It's a Promise

Author note.

So a few people have been wondering why Miles is not super overpowered yet, even after training for 24 years in the time chamber. There are 2 reasons for this, the first is because Miles only spent half of his time training, the other half was spent building technology and weapons for his crew. The second reason is that, while in the time chamber, he does not age. Miles went into the chamber 24 times. That's is once a month, for 24 months, meaning 2 years outside of the chamber. He only has the body of a 10-year-old. I might not have explained this well enough in the earlier chapters, but I hope this clears up this misunderstanding.

Don't worry, I've mentioned this before and I will do it again now. Miles and his will be unstoppable when they officially start their journey in 7 years. So just wait for a few more chapters until the real story begins.

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Miles looked around and saw the blood and bodies of many dead fish-men, littered across the ground. He took a large black, plastic-like material then used transmutation on it to cut it, and cover all of the bodies in it, making multiple body bags. Miles then used devil fruit powers to clean the soil of any blood and push the scent of death away. He put the heads of Chew, Kuroobi and Arlong in his inventory for later, when he turns in the bounty. After he was done, the girls walked over to him and glared at him.

"What?" He asked, confused as to why they were angry.

"How long were you watching us before you decided to step in?" Nami asked. Miles now understanding why they were mad hesitated to answer for a second.

{Ooooohh, you're in trouble.} Chloe said while mockingly extending the word 'trouble'.

'Shut up!' "...Umm, when Belle-mere said she was a marine."

"""""You were here the entire time? Why didn't you help us!?"""" They all said in sync.

"....Well, you didn't look like you needed it," Miles said in a small voice.

"Then why did you but into our fight at the end?" Nami asked with a slightly annoyed face.

"...." Miles stayed quiet because he didn't want them to know why joined the fight, that was already won. Unfortunately for him, Nojiko knew him too well.

"You did it to look cool, didn't you. She said as she crossed her arms. With the cat out of the bag, Miles glanced at them, shrugged his shoulders and asked.

"...Didn't it look cool though?"

*Sigh* The 4 girls sighed and thought in their head: 'It did look cool', Of course, they would never tell him that, so they just rolled their eyes at him.

A few minutes later Genzo, Dr. Nako, and the other villagers arrived to see the ground filled with body bags, and see that Belle-mere and the kids were just fine.

"Belle-mere, What happened!" Genzo yelled as he ran over.

"Well..." Belle-mere then went on to tell all the villagers what happened after Arlong and his crew showed up at her house. When she was finished, all the villagers were so surprised, they had their jaws on the ground.

"Y-you and the k-kids took d-down an entire p-pirate crew in under t-ten minutes. Genzo said as he struggled to get the words out. Genzo was about to faint from the stress of the situation, but before he did he heard Miles' voice.

"Here Genzo, I believe this belongs to the villagers," Miles said as he opened a large wooden chest. He had taken it off the dead pirates, and when he opened it, he found all the money that was taken from the villagers earlier.

"I trust that you can give it back to them."

"Thank you all" Genzo said with tears streaming down his face, to Miles and the others.

After the villagers left, Miles told the girls that he would be leaving the island, but he would be back in a few days. They were fine with it because they knew Miles could take care of himself, so they said goodbye and Miles teleported away.

----

There is a small dojo that teaches swordsmanship, located in Shimotsuki village, in the East Blue sea. Currently, the sounds of sparing could be heard from the practice ground of the dojo.

"HAA" *Whack* A grunt, then a whacking sound was heard as a blue-haired girl knocked a boy with green hair, who was holding two swords, to the ground.

"Kuina wins for the 2000th time" Announced a man who was wearing glasses, and had his long black hair tied into a ponytail.

"Hmph!! How pitiable, a boy... and so useless?!!" Stated the girl named Kuina in slight contempt.

"Hey, Zoro isn't weak!" "Yeah, he's the best in our dojo" "He's even stronger than the grown-ups," Said some of the boys from the dojo, trying to preserve their own pride.

"Is that so? Well, he's still weaker than me, even when using two swords. Just admit defeat since you've lost!" She said as she walked away from the boys.

"Damn!!" Zoro yelled as he threw his two kendo swords to the ground.

"Koushiro sensei, why can't I beat her?!" Zoro asked the bespectacled man.

"Well, Kuina is older than you" Koushiro answered with a pleasant smile.

"Even adults can't beat me!" Zoro said angrily.

