8 Chapter 8 - A Flower and a Promise

Garp stood gallantly in front of Hana as his vice-admiral cape flowed behind him.

"Wahahaha! Is the boy alright?"

"Yes, I believe so. I still need to treat his wounds, though."

Garp nodded and looked at Terumi, who was staring at him intensely.

"Let me see."

Garp knelt down over his Terumi, his huge 287 cm figure cast a huge shadow over the young Terumi, who although was rather tall for his age, could only come up to just past Garp's waist.

"Don't move boy."

Garp removed the makeshift bandage and carefully examined the wound.

"Mm. Don't worry, he'll be fine indeed. Although it might leave a scar. Take your son home, I need to lock up the rest of these pirates."

"Yes sir, thank you."

Before Garp could turn around to leave, Terumi immediately stood up.

"Wait!"

"Hm?"

"You're the Marine Hero, Garp-san, right? Please, I want to join the Marines. Could you train me?"

Hana gasped while Garp seemed shocked for a moment, before laughing heartily.

"Wahahaha! So you want to join the Marines, huh? Good. I can see the fire in your eyes, but you're too young, boy. Enlist when you're at least sixteen."

"I can already defeat pirates, I'm sure I can handle it now! I took down a couple of the ones over there."

Terumi hurriedly tried to convince Garp, pointing to some of the downed bodies among the cliff.

'Who knows when I'll get another golden opportunity like this. I have to convince him now!'

"Oh? Is that so?"

Garp looked at Hana as if asking for confirmation. He arrived after everything was already settled. He only saw Hana cutting down Mikael after he launched his cannonball.

Hana nodded nervously.

Garp grinned widely as if he found something incredibly interesting.

"Okay kid, I'll take you under my wing, but I won't relent on the age requirement. Keep training. I'll be back for you when you're sixteen."

"Really? You promise?"

Garp nodded.

"Don't die before then kid, Wahahaha!"

Garp turned around and started walking towards the cliffside. His marines had already climbed up the cliff and started arresting the unconscious pirates and doing clean-up.

Terumi could barely hide his grin. He had planned and thought about this for so long but was never able to come up with a surefire way to get in contact with Garp. This encounter was the most natural way he could have hoped for.

'Garp is the key to being able to maintain a level of freedom and independence in the Marines. I can't believe it worked out so well!'

"Yes, sir! I won't!"

Moments after Garp left, Terumi felt a tug on his ear.

"Ow, ow ow ow."

"Hmmm? What was that I just heard? I could have sworn I heard my son who said he would never keep secrets from me saying he wanted to join the Marines?"

"Ow, sorry mom, I just never found a good opportunity to tell you!"

"Hmph, whatever, at least you're not going off to be a pirate, but we ARE going to talk about this later."

Hana let him go as Terumi held his ear, feeling the burning sensation of a mother's love. Wait, never mind, it's just pain.

"Let's go. Kasumi was worried about us."

"Okay."

Walking about into the village, Terumi sees Kasumi and Kuina there to greet him and Hana. He smiles brightly upon seeing them.

'I'm really glad I was able to save Kasumi. Turns out she did catch an odd sickness after all, but thanks to my hoarding of medical books each time a trader came to town, we were able to figure out what it was and save her.'

"Hana, Terumi! Are you guys okay? Terumi, you're injured!"

Kasumi and Kuina ran over when they saw me.

"Nii-san, are you okay?"

Terumi smiled and patted Kuina's head.

"I'm fine, little cousin. Just a scratch."

Terumi smiled wryly.

"Hana, what happened?"

"Just some pirates, it looks like I've been slacking on his training, I can't believe some small-timers actually managed to wound him."

Hana had an angry pout on her face.

'I probably shouldn't say anything. Even if I told them it was Dual-Blade Mikael's crew, they would probably just get angrier that I tried to fight the pirates off by myself.'

"Ah haha, just a small misstep, that's all."

Kasumi looked at me, shaking her head.

"Well okay, where are the pirates now?"

"Some Marines came and arrested them, we don't have to worry about it."

Kasumi breathed a sigh of relief. Kuina then tugged at Terumi's shirt.

"Hm? Yes?"

"Nii-san, you said I could start training when I turned five. Tomorrow's my birthday, you're going to train me right?"

Hana and Kasumi both looked over at Terumi.

"Yes, of course! I promise."

"Oh? Someone who just got beat up by pirates dares to take a disciple?"

Hana smugly teased her son.

Terumi sighed and shrugged tiredly.

"Kasumi-san, do you mind if I borrow Kuina for today? I want to show her something. Mom, you too."

"Sure, I don't see why not."

"Hm? What are you up to this time?"

Terumi smugly smiled.

"You'll see."

"Before we go, I need to go see Kozaburo-sensei for a moment. Mom, can you wait at the house with Kuina for me?"

"Alright, I still need to properly dress that wound though, so don't take too long."

Terumi then turned to Kuina and pat her on the head again.

"Be good now, you'll get to see something really cool later."

"Okay, see you then!"

'It's nice to have such a cute little cousin. She's basically like a sister to me now. I plan on starting her on the sword path right. Over the years I've been slowly conditioning Koushirou-sensei into supporting Kuina in her path to swordsmanship. Turns out, he's not as resistant to it as I thought, I wonder what happened?'

