Seeing Kaito's Susanoo blade, the zombie face of Shimotsuki Ryuma didn't show fear—instead, it lit up with delight.
"So you're a swordsman too!"
Kaito shook his head. He wasn't using a sword out of necessity—it was more out of respect. After all, in life, Ryuma had been a master swordsman on par with even Dracule Mihawk. It felt appropriate to honor him.
In truth, it was just for fun.
And since he had already summoned the Susanoo blade, Kaito decided to go all in. With the power of the Clank-Clank Fruit, he called forth the full Susanoo armor.
Dark purple energy surged around his body, solidifying into a majestic suit of armor that merged seamlessly with him.
Now, Kaito looked like a fearsome war general from ancient times. The intense aura radiating from Susanoo exploded outward, sending everything in the hall flying and shaking.
Under this overwhelming pressure, even Moria and the others—who had been hit by Perona's Negative Ghosts—snapped out of it. Their eyes went wide at the sight of Kaito's current form.
Only Perona remained frozen on the ground, stunned. Her mind was still caught up in the image of Kaito smiling just a moment ago.
Then suddenly, she let out a sharp scream and shouted,
"You jerk! Why'd you have to be so gentle all of a sudden!?"
But after yelling, she realized the hall had gone completely silent. No one paid her any attention. All she saw was Moria and the others staring wide-eyed toward the entrance.
She followed their gaze—and was instantly captivated.
Looking at Kaito's back, clad in the full Susanoo armor, her cheeks flushed with red.
"...He's kind of hot, actually..."
...
Ryuma gazed at Kaito with admiration. Saying nothing more, he simply took his stance and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
A second later, Ryuma appeared behind Kaito, slowly sheathing his blade.
With a solemn expression.
Clang!
A sharp impact rang out across Kaito's Susanoo armor. Purple ripples spread out from the point of contact.
Kaito remained calm. Ryuma's attack had simply been a lightning-fast slash using high-speed movement. But with Susanoo's defense, it wasn't worth dodging.
Ryuma turned around and, seeing Kaito completely unharmed, couldn't help but exclaim,
"What terrifying defense!"
But Kaito was unmoved. With Ryuma in his current undead state, if he could actually break through Susanoo's armor, then the armor itself wouldn't be worth much.
Kaito didn't even bother looking at him. He just casually swung the Susanoo blade backward. A burst of purple sword energy shot out toward Ryuma.
Ryuma didn't dare underestimate it. He quickly raised his black blade Shusui with both hands to block the incoming slash.
But Susanoo's strike was said to be capable of cleaving through all creation. Ryuma's effort was like trying to stop a landslide with a twig.
The purple sword energy clashed with Shusui, which let out a mournful cry. Then Ryuma, along with his blade, was sent flying.
Boom!
A massive hole was blown through the hall's wall, and Ryuma's figure vanished.
Moria frowned. He wasn't worried about the damage to the mansion—he was far more concerned that he had lost his link to the zombie Ryuma!
If one of his zombies were destroyed, the shadow would automatically return to him. As the Shadow-Shadow Fruit user, he would've felt it instantly.
But this time, something was off. Not only did he lose contact with Ryuma, he couldn't even sense Brook's shadow anymore.
Kaito narrowed his eyes toward the direction Ryuma had flown. He could still feel Ryuma's presence—not fading, but actually growing stronger.
Sure enough, the sound of wooden sandals echoed through the broken wall a moment later—Ryuma had returned.
Seeing him, Moria's expression turned to shock and disbelief.
"Impossible!"
Ryuma's current appearance was a wreck. His white kimono was in tatters, and a ghastly wound stretched diagonally from his shoulder down to his waist. There was no blood—just the hollow cavity of his undead body.
A small nick had appeared on Shusui's blade, right where the sword energy had struck earlier.
But that wasn't what shocked Moria the most.
It was Ryuma's eye sockets.
Where there had once been nothing, now flickered two glowing blue flames.
He had created countless zombies before, but this had never happened!
Ryuma ignored Moria, the so-called "master." His attention was focused solely on Kaito, still gripping the Susanoo blade.
Kaito, meanwhile, eyed the blue flames in Ryuma's sockets and thought to himself:
"That's the aura of a soul... Could the real Ryuma be back?"
As it turned out—he was right.
Ryuma was now in a state of temporary "resurrection."
This had happened thanks to the black blade Shusui.
When Ryuma forged Shusui into a black blade, he had imbued it with a fragment of his soul. That was why even in his zombie state, he retained memories from his life.
Now, Kaito's strike had damaged Shusui, causing that soul fragment to return to Ryuma's body and temporarily revive him.
But unlike Rocks, Ryuma's soul fragment was minuscule compared to his original soul—just a drop in the ocean. It gave him only a short-lived second life, a final blaze before extinguishing.
Once time ran out, the soul would vanish entirely—and the "Sword God" Ryuma would disappear from the world forever.
But Ryuma didn't care.
His heart was already consumed with the will to fight.
He glanced at the nick on Shusui's blade, and in a voice far different from before, he declared,
"A flying slash of that magnitude... You truly are a great swordsman."
Kaito shrugged slightly, thinking,
Sure, whatever you say.
Flying slash or Susanoo strike—in the end, it was just an attack method. The end result was the same. No need to nitpick.
Besides, Ryuma in this state was far more interesting.
Kaito twirled the Susanoo blade in his hand and said quietly,
"All you need to know is—we're opponents now."
"Hahahahaha! Yes! You're a worthy adversary!"
Ryuma roared with laughter—no longer Brook's eerie "Yohohoho," but his own voice, untainted by the shadow's influence.
This was the true Ryuma—the Sword God of Wano Country.
The flames of his soul blazed brighter, burning with intensity.
To face someone like Kaito in these final moments—he had no regrets.
This soul fragment would now serve its greatest purpose.