I couldn't tell whether I found those two years incredibly long or incredibly short.
First of all, one year after the awakening of my Haki, Toji spoke his first words.
It was a day like any other, but I had decided to take a break from training to play with Toji.
We were playing cat and mouse, and it was my turn to chase him. Needless to say, it wasn't easy, but after a few failed attempts, I finally managed to catch him.
When I did, he burst into cheerful laughter and turned around to hug me.
"Don't try to win me over like that, brat. It's your turn to chase me," I said, lightly flicking his forehead.
But unlike usual, he didn't just smile.
I saw his lips trembling, as if he was trying to say something.
Then I realized—he was about to say his first words. I immediately encouraged him.
"Come on, kid, say 'big brother.' I know you can do it."
After struggling for a few seconds, he said something that completely caught me off guard.
"Bwat."
My brain short-circuited for a few seconds before I burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! To think your first word would be 'Brat.'"
It took me a full minute to calm down.
"Well… I guess I can only blame myself," I said, reaching out to ruffle Toji's hair.
"I wasn't expecting it, but I'm still proud of you, little brother."
That day will probably remain engraved in my memory as one of the best of my life.
Unfortunately, life wasn't always that joyful.
The winters were merciless with us.
But for once, the nurses actually did their job properly.
They dressed us in warm clothes and did their best to reinforce the cabin.
Even so, the biting cold overwhelmed us every single day.
At night, it was so freezing that we had no choice but to hold each other tightly to preserve our body heat.
It was torture.
But when I thought about the fact that the original Toji had to endure all of that alone, my determination strengthened and I would go back to training.
My progress in Observation Haki was remarkable.
At the beginning, I had to concentrate for fifteen full seconds to detect my surroundings within a fifteen-meter radius.
Now, I only needed three seconds to sense everything within twenty-five meters of me.
Of course, I couldn't maintain that level for long, and I could only reach it at my peak condition.
But it was still insane progress.
I had also begun my physical training and sword training.
Finding tree branches and stones to practice with wasn't difficult.
The real problem, as always, was food.
I had to leave the cabin—poorly secured thanks to the wonderful negligence of the nurses—to search for something to eat.
The area around the hut was covered in thick brush, and with Observation Haki, finding small rodents wasn't very difficult.
The real issue was preparing them.
I had managed to retrieve a knife left inside the cabin, which I used for hunting.
I was careful never to kill more than I thought I could eat.
Partly because I had no refrigerator and no way to preserve the meat.
And partly because if I hunted recklessly, there would soon be nothing left around us to survive on.
I would cut off my preys's head to bleed it out, trying to remove as many germs as possible.
But even that wasn't enough to eat safely.
So I took inspiration from my favorite anime from my past life.
I grabbed a rope that had been lying around the house and tied it to a curved branch, creating a makeshift bow drill.
Thanks to my training and my One Piece physique—even if still underdeveloped—my strength was far beyond that of a normal five-year-old, despite the fact that I was barely two.
I had even caught up to Toji's strength, though he still slightly surpassed me.
Lighting a fire using Senku's method—with a stick, a stone, and my improvised bow—wasn't difficult at all.
Once the fire was lit, I fed it with dry leaves and small twigs.
I used the smoke to kill as many germs as possible, after skinning my prey, of course.
After all those steps, I grilled the meat on a flat stone.
And then—straight into my stomach.
Honestly, it were absolutely disgusting.
The meat reeked of blood and had no real flavor.
I had to force myself to eat because it was necessary.
Several times, I nearly vomited.
I won't even talk about the stomach aches that followed.
But finally—finally—I had the resources necessary to develop properly.
The results were surprising.
Visually, I hadn't changed much.
But my physical abilities had reached another level.
I could defeat a preteen in a fight without using Haki or any technique.
That might not sound impressive.
But I was not even three years old.
Time continued to pass inexorably.
I used my new strength to intensify my training.
Gradually, I allowed Toji to leave the cabin more often to explore while I trained.
As time went on, the stones and branches I used for training started to feel too light.
So I replaced them.
Then those replacements also became too light.
So I replaced them again.
This process repeated itself over and over until I could no longer find stones or branches heavy enough to train effectively.
So I added the time from my physical training to my sword training.
My schedule became intense.
The nurses would wake Toji and me at 7 a.m. to wash us, feed us, and dress us before leaving for the main estate.
I would warm up in the morning with one hundred sit-ups, one hundred squats, and one hundred push-ups before moving on to sword training.
I would swing thick branches in each hand until I collapsed from exhaustion.
Then I would cook to ensure my daily meat intake.
After that, I practiced swordsmanship again, this time performing kata.
At night, I trained my Observation Haki until I fell asleep.
And I continued like that until I turned five.
Then it happened.
"Young Master Zoro, Young Master Toji, you are summoned to the family estate."
This chapter was extremely difficult to write.
I had already written a draft but i it did not satisfy me so I deleted that draft and a restarted from the beginning.
Finally, I wrote what I consider to be my best chapter to date, along with the previous chapter.
Please guys spam power stones to support me
I'm taking exams so I'll be away until the 16th