Uhhh I may have miss translated Bane's sword, sorry, it's Shinto.
Chapter 90: The Three-Month Period is Up, The Return
Ever since resolving the catastrophe caused by the universe's overlord Boros, Bane had been spending his days as usual, holed up in Bang's dojo, passionately sparring with the two old men to strengthen himself.
During this period, quite a few things had happened.
The Monster Association had begun stirring restlessly, and Bang's former disciple Garou had embarked on the path of hero hunting.
This weighed heavily on both Bang and Bomb's minds. Occasionally they would leave the dojo to search for traces of Garou, though so far they hadn't found him.
Regarding these subsequent events, Bane actually didn't pay much attention to them, nor did he plan to get involved.
If you asked why—it was because his three-month deadline. Just thinking about how he could soon return to the pirate world to continue stirring up trouble made the corners of his mouth want to curl upward involuntarily.
Inside the dojo, Bang and Bomb were drinking tea, while not far away, Bane sat cross-legged on the floor by himself, meditating.
In this tranquil moment, footsteps could be heard outside the dojo. Soon two figures appeared at the entrance—one with green moss-colored hair, the other a blonde cyborg. Obviously, it was Zoro and Genos.
"Oh my, back from your training?" Bang looked at Zoro with a cheerful smile.
Zoro also nodded with a smile: "Yeah, calculating the time, we should be heading back in a few days. I learned quite a lot from the Council of Swordmasters, so I came back two days early."
As he spoke, he drew the Wado Ichimonji from his waist.
Bang wasn't surprised to see this and pulled Bomb a bit further away.
Just as the two had positioned themselves, they saw lightning flash around Zoro's body. The next second, he appeared directly behind Bane, as if Bane wasn't his senior brother but his mortal enemy. Without a word, he brought his sword down toward Bane's head.
Bane, who had been meditating, reacted quickly. Supporting himself with one hand on the ground, he performed a backflip to dodge Zoro's strike. At the same time, his sword at his waist unsheathed, and he struck back at Zoro with a reverse slash.
Shinto clashed violently with Wado Ichimonji, creating a ringing sound.
Without any waste of words, Zoro's long sword scraped against Shinto as it passed, then in this extremely short distance, he instantly unleashed several slashing attacks!
This was a new technique he hadn't mastered before. With the blade's length being what it was, unleashing dense slashes of considerable power in an instant within an extremely limited space was actually quite difficult. Zoro couldn't do it before, but after returning from training at the Council of Swordmasters and learning from Atomic Samurai, he could now accomplish this.
The slashes were sharp and dense, seeming ready to cut a person into countless fragments in an instant—utterly vicious.
At this moment, Bane, holding Shinto, had no way to resist Zoro's slashes. Therefore, at that critical moment, Bane didn't hesitate to abandon Shinto again. The moment Shinto left his hand, his entire aura changed.
"Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist!" Bane shouted.
At this moment, his arms seemed to catch up with Zoro's slashes as if striking first despite moving later. In an instant, he created several winding, flowing shadows in the air, forcibly defending against all of Zoro's dense slashes.
While deflecting the final slash, Bane's footwork shifted, and his aura changed again—from delicate as flowing water to fierce as a storm.
"Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist!"
His arms suddenly trembled. One hand parried Zoro's Wado Ichimonji while the other struck fiercely toward Zoro's chest.
Though there was no contact, that powerful fist force had already exploded outward, instantly blasting a basketball-sized hole in Zoro's chest with sparks flying. Then that tremendous impact exploded violently within Zoro's body the next moment.
In an instant, Zoro's entire body shattered into pieces scattered on the ground.
After landing this strike, Bane laughed heartily: "Don't think you're the only one who's made progress in training! I told you last time—I'm a martial arts prodigy! Now I've mastered both Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist and Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist. How about that? Fierce enough, right?"
Even Bang had to admit that this guy Bane's talent in martial arts was absurdly powerful—even more frightening than his and his older brother Bomb's.
Honestly, this made Bane even more confident. After all, previously, aside from being physically strong, he hadn't felt he was particularly superior to others in any way. Especially in swordsmanship—both he and Zoro had studied it, but their growth rates in this area were worlds apart. Now he'd finally found his own path.
Compared to his merely decent talent in swordsmanship, he was now a true martial arts genius!
