Chapter 128

He first met her on the way home from school. Not from the jujutsu high, but from the school that Zoro attended with Haibara Yume.

After all the classes had ended, Zoro and Haibara Yume reached the school crosswalk.

Yume waved at Zoro cheerfully.

"I'm off! See you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

As the green light came on and other kids crossed the street in a rush, Zoro stood there dumbfounded, waiting for Toji to show up.

Today, unexpectedly, the shuttle bus driver had taken sick leave, so Toji had no choice but to pick up Zoro by car. Of course, Toji had also driven him to school that morning.

While dropping Zoro off at school, Toji had spoken seriously.

"Never try to come back to the jujutsu high on your own."

"…"

"The last person you should trust when you're on the road is yourself. Don't just roll around anywhere, stay put, marimo."

"...Sometimes I want to cut you, you know?"

Zoro felt like drawing his sword, but he knew if he really did, Toji would just take it calmly.

'Cutting an unresisting opponent leaves a bad aftertaste.'

And if that opponent was his father, it went without saying.

A clamor was heard. From a distance, a girl who looked to be in middle school, wearing a straw hat, walked toward Zoro, laughing along with a woman in a white apron.

The girl had black hair braided in two tails, and wore a neat school uniform along with a white headband.

Whooosh.

An unexpected gust of wind blew, and the girl's straw hat flew off. She tried to catch it, but the hat flew far away and landed high up in a tree.

The girl ran to the tree and frowned upon seeing her hat stuck at the top.

"What shall we do, Kuroi?"

"Should I climb up and get it for you?"

"That's not a good idea! The branches are thin. What if they break and you fall?"

It was her beloved hat, and the girl spoke with a downcast expression.

Zoro looked up at the hat. Coincidentally, it resembled Luffy's, complete with a red band around it. Of course, Luffy's straw hat was much more worn out.

Swoosh!

In the blink of an eye, a white light slashed the branch. Crack! The branch broke, and the hat fluttered down, landing gently above Zoro's head.

Rustle.

Zoro expertly caught the hat that tried to fly off again and silently offered it back to the girl. She blushed slightly as she accepted the straw hat.

"Thank you for your help."

Her manner of speaking was like that of an ancient royalty, but Zoro didn't find it odd. Having followed Luffy in his previous life and met all sorts of people, a peculiar way of speaking was hardly unusual to him.

Zoro nodded and said nonchalantly,

"Be more careful next time."

"I shall!"

...if there was another chance to go out. The girl murmured quietly.

Zoro, not having heard her well, frowned.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing at all. Kuroi, let's finish our shopping."

"I'm sorry, Lady Riko. It's time to go back."

"…Already?"

"Yes…"

"Okay…"

The girl, referred to as Lady Riko, looked downcast, and the woman called Kuroi bowed to Zoro in thanks. Then, they quickly disappeared.

Zoro watched them go, and just as he did, his phone buzzed loudly from his belt pouch. He took it out. There was a message.

—A second-grade curse is suspected to have appeared in the indoor swimming pool of ○○ Hotel. All personnel identified by the jujutsu high have evacuated, but there may still be survivors inside. Requesting curse exorcism and search for survivors with Nanami Kento.

After reading the message, Zoro frowned and closed his phone.

"There's never a break."

It was summer, the season when sorcerers are busiest.

Zoro stuffed his phone back into his belt and hailed a passing taxi. The face of the girl he had just coincidentally met was already fading from his mind.

...

In the darkened swimming pool, a human figure was visible in the undulating water.

"Ugh, ugh!"

A boy in a swimsuit struggled in the water, trying desperately to get above the surface.

Rustle, rustle.

Waves of black hair spread out and entangled around the boy's body. The more he thrashed, the more the tenacious hair tightened like a net, constricting his entire body.

The tangled hair pulled the boy deeper into the water. Down, down. The pool couldn't possibly be this deep.

[My hair, isn't it pretty?]

Ignoring the creepy voice that brushed past his ears, the boy glanced down. The bottom was not visible. All that could be seen beneath his feet was water that felt as sticky as a swamp.

The boy turned his head upward, trying to cry for help, but taking in water only hastened his peril. Still, he said,

Please save me.

Help me.

Mom…

Black dots swarmed before the boy's eyes as his consciousness began to fade.

Far beyond the surface of the water, a crescent-shaped white light flew down and struck sharply.

Swoosh!

The white slash cut through the deep water and severed the seemingly unbreakable hair.

Splash!

