“It was you who turned the children into heartless machines back then. Even now, do you still think that was right? Even if you are their father, when they watch you about to die right in front of them, they remain utterly indifferent.”
There had once been love between Sora and Judge. Before Judge made the decision to modify his children, their life together had been quite intimate, so it was not strange that Sora could find her way here.
At the same time, Sanji’s figure also appeared nearby. Only Sanji and Reiju felt any nostalgia toward their mother’s ghost.
Especially Sanji; he was able to fully retain all of his emotions and became a “failed product” in Judge’s eyes precisely because Sora had taken medicine during her pregnancy that was enough to affect the Lineage Factor.
Judging from Sanji’s changes in the original timeline, he was actually the only truly successful child. As for Sora, after the children were born, the aftereffects of the medicine caused her body to gradually weaken, and she eventually died of illness.
The promise she made with Sanji—to once again eat the meal he cooked—could never be fulfilled.
The current environment was not suitable. Sanji could not find a place to cook, and members of the Rumbar Pirates had also told him that ghosts could not eat the way normal people do.
Faced with Sora’s questioning, Judge said nothing, but he was unwilling to admit that she was right. That was his obsession with technology.
“Even if they’re indifferent, that’s still better than this useless son, isn’t it?”
“Judge, you—”
“Mom, don’t argue with this b*stard. Let me use facts to tell him instead.”
Compared to the so-called father, Sanji wanted even more to prove that his mother was right. And the method he chose was straightforward. Since Judge believed that the external power brought by the combat suit was everything, then he would shatter the very thing Judge relied on.
“I still have to go find that damn Moss Head, so I don’t have time to waste with you. Let’s finish this quickly, Diable Jambe: Crosse Strike!”
The training in Kamabakka Kingdom meant that when Sanji activated Diable Jambe, he no longer relied on spinning. In just two steps, his right leg turned bright red, and he smashed straight through Judge’s defense from the front.
“Sorry, Mom. I still have things to do, so I can’t stay and talk with you.”
“It’s alright, Sanji. Friends who are alive are far more important than the dead. Go find him.”
“Damn it, what kind of crappy place is this?! Did everyone else get lost? Why can’t I see a single person?!”
While the Straw Hats were struggling to search for Zoro, with constant interruptions along the way, Zoro himself was diligently carrying out his great tradition of getting lost.
The fog that appeared from time to time made it impossible for him to see the path clearly. If measured by steps alone, he had completed a migration, but in terms of displacement distance, he was almost standing still.
From beginning to end, he had just been circling around the same spot.
But it wasn’t entirely without results. At least, as he became more lost, he finally saw something different.
“Pirate Hunter… die, you b*stard!”
A ghost charged straight at Zoro. In the underworld, there were not only family and friends, but also enemies. Those enemies filled with resentment after being killed are just as likely to come looking for you, and the one right before Zoro’s eyes was an example.
After leaving Shimotsuki Village, Zoro had never been able to find his way back due to getting lost, and so he became a pirate hunter to make a living. The ghost in front of him was one of those he had slain back then. Zoro could no longer even remember the man’s name.
But even if he had forgotten the name, when faced with an opponent attacking him, he would respond without hesitation.
“One Sword Style: 360 Pound Phoenix!”
A slash of sword energy flew out, shredding the ghost into fragments in midair. Yet in less than a few seconds, the ghost restored itself to its original form and swung its blade at Zoro again.
“What?!”
Seeing the strange wound on his body, Zoro showed an expression of disbelief. He had clearly swung his sword to block, yet the blade in the ghost’s hand passed through his sword as if it were nothingness, leaving behind a bizarre mark on his body.
The wound instantly froze over in a strange phenomenon. Just as the ghost was about to continue its attack, it was stopped by another blade. A small figure stepped between the two, helping Zoro defuse the crisis.
“You’re already an adult. How are you still like this?”
In the clash, the ghost attacking Zoro was already struck down. The girl who looked like a child dispatched the enemy cleanly and decisively.
“Kuina… so this place is the underworld?”
The newcomer was none other than Kuina, the childhood friend who had defeated Zoro 2,001 times.
Able to defeat grown men even as a child, a genius without question, though Koushirou believed women could not become top-tier powerhouses. In another world, that statement alone would have gotten Koushirou beaten to death.
“Pretty sharp, figuring it out that fast. What’s with you, how did you end up here alive? You didn’t get lost and wander in, did you?”
“Of course not!”
Zoro’s getting lost wasn’t something he picked up later, it was innate. Back when he was still at the dojo, he had already gotten lost inside the dojo itself.
He denied with righteous indignation. The reason he recognized this place was because of words he himself had once spoken.
He had vowed to make his name resound even in the underworld. He hadn’t expected that before his reputation arrived, he himself would get here first.
“After you died, I met a strange guy who said he was looking for the underworld, so I had some impression of it.
But you, why are you still like this?”
“Probably because I was this age when I died, and ghosts in the underworld all look the way they did when they first died.
Judging by how you look… it must have been a long time outside, right? Have you become the Strongest Swordsman in the World? You didn’t forget our promise, did you?”
“No. This scar was left by that Strongest Swordsman in the World. Give me a little more time, and I’ll make my name reach this place.
Oh, right, I’ve met many powerful women. Master was wrong. Even women can become top-tier powerhouses.”
“Let’s put that aside for now. I have a question, just how many people have you offended out there?”
Ghosts began to gather sporadically from the surroundings, and their target seemed to be Zoro.
“Well… when I was a pirate hunter, I did a lot of that just to make a living. I really don’t know.”
“That’s troublesome. The swords of the living can’t harm the world of the dead, I can’t deal with this many.”
“Then how about this?”
As he spoke, Zoro drew his other two swords and assumed the stance of Three Sword Style, while a strange aura began to emanate from his body.
“Demon Aura Nine-Sword Style…”
Boom!
Just as Zoro assumed his stance, the space ahead was suddenly blasted open by a black sphere of energy. The remaining ghosts scattered and fled, and Darkrai’s figure gradually drifted over from the side.
“Zoro, be careful—he… he’s strange.”
Darkrai’s presence sent a chill through Kuina’s heart. Like prey encountering a natural enemy, she couldn’t help but step back twice.
“Don’t worry. He’s the strange guy I told you about, the one who’s been searching for the underworld. He shouldn’t be a bad person, right?”
Even as he said that, Zoro didn’t sheath his swords, instead keeping a wary eye on Darkrai.
“Put that guard down. Those things were just blocking my path. We’ve met twice already, do you really need to be this defensive around me?”
Darkrai didn’t take them seriously at all. A lion wouldn’t feel threatened by rabbits baring their teeth, and the attack he’d just thrown out was merely casual.
“You said back then you were looking for the underworld. This whole thing wasn’t caused by you, was it?”
“Not entirely. You could call it a coincidence. Besides, shouldn’t you be thanking me?”
“What exactly do you want to do?”
“That has nothing to do with you. But I advise you to stay far away from here, so you don’t get dragged in later.”
This place was merely a stepping stone for Darkrai. After briefly revealing himself, his figure vanished once more.
Darkrai didn’t explain anything to Zoro, because there was no need.
He had pursued the underworld for over ten years, finally forcing it to reveal itself, and with what Arceus had given him, he was steadily closing in on that aura.
Even if someone happened to see the Plate first, it had nothing to do with them. Darkrai found the road; Darkrai opened the door. You can’t forget the one who dug the well just because someone else drew a bucket of water from it.
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