Chapter 189: The Pride of a Samurai! The Clash of Great Swordsmen and the black blade shusui
"Bang!"
Accompanied by a violent crash, the heavy gates of the ancient castle were kicked open by Luffy.
The Straw Hat crew, like an unstoppable wind, boldly charged into the core main keep of Thriller Bark.
The interior of the main keep's hall was dim and empty, with massive stone pillars standing all around.
Before everyone could even get a clear look at the layout of the hall,
a burst of sharp, piercing, eerie laughter echoed back and forth across the vaulted ceiling without warning.
"Kishishishishi... Kishishishishi!!!"
That was the laughter of the absolute ruler of this island—Gekko Moriah of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
However, Moria did not choose to show himself and face this group of high-spirited pirates head-on.
As a highly calculating tactician, he cunningly hid in the darkness.
"Whirrrrrrr—!!!"
Accompanied by that hair-raising laughter,
from the endless shadows high up in the hall, countless bats made of pure shadows were suddenly released like a bursting black flood.
These shadow bats swarmed down, blotting out the sky and instantly obscuring everyone's vision.
Furthermore, acting like messengers triggering a switch, they fully activated all the hidden mechanisms within this massive castle.
"Rumble!!!"
A violent tremor erupted instantly, as if triggering a tectonic shift.
The seemingly solid stone floor beneath everyone's feet suddenly collapsed over a large area without warning!
At the same time, the surrounding walls seemed to come alive like a maze.
They began to move and flip rapidly, partitioning the space of the hall.
Trapdoors and secret maze doors were all activated at once!
"Waaaaah! The floor is falling away!!!"
Amidst the chaotic sense of weightlessness and flying dust,
Tatsuya's Sharingan spun rapidly.
Remaining calm in the face of danger, the Chakra within his body surged precisely as he instantly formed a hand seal.
"Body Flicker Technique!"
"Whoosh!" Tatsuya's form turned into a bolt of black lightning. At the critical moment just as the stone slab completely collapsed, he decisively grabbed Robin, who was falling beside him.
The two of them leaped lightly onto the edge of a still-moving wall, landing steadily in a safe zone.
However, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Franky were unable to escape this massive and complex maze trap.
Accompanied by the shattered stones, they were all ruthlessly swallowed up.
Forced apart along different passages, they slid down into the castle's abyss.
Looking at the hall now completely partitioned by walls, Tatsuya steadily shielded Robin behind him.
His gaze instantly turned cold, and a contemptuous sneer curled at the corner of his mouth:
"Do you think you can use this low-class maze to defeat us one by one?"
"How naive."
...
Meanwhile, in an unknown corridor deep within the castle.
"Thud."
Zoro tumbled out of a steep slide trap, landing heavily on the cold stone floor.
He nimbly climbed to his feet and brushed off the dust and cobwebs clinging to him.
"Tch, what a troublesome mechanism."
Zoro looked around and found himself in a long, narrow corridor lit by dim candlelight.
For someone with no sense of direction, since there were no directions left, there was only one choice.
Forward!
He rested his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist and strode boldly down the eerie corridor.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, an ancient wooden door appeared at the end of the corridor.
"Creak—"
Zoro pushed the wooden door open with force, but the scene behind the door left him slightly stunned.
Inside this Western-style, eerie Gothic castle, there was actually a spacious Japanese-style dojo covered in tatami mats!
And in the very center of the dojo,
a bizarre figure sat quietly cross-legged.
It was a samurai zombie wrapped in filthy, old bandages, wearing a tattered, vintage kimono.
Though he lacked even a trace of the aura of the living,
Zoro's gaze was instantly and firmly drawn to the long sword at the samurai's waist!
The scabbard of that sword bore flamboyant, eerie dark-red patterns.
Even just lying quietly in its sheath, the heavy killing intent emanating from the blade caused Zoro's battle-hardened swordsman instincts to scream in warning.
That was absolutely a terrifying, peerless weapon of destruction!
As if sensing the intruder's sword intent,
the zombie samurai (the once world-renowned Dragon-Slaying Samurai, Ryuma) slowly stood up from the tatami.
Because Moria had stuffed Brook's shadow into his body,
he opened his shriveled mandible and let out that iconic yet discordant laugh:
"Yohohoho... Yohohoho..."
However, this comical laughter could not hide the real change in him at all.
As he rose, a sharp, domineering, and terrifying sword intent—as if it could easily tear through the air of the entire dojo—
instantly swept out like a violent storm, so sharp it even made one feel suffocated.
Ryuma slowly reached out his large, bandage-wrapped hand and steadily gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist.
"Clang—"
With a crisp sound like a dragon's cry, Ryuma slowly drew the long sword.
As the blade was revealed inch by inch, a pitch-black blade appeared in Zoro's field of vision.
On that blade, as deep as the night, the magnificent pattern of a 'Great Irregular T-shape' (O-midare) surged forth.
The entire sword radiated a peerless pressure that felt as if it could thoroughly cut through everything in the world.
Ryuma held the sword with one hand, his hollow eye sockets staring calmly at Zoro:
"This is one of the twenty-one Great Grade Swords, the Black Blade'Shusui'."
"Are you also a swordsman, sir?"
