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[Better Than Talent]
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...
As the battle started, both parties rushed at each other, swinging in wide arcs.
—Tack!—
Their swords came crashing down against each other with a dry sound as they collided, and from then on, the two pushed against each other, the bamboo swords trembling under the contrasting pressure coming from both sides.
'I can't...?'
That simple fact seemed to surprise Kuina. Months ago she had been stronger physically—Dan had the advantage in endurance with his strange ability, but she had clearly been stronger at that point.
Yet now she couldn't push him around anymore.
However, despite the surprise, soon she shook the matter off.
'...You may have grown stronger, but there are still things you need training at!'
Gritting her teeth and knowing she wouldn't win a battle of attrition, she changed tactics. Using Dan's focused strength on the sword clash, she let go of her own pressure, and in the gap where Dan adjusted to the sudden lack of opposition, she slipped out of his range before quickly delivering a slash at his blind spot.
—Tack!—
He blocked it—flimsily. He barely had time to react, so he wasn't able to get into a proper stance. It did the job of keeping him in the fight, but it left him in a compromising posture.
And Kuina wasn't about to let that go unpunished.
'Just as I thought, you're still too weak!'
Taking a deep breath, her expression hardened as she began hammering down on Dan from all sides, her speed picking up with each blow.
—Tack!—
—Tack!—
—Tack!—
Dan did his best to block, and under normal circumstances, he might have managed it well enough—but the flimsy block from just a moment ago had trapped him in an unbalanced state, and Kuina wasn't giving him room to regain his footing. Her slashes looked like ricocheting bullets, hitting his guard and then curving down swiftly to rain back on his weak points.
For most people, being constantly hit at their weak points, forcing them to use desperate attempts at blocking and thus being very unstable, would wear them down, cause them to slip, or simply break their guard in due time.
—But in this situation, the exhaustion wasn't accumulating. The pain of each improperly blocked hit was there, muscles and tendons bearing pressures they weren't supposed to… but that was something he could ignore.
Going down wasn't on the table anytime soon.
So the only one who actually began wearing down from all that relentless assault was—
'Why isn't he falling?!'
—Kuina.
And Dan was the first to notice.
In her frustration at having him a sliver away from breaking but not managing to deliver the finishing blow, she'd forgotten that such tactics simply wouldn't be enough.
That proved a grave mistake. The moment she slowed even slightly—
—Tack!—
"...?!"
Dan batted one of her swings aside. Her exhaustion, combined with his completely undiminished strength, was enough to throw her off balance this time instead.
And with that done, Dan smiled.
... and proceeded to start his own counterattack.
—Tack!—
—Tack!—
—Tack!—
—Tack!—
Using his unlimited reserves, Dan turned the tables and became the one hammering down on Kuina's guard. Each of his attacks equal in speed and power to the others—a stark contrast to Kuina's fading strength and shortening breath with every block she had to endure or attack she had to dodge. The more she blocked, the closer defeat felt.
It was in that moment, with her brain in overdrive searching for a way out, that the reality of how much Dan had grown since their last spar finally dawned on her.
Before, even in a similar situation, she would have been fast enough to find a gap to strike him between his attacks.
But now she couldn't find anything of the sort. His speed had increased compared to before, and the efficiency of his movements had improved tremendously as well. Trying to pull something off carried too high a risk of eating a hit instead.
Though, maybe, the fault lay in her own exhaustion slowing her down and keeping her from fighting at her best.
Or maybe it was just the difference that the ability to push off exhaustion granted in fights, and only now was she truly becoming aware of it.
Or perhaps...
'...What father said was true.'
Years of training, all reduced to nothing before the boy in front of her. A newcomer who had caught up to her in mere months.
Sure, he was clearly abnormal—capable of holding off exhaustion in a way that no ordinary person could. But was that really the only reason? Was that alone really enough to trample over years of her effort in just a few months?
Or was it also the fact that he was a boy?
"...!"
That thought brought forth a burst of energy she hadn't known was still there. Feeling anger fill her, her grip on the sword tightened, and she pushed against the burning in her muscles.
Her breathing re-adjusted itself, and soon her eyes sharpened, settling on the attacking figure in front of her.
She wasn't going to lose today, she wouldn't—
—Whack!—
Her thoughts and fury were doused in an instant as a sharp sting hit her palms, followed by the feeling of her sword leaving her hands.
-Clack, clack!-
The sound of it clattering against the ground followed.
"..."
Just like that, so abruptly, what she had thought was her comeback ended.
