"Kuina."
You are...
"Kuina?"
Who?
"Kuina..."
Who exactly are you?
Who's calling me?
Why does the voice sound so familiar...
Enduring the intense pain from her forehead, Kuina opened her eyes in a daze and found herself standing in a familiar dojo courtyard.
Tatami mats, wooden posts, falling cherry blossoms... From afar, she could faintly hear the children shouting and the sound of bamboo swords clashing.
This is Shimotsuki Village, the Isshin Dojo, it's home, and the place where she practiced her sword skills as a child.
Sunlight filtered through the treetops, warm to the point of being unreal.
"Kuina."
The voice rang out again.
Kuina turned her head bewilderedly, and saw a girl walking towards her in the morning light.
It was herself.
Or rather, herself from two years ago, with her ponytail tied high, casually holding a bamboo sword and hanging it on the wall.
"What are you still hesitating about? What are you waiting for?"
The other looked at the bamboo sword on the wall and spoke coldly.
"What?"
Kuina instinctively responded with a question.
Looking at this familiar yet unfamiliar self before her, an inexplicable panic surged within her heart.
"Playing dumb is meaningless."
The other finally turned her head, stared at her, and a mocking smile tugged at the corner of her lips, "You clearly understand what I'm talking about, must I repeat that name again... Lord Shano?"
Upon hearing these four words.
Kuina's body trembled, her heart leaped suddenly, and she instinctively retreated a step in panic.
"Look at you now!"
The girl approached with her hands behind her back, sneering, her nose almost touching Kuina's:
"Cowardly, hesitant, pitiful and pathetic. Where did the Kuina who once swore to become the World's No.1 Sword Master, who dared to draw her sword against any formidable enemy, go? Can't even face her own inner feelings, do you still deserve to hold a sword?"
"It's not that I'm afraid!"
Kuina almost blurted it out but quickly became bewildered again, "I, I just, just don't know what to do."
She hung her head, looking somewhat forlornly at her own hands.
These hands have held Supreme Great Blades, slashed numerous powerful foes at sea, and even clashed with the World's No.1 Sword Master Hawkeye Mihawk without falling behind in the short term.
Yet they are rough, full of calluses on the joints and the webbing, not at all like hands that a girl should have.
"He... is the new King of the World, the brightest existence in this era... no, one could even say in the entire Chronology of One Piece."
Kuina gazed at the calluses on her hands, her voice growing softer, "I am merely a swordsman under his command, a subordinate, being able to follow him and witness him change the world bit by bit is already my greatest fortune, how could I... how could I entertain such unreasonable thoughts?"
Since that year in East Sea Shimotsuki Village, when that black-haired boy stepped into Isshin Dojo, healed the ailment within her heart, and reached out to her, her fate changed completely.
Following him out to sea, witnessing him perform miracles time and again, watching him ascend to the pinnacle... her gaze can no longer look away from that figure.
But the clearer this becomes, the more distinct the sense of distance.
He is a leader, a banner, a light worshipped by countless people, with beautiful women longing to embrace him, queuing from Mary Geoise to East Sea, beyond count.
And she.
She has indeed accompanied Lord Shano for a long time, but aside from that.
She is ultimately just a swordsman, a clumsy girl with calluses all over her hands, a personality that isn't gentle, knowing only how to wield a sword and fight.
Affections are much more complicated than Sword Dao, she really isn't very good at handling them.
Just as she isn't very good at taking care of her hands.
As a partner, as a subordinate she considers herself qualified, but on what grounds does she dare to covet the most intimate position by his side?
"Ha? Unreasonable thoughts?"
The girl in front poked her forehead forcefully, exasperatedly saying:
"To me, it seems more like it's time to take it a step further! So you do indeed most like Lord Shano, there's no denying that, but because his aura shines too brightly, you feel inferior, think you're unworthy?"
"It's not just because of feeling inadequate."
Kuina said softly, "There's also fear, how do I express it? What if he doesn't feel the same way, wouldn't our interactions become awkward? Could I still stay by his side naturally and fight for him as I do now?"
Yes.
She is very afraid.
This is her deepest fear.
Afraid that once spoken, she might lose even this companionship and trust.
Such things, she absolutely, absolutely does not want to lose, not even a bit.
"Well, you at least have to try, idiot!"
The girl before her suddenly raised her voice, saying angrily, "Sword Dao is the pursuit of the extreme, of cutting through all obstacles, aren't emotions the same? Your hesitation, your inferiority, your fear of the future, these are the obstacles you need to cut through!"
She reached out, and suddenly drew Sakura Yuki from Kuina's waist:
"Look at your sword! It won't tremble because the opponent is a Four Emperors or a Navy Grand Admiral, it will only be tainted because the heart of the sword-bearer is not steadfast! Kuina, where is your Kenshin? The one that dared to draw the sword against any formidable enemy, believing that the blade in your hand could cut through anything, is it reduced to nothing before emotions?"