For the past few months, William had been entirely consumed by military and political reforms. His armed forces stationed in various parts of the Navia Kingdom were conducting patrols within the borders to ensure that no disturbances arose during the military restructuring. William himself was so engrossed in his work that he barely rested, pushing himself to the brink of exhaustion.
That night, the lights in William's estate burned brightly.
He was buried in paperwork, reviewing a budget allocation for the newly established Fifth Bureau of Commercial Intelligence. Suddenly, the sound of a knock on his door broke his focus. After granting permission to enter, a steward officer from the Steward's Office walked in with a grave expression.
"My lord, it's a call... from Frost Moon Village."
William frowned as he took the Den Den Mushi from the officer.
The small, magical creature mimicked the anxiety of the caller on the other end with vivid expressions.
"My lord, something has happened at the Isshin Dojo."
At Frost Moon Village, the Isshin Dojo was shrouded in an air of sorrow.
Kuina was dead.
Her cause of death seemed almost surreal—she had fallen down the stairs while retrieving a whetstone to sharpen her sword.
For a young swordswoman of her caliber, who had trained for years and could best even the adults in the dojo, such an end felt like a cruel joke, a grim twist of fate.
Zoro, ever since hearing the news of Kuina's death, had been like a lost soul. He wandered aimlessly, his heart heavy with emptiness. He believed that after failing to defeat her two thousand times, he would now never have the chance to surpass her. Kuina had become a permanent obstacle on his path to becoming the world's greatest swordsman. No matter how many opponents he defeated or how strong he became in the future, he would always carry the weight of being a loser in her eyes.
Yet, deep down, Zoro felt it wasn't just about rivalry. It was only after Kuina's death that he began to realize she might have meant more to him than just a competitor.
The other students at the dojo were equally despondent. Regardless of what they might have said in the past, Kuina, the talented and strong young swordswoman, had always been a bright presence in their otherwise monotonous training. She was the cherished flower of the dojo, admired and protected by everyone.
Kuina's funeral was hastily arranged. Zoro couldn't understand why Koushirou, the dojo's master and Kuina's father, had rushed to bury her so quickly. The students barely had time to process her death before her body was sealed in a coffin and laid to rest.
The next day, Zoro mustered the courage to approach Koushirou and requested that Kuina's sword, the Wado Ichimonji, be passed on to him. He wanted to honor her memory by using her blade to defeat one opponent after another, allowing her to witness his victories from the heavens.
Koushirou initially hesitated and refused, but after Zoro's persistent pleas, he eventually relented.
For days, Frost Moon Village remained cloaked in a light, unrelenting rain. The somber weather mirrored the mood of the dojo's students. Some of the more sentimental ones remarked that even the heavens grieved for Kuina's untimely passing. Training sessions became lackluster, with little enthusiasm among the students.
In contrast, Koushirou and a few adults at the dojo, such as Pattinson, the bearded assistant who had long been by Koushirou's side, seemed far less affected by the tragedy.
The students didn't question this, assuming that Koushirou's composure was a reflection of his status as a master swordsman, someone who wouldn't display grief in front of his pupils to avoid affecting their morale. As an adult, he was naturally expected to be more mature than the children and teenagers.
Seeing the state of his students, Koushirou decided to give them two days off to recover and collect themselves.
In a small room overlooking the courtyard, Koushirou sat silently, gazing at the rain outside with an expression devoid of his usual warmth. After a long pause, he finally spoke.
"William will arrive soon."
Behind him, Pattinson, kneeling in the shadows, curled his lips into a disdainful smirk. "So what if he comes? He's no longer a student of this dojo!"
"William isn't someone who cares about formalities like that. Don't you understand him by now?" Koushirou sighed.
Pattinson scoffed. "Even so, there was no need to rush Kuina's burial. Doing so might raise suspicions."
Koushirou, understanding Pattinson's concerns, replied softly, "If we hadn't buried her quickly, William would have insisted on seeing Kuina's body. Even now, I worry he might dig up her grave."
"He wouldn't dare!" Pattinson snorted coldly. "We're not some petty thieves he encountered on the seas."
Koushirou glanced at Pattinson's defiant stance and shook his head.
Living contentedly with little—that was the virtue of a saint.
Though Pattinson had been by Koushirou's side for many years and knew many of his secrets, Koushirou couldn't claim that Pattinson possessed such virtues.
When William, Gin, Aramis, and Edmond had first entered the dojo, Pattinson had already been there. He had watched as those once-immature boys, who obediently submitted to his discipline and punishment, grew into influential figures. Now, even Koushirou and the revolutionary leaders of the past had to regard William with respect. Meanwhile, Pattinson remained in the same place, guarding this modest dojo.
For the aging Pattinson, maintaining a calm and balanced mindset was no easy task.
Deep down, Pattinson resisted the reality that he and Koushirou now had to treat the once-naive boy from the dojo with caution, even a hint of fear, due to the power he now wielded.
The boy Pattinson once ordered around—William, Gin, Aramis, and even the once-mocked Edmond—were no longer rookies beneath his gaze. They had become towering figures who looked down on him instead.
Edmond, in particular, had risen from the dojo's laughingstock to a man of great renown. His childhood boasts, once dismissed as childish fantasies, were now recast as the ambitions of an extraordinary individual with a grand vision. Those who had once mocked him, including Pattinson, were now seen as fools who failed to recognize talent, serving only to highlight William's discerning eye.
Koushirou, observing Pattinson's demeanor, could only sigh and say, "Let's hope no conflict arises."
Two days later, under the same drizzling skies, Frost Moon Village's harbor was occupied by a fleet of ships. The displaced vessels dared not voice their complaints, for the flags flying on the fleet's masts bore the menacing skull emblem of the Morgan Pirates, a name that commanded respect and fear across the Navia Kingdom and even the entire East Blue.
At the Isshin Dojo, the children who had been training in the main hall were now crowded near the entrance, nervously peeking outside.
There, countless burly men in black suits stood silently in the rain, their imposing presence forming an invisible barrier that seemed to encircle the entire dojo.
Among them, Edmond, with his damp red hair and a flower pinned to his lapel, and Aramis, whose usual smile had vanished, strode into the hall without hesitation to take shelter from the rain. They rudely dispersed the students gathered at the door.
Zoro, angered by their arrogance, wanted to confront them, but his companions quickly pulled him back.
Meanwhile, in the dojo's rear courtyard, the atmosphere was even tenser. Seated there was William, the man who had brought these forces to the village.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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