"Senior, please advise!"
El pointed his bamboo sword toward Koushirou, his expression solemn.
He knew very well—the man in front of him was a mountain he absolutely could not climb at his current level.
But that didn't matter.
What he wanted… was to see just how high that mountain really was.
"Hehe… Young man, who is your teacher?"
Just like when Zoro had once barged into the dojo in the past, Koushirou didn't get angry.
Looking at El, he instead wore a gentle smile—the kind Kuina longed to see—and a gaze full of admiration.
He spoke softly.
"Teacher?"
El blinked, then lifted his chin proudly.
"I don't have a teacher. My current strength is all based on my own effort."
At that answer, something in Koushirou's heart trembled.
At first, he had simply assumed El was a talented boy blessed with monstrous physical ability at a young age.
But he hadn't expected this:
On top of that body, El was also a swordsman who understood the Breath of All Things.
From the way he had stirred the air with the bamboo sword—turning it into a "real blade" and cutting another bamboo sword cleanly—Koushirou was certain:
El had already mastered cutting steel.
A swordsman at most eleven years old…
Someone must have polished this rough gem.
The one who did so had to be extraordinarily skilled—perhaps someone whose strength wasn't beneath his own.
Koushirou never imagined that the truth was the opposite—
That El was still an unpolished stone.No master. No formal teaching.
Just a monster shaped by the world itself.
For the first time in years, Koushirou felt a surge of desire to take a disciple.
His heart stirred, his expression soft with anticipation. When he spoke again, a faint, almost hidden tremor lingered in his voice.
"Then… are you willing to take me as your teacher?"
"I refuse."
El didn't hesitate.
Still wearing that calm, confident pride, he added words that shocked the entire dojo and made every student stare at him:
"Becoming your disciple would certainly let me take fewer detours."
"But I prefer to grow through my own adventures, rather than taking a shortcut."
"That's why I went to sea at eight years old—and why I came here to challenge this dojo."
Those words came straight from El's heart.
The hall went dead silent for a beat.
Then the shock rippled outward.
Zoro, the instructors, the students—everyone was stunned.
Even Kuina, who had just run out in despair, froze in the corridor.
She'd originally wanted to hide somewhere and cry… but the thought of El challenging her father wouldn't leave her alone. Curiosity won over frustration, and she secretly returned to eavesdrop from the shadows.
"…Eight years old? You're only eight?"
Koushirou's voice sounded genuinely shaken.
He had assumed El, whose height was about the same as Kuina's, was at least ten—maybe even eleven.
But eight?
An eight-year-old with the swordsmanship of a Master Swordsman…
What is happening to this world?
Even someone like him couldn't help but question reality a little.
"That's right," El answered, head held high.
"It's a lie… He's even younger than me?!"
Zoro felt like he'd been hit by a cannonball.
"…Come with me."
Koushirou forced himself to calm his turbulent thoughts.
After taking a long, searching look at El, he slowly stood up and turned toward the corridor.
He called back to the middle-aged instructor:
"You continue teaching everyone."
"Yes, Master!"
The instructor snapped out of his daze and replied respectfully.
El tossed his bamboo sword back into the barrel.
Carina handed him his real sword with a tense expression, and he took it before motioning for Nami and Carina to follow.
Zoro, still in shock, also trailed behind them instinctively.
The group followed Koushirou down the corridor.
Seeing them approach, Kuina quickly pulled back from the corner where she'd been spying.
At the end of the corridor lay an old-fashioned courtyard.
A small pond glimmered quietly to one side. Wooden training posts stood planted in the ground. A small bamboo grove rustled in the wind beside a relatively open practice space.
"Father."
When Koushirou stepped out into the courtyard with El, the girls, and Zoro, Kuina was already there waiting, her eyes still faintly red.
She couldn't help herself.
She had to see what a duel between monsters looked like.
"Go fetch a real sword," Koushirou said.
"Yes, Father."
Kuina nodded hard, then glanced at El.
He was almost exactly her height…But he was actually two or three years younger than her.
She bit back the new wave of complicated emotions, turned, and jogged off.
A short while later, Kuina returned with an ordinary katana in her hands.
She passed the sword to her father, then stepped away—
But instead of standing beside Zoro, she moved next to Carina and Nami.
Her eyes didn't leave El, who now stood across from Koushirou.
Unable to hold back her curiosity, Kuina glanced sideways at the two girls—both younger than her—and whispered:
"Are you two… El's companions?"
It was easy to tell.
Kuina, though still frustrated by her earlier defeat, was now completely curious about El.
Ever since she was small, Kuina had hated and despaired over her father's words:
"A female swordsman can never become the world's greatest swordsman because of her physical limits."
To refute that belief, she had constantly accepted Zoro's challenges—and constantly defeated him, again and again, just to prove:
Girls will not lose to boys.
But with El here…
Kuina suddenly understood her father a little better.
A female swordsman might not be weaker than a male swordsman—as long as she never met a true monster.
Within Isshin Dojo, inside this small Shimotsuki Village, Kuina might very well be the strongest of their generation.
But beyond the village…
There were countless swordsmen far stronger than her.
And El—
El was already one of them.
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