"You mean, you want me to give you an explanation? You've got it backwards."
Shano sneered, "Isn't it you who should be giving Junichi an explanation instead!"
"Junichi..."
"Don't call my name!!!!"
Junichi's breathing was rapid, his eyes swollen red, and he was almost grinding his teeth to pieces.
"So you were the mastermind all along? You were the one secretly controlling Asakura Island? Then what were the last five years to me? And what was that sentimental act you just put on?!"
Looking around, he gazed desperately at the corpses scattered on the ground.
"This is just one day, in a single day you killed so many people, what insane things have you done over these five whole years, why did you do this!!!"
Sakuraba Itsuki glanced at the corpses, his expression indifferent.
He cast his emotionless gaze on Junichi, his voice echoing as if from the depths of a dry well.
"Do you remember, the thing I mentioned to you back then, about your mother?"
"Mother?"
Junichi became even more enraged, shouting, "Why are you suddenly bringing her up? What right do you have to mention her now! Didn't she die of illness ten years ago while traveling with you!"
"Ah Ya did die on that trip, but not from illness."
"Shortly after the trip began, we passed through the Goa Kingdom, where two elegant noblewomen boarded the ship and got along very well with Ah Ya, becoming friends in just a few days."
"They often held tea parties in the afternoon, and at night, they would sit on the deck together watching the stars, laughing and chatting, with nothing left unsaid."
"Ah Ya had been with me through thick and thin since my poor beginnings, struggling for so many years. Other than when you were born, those were almost the happiest days I've ever seen her."
"Until one day..."
"Those two noblewomen suddenly wanted to play soccer, but where would we get a ball on the ship?"
"So, they changed their demeanor abruptly, flew into a rage, and started beating and scolding their own guards, even wanting to kill the head guard and throw him into the sea to feed the fish."
"Ah Ya, unable to bear it, stepped in to dissuade them, saving the head guard's life and went to the kitchen to borrow materials like a pig's bladder to sew together a ball."
"After working late into the night to make the ball, Ah Ya was quite happy, thinking this way, the noblewomen wouldn't take out their anger on the guards anymore."
"She went to deliver the ball early in the morning, while I slept in for a bit, and when I finally went to find her, guess what I saw?"
Sakuraba Itsuki looked blank, as if he were telling a story unrelated to himself.
"Ah Ya's head had been cut off, and the two noblewomen were playing soccer with it, having a great time. The ball she painstakingly made all night was tossed aside, trampled and discarded because it was deemed too ugly."
What... what?! Junichi's pupils contracted sharply, stumbling back two steps, his body shaking violently.
Shano let out a long breath, remaining silent.
In his heart, he had some guesses about the identity of those two noblewomen.
But he did not interrupt, allowing Sakuraba Itsuki to continue speaking on stage undisturbed.
In the vast and empty hall, the emotionless voice echoed:
"…I was stunned for a long time at that moment before I finally came to my senses, and then I charged forward mad with fury, but was suddenly blocked by that head guard."
"My prideful swordsmanship was like a joke in front of that guy. I couldn't last even a few seconds before I was stomped underfoot."
"Back then, I really couldn't figure it out, but after a long and arduous investigation, I finally understood..."
"Those two young ladies were not noblewomen from the Goa Kingdom at all. They were Heavenly Celestial Dragons who secretly ran off to have fun at the Goa Kingdom! As for the head guard that Ah Ya saved, he was none other than Navy Headquarters Vice Admiral Siteres!"
"How funny, how funny... how funny!!!"
Sakuraba Itsuki suddenly threw back his head and laughed hysterically.
"Hahaha, Ah Ya thought she had made two more friends, not knowing that in their eyes, she was just a little cat or dog to toy with on a whim."
"And that same guy who knocked on the door the previous night to express gratitude for saving his life was the one who personally cut off Ah Ya's head the next day!"
"And me? I got kicked into the sea like a dead dog, drifting for a month before narrowly escaping death!"
"No wonder you were so withdrawn and silent for months after that trip..." Junichi clutched his head in agony, muttering to himself in a daze, "But after mother's funeral, didn't you gradually come out of it?"
"Come out? I never came out of it!"
Sakuraba Itsuki scoffed, "It was just for the sake of continuing to raise you, for the dojo I founded with my own hands, that I chose to run away, forget, and continue playing the role of the good president, the good father."
"The real Sakuraba Itsuki, the old Sakuraba Itsuki, drowned ten years ago when he fell into the sea!"
"I thought I could just keep running away, after all, what choice did I have? Revenge? On whom? The Heavenly Celestial Dragon or the Navy Vice Admiral? I'm not even a Sword Master, how could I manage that!"
He smirked.
"But fate wouldn't let me bow my head just like that!"
"Five years ago, in that shipwreck, I almost drowned again while trying to save people, but in the end, I survived, and not only that, I found a Devil Fruit among the debris that floated from the merchant ship!"
"You all roughly know what happened after that."
Sakuraba Itsuki finally turned his body around, the place on his chest that had been pierced by the sword began to splinter and then promptly healed.
His expression gradually turned indifferent.