"Whoosh!!!"
Luffy's jet black fist blasted forward like a railgun.
It was faster than any attack he had thrown before, so fast that it ripped a deafening sonic boom through the air.
Death instantly wrapped itself around Kuro.
He tried to activate Shakushi again and slip away.
But that terrifying pressure locked onto him so completely that his entire body froze.
His reaction slowed by a single instant.
"No!!"
BOOM!!!!
Time seemed to stop.
The black fist crashed into Kuro like a Marine battleship charging at full speed.
Crunch!
His breastbone shattered with a sickening crack.
His eyes bulged from their sockets.
His mouth opened wide, yet not a single scream escaped. Every bit of air in his lungs was violently forced out by that overwhelming punch.
The next moment, his body shot backward like a broken kite.
He smashed through seven or eight massive trees before collapsing limply onto the forest floor like a discarded rag doll, sending dirt and leaves flying everywhere.
Hidden in an unnoticed corner of the battlefield, a thin strand of crimson mist quietly slipped into Kuro's body.
He lay motionless.
His chest had caved inward.
Blood poured continuously from his mouth and nose.
He could only exhale.
He could no longer breathe in.
He had completely lost consciousness.
One punch.
Just one punch.
"Captain Kuro of a Hundred Plans" had fallen.
Silence engulfed the entire forest.
The remaining members of the Black Cat Pirates stared blankly at their captain, the man they believed to be invincible, defeated with a single punch.
Their souls nearly left their bodies.
Their limbs turned ice cold.
None of them even had the courage to run.
Before the pirates could recover from the overwhelming shock...
Zoro moved.
His figure became nothing more than several green afterimages flashing through the air.
"Three Sword Style... Bull Needle!"
With a low shout, he transformed into a whirlwind of flashing blades that tore straight through the stunned pirates.
"Slash!"
"Slash!"
"Slash!"
Steel sliced through flesh again and again.
Brief screams echoed through the forest.
The pirates only felt a sudden chill across their necks or chests.
Before they could even understand what had happened, darkness swallowed their consciousness.
Like wheat cut down during harvest, they collapsed one after another.
Although Zoro had accepted becoming a pirate...
He had once been a pirate hunter.
And against pirates who murdered, pillaged, and preyed upon the innocent...
He never showed mercy.
His figure came to a stop at the far end of the battlefield.
Blood slowly dripped from the edges of his three swords onto the blanket of fallen leaves beneath him.
He calmly sheathed his blades.
Click.
The crisp sound echoed through the silent forest.
The entire battle had lasted only a few breaths.
Every member of the Black Cat Pirates was now lying on the ground.
Only Kuro remained alive in the distance, along with Jango and the Nyaban Brothers, who had already been defeated earlier.
Zoro turned toward Luffy and Usopp.
"The trash has been cleaned up."
Nami finally let out a sigh of relief.
Then she immediately placed her hands on her hips and yelled at Luffy.
"Hey! Luffy! If you fall asleep in the middle of another fight, slapping your face won't be the only thing I do!"
Usopp stared at the Straw Hat captain walking back toward him.
The familiar goofy grin had already returned to Luffy's face.
Yet the pain from the wounds covering Usopp's body reminded him that everything which had just happened was real.
"H-Hey... Luffy..."
Usopp muttered.
"What... what kind of monster are you...?"
Luffy stopped in front of him and grinned.
"I'm the man who's going to become the King of the Pirates!"
He rubbed his stomach.
"Usopp, can you take us into the village now? I'm starving."
Usopp looked at Luffy, who had instantly returned to his usual idiot self.
Then he looked toward the fallen Kuro.
Without another word...
He calmly loaded a bullet into his slingshot.
Bang!
The shot pierced straight through Kuro's chest.
A finishing shot.
"Yeah, yeah... I get it."
Usopp sighed.
"You guys almost got me killed... Let's go. I'll take you to the village."
"But you're paying!"
"Of course!"
Nami's expression stiffened for a moment at the mention of money.
Still, she quickly recovered.
She loved money.
She just wasn't stingy when it truly mattered.
Kuro did not die immediately.
Usopp's cautious finishing shot had pierced the already-collapsed side of his chest with perfect accuracy.
Yet it had narrowly missed his heart.
He lay on the cold ground, feeling the warmth of his life drain away with the blood flowing endlessly from his body.
His vision gradually darkened.
His fading eyes remained fixed on Usopp and the Straw Hat crew.
Did he hate them?
Of course he did.
He hated the long-nosed boy for destroying the plan he had spent years preparing.
He hated that rubber fool for possessing strength he could never hope to reach.
He hated that green-haired swordsman for effortlessly severing every possible escape.
They had destroyed everything.
They had dragged him from the beautiful future that had almost been within his grasp...
...and thrown him into the abyss.
Had that future really been beautiful?
He no longer knew.
But beneath all that hatred...
There was something even stronger.
Exhaustion.
Confusion.
He slowly closed his eyes.
He no longer wanted to look at the people who had shattered everything he had built.
He knew his time was almost over.
His consciousness seemed to rise from his battered body.
So tired...
Truthfully...
This overwhelming exhaustion had begun years ago.
Perhaps even earlier.
Planning.
Scheming.
Living inside a fortress built entirely upon lies.
Had he ever truly been happy?
Even when success had been within reach...
His heart had been filled only with fear of exposure...
And uncertainty about the future.
Never joy.
In his fading consciousness...
Memories he had deliberately buried resurfaced.
The trusting smiles of the villagers toward "Butler Klahadore."
Miss Kaya's clear, innocent eyes as she softly thanked him.
The village elder patting him on the shoulder, calling him a dependable young man.
Once...
Those memories had simply been pieces of his plan.
Tools to manipulate others.
Examples he had even used to mock Usopp.
Yet now...
At the end of his life...
They were the only things warming his steadily growing cold body.
If only...
If things hadn't begun this way...
If only...
He slowly closed his eyes.
His consciousness drifted further into darkness.
His ambitions.
His calculations.
His exhaustion.
Everything became nothing more than a silent sigh.
So...
Was this really the end?
Would "Kuro of a Hundred Plans" die like a stray dog in this nameless forest?
How pathetic...
How unwilling he was to accept it.
With the very last trace of strength remaining in his soul...
He whispered so softly that even the wind nearly stole the words away.
"...God..."
"If..."
"...there is another life..."
"...I only wish..."
"...to live quietly..."
"...until the end..."
The whisper disappeared into the breeze between the trees.
Yet...
Just before his consciousness was completely swallowed by darkness...
A lazy voice suddenly echoed inside his fading mind.
"Oh?"
"Praying to God?"
"It reminds me..."
"Once upon a time, there was another fool who asked the exact same thing."
Kuro forced his heavy eyelids open one final time.
His blurred vision slowly focused.
A figure had appeared before him without him noticing.
Standing against the light, the person's features could not be seen clearly.
A wide crimson cloak draped over his shoulders.
Long black hair fell loosely behind him, with a few strands framing his face.
Only those scarlet eyes...
Calmly gazing down at him...
Were unmistakably clear.
A hallucination...?
Has the Grim Reaper come to claim me...?
Kuro no longer had the strength to think.
He simply stared blankly into those crimson eyes.
Ritter looked down at the dying man beneath his feet.
His gaze rested on Kuro's fading eyes.
"I answered him."
He slowly crouched down until they were face to face.
"And I'll answer you too."
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