Hearing that shocking name and seeing this exquisite black blade,
Zoro's body trembled slightly with extreme excitement.
In his sharp eyes, a fanatical battle fire instantly ignited!
He curled his lips into a wild, bloodthirsty Asura-like grin.
"Clang! Clang!"
Zoro decisively drew the Wado Ichimonji and Sandai Kitetsu from his waist, gripping the hilts steadily with both hands, pointing the tips directly at Ryuma:
"I was just worrying about not having a good sword to use..."
"I've taken a liking to your sword!!!"
With that arrogant declaration, the battle erupted instantly!
There were no redundant words, no fancy probing.
Between two pure swordsmen, there was only the purest clash of swordsmanship!
"Yohohoho! Then come and take it!"
Ryuma gave an eerie laugh, his form moving like swift black lightning, instantly crossing the distance of several meters.
The Black Blade'Shusui' in his hand let out a terrifying whistling sound as it slashed ruthlessly at Zoro.
"Clang————!!!!"
A deafening sound of metal clashing exploded violently within the dojo like a terrifying roll of thunder!
Sparks flew everywhere!
Although Ryuma was using Brook's light fencing style,
thanks to his invincible samurai body from his previous life—tempered like cast steel—
and the terrifyingly heavy mass of the Black Blade'Shusui',
every ordinary thrust he delivered possessed a destructive power capable of splitting a slash.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!!!"
The dense sounds of metal clashing frantically merged into a single sonic boom.
The moment Zoro's slashes made contact with Shusui, they were actually bounced away easily time and again.
That terrifying recoil made it difficult for Zoro to steady his form.
Under the violent, overflowing sword intent of the two clashing, the entire spacious Japanese dojo began to teeter.
The sturdy surrounding walls were sliced with countless deep furrows by the sword intent and collapsed with a roar.
The wooden floorboards and tatami mats beneath their feet shattered and flew about as easily as paper scraps!
However, facing this powerful pressure, Zoro felt no fear at all; instead, he was excited to the extreme.
"Fantastic..."
Zoro laughed fanatically, his hands death-gripping the hilts as he felt the intense numbness coursing through his arms:
"This sword is as heavy as a lump of iron..."
"But precisely because of that, its destructive power is unparalleled!!!"
This peak duel between swordsmen quickly entered a white-hot stage.
Amidst the flashes of blades, the two tacitly pulled apart.
Their gazes collided violently in the air; both understood it was time to decide the final outcome.
"Yohohoho! Take this!"
Ryuma gripped Shusui with both hands as violent power condensed on the blade.
Zoro, meanwhile, steadily bit down on the snow-white 'Wado Ichimonji'.
Immediately after, he strangely reversed his grip on the two swords in his hands and lowered his body.
"Hum—"
Accompanied by the eruption of pure sword intent within Zoro,
on the two reverse-gripped blades, blue flames of materialized sword intent actually ignited incredibly!
Both men simultaneously crushed the ground beneath them and, like two brilliant meteors, leaped into mid-air at the same time!
In that brief moment of suspension, Zoro's gaze became sharp to the extreme.
"Three Sword Style: Flying Dragon Blaze!!!"
"Dawn Song: Thrust!!!"
"Whoosh————!!!"
In mid-air, a blinding flash of blades passed by.
The two figures crossed each other perilously in the air.
"Thud."
Zoro landed steadily amidst the collapsing ruins, maintaining an extreme forward-leaning sword-swinging posture.
Ryuma also landed steadily behind him, the black blade shusui in his hand still pointing sharply forward.
The entire ruined dojo fell into a brief, deathly silence.
Two seconds later.
"Squelch—!"
On Ryuma's hard chest, a deep slash wound strangely split open.
Immediately after, scorching blue flames erupted violently from that fatal wound like a volcanic eruption!
The ghostly blue flames quickly swallowed Ryuma's bandage-wrapped samurai body.
However, looking at his own fiercely burning body,
in Ryuma's hollow eye sockets, there was not a trace of resentment or unwillingness; instead, he let out a laugh of gratification and relief.
"Yohohoho... truly a satisfying duel..."
Ryuma slowly raised his hand and solemnly, gradually sheathed the heavy, domineering Black Blade'Shusui'.
Then, he used his strength to toss the sheathed Shusui steadily to Zoro in front of him.
"To have this once-proud body defeated by a swordsman of your caliber is truly my shame..."
Ryuma's voice grew weak amidst the flames, yet it carried the pure pride of a samurai:
"But this sword... if it can follow an outstanding swordsman like you, it would be happy too."
Accompanied by Ryuma's words of release,
"Whoosh!"
That black shadow belonging to Brook, which had been forcibly stuffed into Ryuma's body, finally detached completely from the burning husk.
The shadow turned into a weak dark blur and quickly flew out of the dojo, heading toward the distant sky.
Zoro turned around and accurately reached out to catch the tossed Black Blade'Shusui'.
Feeling the heavy, perfect sensation in his hand,
Zoro solemnly fastened it to his waist, his sharp eyes filled with high respect.
Looking at Ryuma, who was being completely reduced to ashes in the blue flames, he spoke steadily to announce:
"I accept this sword."
"I will find a suitable master for it. Rest in peace, swordsman."
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