-Swish-
The tip of a bamboo sword stopped right before her throat as she stood stunned.
"I guess challenging you at the dueling day is unnecessary now."
Dan's comment snapped her out of her trance. Her eyes wandered to the dropped sword, then to her reddened palms.
Losing was one thing. Losing by letting go of your sword in combat was another.
Not only had she lost—she had lost badly.
Her jaw trembled slightly. "How...?"
Dan smirked faintly. "It was a bit of a gamble, but I figured you wouldn't be in the clearest headspace and would try to pull something out of desperation."
Kuina's eyes widened.
"So I just waited patiently until you snapped," he continued, "and used that moment to strike a bit faster than I'd been letting on up to that point... and I guess it worked, didn't it?"
Kuina's lips trembled slightly as she took in his words.
She had been led on from the beginning. He was faster than he'd been showing, and had caught her completely off guard at the last second using that very fact.
She had been read completely.
She had truly lost.
"..."
Kuina fell silent as the reality of her defeat settled over her, thoughts running a mile a minute.
Then, after a few seconds, she spoke.
"How did you know?"
Dan stared at her for a moment, seemingly weighing whether to answer, before shrugging.
He'd be leaving this place soon. There wasn't much reason to care about his relations here.
So, sneering, he answered. "It was obvious. A boy was slowly coming close to beating you, and you weren't able to do anything to stop it... I just saw the moment where the desperation was about to make you slip, and acted accordingly."
A deep frown took over Kuina's face, her teeth gritting.
"... Was I wrong?" She asked, her tone clearly upset.
Dan raised an eyebrow, but she kept going before he could answer.
"Nine months, and you were able to catch up to me—someone who's trained most of her life... Your exhaustion-pushing thing might have helped, yes, but that much?!"
She slouched forward, her hair falling to block her face.
"... If it's not that, then what other reason could there be besides you being a boy?! Is there anything else?! I don't think so!"
Dan looked a bit taken aback by the outburst.
A few sniffles came through as she spoke, making it pretty clear what was happening despite her face not being visible.
In the end, she said one last thing through them.
"... How am I supposed to feel about the fact that my father ended up being right?"
A silence fell between the two after that. Kuina kept her gaze on the floor. Dan, meanwhile, stood there staring at the sulking girl in front of him for a moment, a bit unsure of what to do.
It seemed he may have been a bit tactless with his words.
Realizing that, he scratched the back of his head, annoyed at himself.
For people he wasn't supposed to care much about, and should quickly forget once his criminal career started, they sure made it hard to remain that detached.
Maybe he just didn't have the cold-heartedness required yet.
He let out an annoyed sigh.
"Alright, cut it out." He said, calling her out.
Kuina lifted her head, small tears at the corners of her eyes, looking pretty frustrated—like she was expecting him to laugh at her for what she'd blurted out in a burst of anger.
What she didn't expect was a finger suddenly shoved into her face, making her stumble back a step in surprise.
Only once she was clear of it did she focus back on Dan properly.
"Why you...?"
"In the first place, you're under a big misconception," he said, cutting her off. "You think I caught up so fast because I'm a guy."
He opened his arms wide.
"But the fact is, I caught up to you simply because I'm me."
A beat of silence settled for a moment.
Followed by Kuina's scrunching face of bewilderment.
"... Hah?"
Seeing her reaction, he snorted in amusement. "What I mean is, your father was wrong. The fact that I'm a boy is irrelevant to me catching up to you. Even Zoro hasn't caught up to you yet, has he?"
"..." She didn't answer that, but her expression said enough.
That was true. And not only Zoro—all the other disciples, including the adult ones, had been defeated by her.
So what made the guy in front of her different?
Seeing the look she was giving him, he shrugged with a wry smile. "Then the real reason should be clear enough, right?"
She didn't answer, as if expecting him to just say it.
So he did.
"The answer is that I'm just that good."
"..."
Kuina's mouth opened in sheer disbelief.
This guy... he was unbelievably cocky!
But on second thought, even though she wanted to bring him down a notch, it made sense. Why else would his growth rate be so outrageous compared to the rest of the students? And that was obviously setting aside the other clear advantage he had—the exhaustion thing.
Both clearly abnormal. Both explained by that simple statement.
He was just that good... apparently?
Kuina blinked, looking like she was struggling to come to terms with that. It was the first time she'd been in a position where she was the one lacking in talent—she was usually the one at the top of that ladder.
But now the roles had reversed, and she didn't quite know how to sit with it.
