8. One Sword Style!!

Zoro was trekking through the forest leisurely, the outskirts didn't have that much danger. Only class one and class two beasts lurked here and majority of them would be class one.

He had come across several Class one beasts and none were a match for him and had gathered several Class one cores.

It's been three days since he entered the forest. The progress he made these days weren't any less than what he made in a month.

Three days ago....

" What the.....

Zoro stared blankly at the piece of meat in his hand. He took a bite again and swallowed it.

' There it is again! '

Zoro could feel a warm energy flow out from his stomach and circulate through his body. He finished off the meat in his hand and sat in meditation.

Energy originated from his gut and dispersed throughout his body. This energy was absorbed by his Haki, making it its own.

Zoro felt his Haki increase, just a bit. He was astonished and grinned a second later. Without thinking much about it he started to eat again, since eating meat could increase his Haki then why not eat more?

He quickly finished off a quarter of the bull. Instead of resting he started to train, Haki flowed through his body making a complete cycle before repeating again.

Zoro never expected to gain such a clear advantage eating Beast meat. He was more than happy to continue this type of training, he could earn as well as increase his strength.

Qi training is divided into nine stages, these nine stages are

Apprentice, Master, Grand Master, Commander, General, Lord, King, Emperor, Saint.

Each stage is again subdivided into early, mid, late and peak.

Zoro was currently a mid stage Warrior Apprentice just shy of breaking through to late stage. It only took him just above a month to go from a nobody to a mid stage apprentice. This kind of speed would shock anyone.

These three days were fruitful and allowed him to practice his Sword arts to a decent level. He was currently focused on training his body's flexibility which had come a long way these past few days.

As he was walking a shadow suddenly rushed at him from the side. Zoro had early noticed it and dodged. He retreated and took a good look at his attacker.

It was a black cat several times your ordinary household one. It's claws were sharp as it dug into the ground, what was astonishing was that it's tail was way too long.

Zoro took note of this peculiarity. He moved forward, his sword was already drawn as he moved to its side.

The feline was a peak Class one beast, Whip Tailed Cat.

It's body moved out of Zoro's attack and attacked him from above. Zoro blocked it's paws with his sword, tremendous amount of force was transmitted through his sword.

Zoro was no weakling either, he planted his leg and slid his Sword through the feline's claw. His sword went past the gaps between its claws, stabbing towards its eyes.

Zoro was just inches away from its eyes when a shiver went down his spine. He withdrew his sword and ducked.

swish...

A black light flashed. Zoro retreated promptly and looked where that black light went and his pupils constricted.

Dozens of trees were cut down, the cut was clear and smooth. A sweat rolled down Zoro's cheek,

' if i hadn't dodged that.....

He looked at the feline and showed a grin. The black cat seemed to have sensed something, it felt a hair raising feeling for a second and looking around in suspicion.

" That tail of your is quite sharp but... against my sword..... it's quite dull."

He held his sword with both hands and placed it above his head.

An intent was brewing within him, the feline felt great danger from the human before it. It was a Class One Beast, low class beasts like it cannot survive in this forest unless they learn to run away from danger.

Without even giving a thought whether it could win or not, it fled.

" One Sword Style....

Great Dragon Shock!! "

Zoro did a vertical cut, a reddish black arc of light thin as a hair flashed past the fleeing Black cat.

Thud!!

The black cat's body froze in mid air before it split into two half and fell down raising clouds of dust. Zoro sheathed his Sword and collected the core.

He sensed around to see if any another beasts were waiting to ambush him and left.

Some time after he left an old man walked out from the shadows, he was same one who watched Zoro pick up Waning Moon.

The old man bent down to examine the cat's body, he traced along the cut and nodded.

" He has reached a high level in Sword Man unity!! And his rate of training..... what a kid! With this fight he had already reached Late stage apprentice!! "

The old man smiled at Zoro's direction and merged back into the forest. After he left several beats came out and ate the black cat's body.

While Zoro was progressing leaps and bounds in his training three figures were having the worst day of their life.

" How come we didn't find him yet!!? "

" It's been three days and we still haven't seen his shadow!! "

" Where the heck is he!? How is he able to confuse us!?! "

These three were the same ones who were hired to kill Zoro. But even after three days they couldn't find him, the tracking mouse kept on changing direction from time to time. They even circled the same spot three times!!

" He is quite the hard one. No wonder the young lord asked us to dispose him! "

" Yeah, he is even able to confuse the tracking mouse."

" It may take some time but it seems we are getting close to him."

Zoro was completely oblivious to their tracking and kept on going.