Nanami, wearing a life vest connected by a rope, dove into the water and embraced the unconscious boy.

Instinctively, the boy clung tightly to Nanami. As he did, the curse's black hair flew towards Nanami like a giant net.

Pop, pop, pop, pop!

The sliced net fragmented underwater. The curse on the pool floor paused and looked upwards. This wasn't the work of the two humans in the water.

Something was above the surface.

[Swimming cap?]

While the curse was distracted, Nanami locked his arms around the boy's waist tightly. Nanami's body was surrounded by a protective energy. Seeing the agreed-upon signal, the rope tied to Nanami's vest activated.

Whoooosh!

A strong force pulled Nanami and the boy out of the water. Their heads burst through the surface.

"Huuuuh! Cough, cough, cough! Ugh, ack!"

The boy gasped for air and vomited water after encountering fresh air for the first time in a while. Nanami lifted him out of the pool and said,

"You're safe now. Breathe."

"Fri, c-cough, friend…"

Splash!

Nanami turned his head. Before he could say more, he saw Zoro, swords in both hands, diving into the black-water-filled pool.

"…Just a moment."

The one to rescue is on his way.

Plunge!

Zoro swam through the dark water, diving deeper. He sensed the curse below, its head covered with hair so dense it seemed like an octopus with hair instead of legs.

'A water ghost.'

It was a typical form. A water ghost being a second-grade curse was unusual. Had there been a body found in this pool?

'Now that digestion is not an issue, try to bring back any reasonable curse alive.'

Zoro recalled what Geto had requested and narrowed his eyes while observing the curse using Observation Haki. Inside the round head of the curse, there was something that wasn't a curse.

It was a person.

The curse screamed.

[You need to wear goggles, goggles!]

Whoosh!

The dense hair lunged at Zoro as if to entangle him, but with a single swing, Zoro cut it cleanly.

'I can't last long underwater.'

Movements become sluggish, and above all, not being able to breathe meant automatic defeat.

He needed to end it quickly. Resolved, Zoro took the sword Wado Ichimonji from its sheath and clenched it between his teeth.

Thump, thump.

His heart raced. Suppressing the misplaced excitement and exhilaration of finally reclaiming his own, Zoro calmed his mind.

'End this in one strike.'

Ensuring not to harm the person swallowed by the curse.

Zoro grasped his other two swords and slid them back into their sheaths.

'Three Sword Style,'

Crossing Six Paths.

Swoosh.

With a flash of white light, the two swords slowly emerged. He gripped the handles of both swords with his hands.

A red line appeared before the curse's eyes. Five horizontal lines, followed by a vertical one.

That was the last thing the curse saw.

Clang!

Slash!

With a clear sound of the swords fully entering, the curse's long hair attached to its legs was cut off in one swift motion.

As the bewildered curse gaped, Zoro quickly swam up to its snout. He shoved the back of his sword into its mouth and forcibly pried it open. Inside the murky-colored snout, a boy with a pale face was visible.

[Eh?]

"Found you."

Whack!

Zoro, imbued with Armament Haki, struck the curse's head, knocking it unconscious, and pulled the person from its snout.

With one arm, he held the boy, and with the other, he embraced the huge head of the curse as he kicked towards the surface.

Splash!

Zoro and the boy emerged from the water. Zoro gasped for air and pulled the boy out of the water.

A boy already at the poolside saw this and turned pale, shouting.

"Takeru-kun!"

Zoro casually tossed aside the unconscious curse and pulled the boy called Takeru out of the pool. Nanami quickly approached to check his condition.

"He's in bad shape. It seems he hasn't swallowed much water since he was unconscious."

As Zoro said, the boy's complexion was excessively pale. Nanami saw several eyeballs sprouting on Takeru's leg, with blood flowing from the spot, and said with a grave expression.

"He's been cursed."

Zoro looked puzzled.

"There was no spell. It wasn't a curse strong enough to possess spells."

Unless it was a first-class or special-class curse, curses usually do not have spells. The one Zoro had just dealt with had none.

Nanami explained.

"People with weak curse resistance can develop various abnormalities just by contact with a curse."

Non-sorcerers or sorcerers with weak curse resistance could suffer numerous problems simply by being in close proximity to a curse for a long time, not to mention being directly affected like this boy.

…Of course, Zoro, who could tear apart a curse with his bare hands and remain unscathed, wouldn't know this. Being inherently resistant to curses, Zoro had a higher tolerance than even many seasoned sorcerers.

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