On one hand, she felt relieved. Once again, the supposed limits she'd been told existed since birth were being proven wrong. She could still achieve her goal.
But on the other hand, if the matter of him having greater talent was real—as he said—wasn't that roughly the same problem as before, just shrunk down from a whole gender to a single person? The fact that she might ultimately be unable to surpass another existence remained.
On that thought, Kuina's fist clenched.
Dan picked up on it, his eyebrow twitching at how troublesome she was to calm down.
"Listen, it's not even a talent thing. Even if you were the most talented person in the whole world, you still wouldn't be able to catch up to me."
Kuina's face snapped up at him—not angry anymore, but outright baffled.
"What?"
He had gone from talking plausibly to crazy in an instant. What did he mean by even the most talented person not being able to catch up? How did that even make sense?
Walking closer, Dan slung an arm over her shoulder and gestured at the air above them, sweeping his free hand from one side to the other.
"The thing is, I'm beyond talent. This isn't simply about you. The rest of the disciples, Zoro, your dad, marines, pirates, heck, even Mihawk... none of them will stand a chance against me in due time, and consequently, no one will be able to catch up to me either."
Kuina was not even baffled anymore. She was scared.
When they first met, he seemed relatively normal... who could have thought he had this level of delusion hidden inside?!
She could concede him having great talent. But "being beyond it"... what did that even mean?!
While she struggled to process the words leaving Dan's mouth, he let go of her and stepped back.
"That's why there's no reason to compare yourself to me. Just go for whatever you're aiming for and put me out of your mind."
Those words seemed to snap Kuina out of her trance for a moment.
"... Even though you'll probably beat me to it?"
Dan paused, looking confused for a second—before rolling his eyes as he got it. "Right, the whole becoming the strongest swordsman thing... I'm not interested. My goal is another."
Kuina still didn't look convinced.
Dan's smile twitched in annoyance, so after another roll of eyes, he added something else. "... And besides, even if my goal was that, just because I'm faster than you at getting to the finish line doesn't mean you can't reach it eventually. My talent being higher doesn't cap yours off... At least, it shouldn't work that way, I think."
He honestly wasn't very versed in the power scaling of this world, or in the matter of talent. He knew that stronger Haki was basically what mattered the most at the top—at least according to Kaido. But so long as you put in the effort, you should become pretty strong, right?
Even if for some, "putting in the effort" meant breaking their body apart over and over, unlike the most talented—like Coby. That guy, catching up to Luffy so quickly and learning Rokushiki just as fast, was a pretty clear display of what talent meant in this world. Talent paired with effort, but talent either way.
That, or other factors he wasn't aware of.
'Whatever,'
Dan shook his head and shrugged his wandering thoughts aside.
Looking back at Kuina, he found her deep in thought over his words.
'At least I got through.'
Huffing in quiet relief, he turned around—but before leaving for good, he stopped, glanced back, and gave her a light bump on the shoulder.
That snapped her out of her swirling thoughts. She looked up to find him holding out the broom toward her, like passing down a sword.
"So long as you put in the effort, you should be able to reach your goals. So focus more on yourself, and not on others... Take your destiny into your own hands."
Kuina looked dazed for a moment, her eyes moving between him and the broom.
Her jaw clenched a little as her throat tightened.
But in the end, she nodded and took it from him.
Smiling faintly, Dan nodded back and turned around.
He waved once without looking back, before walking out of the dojo.
"..."
Kuina remained where she was, staring at the spot where he had disappeared. Then, she glanced down at the broom in her hand, inspecting it with a pensive look.
"Take my destiny into my own hands..."
Her eyes shone with newfound realization as she uttered those words.
-Step, step, step-
"...?"
Just at that moment, the sound of approaching footsteps from behind made her turn.
Her father was just leaving his room, heading her way.
Once he got close enough, he gave a quick look around before settling on her. "Kuina, where's Dan?"
She blinked, surprised her father was looking for him, before staring down at the broom in her hand.
"... He just left."
"What? I'm sure today was his turn at cleaning duty—" His eyes drifted to the broom in her hands, eyebrows rising slightly before settling into a small smile. "Oh, I see you took over for him. No issue then."
"Huh?"
Kuina looked at her father, then at the broom in her hands, then at the door where Dan had just walked out.
Then, back at the broom.
'That guy... gave me the broom to skip out on cleaning duty?!'
...
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: Overslept for a bit, had to take the dogs for a walk earlier since it's raining so much.)