Although Bane had smashed him into pieces, neither had used Armament Haki in their exchange—meaning neither had gotten serious. And as a Logia-type ability user, Zoro naturally wouldn't be injured. In the blink of an eye, he had already reformed from the lightning energy.
Watching this scene, Bang sighed: "No matter how many times I've seen it, it still amazes me. Your abilities are just too unfair..."
Bang felt that in terms of raw strength, he should be stronger than that young man Zoro, but so far he hadn't mastered the power of Haki. So once Zoro used his abilities, he had absolutely no way to deal with him.
"Looks like you've really found your path," Zoro said, looking at Bane with genuine happiness. Then, without waiting for Bane to respond, he asked with some concern: "You're not going to abandon swordsmanship because of this, are you?"
"Not at all. If conditions allow, I'd naturally want comprehensive development," Bane shook his head.
He would just focus more on martial arts.
"Genos, long time no see. Thank you for your hard work during this period," Bane also patted Genos's shoulder.
"It was nothing. I learned quite a bit from Senior Zoro," Genos gave his usual response.
Although Bane didn't really believe it, this was actually the case. Zoro constantly kept his Observation Haki active, staying very alert to changes in his surroundings. Genos had a problem of always getting careless at crucial moments. After following Zoro to resolve several disasters, he'd encountered this issue—turning winning situations into losses every time.
Later, under Zoro's influence by example, Genos had corrected many of his small flaws.
"Teacher Bane, are you leaving soon?" Genos asked with some reluctance.
"Yes, but we'll come back in the future. When that time comes, I'll bring you a gift that can make you stronger!" Bane promised.
Genos was stunned for a moment, then immediately responded with high spirits: "I'm deeply grateful!!!"
Meanwhile, in the abandoned area, Saitama was standing on his apartment balcony, looking at two sisters facing off outside.
"Hey, you two, don't fight here!" Saitama called out somewhat helplessly.
But obviously, the two sisters flying in the sky weren't paying attention to him.
These sisters were Fubuki and Tornado. Tornado, as usual, was using her psychic powers to float in the air, though her expression was somewhat complex due to the changes in Fubuki.
Although Fubuki could briefly float before, her abilities were so limited that she couldn't do it effortlessly. But now, with yellow sand swirling around her body, she floated in the air without any sign of strain.
That's right—on the second day after Bane returned to Z-City, Fubuki had truly made up her mind and eaten the Sand-Sand Fruit, becoming the new Sand-Sand Fruit ability user!
She already had experience controlling psychic abilities, and the Sand-Sand Fruit was quite compatible with her to some degree, so her control over the ability was pretty good now.
"Are you really going to leave with that bastard?" Tornado asked with some irritation.
"This is the price I should pay for gaining power. I've already promised him," Fubuki responded fearlessly.
Perhaps she still couldn't beat Tornado, but at least until her sister discovered the weakness of this ability, there was no way she could be easily defeated.
At this moment, Fubuki was truly grateful to Bane and this Devil Fruit. She hadn't expected this fruit to give her such a terrifying power boost. Converting it, she felt she could now beat a hundred of her former self without any problem!
"You didn't even discuss this with me!" Tornado angrily attacked, surging psychic power rushing toward Fubuki.
In an instant, she scattered Fubuki into sand. Immediately after, Fubuki transformed into a sandstorm, attacking Tornado. The two sisters battled fiercely in this abandoned area with tremendous commotion—sandstorms and windstorms destroying countless high-rise buildings.
Actually, Tornado could win, and more easily than Fubuki imagined. If she controlled all the sand in an instant, she could restrain Fubuki, and Tornado was completely capable of doing this.
But she didn't. Instead, she unleashed her psychic powers to the fullest, fighting passionately with Fubuki. Perhaps this actually represented some of her attitudes?
"I'm not a child—I'm an adult! I don't need to discuss everything with you or seek your approval for everything. If I were that kind of person, I could never become stronger, could never stand beside you, sister!" After being slammed to the ground by a psychic force, Fubuki quickly emerged from the yellow sand, looking up at Tornado in the air without backing down.
Hearing these words, Tornado didn't attack again. With a very complex expression as she looked at Fubuki, she said in a low voice: "But making this choice will cause you to suffer a lot..."
Big sister can protect you just fine!
But thinking of Fubuki's words "stand beside you," Tornado's heart couldn't help but waver. After a moment, she suddenly turned and flew toward the distance: "Geez, I'm really fed up with you all! Do whatever you want!!!"