Ian’s sword was not a blade from this world and won’t be recorded in any of her books, so it’s normal that this sword maniac, Tashigi, can’t distinguish it.

However, Kuina didn’t expect to hear Ian’s name here. She couldn’t help but feel a strong heartbeat.

She suddenly remembered her father’s stories about Ian, he mentioned that Ian had settled in Loguetown for a while and had been a marine swordsmanship instructor for a month (I missed those days xD T-T!), so she couldn’t help but look at Tashigi.

If big brother Ian was an instructor here, then this girl has been taught under his hand?

Kuina is a very smart girl. Although she knew about this event, she didn’t say a word because she knows that she could not reveal the relationship between her and Ian for the time being.

“All right, shut up, Tashigi!” Smoker saw that Tashigi was pulling the topic farther and farther, even brought up Ian to this conversation, so he had to stop her, and then he said to Kuina: “Since you are a sword user, then you won’t mind having a spar with Tashigi, I want to see your strength!”

There are two ways for the Marines to recruit soldiers, one is training from childhood, for example, those family members and children in the Marines headquarters are generally highly loyal and are the focus of the Marines’ training targets.

However, the number of people obtained by this method is really too small, so there is a second way for the Marines to enlist people, that is, world conscription, which means to recruit troops from civiliens, as long as they do not have any criminal record.

The soldiers recruited in this way usually take part in the service by having a certain amount of power, so they are generally given a rank according to their strength. If they really have respectable capabilities, then the starting point will be higher. However, it is difficult to estimate their loyalty, so it will be difficult to promote them.

Kuina’s current situation is the Second Type, that’s why Smoker wanted to test her strength.

However, from nowhere, Kuina looked at Tashigi and said: “She is too weak, I am afraid that I may accidentally hurt her!”

Kuina was telling the truth, not being cocky. She is now a Devil Fruit user, and her strength has skyrocketed. Plus, she still can’t control her power perfectly. That’s why, she was worried that she might hurt Tashigi by mistake, so she had to say this.

But what’s more surprising is that everyone understood her meaning without mistaken her intention. Tashigi herself didn’t get it wrong. Perhaps it is due to Kuina’s valiant attitude. Her aura was too strong, so everyone felt that what she said was true.

Smoker thought for a moment and said, “Well then, we can have a spar!”

Kuina did not object to Smoker’s offer, he has the highest Military Rank in the entire Loguetown marine Base, so he is the strongest one here.

Hearing that the two were going to compete, the surrounding soldiers got excited. They immediately gave up an open space and watched them, but the funny thing was that everyone was cheering for Kuina and none of them cheered for their captain. This made Smoker’s face turn gloomy, and he said in a low voice, “These bastards…”

After the two stood in the field, Smoker didn’t say a word. He started the battle directly. He stood very far, but he took advantage of his Smoke fruit and suddenly extended his arm!

The arm consisting of white smoke, holding large Jitte, flew directly toward Kuina’s position. When she saw Smoker’s Attack, Kuina was not surprised. She plucked her katana sharply and slanted it upwards to resist the upcoming blow.

Just as she waved her sword, a faint blue force immediately burst out with her blade! It slashed directly on Smoker’s weapon with a clang! Smoker could hardly hold his Jitte.

“Flying Slash!? You turned out to be a great sword user!?” Smoker was amazed. What happened to the East Blue these years? Why do some powerful people keep on popping up!? Before, Ian appeared from nowhere, now another one with an intense power emerged!?

That’s right, what Kuina just launched was indeed a flying Slash, but it was different from Ian’s. Ian was relying on his Nen to release such projectiles, but Kuina relied on her own strength. This blow reached a terrifying speed instantly, and then broke through the air, creating a vacuum phenomenon.

This flying slash was formed by pure power!

The reason why it is called flying Slash was that many swordsmen chop turn to the same shape, but not all of them were made by the same kind of power, for example Ian, he releases his projectiles using his energy “Nen”, and some other rely just on their physical strength and special sword techniques, just like Kuina.

