30 Chapter 30

What's this, someone's talking about me.

Zoro scratched his ear, then quickly lost interest. Whether someone was talking about him or not, what did it matter?

Yawning, Zoro sat down.

'Come to think of it, I've been having these strange dreams lately.'

It was a dream where everything was pitch black, with only a white path visible.

And it wasn't just once or twice that he had this dream. Lately, it seemed to occur a bit more frequently, though he would have it periodically every few weeks.

'When did I first have that dream?'

Zoro could easily recall that moment.

It was the first night after he had been reincarnated.

'Originally, there were no sounds in that dream.'

But recently, there had been sounds.

The sounds of metal scraping against metal, like something caught in a machine.

Creak, creak.

Well, a dream is just a dream. Zoro stopped his thoughts there.

'It's about time to go.'

Click.

Toji opened the door and entered the training ground. Zoro stood up from where he had been sitting, brushing himself off.

"You're here. What did you go do?"

"I went to check the place where you fought with Jurei today."

Zoro had gone to the training ground with Toji today but got separated from Toji for a moment (not intentionally, he just lost his way) and fought with Jurei in an abandoned building.

Toji had belatedly discovered Zoro and hurriedly brought him to the training ground, then returned alone to the abandoned building to erase the traces. However, during that brief moment, someone who saw Jurei, who had not quite died yet, found him and contacted the sorcery authorities.

"Why there?"

"Because a sorcerer came to investigate."

Toji scratched the scar on his lip as he recalled the young female sorcerer who had been roaring about who was responsible for the act. She was probably affiliated with the Tokyo Sorcery College.

'I figured we'd get caught eventually.'

It was too soon, though. Settling in one place and continuously capturing the local Jurei made it an inevitable outcome.

Zoro asked, "Did those guys figure out it was me?"

"No way."

Unlike physical strength, haki leaves no trace like residual energy. Weapons imbued with haki return to their original state the moment the haki is withdrawn. Moreover, today Zoro didn't even use a proper weapon but a broken glass bottle he found nearby. The Jurei that could have been a clue died quickly.

Thanks to Toji's repeated instructions and teachings, Zoro was able to leave the scene without leaving fingerprints, footprints, or getting caught on CCTV. Consequently, the sorcerer had to search a scene without any residues or traces.

"Besides, who would think a four-year-old did that?"

"In ten days, I'll be five."

"Yeah, a kid turning five in ten days."

Today is November 1st, 2004.

Almost a year since Toji returned, Zoro had grown quite a bit. He had grown taller and his movements were much more agile than a year ago. However, to Toji, he still seemed like a little kid.

Zoro shrugged his shoulders.

"If they don't know it was me, there's no problem."

"It's not that simple, son."

Although they weren't caught today, it's uncertain what might happen next. The Sorcery Headquarters might be incompetent, but if the Jurei in this area continue to disappear, they will surely start to suspect.

"Can't we just ignore it?"

"Was there a kid nearby? Is he okay?"

"Thanks to who?"

"Hmm, that's good."

"Next time..."

Can't we just ignore it?

Toji swallowed those words.

It's not that he doesn't know what is right; he just chooses not to live by it. Toji knew that Zoro was much more upright than himself.

"Next time, what?"

"...Never mind."

He wouldn't listen anyway. If there was trouble, Toji would just have to deal with it.

What worried him was that someday the scale of the trouble might become too large for Toji to cover up.

'If Zoro's identity is revealed, it would surely upheaval the sorcery world.'

A non-sorcerer, not just any sorcerer or someone with zero cursed energy, but a mere non-sorcerer catching a second-grade Jurei at the mere age of four or five. And not with physical strength, but with an unheard-of technique called haki.

'All sorts of riffraff would come swarming.'

Whether they refuse to believe and deny it, attempt to kill out of fear, refuse to believe he is a non-sorcerer and suspect there must be something else, try to coax him into joining their family, or attempt to marry him off to their children...

'Especially since Zoro is a Zenin.'

Zenin.

The surname that Toji had tried to abandon all his life but ultimately couldn't, ending up passing it on to his children.

'As long as he carries the Zenin surname, the sorcery world will show immense interest in Zoro.'

Especially the Zenin family.

'Even if Naobito doesn't mind, those damned old fools who pride themselves as elders won't accept Zoro.'

Surprisingly, the current head, Naobito, didn't care much about lineage or whether someone was a direct descendant or not, as long as they had the ability and quality to exorcise Jurei and cursed spirits.

However, the elders of the Zenin family were different. They strictly valued sorcerers who were direct descendants of the head and possessed the Ten Shadows Technique above all.

They were obsessed with the Ten Shadows Technique, secretly fathering numerous children with various women to ensure their sons or grandsons inherited it.

Boys and girls who didn't manifest the technique were discarded, and only those with the technique were admitted into the Zenin family. They went to great lengths, including divorcing their wives and remarrying the mothers of their illegitimate children who manifested the Ten Shadows Technique.

Even cousin marriages were common to ensure their children possessed the Ten Shadows Technique, to the extent that even the previous head married a cousin for this reason.

...Ironically, the result was Toji, a Zenin with zero cursed energy.

Megumi might be an exception, but the elders wouldn't look kindly on Zoro. Zoro, unlike Toji, might have cursed energy, but after all, he is a non-sorcerer. Moreover, he can't even see cursed spirits, and they consider him a disgrace as Toji's son.

'What to do...'

Should I change his surname?

When marrying Chie, Toji had intended to become a son-in-law and change his surname to Tanaka, but Chie, having a poor relationship with her parents and not liking her surname either, decided against it.

It wouldn't be impossible to find an easygoing woman to marry and become a son-in-law now...

'Zoro wouldn't like it.'

It's a last resort but not an option for now.

"..."

Then, what about eradicating the Zenin family completely?

To kill them off for good this time, thoroughly crushing them to ensure they can't interfere with Zoro and Megumi's future.

To leave no trace of them in his life...

"Hey."

Zoro tapped Toji with a bamboo sword, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Stop thinking. Let's finish what we were doing."

Zoro, holding two bamboo swords, wrapped them with a layer of energy. The haki gently radiating around the sticks resembled falling cherry blossom petals.

"Today, we'll practice awakening both types of haki energy. Don't use weapons, just dodge or block with your body. When dodging, focus on sensing my presence; when blocking, imagine you're wearing invisible armor."

Toji set aside all thoughts, captivated by Zoro's intense gaze and the deep black haki of his energy. He had to focus on defending against his son's and stern instructor's attack first.