"I'm going to sail the world and become the best swordsman. I won't lose to anyone ever again!" Zoro said as he stormed off in frustration.

Later that day, when the sun was starting to set, Zoro went to find Kuina, she was training in the courtyard doing practice swings on a wooden pole.

"Kuina!! I challenge you to a duel, with real swords this time!" Zoro said as he tossed her a katana. She caught it, looked at it, then looked at Zoro with an incredulous face.

"Real swords?... Okay, it's your funeral." She said as she unsheathed her sword, Zoro doing the same with his two katanas.

"On guard," She said as she got into a combat stance.

"Let's go," He said as he rushed her.

Zoro swung his left sword at her, which she deflected and pushed him back a bit. She gave a follow-up slash which Zoro managed to stop by holding his swords in an 'X' block. The fight went on for a few more minutes, with them trading block after block, never actually hitting each other. Eventually, Zoro started breathing heavily, indicating that he was running out of stamina.

"Two real swords are heavier than you thought, huh? See, you still lack strength". She said with a grin on her face.

"SHUT UP" Zoro yelled, looking away from his opponent. Unfortunately for him, this was the moment Kuina needed. She ran at Zoro and was able to catch him off guard, knocking the swords from his hands, causing him to fall. While Zoro was falling, Kuina switched her sword to a reverse grip and it looked like she was about to stab Zoro in the face, but as soon as Zoro's back hit the ground, she stabbed into the soil right beside his head.

"That makes 2001 wins for me," She said with a smile as the swords that were knocked out of Zoro's hands, stabbed into the ground behind them.

"Dam it, it's so frustrating!" Zoro said as he covered his face because of the tears streaming down it.

"I'm the one who's frustrated..." Kuina said as she sat down on the steps by the dojo's backdoor.

"What, why?" Zoro asked, as he sat up and wiped his tears away.

"When a girl grows up, she will lose out to guys in physical strength. I'm going to fall behind you soon. Don't you always say, that you'll be the best swordsman in the world? Dad says that girls can't be master swordsmen... I wanna be the world's greatest swordsman too!! I wish I was a boy..." Kuina said as tears started to build up in her eyes.

"What are you crying about, you beat me!! Beating you is my dream. Someday I will beat you because I worked hard, not because you're a girl! I'm training all the time to beat you, you're making me look bad!!" He said as he stood up and yelled at her.

"Zoro..." Kuina said looking up at him.

"Let's make a promise. Someday, we will become the greatest swordsmen ever! Then, we will fight each other for the title of best in the world!" Zoro said.

"You idiot...you'll never beat me... It's a promise!" She said as she wiped her face of tears then shook Zoro's hand.

"Well, you two do have potential, but... if you keep training as you do now, you will never be the best in the world." A voice was heard, startling the young swordsmen.

""Who said that?!"" Kuina and Zoro said at the same time. They glanced around, but there was nobody else in the courtyard except for them.

"Up here." The voice replied. The two kids looked up to see a handsome boy with his hands behind his head, relaxing on the roof of the dojo.

"Who are you!? "And what do you mean we can't be the best swordsmen in the world?" They asked.

"My name is Miller D. Miles, and I mean what I said. Currently, the best swordsman in the world is Dracule "Hawk Eyes" Mihawk, right now he is 34 years old and in the prime of his life. If you two want to be the best, then you have to beat the best. That means you will need to fight and defeat Mihawk, and as of now, you don't stand a snowball's chance hell. Even if you stayed in this dojo for the next 20 years and did nothing but train, you still wouldn't be able to leave a scratch on him.

"That being said, I can train you to be the best swordsmen, on one condition. All you need to do in return... is join my crew." Miles said with a grin.

"You can train us? you're a kid" Zoro said not believing Miles could train him.

"Do you even know how to hold a sword?" Kuina said with also not believing Miles.

"How about this, tomorrow morning I will return and we can have a duel. After that, you can decide whether you want my help or not. What do say?" Miles asked.

"Why wait until tomorrow?" Zoro asked as he unsheathed his swords, with Kuina doing the same.

"I said tomorrow because you both just fought each other and are exhausted," Miles said.

"I'm fine." "Me too." They said, indicating they were ready to go.

"No, you're not. Zoro, you ran out of stamina during the fight, and Kuina, you were in the middle of training when Zoro challenged you. Humans are fragile beings, work them too hard and they will break down. Both of you get some rest before you collapse, I will see you tomorrow." Miles said as he walked away and turned a corner.