No matter which one it was, they will end up with the effect of sword aura. Because it is difficult to distinguish which is which, it was collectively called Flying Slash.

Kuina’s vacuum slash left a deep mark on Smoker’s weapon. Although it didn’t cut it off, it made Smoker stop being careless. He then used his full power, turned his whole body into white smoke, and attacked Kuina again…

Kuina didn’t attack again, but instead, she held her katana in her hands and tried to resist the upcoming blow!

She blocked it easily, but Smoker didn’t expect such a reaction. He could feel that the girl in front of him had the strength of a monster. He couldn’t make her wrist tremble even by the slightest.

“She is indeed much stronger than Tashigi!” Smoker thought to himself.

However, because Smoker is not too proficient in kendo, he did not notice any abnormality during the fight. In fact, Kuina’s swordsmanship was too similar to that of Ian!

In fact, whether it was Ian, Kuina, or Zoro, they are all taught by the same master, Koshiro. Although their swordsmanship will be deployed in different directions in the future, their basic foundation and posture were the same.

The only person present who is more proficient in swordsmanship was Tashigi, but at this time, she was watching the fight of the two with sharp eyes, and felt inexplicable heartbeats, she started worshiping Kuina, and turned her into her highest ideal, her role model, so she didn’t focus on Kuina’s movements at all, just blindly staring at Kuina with obsessive eyes.

As a result, they both missed the best opportunity to identify the relationship between Kuina and Ian…

“Why have you been resisting and not fighting back?” After attacking for a while, Smoker stopped and asked when he saw that Kuina defended all his moves without dripping one drop of sweat.

“Are you sure you want me to fight back?” Kuina asked.

“Come on! Give me your best!” Smoker sighed angrily, how did this girl reach such confidence?

The next second, Smoker rushed again and thrust her with his Jitte, but this time, he did not turn into white smoke, Kuina noticed that, then aimed at the tip of Smoker’s weapon!

Bang! When the tips of the two weapons hit each other, her strength suddenly exploded! The force directly twisted Smoker’s wrist backward, and then Smoker flew away, while rotating!

Although Kuina didn’t transform, in this state, she still can use a significant amount of strength, and Smoker didn’t even think that her might would be terrifying, so he suffered a big loss in this collision!

All the marine soldiers on the scene were dumbfounded and went silent after seeing Smoker getting thrown away.

However, when they came back to their senses, they cheered loudly as if they were celebrating a festival: “Oh, oh!!! Captain Smoker is defeated!”

Smoker’s head started boiling when he heard the cheers! Did this bunch of bastards get thrilled after seeing my A$$ getting kicked?

He stood up without any difficulty, because the force he received was transmitted by his wrist, and it had nothing to do with his body, however, his wrist and arm hurt badly. He even suspected that his arm’s bones were broken.

However, he still endured the pain and said to Kuina: “Very good! You are really strong. From now on, you are a Marine Sergeant of Loguetown Marine Base! Your Military Rank is the same as Tashigi, your marine uniform will be delivered to your hands later… What you have to do now is to fill in your information!”

“All right!” Kuina nodded. (Understandable xD!)

“Right, I want to ask you something, why do you want to be a marine?” Smoker asked suddenly.

Kuina thought for a moment and said: “To protect my family, plus I had an agreement with someone, I must be the strongest swordswoman in the world!”

By Family, she was referring to Ian, and the agreement refers to her promise with Zoro, as well as her own goals. At this point, Kuina did not lie.

Unfortunately, Smoker didn’t know what her specific content was, so he just nodded when he heard her words.

Ever since, Kuina successfully became a marine sergeant in Loguetown Marine Base. With the addition of Kuina to their ranks, the strength of their Base rose by more than one level.

The biggest impact of this change is that there will be a fool wearing a Straw Hat in the future who will be more unfortunate while reaching this island than in the original story…