As soon as I passed through the gate, I ran as fast as my injured body allowed. Reaching the center of the Kukuru didn't take long.
'Let's check the infirmary first.'
I burst the infirmary door open, out of breath. Several members were injured inside, but Toji was nowhere in sight.
I rushed out again and headed this time to the dormitories. They were typical military-style barracks.
All the rooms looked the same, and aside from a few exceptions, they all had bunk beds.
So Toji and I shared a room.
Logically, if he wasn't at the training grounds or the infirmary, he should have been in our room… and yet there was nothing. Not a single soul.
And judging by the layer of dust covering everything, no one had set foot here for several days.
The panic grew with every second. My heart pounded wildly as I ran around despite the pain tearing through my body.
I started thinking about everything that could have happened to him during my absence. Then I decided to go see one of the only people who might know where he was.
Rushing out of the room, I ran down the hallway until I arrived in front of another dorm room door—which I immediately kicked open.
BOOM!
Wood splinters flew everywhere, but I didn't care.
Then an angry voice came from inside.
"Hey! Why the hell did you do that, you bastard?! You got a death wish or something?!"
I ignored his bravado and quickly approached him. I grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall.
The scene was almost ridiculous. A six-year-old child acting like a bad cop against someone nearly twice his size.
"WHERE IS TOJI?!"
Nobuaki finally realized who he was dealing with, and the color drained from his face. He began trembling and instinctively placed a hand over his chest.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about."
My anger only grew.
"STOP MESSING WITH ME! YOU KNOW EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS BETWEEN THE RECRUITS!" I grabbed his throat. There was no real strength in my grip, but the message was clear. "SO YOU'RE GOING TO TELL ME WHERE MY BROTHER IS!"
The fear in his eyes intensified. His voice trembled like he was on the verge of tears.
"I-I swear I don't know! These past five days I've either been in the infirmary or in my dorm! I have no idea what happened during that time!"
A long silence filled the room for several seconds before I released him and he collapsed onto the floor.
He let out a long breath, visibly relieved.
But I wasn't done with him yet.
I spoke in the coldest voice I could manage.
"Fine. If you don't know, I can't blame you."
Instead of reassuring him, hearing that only made him even more cautious.
"But now that you do know…"
He scrambled backward violently, trembling.
"Listen carefully. You have thirty minutes to find out where my brother is. After that…"
I paused.
"I promise you the fate waiting for you will make our previous fight look like a reward."
I didn't wait for his answer and walked out of his room.
The corridor fell silent, but after a moment I heard him shout, "JOHN! GET OVER HERE!"
I ignored it and returned to our room because I had left something there that deserved my attention.
Once inside, I locked the door and walked toward the bed.
On it rested the cloth bundle Tsukumo Hyo had given me. As far as I was concerned, it was more of a container than anything else.
I untied the knot holding it closed, and what I saw inside was exactly what I expected.
Under normal circumstances I would have jumped with joy, but the current situation was too serious for any happiness to reach me.
First, there was the object I suspected had been the cause of my victory—and of my current inability to use Haki.
Then there was the one I considered the most useful right now.
And finally, the one I considered the most iconic.
You guessed it.
The first was Enma, the second Shusui, and the third Wado Ichimonji.
These katanas had arrived at the perfect moment. I desperately needed quality weapons right now.
Still, I was certain I could only use two of them for the moment.
First, I hadn't even begun training in Santoryu yet.
Second…
Using Enma would kill me, damn it. I was already lucky I hadn't died when I unknowingly used it against the cursed spirit.
I picked up Enma and hid it out of sight.
Then I drew Wado Ichimonji.
Honestly, to an untrained eye like mine it looked no different from any other katana—except for its extreme lightness. I tried infusing it with invisible Haki, and to my great surprise it let it pass through as if it barely existed.
Its Haki conductivity was unlike anything I had ever seen. I was completely fascinated—but I had to move on.
I sheathed it and picked up Shusui instead.
After drawing it from its scabbard, I was hypnotized by its transcendent beauty.
The guard, the patterns, and especially the color. Everything about this sword was magnificent, but—
"Damn, this thing is heavy. Learning how to wield it is going to be a real headache."
I put it back in place and lay down on the bed, thinking about everything that had happened in barely a week.
'What a damn awful week. I almost feel like crying.'
I sighed for several minutes while replaying the events in my mind.
'First we join the Kukuru. Then Nobuaki mocks and attacks us. Then we get thrown into a pit of cursed spirits as punishment.' That particular event was unforgettable. 'Toji gets a wound that'll leave a permanent scar, and I awaken my Conqueror's Haki.'
And that wasn't even the end of it.
'I receive a falsified mission. I meet little Tsukumo Yuki during that mission. I fight a Semi-Grade 1 cursed spirit. I nearly die. I defeat it with a katana that appeared out of nowhere. And then I wake up in an unfamiliar room unable to use Haki.'
I thought things would calm down after that—but not at all.
'As soon as I return here, I find out my brother has disappeared. Yeah… this really is a terrible week.'
Another long sigh escaped me before pain forced me to clutch my chest.
"Argh!"
Breathing too deeply caused unbearable pain. Honestly, I had acted tough in front of Nobuaki, but if he had known my real condition, I'd probably be dead by now.
Tears began to run down my face—but they weren't tears of physical pain.
Or at least, not only that.
"Sniff… Sniff… Where are you, little brother? Please tell me you're okay. I couldn't bear it if something else happened to you on top of that scar."
It wasn't logical—I knew that. Toji needed adversity to grow stronger and learn how to protect himself.
But let me tell you something:
Since when have human emotions been logical?
Every time I imagined what state Toji might be in, my heart tightened.
He could be imprisoned and beaten right now. Or maybe he'd had his limbs cut off. Or maybe even worse.
He could be—
'No! He's not. He'll be fine. I'm sure of it. I trained him for this.'
I knew it. I knew my training would never be enough to make him strong enough to survive everything, but imagining him dead was too much.
I needed something—anything—to reassure myself.
Repeating "He's fine.", "He's strong.", and "He's the Tyrant of Heavenly Restriction after all." was the only way I managed to endure those thirty minutes.
Then suddenly someone knocked on my door, and a voice came from the other side.
"Mon— I mean, Zoro. We found your brother."
At those words, I didn't even register the "monkey" he had almost said. I rushed to the door and violently pulled it open.
"Where is he?!"