Chapter 16

Kimura Taisei let out a laugh, a mix of disbelief and genuine amusement.

Wants to go wild?

"The kid."

It wasn't meant to belittle; the figure before him was literally just a child. Barely reaching his waist, with small hands, arms, legs, and an almost comically green head of hair... everything about him was diminutive.

'Five years old? At most six?'

Since sorcerers typically manifest their techniques between the ages of four and six, there was a chance, if fortunate, this child had already manifested his.

'But manifesting a technique isn't the end of it.'

The little one in front of him wouldn't know, but even if one is born with a technique, without constant experience and innate talent, it's hard to make use of it. The born technique itself might not even be useful for combat. Taisei's technique was such a case.

Well, it all depends on how it's used.

Taisei glanced above.

'The barrier is already in place.'

The boundary here served as both a barrier and a veil.

Meaning, even if he killed the child here, it wouldn't be visible from the outside. However, while the details within the barrier remained unseen, the presence of the barrier itself could be detected by other sorcerers.

Suddenly, Taisei looked at Zoro. His calm yet firm gaze reminded him of someone.

'Was planning to make it quick and leave.'

His mind changed.

'Guess I'll feed him to the spirits whole.'

Thinking innocently, Taisei spoke up.

"My technique is Disguise."

Caught off guard by the opponent's sudden explanation, Zoro narrowed his eyes. Taisei, unfazed, continued.

"Exactly as it sounds, with a snap of my fingers, I can make something appear as I wish it to be seen. The house you saw earlier also has a different reality."

It only appears that way; the actual form of the object doesn't change.

With the activation of his technique, a binding effect is triggered. The next moment, the spirit moved.

Swoosh!

"—!"

Zoro narrowly dodged the charging fish spirit.

Bang!

It seemed as if something massive slammed into the wall, creating a dent. A crunching sound followed, along with the thumping of what seemed like a giant fish flailing, sending dust flying.

Zoro squinted his eyes. There was almost nothing to see, but the actuality was definitely there. Plus, that guy's ability to disguise or whatever it was. So...

"Did you disguise a huge thing as something very small?"

"Correct!"

I made it appear as a pebble the size of my fingernail. I'd make it smaller if I could, but that's my limit.

"—Of course, it's not the only thing I can disguise."

Snap!

Taisei snapped his fingers and disappeared from Zoro's sight. Zoro swiftly swung his dagger.

Snap!

Clang!

As soon as the snapping sound was heard, the form of a monster with a twisted neck and protruding tongue appeared in front of Zoro. A fist dripping with yellow ichor was blocked by Zoro's dagger.

It licked its lips with its tongue, slickly.

"Aren't you surprised?"

It was Taisei's voice.

Taisei laughed with his five bleeding eyes. It was a chilling sight, but Zoro didn't even blink. He had seen too many incredible things to be startled by this.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The clash between fists and dagger occurred several times. Time and again, punches aimed at vital spots were blocked by the dagger, wrapped in a black aura of armed color.

Whoosh!

A fist charged with cursed energy narrowly missed Zoro's cheek. If he hadn't defended with the armed color at that moment, blood would have been drawn.

'Damn, I knew it!'

Whether it was the fish spirit or Taisei, Zoro could clearly sense their movements with his observation haki, unaffected by the disguise. What use was seeing them as small pebbles to the eye? The flow of their actual form and cursed energy was clear as day with his observation haki.

Unfortunately for Taisei, who had even initiated his technique to enhance its effect, the disguise technique itself had little effect on Zoro.

'But I'm still not at an advantage.'

The lack of physical prowess was the issue. Even with the ability to predict movements through observation haki, his body couldn't keep up, making evasion difficult. Although his proficiency in armed color remained the same, his attack speed was too slow to make an impact.

Swoosh!

As Zoro swung his dagger, Taisei jumped back to create distance. Zoro frowned. He felt the cut, but it was shallow. Without the ability to use ranged attacks, he had no way to strike an opponent at a distance.

'If only I had a proper sword...!'

He would have snatched and used it if Taisei had wielded a sword, but even that wasn't the case. Well, what could be done?

'I have no choice but to close the distance.'

Zoro gritted his teeth.

Crack!

The fish spirit that had been smashed into the wall pulled itself out. Dust flew up, and a few bricks were dislodged.

Grrrr!

Angered, the spirit thrashed about, slamming its fins against the ground.

Whoosh!

Zoro leaped high into the air, dodging the fish spirit's massive body slam.

