented on the ship while adjusting his sword.

"Not thanks to you, is it?" Kuina teased from the side, as Zoro had wanted to take a different route than the one Luffy had suggested, claiming his intuition sensed a shortcut. Obviously, if it had been up to Zoro to navigate, they'd be heading back to the East Blue by now.

Thanks to the giant snail, which had followed Luffy's Eternal Pose on its own, they had finally reached the destination.

"That's not true!" Zoro denied with a grimace.

"Yohohoho!" Brook appeared at that moment, patting Zoro on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Zoro-san, the important thing is that we've arrived," he said.

"Hey! So, you're agreeing with her?" Zoro exclaimed, making another face at Brook.

"Woolf, Woolf!" Chouchou began approaching the edge, barking as the group reached the location.

"Anyway, so this is the place where the world's greatest swordsman lives?" Kuina said, still surprised after receiving that information from Luffy.

"Seems like it. I'm looking forward to seeing him so we can finally decide who's the strongest in the world. I've got all my swords sharpened for this," Zoro commented, tightening his grip on his sword.

"You're that excited...? But why don't I sense any powerful presence coming from this island?" Kuina remarked.

"Yeah, Mihawk isn't on the island," Zoro admitted, having already scouted with his Haki long before their ship approached it.

"Then why were you so happy and acting like he was here?" Kuina exclaimed, frowning.

And so they headed for the island, with the snail finally stopping at an old and abandoned port on the island.

Their feet touched the ground as everyone disembarked. They entered a ruined gate town.

"This place is really strange..." Kuina commented.

"Do you think there are ghosts here?!" Brook couldn't help but express his fear.

"WOOLF!" Chouchou mocked him with the irony of him being a walking skeleton.

"Anyway, let's explore. Luffy said we might find good challenges here, with those monkeys," Zoro mentioned, and they began exploring the island shortly after.

"So, this is where we're supposed to find the creatures the Captain asked for?" Brook murmured, looking around.

"Yes... Chouchou already picked up their scent..." Kuina said as Chouchou led the way.

Luffy had asked them to capture a good number of Human Drills, which are highly intelligent gorillas that learn quickly. He had sent this team here specifically to collect some of these creatures, as he wanted to work with his scientists to develop them further. These were the only creatures Luffy didn't have on the Sky Island and ones he certainly coveted to use in his training fields, or perhaps even create his personal army, since they were even more special than dinosaurs.

He had also made sure to send Zoro and Kuina, as his best swordsmen, despite thinking it was still too early for Zoro to receive the title of the world's greatest swordsman. They could certainly hold off Mihawk to capture the creatures and leave the island with their current strength.

"Woolf, woolf!" Chouchou barked, drawing everyone's attention as he looked toward a huge castle ahead, appearing through the mist. It was Mihawk's house, the greatest swordsman in the world.

"It's a shame he's not here..." Zoro said with some disappointment.

"Let's put that aside and follow Chouchou," Kuina said as the group's dog headed toward a forest in another direction, and they followed.

It didn't take long for them to spot some small primates watching them from the forest at a distance. The creatures began running deeper into the forest after they had seen enough of the group.

Everyone noticed it, but no one cared as they patiently waited at the entrance of the forest, already knowing what would happen. A commotion started inside, and heavy footsteps began approaching them, with a group of gorillas of various sizes marching towards them in a manner that resembled humans walking while carrying things, leaving some surprised.

"The captain was really right... They even use firearms. I wonder how he knows such precise and detailed things..." Brook commented, looking at the monkeys holding pistols and rifles, wearing armor as they advanced toward the group.

"Well, these ones aren't very important, but those with swords, especially that one coming over here, are interesting..." Zoro added, now sensing a strong presence coming from behind those gorillas.

A huge shadow emerged from the forest mist, as the other monkeys cleared the way for this one, suggesting it was the most powerful among them. A 10-meter-tall gorilla appeared with a massive sword on its back, which seemed to be a copy of Mihawk's black blade, Yoru. It advanced calmly towards the group as the ground cracked with its steps.

"So big, Yohohoho!" Brook commented, laughing.

Zoro grinned at that moment, stepping forward. "Who's going to face him? Let me start." He said as he walked, but soon a sword in a white sheath blocked his path.

"No. You already fought Mihawk at Marineford. Now let me see how his copy fights..." Kuina said, ending with a firm tone.

