Nevertheless, while Zoro had moved on, the lieutenants could not forget their humiliating defeat. So, they threw themselves into all sorts of excesses. Naturally, "excesses" in the lieutenants' terms meant they started aggressively dealing with pirates whom the Straw Hats had not yet reached or whom they had simply ignored. Few marines showed such zeal — after all, you can't kill every pirate, as new pirate crews appear daily, so why exhaust yourself? Unsurprisingly, fueled by their enthusiasm, the lieutenants' names became well-known throughout East Blue. However, as mentioned before, only they and the Straw Hats knew about their defeat, so the public sought to rank them alongside the infamous bounty hunter.
Clearing up the situation with "swordsmen equal to himself," Zoro said:
"I've already defeated those two idiots," he said to Matsu. "And while they are quite strong by East Blue standards, their reputation as swordsmen is greatly inflated. Like all other skilled swordsmen in East Blue, they are merely experienced novices. None of them can cut steel.
"Swordsmen can actually cut steel?!!" Matsu exclaimed in astonishment.
"Any moderately skilled swordsman can," Zoro nodded. "If a swordsman can't cut steel, they are just an experienced novice.
"A moderately skilled swordsman can cut steel… so what can a skilled swordsman do? — Matsu asked, swallowing loudly." And what about a master?
"I could tell you what a skilled swordsman is capable of, but you simply wouldn't believe or understand," Zoro smirked. "As for masters, who knows? As far as I'm concerned, there is only one master in the world, and his name is Dracule Mihawk."
A sword fan like Matsu didn't need an explanation of who Dracule Mihawk was; he already knew.
"Lesson over," Luffy said, placing a small silver case on the counter. "It's time for us to go, so here's your money for the swords," he added, opening the case and showing it to Matsu. "Twenty million, which is significantly more than the swords are worth. Appreciate it!"
Matsu looked at the strange-looking briefcase in surprise — he had never seen one like it before. The small silver case was packed with stacks of money, neatly arranged in several rows. Matsu wasn't a poor man; his shop and its contents were worth far more than twenty million, but even he was impressed by the amount. Even more striking was the ease with which Luffy was parting with the money… Matsu also realized that age was clearly catching up with him. He used to notice every little detail, but now he could have sworn that when the boy entered his shop, there was no silver briefcase with him.
Zoro, who was standing next to Luffy, had a noticeable twitching eye.
Unlike Matsu, the swordsman knew exactly that Luffy had not had the silver case with him. Not only when entering the shop but also on the entire way there and even inside the shop. The silver case appeared precisely when Luffy placed it on the counter. While Zoro could forgive the magically appearing ice creams, a case? He began to suspect what kind of fruit Luffy had eaten — otherwise, the things appearing out of nowhere couldn't be explained. At least Zoro didn't know how else to explain it except by a fruit. On the other hand, Luffy loved to mess with people's heads, so such an obvious answer was very suspicious. Moreover, his constant 'can't swim' line perfectly supported the fruit theory. It all seemed too simple. That's what kept Zoro uneasy. Nothing about Luffy was ever simple.
"No money!" Matsu said, overcoming his initial shock and closing the case. "It is an honor for me if Zoro-san uses my swords, so I don't need the money."
"Listen, I like you more and more!" Luffy grinned. "Consider this money a personal gift from me to you. And I assure you, if I hadn't liked you, but you still decided to sell us the swords, you wouldn't have received a penny and would have lost the swords anyway. So, I repeat, appreciate it!"
"Consider this money as my apology for the fact that in the future, I'll need to replace Yubashiri with a sword more suited for me," Zoro added. "However, I assure you, I will either pass your sword into good hands or, at worst, keep it for my collection."
"And besides, if you refuse even one more time, I'll smash the money case over your head," Luffy chimed in again. "You can't even imagine what a favor I'm doing you. I usually take money, not ask people to accept it," he huffed indignantly, with Zoro nodding seriously beside him.
"Farewell, and thanks for the swords," the swordsman added before leaving the store with Luffy, leaving behind a stunned shopkeeper.
"You didn't leave him an autograph," Luffy said to Zoro a little later.
"Where are we going now? " Zoro quickly shifted the topic.
"To my favorite Ork!" Luffy beamed. "He should have completed a few of my tasks… besides, I've finally come up with what I want to do in this city!" At these words, Luffy's smile grew even wider. "I can't believe it didn't occur to me on the ship; it's such an obvious idea!"
Zoro did not share his captain's enthusiasm. Moreover, the swordsman foresaw a major headache. If pirates were around, he wouldn't have batted an eye, but now they were surrounded by ordinary people and marines. Frankly, he didn't care much about whom he had to kill, but he doubted Nami would be thrilled if they started slashing peaceful citizens and marines. That's what Arlong did. So, Zoro anticipated a big problem. He had no doubt that the marines would not let them leave the city without a fight, especially if Luffy had some fun first. But Zoro also couldn't figure out how to fight these marines. He was used to killing his enemies. Well, if there was a hundred or two then no problem but a thousand? Two? Five?
Lost in the moral dilemma of whether to kill or not, Zoro didn't even notice they had reached Ork's 'lair,' and that he had easily and effortlessly made the journey with his aura subdued. Just an hour ago, Zoro had to use all his strength for that, but now he didn't even notice… Probably it was the swords.
Anyone could be trained to wield haki with special, prolonged training. However, further development of haki depended almost entirely on personal experience. Undoubtedly, physical training helped develop haki, but it was only an indirect aid. Intense training forged character and body, which in turn influenced haki's development. Nevertheless, such training could not be considered as training in haki itself. Haki developed alongside the person, through overcoming difficulties, accumulating experience, and discovering the unknown. This was partly why most haki users were older individuals, around forty or even fifty years old. However, there were many talented individuals who learned to control haki by thirty or even younger. True prodigies were those who mastered haki by twenty.
The problem was that learning to wield haki was the first and simplest step.