Chapter 18

"Don't beat around the bush."

Zoro's voice, biting and harsh, pierced through Toji's ears.

"Speak your true mind."

Toji was frozen, unable to avert his gaze from those blazing gray eyes.

'True mind?'

What was he supposed to say?

That he wished it all became meaningless?

That he wished not to recall any of it?

That he didn't want to meet you, who reminds me of her and keeps me tethered to this world?

In a world without her, I...

...didn't want to live.

"..."

He couldn't utter those words in front of Zoro, even if his mouth were torn open. So, Toji picked the words closest to his true feelings from the many thoughts swirling in his head and spat them out.

"It's better for you without me around."

Being born from him alone was enough to inherit the curse of the Zen'in family's malice.

A monkey with not a trace of cursed energy.

A cursed executioner who had accumulated nothing but karma.

Toji swallowed the rest of his words. It's better not to have me around. Better to vanish as if I never existed at all.

"You're holding on because you don't know."

What kind of being I am, what I've done.

"...Anyone would be better for you than me."

Anyone.

Hearing this, Zoro's face crumpled in disgust.

"Why do you get to decide that?"

Why Toji was deciding who would be better than him for them, Zoro couldn't fathom. It was Zoro's, and Megumi's decision to make, not Toji's.

"And you're seriously mistaken about something. What I need isn't a father."

It's you. Zoro pointed at Toji with a finger.

"Whether someone else is better than you, whatever you are. I don't care about that."

His captain was a man with nothing in his head but rubber. He had been comrades with a money-crazed miser, a long-nosed guy, a damn perverted cook, a reindeer that looked like a raccoon, a creepy woman who was once an enemy, a robot, a skeleton that came back from the dead, and a merman who was once one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

By now, having a peculiar father was nothing surprising to Zoro. He wasn't even interested in knowing.

"I am a villain. Much worse than you think."

"I already know that."

If he had been a good person, he wouldn't have abandoned his promise to Chie and neglected his children.

But for Zoro, who had a bounty of several billion berries and was a former great pirate, judging who was good or evil was meaningless. What mattered was whether that person was on his side.

"I'm not a good son either, so I'll do as I please."

If Toji was their father, Zoro had no intention of letting him go easily.

Of course, he should stay. You don't like it? I'll do as I please. You don't hate us anyway. A bad son? So be it. After all, you're not a good father either, so it's similar.

...It was a very Zoro-like way of thinking, comparable even to his captain in terms of not listening to others.

Toji quietly looked down at Zoro. His words wouldn't take. It was like throwing a ball against a wall, bouncing back no matter what he said.

Usually, in such situations, Toji resorted to force, but this was not an opponent he could use force against.

At that point, Toji Zenin's defeat was sealed.

Zoro asked as if granting a favor, "So, do you have anything else to say?"

"..."

I do, but you'll just ignore it anyway, Toji thought, the words nearly escaping his lips. He imagined a casual "Ah," as a response if he did speak up.

He couldn't win, nor could he flee. If he tried to run, this tiny creature seemed like it would chase him to the ends of hell. He might not ever be called a good father, but he couldn't bear to let his child venture into hell.

Noticing Toji's resignation, Zoro's eyes sparkled with triumph. Yes, I've won. Stubborn as a mule, just like his son.

'That reminds me.'

There was still one thing he wanted to say.

"Happy birthday, Zoro."

Zoro paused, then tilted his head, before his mouth fell open in realization. "Right, it's November 11th."

He had honestly forgotten. Birthdays were never a big deal to him. The fact that Toji remembered his birthday, something he himself had forgotten, surprised Zoro but also made him feel like hitting Toji again.

"It sure took you long enough."

"...Sorry."

"Idiot."

I thought I'd never have to see an idiot like you again after that day. Zoro muttered.

A small hand reached out towards Toji. Zoro looked up at him with a calm expression and said, "Let's go, home."

Megumi is waiting.

Toji quietly looked down at Zoro and then placed his hand over Zoro's.

...And precisely at the moment when he couldn't hold back a sigh anymore, seeing Zoro leading them down a dead-end alley.

"The way home isn't that way."

"Eh?"

"And wait a moment. We can't leave it like this; it'll cause trouble... And get rid of that bone too."

"Why... oh."

"Normally, when a curse dies, it disappears without leaving a single drop of blood."

The bone from the curse in Zoro's hand crumbled into dust like ash. Naturally, unlike the curse, the cursed user's body remained intact. After all, it was human.

Even though it was a secluded alley, the discovery of a cursed user's body, slashed to death in broad daylight in Tokyo, would send both non-sorcerers and sorcerers into a panic. It was impossible to clean up completely, but erasing the traces was necessary.

Holding Zoro's hand, Toji took out his phone with the other and pressed the numbers firmly.

First, he planned to call Shiu Kong to erase the traces. Then, they'd stop by the hospital. Even if there were no visible injuries, it was better to be sure. After that, they would go home together. And what comes next...

Toji closed his eyes tightly, then reopened them. Somehow everything felt distant, unreal, and overwhelming. How things turned out this way, what would happen next, it was all uncertain.

"..."

Yet, strangely enough.

It felt like he could finally see a path forward.