Lara's POV;

I woke up early in the morning like I usually do. I woke Lia up with a few soft kisses and we both got changed for our morning training. Downstairs we were greeted by Zoro, who looked as if he was waiting for someone.

He had his swords at his hips and spotted us quickly. With a grin, he stood up from the chair he was sitting on and came over to us. “Morning, Lara, you've agreed to a spar,” he greeted and tapped his swords with his hand.

“Sure why not, might as well get used to my new blades,” I agreed easily. He is still not as good as

me in a swords fight of pure skill and way weaker physically. Especially now when I have the added boost of my new Devil Fruit.

I nodded and waved him along, all three of us walked out of our inn and climbed into our rented Yagara Bull. We had to hit him twice to get inside the right boat, and even then he occasionally tried to climb out because he thought that the way would be different.

We couldn't train inside the inn, not enough room. So we took the canals of Water 7 down to the scrapyard of old ships, where Lia and I have had build our own little training area. Just a flat surface with walls surrounding us, so that no one would be able to spy. Lia and I are also keeping an 'eye' out with our observation Haki. The last month wasn't only spent on crafting weapons, but also for training.

“Any restrictions?” I asked once we were there and ready. He has had drawn his three swords, while I carried my two new ones.

He shook his head in denial. “No, I want to test my skills, holding you back won't bring me anything. I want to see where I stand. If I am strong enough.” I think the last part was more said to himself. He wasn't in his best form, I could see that he hasn't slept much.

He must worry about Ussop and Robin.

I nodded and got into position. The left blade hold in reverse, the right facing the front. Body slightly crouched and legs tens for a sprint. “Fine by me, you don't have to hold anything back as well. I have a neat little trick to heal our wounds. You can attack with anything that isn't an instant kill.” I was referring to my Angel Devil Fruit. Over the month Lia and I have found out that I can heal almost anything as long as the wounded isn't a death, and even that is up for debate.

We tested my new fruit on thugs and thieves that tried to muck, kill, rape, enslave us. All we had to do was to roam the red light streets at night. Strangely enough, there was no one from the Franky Family, not even a bounty hunter.

“Well then, start!” On Lia's command, we both jumped into action. He had sprinted straight at me, but it wasn't a thoughtless attack. The sword in his left will make an attack from that side harder, the same was with his right, while the sword in his mouth was ready to block.

A three sword style may seem impossible, but with the strength of this worlds bodies, it can be done. And Zoro had obviously managed just that.

I am still faster through, while he had only crossed half of the field I was already up on him and started the fight. I made a full twist and did a downwards cut with my right dagger. His eyes widened, not expecting of me to be this fast. He blocked my blade with all three of his own. The force was strong enough to make him bent his knees slightly. A shock wave blew outwards and the ground cracked.

He grunted from the strain and then tried to push me away. He would have succeeded if I hadn't used a Geppo to launch myself over his head. I came down on the other side and had my left dagger ready to cut into his shoulder.

Yet again I was blocked. Zoro managed to follow my flight path and anticipated what I was going to do. He placed his left sword in the way and blocked the attack. The force was still enough to send him skidding backwards.

Zoro righted himself before he could tumble to the ground. His whole posture screamed battle hungry and his face showed a strange kind of happiness. “I knew that you are good, this will be great training.”

He sprung back into action. All three swords poised at me and ready to cut. I could see that he was faster than Yosaku, but not faster than Jonny. I did nothing and waited for him to reach me. Two of his swords came down at me and I blocked them with my left dagger.

A small wind shock wave blew out from us and we locked eyes for a moment. He had a wide grin on his face and was trying to break my block with two main swords.

Hmm, his strength is higher than Jonny's, but also lower than Yosaku's. Seems like my two boys would be able to beat him if they work together. Maybe even if they are alone and give their all. However, Zoro is also not giving his all. He was holding back his sword techniques, not his strength, but he hasn't used any of his signature attacks so far.

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Zoro tried to put more strength in his attack, he was trying to use his greater height to his advantage. Not that it did help him much. My enhanced muscles, thanks to my Angel Fruit, were easily able to hold him back. And they weren't even strengthened by Haki.

I smiled at him and used my remaining right dagger to thrust at his stomach. He looked shocked for a moment and quickly turned his head to the side. He placed his third sword in the way and managed to stop me from piercing his stomach.

This time he made a backwards somersault to stop himself from being pushed back. He did not waste any time and jumped back at me. Now the swords in his hands were crossed. He increased his speed and was up on me within seconds. “[Oni Giri]!” he was slicing with his three blades at me. The strength of this attack was way higher than what he tried before. His body and mind focused on this single attack.

