"Then this is simple."
Zoro stepped forward slowly, untied the green band from his arm, and knotted it around his forehead.
His sharp gaze locked on his target. "I set sail to become the world's strongest swordsman. I saw that flying slash just now, you're impressive. Since you look free at the moment, how about a match?"
"First, that wasn't a flying slash. It's just the product of certain abilities. I'm no swordsman."
Hiroto raised two fingers. "Second, if you're going to draw your blade, be ready to stake your life."
"Zoro!"
Johnny broke into a cold sweat, he'd just watched the man cleave a warship in half.
Too weak to grasp the details, he still stood on the very aftermath of that strike.
Before he could move, Yosaku seized his arm.
"Don't interfere with Zoro." Yosaku, equally worried, clenched his teeth and held his friend back.
"Yosaku, you..."
Johnny stared in disbelief. "Didn't you see that slash? No human can pull off something that terrifying. He's a monster, plain and simple."
"Zoro is a monster too."
Yosaku said in a low voice, "I know what you're thinking, but I believe in Zoro. Since the day we met him, when has he ever lost? And you know what he's chasing. We can't stop him and mustn't stop him."
"..."
Johnny opened his mouth, then fell silent and looked ahead.
"If I lacked that resolve, I wouldn't draw my blade."
Ignoring the two, Zoro tightened his bandanna, clamped Wado Ichimonji between his teeth, and drew his other two swords, taking his Three Sword Style stance.
"Then let's follow the usual routine—names."
"Roronoa Zoro."
"Hiroto."
"Never heard of you."
Zoro pondered for a moment but came up blank.
"You will remember it soon enough."
Hiroto tossed aside his cracked longsword and casually picked up another blade. He gripped the hilt and a shrill wind suddenly howled.
With his Berserk mode still active, his attributes leapt to the level of a ten-million-berries bounty pirate.
[Strength: D- → D+]
[Agility: E+ → E++]
Next, [Sharp Sword] triggered.
Perception, reflex, and momentum up.
[Agility: E++ → D-]
[Constitution: E+ → E++]
"A secret art?"
Watching his opponent's surging aura, Zoro's eyes flashed with excitement. "Then let me see how far I am from a flying slash."
The moment the words left his mouth, Hiroto stamped down and shot forward.
A streak of steel flashed, slashing straight at Zoro.
Clang!
Steel met steel.
Zoro's three blades crossed to catch the edge, feeling the terrifying force pressing him back.
But the gap wasn't huge.
He grinned, wrenched the blade aside with all three swords, then turned into a whirlwind of gleaming steel.
On the wreck of the warship, the two clashed at blinding speed.
Johnny and Yosaku couldn't even track their movements. Yet Johnny could see that Zoro wasn't being crushed.
"There's hope!" Yosaku exclaimed, pinching Johnny's arm.
"Why pinch me?!" Johnny snapped.
"Thought I might be dreaming."
"Then pinch yourself!"
"It hurts." Yosaku said honestly.
Johnny's face darkened, he itched to pinch back.
But what looked hopeful to them felt utterly wrong to Zoro.
It shouldn't be like this.
A swordsman who could unleash a flying slash couldn't possibly be this limited.
Not in speed or strength—pure swordsmanship was a mess.
No structure, cobbled together, lacking a core of its own.
That was Zoro's exact sensation.
Or could the man's earlier words have been true?
Yet how could a flying slash—pure swordsmanship—be produced by some crooked trick?
Zoro had never heard of such a thing. Only one idea fit... the pride of a swordsman.
"You're holding back because I haven't shown strength worth your full blade?" Zoro suddenly leapt back, eyes fixed grimly on his foe.
His words made Johnny and Yosaku tense.
Zoro had been trading blows, how could the enemy not be serious?
"?"
Hiroto, sweat still on his brow, was puzzled.
The exchange had already left him drenched.
Zoro's swordplay had overwhelmed him. Without his entries, he'd have been run through.
In response, Hiroto's swordsmanship improved at breakneck speed under pressure and he glimpsed ideas from Zoro's style, though it was still not enough to form something of his own. He craved longer combat to sharpen his blade.
Fighting—especially the strong—was always the best whetstone.
Yet something felt off.
"I understand."
Seeing Hiroto's silence, Zoro seemed to grasp the situation.
He took his Three Sword Style stance, two blades held behind him like wings, murderous intent rising.
"My probing was an insult to a swordsman of your caliber. Then let me give you everything."
Three Sword Style: Tiger Hunting!
Steel flashed in an instant and for a moment, a fierce tiger seemed to pounce.
In that lethal instant, Hiroto's eyes widened and he instinctively wrapped howling wind around his blade and slashed.
—Steel-Severing Slash!
Compressed sword-storm shot out like a locomotive, smashing the tiger illusion aside.
The spectral beast vanished, and with it the strike.
Zoro's twin swords were thrown wide, his body hurled back several meters.
"That's... the slash that cut the warship!"
Johnny's eyes bulged. "He really wasn't going all-out."
Yosaku said nothing, his face tight.
If Zoro should fall, they'd repay their debt of gratitude with their lives.
'As I thought.'
Sent flying, Zoro tasted the power of that cut.
Not a flying slash—something like his own One Sword Style: Sanjuroku Pound Ho, yet stronger, more destructive.
Hardly brilliant, but a leap above the man's earlier chaos. He couldn't even grasp how the wind had been fused into the strike.
Still, he guessed this might be the embryo of a flying slash—the opponent's answer.
Hiroto was testing him, much as an adult wouldn't fight a child seriously. Only by showing real skill could he make this swordsman give his all.
Zoro set himself again, fighting spirit blazing. "I'll make you draw your blade for real."
No, dude, what are you talking about?
Watching the utterly convinced Zoro, Hiroto's face darkened.
I already told you I'm no swordsman, can't we just take this step by step?
(End of Chapter)
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