The Struggling Man and the Escaped Man

Late at night, the boulder slid up and down under the pull of ropes, Zoro's training showing no signs of stopping. Despite the burning, tearing sensation in his muscles, he mechanically repeated a motion until he had no strength left to continue.

And after he collapsed on the ground, he seemed to see a figure—an old man with a ponytail and a straight-lined eyebrow—appear before him.

This person usually sits by the sea, staring blankly. Zoro had no idea who he was and he mumbles words Zoro couldn't understand, but rumors in the dojo hinted that he was a samurai.

This is indeed the case. His name is Shimotsuki Kozaburo, a renowned swordsmith from Wano Country who illegally left it forty years ago, and a member of the Shimotsuki family who succeeded in reaching East Blue.

He was also Kuina's grandfather. However, seeing this person, Zoro slapped himself.

He knew him as Kuina's grandfather, from his funeral years ago when Kozaburo passed away. It was then that he learned of the man's identity from Kuina herself.

"What the heck..." [*Another meaning- Seeing a ghost]

It was not just an expression; it was really seeing a ghost. First, there was the mysterious black man who was strangely searching for the underworld, and now he was seeing the deceased old man. Zoro was starting to doubt some things about this world.

But, he soon realized it wasn't the long-dead Kozaburo but Koushirou.

The current master of the dojo and his teacher.

"Zoro, what are you doing?"

His father and daughter departed one after the other, leaving Koushirou alone. Now, the only ones he care about were the children at the dojo, especially Zoro, whose face, according to what Kozaburo had said before he passed away, seemed familiar.

"Teacher, I might…have seen a ghost"

He recounted his daytime encounter and the paranormal event involving Kozaburo that he witnessed.

"So, Teacher, do you think the underworld truly exists?"

"I don't know. But whether it does or not, the living and the dead exist in separate worlds, Zoro. It's not a place for us, the living, to tread."

Zoro stared blankly at the distant grassland, where he and Kuina used to duel. She had defeated Zoro exact 2001 times, and there was also that promise to become the world's best.…

"Teacher, can you entrust Wado Ichimonji to me?"

"Hmm?"

"That's... our old promise. Since she's no longer here, I'll strive to fulfill her part as well. Even if the two worlds never intersect, I'll make my name resound throughout the underworld."

Seeing Zoro kneeling on the ground respectfully and pleading, Koushirou's thoughts seemed to drift elsewhere, his deep gaze revealing nothing of his own thoughts.

He could tell Zoro hadn't completely let go of the matter, but in the end, he agreed to Zoro's request and handed over the Wado Ichimonji.

From then on, in every battle, as a practitioner of the Three Sword Style, he always held Wado Ichimonji in his mouth.

Darkrai was unaware that his appearance had subtly caused some changes; there might be one more person in the world looking for the entrance to the underworld.

Meanwhile, in a prison in the Grand Line, Who's-Who began plotting his escape from the prison.

With the emergence of the Beasts Pirates, the seas grew more tumultuous. Red Hair, Big Mom, the Beasts Pirates, Whitebeard, and scattered remnants all began to take action, further displeasing the World Government with his failure.

Due to the fruit's characteristics, they hadn't dispatched stronger forces to transport it. However, since Red-Haired Shanks was the one who looted it, strictly speaking, it doesn't matter who took on this mission, they would have been out of luck.

Initially, Who's-Who hadn't thought much of his mission failing. Even CP9 couldn't guarantee 100% success in their missions. He believed that given his abilities, the higher-ups wouldn't be too concerned about the matter, at most, there might be a slight punishment.

However, when he returned, he was immediately thrown into prison. The only good news was that he wasn't sent to Impel Down but rather to Cipher Pol's prison.

What followed was torture and beatings. At first, he held onto the hope of being released after his punishment. But not long ago, a prison guard ridiculed him, saying, "Instead of hoping for forgiveness from above, you should pray for Nika to come and rescue you."

It's a story from ancient times. Slaves in ancient times believed in a legend that would save them. It was said that he would bring smiles and freedom to the suffering slaves. But who knows if he truly exists?

Who's-Who, having endured so much hardship, chose to believe. As long as he could be rescued, he didn't care about the details. But a few days later, that prison guard vanished without a trace.

Who's-Who used to do shady work for the World Government, so he knew exactly what this situation meant. That word was probably taboo.

Now that the prison guard had disappeared, they might not have known yet how many people know about that word yet. But given the efficiency of the World Government, it won't be long before they found out about him.

So he risked his life to break out of prison in advance, and even killed the people who might have heard the word then, to reduce the possibility of being eliminated.

He succeeded, even escaping the prison a few months earlier than in the original timeline, then sailing the seas under the name of the Who's-Who Pirates.

As a former agent, he already had a plan in mind: lay low for a while, make a name for himself, then enter the New World and find a backer for himself. Only then would he be truly safe.

The reason for laying low was that he knew many secrets, and many secrets had an expiration date. Once that date passed, the World Government would also relax their search efforts. If he acted right after escaping, he might face a backlash he couldn't handle.

Time passed, and the Levely was convened once again. More and more kings realized the danger of the Great Pirate Era. Apart from the kingdoms that had truly been destroyed, some pirates were trying to emulate it to gain fame.

Those without the strength naturally faced destructive blows, but they also caused trouble for many countries. However, they still didn't realize the threat of Dragon. To them, he was still just a minor nuisance.

Some kings even believed that the reason these people had the energy to cause trouble was because the taxes were not high enough, leaving them too idle, so they instead increased the taxes in their countries.

Uta was also gradually integrating into the Beasts Fruits' Entertainment Department. Tesoro planned to hold Uta's debut performance next year when the ship was completed. Meanwhile, on Onigashima, Setsuna's due date was approaching...

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