╏005

【 The night falls as the swords clash】

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Everyone except Zoro, Y/N, and Karoo followed the man to the village in order to meet the doctor that he spoke about. "Good! It's all better!" Zoro exclaimed as he looked at his legs. "See!!"

He was pretty happy about his recovery. "Now I can start training for real. I'm sick of taking it easy. And guarding the ship is getting boring too." He said as he removed his jacket and threw it on Karoo who was shivering with cold. "I think I'll take a mind-cleaning, mid-winter swim..." Zoro said and dived into the water.

"Zoro are you nuts?! What if you get sick too?" Y/N asked.

"Don't worry about me. I am training my body for mild climates. I need to get stronger to defeat the enemies we meet from here onwards!"

Y/N rested her elbow at the edge while cupping her cheeks as she watched Zoro swim in the ice-cold water. Watching him wasn't fun for Y/N, she hated cold weather because it often restricted her from doing things. As the female sighed and looked around the ship, her eyes fell on Zoro's sword and it wasn't long before she realized that the swords that Zoro was using weren't normal.

"What!!! It's Wado Ichimonji. Zoro!!!"

"What do you want?" Zoro asked as he wiped himself off with a towel.

"How did you get this sword? It's one of the 21 great-grade swords."

"I know that... It has a long story and I don't want to share it with you."

Y/N dramatically gasped and placed her hand on her heart "You hurt me. How could you say something like that?"

"Do you use swords too? You sound like you know about them." He stated and Y/N gave him a nod. "I don't use swords as my primary weapon but I am quite skilled. I can make swords with my lightning and it's quite handy you know. They are quite powerful and perfect for my use."

A smirk formed on Zoro's face "You said you are quite skilled right? Let's spare! I want to become the world's greatest swordsman so there must be no swordsmen better than me. Let's see who is better."

Y/N laughed as she removed her jacket to reveal her toned body which was covered with bandages. "Let's do this!"

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Karoo was still shivering as it watched the match between Zoro and Y/N. "You sure you don't want a sword?" Zoro asked. "Yes! I have heard that you master the three sword style, I obviously want to fight you in your full power, or else the victory wouldn't taste like a victory to me."

"Confident huh?"

"I was born like that!!" Y/N stated and lifted her right hand up to wield the sword that was creating itself with her purple lightning. Zoro was amazed to see her powers and sword that got forged with lightning didn't look weak either.

"I might use lightning attacks so you will be at a disadvantage."

"Don't worry about me, use your full power against me. I don't care what attacks you use."

His words made Y/N burst into laughter. "Use my full power? You wanna die here before becoming the greatest swordsman?"

Zoro clenched his swords even tightly "DON'T MOCK ME!!" he shouted at her. Y/N lifted her head up and smirked at him as she jumped up in the sky and went right towards him with her sword. The weather changed again. The once snowfall was now turning into a thunderstorm. Snow fell upon the country throughout the year and Y/N's power was strong enough to change the weather of a small portion above her.

The two swords clashed and thus began the duel which wouldn't end until one of them admitted defeat. With each strike that Y/N blew, the huge lightning bolt struck with it on Zoro, making it hard for him to fight her.

Since the match started, Zoro has been on the defense and Y/N has been attacking him non-stop. Every time Zoro tried to find an opening, Y/N would strike him down. "I suggest you admit defeat." She said but he wasn't ready to accept it, not before he attacks her ones."

Karoo was rather frightened while seeing the battle which was now going on for hours and the cold wasn't making it any better. The constant sword clashes and screams from the two fighters were the only sounds heard on the vast island.

Zoro was reaching his limit and he still couldn't attack Y/N ones so he decided to admit defeat. "I lost"

Y/N raised an eyebrow and made her sword disappear as she slowly walked closer to him "I didn't think you were the type to admit defeat that easily."

Zoro put his katanas back into the hilts and started walking towards the ship "Your power is far greater than mine. I can't defeat you right now but... I'll do it no matter what!"

The female chuckled and went back to the ship along with Zoro. The two freshened up and switched to much warmer clothes to avoid spending more time in the ice-cold weather. Having two more sick people on board would only bring more trouble for the crew.

The swordsman walked out of the room only to find that Y/N was nowhere to be seen. Not that he cares about her but he got a little worried regarding her whereabouts but the make was soon distracted by the delicious aroma coming from the ship's kitchen.

Predicting that it might be Y/N who was in the kitchen he followed the smell and was surprised to see the food that she prepared. Her attention switched towards him upon hearing the rustling going on behind her. "Oh! I was about to call you. I made food for us. It's already cold outside and we were sparing for hours, we must get ourselves warmed up."

Zoro pulled out a chair and took a seat while waiting for Y/N to finish making the food she was preparing. "You didn't have to make all this."

"It's already night and everyone still hasn't returned. We obviously can't starve ourselves. And don't worry about the food. I might not be the best but my food is edible."

Zoro let out a chuckle and proceeded to eat as Y/N sat on the chair opposite his "Enjoy the food!!"

"It's tasty but that curly brow makes better food."

Y/N giggled at the so-called compliment she received from Zoro "Thanks but it would've been better if you ended the compliment at 'It's tasty'"

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"You should go to bed, I'll watch the ship" Zoro suggested but Y/N was too busy star gazing to listen to the swordsman. "Zoro, what is your dream?" She asked him and the unexpected question took Zoro off guard.

"What it is that you would want to achieve no matter what?"

He clenched his fist and raised it up towards the sky with determination filled in his eyes "I want to become the greatest swordsman. It's either I die or become the greatest swordsman. There is no in-between."

Y/N was quite amazed by the fact that he would rather let himself die instead of not being the greatest. A goal, a dream of that importance can only be achieved by someone with great determination. "Why do you want to be the strongest? How far would you do for it?"

He leaned at the edge of the ship and stared at the ocean while silence engulfed them. Zoro usually didn't open up about his past. "You know, I have a dream too but I don't know how to achieve them. I don't even know how to work towards it." Y/N spoke up.

"If you have determination then you'll find a way to achieve it. You should believe in yourself." Zoro replied but his answer wasn't satisfactory enough for Y/N. "I had a friend when I used to learn dojo in my village. No matter how many times we fought each other, she would always win but she had faith in me and used to say that one day I would surpass her so we promised each other that, one of us will become the world's greatest swordsman but a few days later... she died. I want to keep up the promise I made to her but that's not the only reason. I want to do it for myself and for my friends too. I want to be capable enough to protect everyone."

Y/N's lips curved upwards as she sighed "I am sure you can achieve it. Don't fear the obstacles you face."

"I won't! What's your dream?"

"My dream... You won't understand it yet. There's a lot for you to see in the grand line. I'll tell you about it one day when the time comes."

I hope you enjoyed it <3 It would be a great help if you comment your opinions on the story so far. If there is something that I can improve then I would like to do it early in the story.