From mid-air, Zoro, using his observation haki, sensed the shape of the toothless gaping mouth and the fairly straight body of the spirit. An idea sparked in his eyes. Maybe?

'Let's try this.'

As the spirit opened its vast mouth to catch Zoro falling from the air, Zoro didn't evade but instead fell right into it.

Gulp!

The spirit swallowed Zoro whole. Seeing Zoro's form bulging from inside the spirit's body, Taisei laughed.

'It's over.'

The kid was nimble, dodging this way and that, but in the end, it was futile.

Just as Taisei was about to turn away, a strange noise caught his attention.

Crunch.

The spirit writhed as if uncomfortable. Again, crunch, crunch, and then,

Ssssssshing—!

With a flash of blue sword energy, the spirit's body split as if cut by something sharp.

Screeeech, screeeeech!

The spirit screamed in agony before its movements ceased altogether.

Pop!

Bursting out with blood, Zoro sliced through the spirit's belly and lightly landed atop the corpse. Taisei's eyes widened in shock.

'Cut his way out... from the inside?'

Is he serious? Could that tiny body and a dagger the size of a finger really have that much power?

'No, even more, how could he withstand the poison within the spirit's innards?'

A mere child of five or six years old?

Zoro, having observed Taisei in a daze for a moment, lightly shook off his damp hair. Drops of the spirit's blood fell.

He felt the solid bones through the collapsed body of the spirit. Zoro grinned.

"Thought there might be something, and there was."

Lucky me. His murmurs sounded almost gleeful.

"This could be useful."

Crack!

Zoro forcefully stepped on the spine of the spirit.

Inserting his hand into the red flesh cut open by the sword, he picked up two pieces of the sharply fractured spine.

They resembled swords.

Click.

With the dagger clenched in his mouth, Zoro held a long bone shard in each hand. The armored color wrapped around his hands spread over the entire bone, staining the once-white bones black.

Taisei's expression hardened. It should have looked ridiculous, but there was nothing funny about it.

Instead, he felt a chill run down his spine.

Trying to appear unfazed, Taisei asked,

"What's that? Some kind of circus act?"

"No, it's Santoryu (Three Sword Style)."

Consider it an honor. You're the first to see this in my current life.

Clash!

Zoro's arms, holding the bones, crossed. His gray eyes sparked with a red ferocity. Like flames rising, a fighting spirit and aura enveloped his entire body.

Taisei hastily strengthened his body with cursed energy. Instinct sent a warning. He couldn't block this. He needed to flee.

But it was already too late.

"Santoryu."

Zoro leaped towards Taisei. Realizing too late that he was outmatched, Taisei threw a punch enveloped in his full cursed energy.

The moment the fist charged with cursed energy met the bone swords filled with Zoro's spirit,

Sssshhhhh!

The bone swords easily tore through the cursed energy and flesh, slicing across Taisei's body.

"Oni Giri!"

"Aaaaahhhhhhh!!!"

Thump, thud!

As Taisei fell, Zoro removed the dagger from his mouth. Then, he turned to survey Taisei.

'Is he dead? ...He's dead.'

That strange mass seemed to still be breathing, but it was clear it had no strength left to fight.

Without feeling the need for a confirmatory kill, Zoro, who had no qualms about taking lives, dismissed it and tucked the dagger back into his necklace.

The sky writhed, and the barrier that had enveloped the sky popped and disappeared. Of course, Zoro didn't know what the barrier was.

"Anyway, it's about time to head back home."

Where is this place, anyway? Aside from the two he had just dispatched, there was nothing familiar in sight. Did that guy disguise the surrounding paths? No, he was dead now.

Zoro scratched his head. That's when it happened.

"...!"

Click. Zoro gripped the bone sword tightly. A powerful presence. Far stronger than the two he had just killed, there was a formidable presence nearby.

Holding the bone sword and tensing his body, Zoro walked out of the alleyway where the barrier had been lifted.

Step, step.

Zoro furrowed his brow. The approaching presence felt strangely familiar.

And then, they met.

"You...?"

'Ah.'

It was Toji.

Toji looked surprised. Seeing his son covered in blood after being apart for over half a year, it was probably a natural reaction from his perspective.

Zoro slowly rolled his eyes up and down, assessing Toji. At least he wasn't hurt and seemed healthy. Even as he felt relieved at that fact, an unbearable anger surged within him.

He lifted his head to meet his eyes. Shaky green eyes looked back at him.

Silence ensued. With so much he wanted to say, Zoro couldn't decide where to start.

Finally, at last.

"...Found you."

Toji.