Although Zoro wanted to protest, he eventually relented. He had already fought Mihawk, and it wouldn't be fair not to let his childhood friend have the opportunity to face the power of the current strongest swordsman in the world, especially since Zoro could feel how this giant gorilla resembled the powerful swordsman.

In the next moment, Kuina approached the group as she drew her sword from its sheath, Hyōrinmaru, which emitted a frosty glow.

"Let's begin, then." Kuina said, moving alone against all the monkeys. She advanced swiftly the next moment as all the monkeys, offended by having only one of the four challengers approach, charged at her to kill her quickly.

The other three just watched as Kuina rushed towards the group, and a battle erupted, with explosions dominating the scene as they fought each other. Time passed, with the battle growing in intensity, but Kuina didn't use her Shiva transformation. Instead, she relied solely on her speed, strength, techniques, and her own swordsmanship.

It was only after an hour that things finally calmed down. The entire forest was frozen, with massive ice pillars rising into the sky, filled with the bodies of gorillas scattered throughout the area. Most of them were frozen inside blocks of ice, unable to move.

The three companions merely watched as their comrade fought. "Looks like it's over..." Zoro murmured.

"Yes... Kuina-san is very strong. Yohohohoho!" Brook laughed.

Kuina stood in the middle of all the chaos, and the sound of her sword being sheathed was heard as she looked at all the opponents she had defeated, scattered around the area. The main gorilla, with its massive body, lay on the ground in front of her, heavily wounded, while its giant sword lay a short distance away after its defeat. She hadn't managed to freeze it because it was too strong, so she had to cut it down until it was defeated.

She simply sighed and returned to her companions. "Well, let's start bringing them to the ship," she said.

"Alright." Zoro agreed as Brook ran to the ship.

Chouchou barked, transforming into a Cerberus, while Brook returned at that moment with giant chains. He quickly dashed with his bony legs to chain up the gorillas in the forest. Zoro grabbed the enormous chain Brook had brought, and with Chouchou, began dragging all the defeated gorillas that had been tied to the main chain, moving them back toward the shore, creating a trail with the bodies of the gorillas as they approached the ship.

Thus, they began loading all the animals onto the ship when they arrived back in that abandoned town. The snail ship was large enough to accommodate even the entire Germa Kingdom before Luffy claimed it for himself, so it wasn't difficult to lock all those animals aboard. They chained them up on the boat and started preparing to depart, having nothing else to do on the island.

"Well, that was pretty easy," Brook couldn't help but comment as the ship began to move away from the island.

"It certainly was good training," Kuina said, satisfied. She hadn't even been injured, but she enjoyed testing her skills against those creatures.

"I hope Luffy makes them stronger so they're more challenging..." Zoro remarked, looking at the massive gorilla that was a copy of Mihawk. He had also wanted to fight the creatures, knowing he'd have more opportunities, with Luffy intending to modify them to be even more powerful.

"Well, Luffy said they learn our abilities. They've probably already picked up on Kuina's attacks, so they'll naturally be stronger," Brook added.

"If the captain and the scientists modify them like the other beasts, they'd be perfect for training. Even more so once they learn Haki..." Kuina added.

And so, the ship began to leave the island, heading back to Dressrosa. Several days passed, and a small boat with sails appeared near the island, approaching.

A man, carrying a massive sword on his back, was finally returning home to rest for a while before setting off in search of new challenges on the sea.

However, as soon as he set foot on the island, he knew someone had been there. Seeing the large tracks in the earth, the result of the gorillas' bodies being dragged to the shore, he decided to investigate rather than heading straight to his castle.

Surprised, he found his forest, where the resident monkeys that lived on the island with him, frozen in several places, even though the ice had clearly been created days ago.

"My intuition wasn't wrong... something happened on this island." He murmured, since a few days ago, his attention had been drawn to this direction while he was sailing the sea. So, he came here immediately.

Approaching the ice, he touched it, his eyes gleaming. He knew exactly whose ice it was, having seen it at Marineford.

"They were here... Could it have been to challenge me?" He reflected for a moment, looking at the frozen forest. "They've certainly grown stronger. The girl... she seems even more skilled than when she fought with the Straw Hat a year ago when she transformed into Shiva, but she's certainly a swordsman, and appears very talented. The presence of Roronoa Zoro was also here." He analyzed.

"Well, it seems that, by fate, we didn't meet. But I eagerly await our encounter, Roronoa Zoro." Mihawk murmured, leaving the frozen forest behind, not particularly bothered, even though many of the monkeys were missing. He returned to his castle, which was untouched, where he would drink some wine and rest in the coming days.

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