Still, it was flawed. His three swords were at one point all aligned in the same way and made it easy for me to use Kami-e to slip past him. He was in the middle of his attack and couldn't react fast enough to my counter attack.

I cut into both sides of his shoulder. Not too deep and without much strength or my Devil Fruit. That would have had killed him, it was just enough to draw some blood and show him that he should be more careful.

He stopped his attack in a wide stance with both arms stretched out and a lowered head. Then he stood up and turned back to me. He took the blade out of his mouth. “You've won. This would have killed me if you were serious. I can see that you've held back much of your strength.

There is, however, a technique I'd like to try against you. It is my strongest attack and I want to see if I can land a hit against you with it.”

I shrugged and for the first time in this fight got slightly serious. If I'm correct then he will try his Asura attack. I don't think that there are really 9 swords, but that he is so fast that it looks like there are nine. I nonetheless coated both my daggers and myself in Haki. I only gave my torso and arms the full flame like coating. He won't be able to hit my legs and he won't aim for my head.

Zoro was ready as well. A strangely dark aura was flowing out of him and his body really looked as if he now had three heads and six arms. Might this be an unknown Haki variation? I can certainly feel how his aura is increasing in strength.

He took a single step and was instantly within reach. The move was not unlike Soru, but cruder. Then the first three swords came, positioned like an [Oni Giri]. But now there were six more who are stopping me from using its weakness.

I blocked the attack with my left blade and positioned it in such a way that the incoming two swords from his right side were also blocked. With interest, I noted that they too were corporal and had some serious strength behind their swing. On par with Yosaku's muscle enhancing skill.

The two from the left were blocked by my left dagger, which left the two remaining swords in his left and right heads mouth. They pierced forward, aimed at my throat. That's a serious killing strike, he either has confidence in me or is not able to fully control this skill. Asura is a raging war god after all.

It was nonetheless a futile attack. I made a backflip to evade the pierce and kicked him in the nuts. The three-headed form instantly vanished and he crumbled to the ground with a high pitched pain-filled grunt.

“That was mean,” commented Lia from the side. The smile on her face was betraying her statement. She too has seen the serious killing strike and attempts on my life were never viewed fondly by her.

“Well, he had it coming. The last one was aimed as a killing blow,” I replied and crouched down at Zoro's kneeling height.

“Yeah, sorry. It's hard to control. What have I done wrong?” Apologised Zoro between deep breaths.

I shrugged. “Not much, it gets rid of the weakness of your [Oni Giri] yet looks quite taxing. The speed is good and the strength is also high. Someone that is at low Vice Admiral level will have trouble defending against that attack. Most people in this part of the Grand Line will not be able to defend themselves.

You'll just have to increase your speed and strength. Maybe a different attack than your [Oni Giri], it gets predictable. Try to stay in that stance and use the nine swords for more than a single attack.” I advised and touched his head with my hand. I activated my Devil Fruit and healed his wounds, before standing back up again.

Zoro looked up in wonder, but couldn't see anything abnormal, I already had deactivated my new fruit. “What was that? It felt refreshing and as if a wave of calm was washing over me.”

“A new skill of mine, don't worry about it. Let's start our real training and find out how much you can take. I'll tell you when you're better than Yosaku and Jonny,” I deflected the question and saw that I lighted his desire to compete.

Soon all three of us were training. Since I got my new fruit I had to train under my own pressure. I could hold out twice as much as before. Zoro managed to hold 1,5 times the pressure that Jonny has and 1,25 the pressure that Yosaku has. We trained for two hours, in which I gave him some pointers.

We came back to the inn drenched in sweat and ready for a shower. I have every intention to share mine with Lia.

Yet it looked as if we will not be able to shower right away. The whole town was up and running around, something about an assassination attempt on Iceburg. Both Lia and I knew what was going on and Zoro was again too busy trying to go somewhere else.

Once back inside the inn, we found the rest of my crew reading the newspaper. Jo was also strangely not present. Nojiko was the first who spotted us. She stared at Zoro's sweaty and muscular body for a moment, before snapping out of her stupor.

“There you three are, have you heard? The mayor, this Iceburg guy, was attacked in his mansion. The people think that the Straw Hats are responsible and are on a city-wide manhunt. Josef is also overdue. He was out, said he would buy some medicine, but he did not come back yet.

Sanji and Chopper are outside and Luffy decided he had to take Nami and visit Iceburg. The town is in uproar and searches for the Straw Hats, they even broke into their room.

“We heard some of it. They aren't searching for us. Luffy is with Nami, he will protect her and Sanij has a good head. He and Chopper won't get caught. It's more likely that they will search for the rest.

They will come to us if we wait.” I replied and excused myself. There was a shower to be taken and a sister to be 'eaten'.