Approximately an hour after he was gone, Zoro came back, looking rather depressed and with his head lowered.
"Not you again," Sear remarked. "Why have you returned?"
"I lost!"
'lost?' he thought. 'is he talking about his match with kuina'
"Like I care whether you lose or win. Get lost, go home!" he told the kid.
"I can't. If I go, my father will make fun of me, again."
"Then just stand there and watch."
"Really? I can do that?"
"Hmm!!" Sear refocused his attention on his sword.
After a while of swinging and thrusting, he called out Zoro's name. "Go to the kitchen and bring out a bunch of knives for me."
"Y-yes!!"
"Careful, don't cut yourself," he reminded the boy, who had swiftly set out to do his bidding.
In no time, Zoro returned carrying five knives: two in each of his hands and one in between his teeth.
"Even you can be cute sometimes. Drop them in front of you; also, grab some small stones or pebbles. Starting with the stones, when I give the signal, throw them at me."
"As you say!!" Understanding what to do, Zoro nodded with no hesitation whatsoever.
Sear mused over this response: 'as expected, even as a kid he has no qualms about potentially harming people'
"Are you ready!!" he inquired.
The boy grabbed a stone no larger than his fist. "No problem! Anytime!"
On Sear's command, stones hurled in his direction without delay.
The kukri, Hibutsu, moved like a snake, effortlessly slicing up the stones as if they were made out of butter, without missing a single one.
"This won't do. Throw many at once. Better if the stones are smaller—harder to cut."
"Fine then!"
Zoro, as told, threw multiple stones, all the same, in rapid succession.
It wasn't a test of Sear's ability to cut rocks or his speed; rather, it was his capability in terms of accuracy to not miss a single rock. It was further impressive given his legs stayed planted in place, not having moved an inch.
After Zoro ran out of stones, he readied the knives, but as he was about to throw them at Sear, he was told to halt.
"Stop. On second thought, it's too difficult for you to throw those knives. Hmm, I have a different idea."
Sear took the knives and after adjusting his breathing, said: "You, go hide behind that tree."
He flung all five of the knives directly above himself.
Reaching an unknown height, like meteors they fell from the sky, aiming to snipe his head.
Without looking up, "Thirteen Realms, One Earth Blade," as he announced the name, his torso swirled; at the same time, he swung the kukri in his hand.
Instantly, a spinning whirlwind surrounded him.
Protecting him, the swirling force scattered knives in four directions.
'one left'
The inconspicuous fifth knife was still up above, relishing as it came down.
However, Sear wasn't a helpless target.
With no time to perform the same technique again, he didn't even bother to think before raising his hand along with the blade—like he was raising a dumbbell overhead for the final rep—and he did so with so much force that it strained his shoulder.
"Sparrow!"
Breaking the sound barrier, a short turret of compressed air ascended to the heavens, manifested in the form of a bird, causing a brief but loud sonic boom as if a cannon went off.
It not only didn't stop at just knocking the knife off course but proceeded to reach greater heights, dissipating at exactly 236 feet up in the sky.
***
Hours, into the same day.
Twilight illuminated the dark forest.
Two men were making dealings behind a massive tree at the outskirts of the village, where people rarely frequented.
"Are you sure this is the right pistol? It's not a knockoff, right?" the bigger of the two silhouette asked.
"I am certain. I am an honest merchant..." replied the one with a shorter frame. He talked as if he was worried about something and was in a hurry.
"Alright, if I find out this doesn't work.."
"You can check if you want, sir."
"OK. Then run."
Sear pointed the gun at the merchant. The bigger silhouette was, of course, him.
He had come in contact with this shrewd man a few weeks back through a thief that had come to rob the village. As a result, both the thief and his weapon supplier had been caught.
In exchange for Sear not informing the authorities about his deeds—condemning the cowardly man to a life on the run—the weapon dealer had agreed to supply Sear with a modern semi-automatic pistol.
"Wait, you said you wouldn't so much as hurt me if I could give you a state-of-the-art gun!"
"I did."
The merchant, having understood he was in a bad situation, started to run while screaming, "Then why?"
"You have been selling guns to bandits around here. Don't think I don't know. Just the other day, a village was raided by those same bandits."
The gun had a silencer attached to it, exactly as Sear had ordered.
He pulled the trigger.
*click! *click!
Nothing.
"There's no bullet." Sear looked to the side; beside the root, he saw a briefcase the man had left behind.
Opening it, a large number of ammos were to be found inside.
"Unfortunately, he got away. Well, at least I got what I wanted."
Coming from the deal with the merchant, Sear made his way to the dojo, with the half-moon already in the sky.
It took him time to safely hide the extra ammo in a safe-place.
"I might having gotten rusty after not handling guns for 16 years. it's gonna be a while before i am perfect at it again."
As he was contemplating these things, his eyes fell upon a familiar figure further ahead in path.
'Is that Kuina?.. why is she here, in the middle of nowhere '
He rarely interacted with the girl in recent times, but seeing her like this, sitting in the side of small slope near the rice fields, he couldn't just leave her alone, so he cautiously approached her.
Kuina, Seeing someone approaching, hurried to wipe the tears in her eyes, before the guy, got in-front of her.
She opened her mouth, "What are you doing here at this hour?"
"That's something I ought to ask." Sear looked at the girl with a worried gaze.
In the near future, Kuina was supposed to die. He wished to prevent that from happening, but what could one possibly do to prevent someone from accidently falling off a staircase?
For now, he tried to console her;
"You can tell me what happened.. Remember, didn't this big bro used to listen whenever you'd come to me after something made you sad? Your face would be all snotty and messy."
"It's nothing, you need to worry about," she said, turning to leave, when..
"Are you that worried about loosing to Zoro?"
"How do you—?"
"It's obvious, looking at your situation. Recently Zoro has become better and better while you have stagnated."
"Haaa!! Even you think I am a weak little girl."
"I mean, compared to me, you are indeed extremely weak."
The girl glared at him with hatred.
Sear tried to calm her down.
"Look, you don't have to be so angry. I don't know if you are as talented as that boy Zoro. He has only started to get serious after losing to you a year ago, but in just this short period, he is already about to beat you for good."
"What are you trying to get at? If it's nothing more, then I am leaving."
"Well, all I want to say is, this world is pretty fair for people willing to put in effort with all their heart. I mean..."
"You mean even a girl can be the world's strongest swordsman?"
"Hmm, maybe. Personally, I am not aware of any women swordsmen that strong—"
—he stooped for a second, reminded of Big Mom but: 'She doesn't count, she wasn't born in the realm of humans.'
Going on after the small hiccup, "but if there aren't any strong women that use a sword, you just have to try and be the first pioneer and show everybody that it can be done."
Hearing his opinion, kuina agreed with every word.
"Right.. If there is any girl who can be the strongest, then it is me."
"Oh, I believe you." Sear gave a thumbs up. "So now go home, and don't forget to watch your steps. Careful on your way."
"I get it... Why do you always tell me to watch my steps?" Kuina walked away with a displeased look on her face.
Yet a warm smile donned her lips as she walked further.