Shaking his head, Terumi made his way towards the Shimotsuki dojo to find Kozaburo.

'Either way, it's for the best. Now, I need to find Kozaburo-sensei and have him craft me some high-quality gourds. I've been doing the gourd training ever since two years ago after I bought some from a merchant, but even though I can break gourds as big as my torso, my progress is still slow. My guess is that it's because of my physique, so I need higher quality and way bigger gourds if I want to make real progress.'

After entering the compound, Terumi made his way towards Kozaburo's regular fishing spot, finding him there.

"Sensei."

"Hm? Kid, what happened? Who gave you that wound?"

"Oh, just some pirates, I was careless."

"Heh, and here I thought the boy genius was infallible. Don't worry kid, scars are what make men."

Terumi smiled wryly hearing Kozaburo chastise him.

"Sensei, I came here today to ask you for a favor. Can you craft me some huge sturdy gourds of various sizes?"

"Gourds? Why? It's a little early for you to be drinking sake don't you think? If you want some though, I wouldn't mind sharing, Gahahaha."

"No, it's not that. I need it for my training. I've hit a bottleneck recently and need something to help me push through."

Kozaburo narrowed his eyes as he smoked his pipe.

"Hmph, fine. Come back in a week, they'll be done. How big do you want them?"

"Starting from the size of my body and bigger from there, the more you can make the better."

Kozaburo raised an eyebrow as he heard the request.

"Well, I don't know what you'll do with them, but sure. Given the size, it might take some more time but I should have it done in a week anyway."

"Thank you, Sensei!"

Terumi bowed and then turn around to leave.

"Wait."

"Hm?"

Terumi stopped halfway and looked back.

"Go home and bring me Yuugata as well."

Terumi stared weirdly upon hearing what Kozaburo said.

"Sensei...if mom learned I sold our family heirloom..."

"BAH! Who wants your cheap sword! I've crafted two Great Grade Swords in my life, why would I care about some low-tier Meito!"

Terumi laughed when he heard Kozaburo's reply.

"Haha, I know, I was just joking. Calm down Sensei, you'll ruin your health."

"Hmph, just run along. Bring me back Yuugata, tell your mother I told you to do it."

"Okay."

Terumi ran off, wondering what Kozaburo wanted with Yuugata, which was basically a wall decoration at this point.

'Maybe he wants to restore it for me? That would be great. I've always wanted a Meito, even if it's the lowest grade.'

Seeing Terumi's fleeing figure, Kozaburo took a long draw as he looked to the sky.

'Keisuke. I don't have much time left. Let this be my life's final act.'

...

After Terumi returned home, he found his mother cooking lunch and Kuina sitting at the dining table waiting.

"Nii-san!"

"Oh, you're back. Now, sit down, let me fully dress that wound."

Terumi nodded obediently and let Hana dress his wound.

"Yeah, looks like it's going to scar. Well, as your grandfather once said, scars are what make men."

Terumi looked surprised as he heard that.

'Heh, second time I heard that today.'

"Okay, there. Finished. Now, what did you want to talk about?"

"Let's go out to the backyard. Kuina, you come too."

Hana nodded with some confusion on her face, Kuina simply smiled politely and followed.

After the group arrived outside, Terumi took a distance away from them and drew his sword.

"Mom, Kuina. I've been working on learning this for a while now. I want to show it to you."

Hana's eyes sharpened as Kuina excitedly looked on.

"This is a derivative of my sword style that I want to teach you. Watch closely."

'Breath of Flower, First Form: Cherry Blossom!' (A/N: Before anyone asks, yes I made up the first and third form.)

Terumi dashed forward in an iai stance and unleashed a swift upward slash while twisting his body.

'Second Form: Honorable Shadow Plum!'

Several rotating sword slashes swung around as illusory flowers are left in its wake.

'Third Form: Chrysanthemum Bloom!'

Disappearing from his location, he reappeared a few meters away, leaving several cuts in the air behind him.

'Forth Form!'

Terumi continued as he demonstrated all seven techniques from the Breath of Flower. Hana was shocked as she watched on, such beautiful swordsmanship. She immediately realized that these sword moves fit very well with her physique and sword style! Kuina simply stared with stars in her eyes, marveling at the beautiful techniques.

"Son, this is..."

"Haa, haa. This is called, Breath of Flower. It's a derivative of what I've been using until now, Breath of Water."

Hana nodded as she heard his words, he had already told her long ago about his self-made sword style that utilized his breathing technique. She then lightly blushed.

"Son, you named this sword style after me? How cute. Okay, I understand I won't press about what happened today, let's go in and eat!"

Hana walked back into the house cheerfully, thinking her son created a whole sword style, just for her.

'Haha...well, it is called Breath of Flower (Hana no Kokyu)'

Kuina ran over excitedly after Hana went back inside.

"Is this what you're going to teach me? Nii-san?"

"Mhm. I'll teach my mom all of the moves, and she'll be able to guide your training more effectively than I can. This style suits her very well and it should suit you as well."

"Hana-san is going to train me?"

"Yep. I've already talked to her about it. Though don't get too excited, she's a demon on the field."

Kuina smiled brightly, before showing a resolved look on her face and bowing before speaking.

"I promise I will become the best swordsman in the world!"