When Amine's vision finally 'Re-synced', the world was silent. The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon—the 'Golden-Scanline' that would have deleted their shadows if they hadn't defeated Moria. But the cost was visible in the center of the ruins.
Amine crawled through the dust, his hands scraping against the broken stone. He saw Zoro. The swordsman was standing, but he wasn't 'Rendered' correctly. His 'Model' was covered in a deep, viscous red—a 'Blood-Texture' so thick it seemed to be 'Leaking' out of the very air around him.
[Scanning Target: Roronoa Zoro.]
[Condition: Critical Hardware Failure. Damage-Log: 1000% Human Limit.]
[Current Status: 'Nothing Happened'.]
"Zoro..." Amine whispered, his voice cracking. He opened his system, but the screen was shattered. He saw what had happened in the 'Log-History'. Kuma had 'Extracted' all the 'Pain-Data' and 'Fatigue-Files' from Luffy's body—a massive, red bubble of 'Suffering'—and 'Injected' it all into Zoro.
"I... I can 'Transfer' some of it," Amine cried, his stylus flickering with a weak, desperate violet light. "I can 'Partition' your pain into my system! Zoro, you're going to 'Crash'! Your 'Soul-ID' will be 'Permanently-Corrupted'!"
Zoro didn't turn his head. His eyes were closed, his swords sheathed, his chest barely moving. "Stay back... Scholar," he rasped, the sound like grinding metal. "If you 'Touch' this data... your 'System' will 'Overload' in a millisecond. This is... my 'Trial'. It's my 'Contract' with the Captain."
Amine looked at the 'Damage-Meter' on his HUD. It was off the charts. D = \sum(Pain) (Damage equals the sum of all pain). Zoro had taken the 'Aggregate Suffering' of an entire war into a single human 'Chassis'.
"You 'Backed-Up' the whole crew, Zoro," Amine whispered, tears of violet ink falling onto the rubble. "You took the 'System-Wipe' for all of us."
Sanji arrived a moment later, his eyes wide with horror as he saw the blood-soaked scene. "What happened here? Where did that giant go? Zoro! Answer me!"
Zoro finally opened one eye. The 'Resolution' of his gaze was hard as diamond, even through the 'Corruption' of his wounds. "Nothing... happened."
[Notification: Arc 'Thriller Bark' – COMPLETED.]
[User Milestone: 50,000 Total Words Reached!]
[New System Skill Unlocked: 'The Martyr's Patch' (Passive).]