"Hey!" Kuina yelled as she and Zoro chased after him, but as soon as the two of them turned the corner, they couldn't see him, it was like he had vanished. Zoro and Kuina didn't know what to think, so they just went inside and went to bed.

----

The next morning Miles made his way to Isshin dojo to fight Zoro and Kuina. When he arrived he heard the sounds of kids practising inside.

"Hello?" Miles said as he walked inside.

"Oh, you must be Miles. Kuina and Zoro told me about last night." Koushirou said with a smile when he saw Miles walk in. After Miles arrived Kuina and Zoro walked over.

"I'm fine with letting you duel them, but I would like to modify the conditions a bit".Koushirou continued now that all 3 participants were here.

"If Kuina or Zoro can defeat you then you will have to join Isshin dojo," He said with an amicable smile.

"Sure, but if I win then they will have to join my crew," Miles said with a grin.

"""Deal""" Koushirou, Kuina and Zoro said together.

"Great! Then let's get started." Miles said as he and the others started walking towards the training ground. Just then, Koushirou thought something was off.

"Wait a moment, I thought you already made those same conditions for the duel last night?" Koushirou asked Miles.

"What are you talking about? Last night I said 'we can have a duel and after that, you can decide whether you want my help or not.' But now once I defeat them, they will have no choice but to come with me." Miles said.

When the three of them heard this, they stopped dead in their tracks and had shock plastered all over their faces. Miles knew they had stopped so he turned around, and with the smuggest face he could make, he said: "Hey... You made your bed, now sleep in it," he then turned around and continued walking.

'''We've been played''' The three of them thought. (A/N. Congratulations, You played yourself)

After they all made it to the dojo practice grounds, Kuina and Zoro and Miles all picked up a kendo sword, Zoro taking 2. At this time the other students of the dojo came over to see the duel.

"Whenever you two are ready, we'll begin," Miles said as he got ready to fight.

""I'll go first," Kuina and Zoro said together. They were about to start arguing about who would go first, but Miles was having none of it.

"Hey! I challenged both of you to a duel. This is not one on one, it's two on one, so let's get started. he said impatiently.

"Do you really think you can beat both of us at the same time?" Zoro asked. He didn't like the idea of ganging up on one person.

"Yes, easily" Miles replied like it was a fact.

"Ohhh, It's on!!" Kuina said in anger. She also didn't like unfair battles, but now she felt insulted. Kuina and Zoro both got into their stance and Miles... just held the sword up lazily, this just made Kuina and Zoro angrier.

"Who do you thinks gonna win?" One of the students asked another.

"Kuina and Zoro obviously, Just look at the way that other guy holds a sword. This should be a piece of cake for Kuina and Zoro to defeat him." the other student answered.

"Are you three ready?" Koushirou asked.

"""Ready""" The three kids said together.

"Begin!" As soon as Koushirou said to begin, Miles disappeared from everyone's sight. *Crack!* The sound of something cracking was heard, then Miles reappeared back where he started. As soon as Miles came into view, Kuina and Zoro's kendo swords exploded into tiny pieces, then they fall to their knees shivering. The only thing that was left of their swords, were the hilts.

Silence... Everyone was too shocked to say anything. Miles waited patiently and let them absorb what just happened. After a minute Koushirou finally snapped out of it and announced the winner.

"M-Miles wins.." He said weakly.

"What just happened?" One of the students asked dumbfounded by what he just witnessed. What happened was that the moment the duel started; Miles coated his sword in haki, then he used his speed to catch his opponents off guard, break their swords and hit them on the back of the knees making them fall. Of course, he didn't care if they knew or not.

"I'll give you two a few hours to pack your stuff and say goodbye, after all, you probably won't be seeing them again for a while," Miles said as he patted Zoro and Kuina's shoulders.

A few hours after the duel, Kuina and Zoro had packed their stuff and were standing next to Miles. "Before we go start your training, I need to make a stop at a marine base first, so are you two really to go?" Miles asked.

"We're ready." They replied with a look of determination. After their fight with MIles, they realized how much of a gap there was between them and their goal of being the best. With that motivating them, they were ready to train harder than ever before.

"Good, then let's go," Miles said as he snapped his fingers, teleporting the three of them away.

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