Usopp didn't quite understand Luffy's meaning, but seeing how confident both Luffy and Zoro were that Kaya would be safe, he could only trust them.
Even though he wished the sun would never set that day, natural laws don't change based on personal wishes. The huge sun slowly sank.
From afar, it looked like the sun was being swallowed by the sea.
As the sun hid, the last bit of afterglow disappeared, and the world was completely replaced by darkness.
Zoro said to Luffy, "That guy's here. I'll leave Kibutsuji Muzan to you."
Luffy grinned, then forcefully squeezed his legs downwards. His skin turned bright red, and steam erupted from his body. Luffy let out a loud yell and smashed down from the tree towards the villa.
Zoro didn't follow. Instead, he focused his gaze elsewhere, where a tall figure had appeared. He had three pairs of ferocious eyes, with the words "Upper Rank One" engraved within the middle pair of his left and right eyes.
Upper Rank One, Kokushibo!
Zoro jumped down from the tree, fully on guard. His twin swords were already drawn, and his power level rose steadily.
Looking at Zoro, who held two swords, Kokushibo said coldly,
"Foolish human, you have refused my invitation. Moreover, you still oppose me with two swords. Do you wish to die?"
Zoro grinned, "If you want me to use my third sword, I'll need to see if you have the skill."
The two hadn't truly started fighting yet, but even just standing nearby, Usopp felt somewhat uneasy. Usopp was about to check on Kaya, but suddenly stopped.
Because he felt another extremely dark power approaching from another direction. He gritted his teeth and then resolutely ran towards that direction!
He felt that the power was carelessly barging through, ignoring houses and buildings. But these were the villagers' property, the important places they relied on to live. Usopp absolutely could not tolerate them being destroyed like this!
With Usopp's departure, only Zoro and Kokushibo, a swordsman and a demon, remained on the scene. Kokushibo said indifferently, "In such a remote place like the East Blue, having a swordsman like you should be a rare thing. It's truly a pity to die like this."
"I think you're regretting that you can't use me to deal with my master, right?" Zoro drew his black sword, Dark Moon, and said with a hint of mockery, "I don't know what happened back then, but to make my master draw his sword as an exception, your master is lucky not to be dead yet."
After a few years of contact with Kenshin, Zoro had always felt that Kenshin was very decadent and useless. He had such great power but stayed in a small village in the East Blue.
He believed his master was the true number one swordsman in the world, and that Hawk Eyes was just a fraud. Therefore, he had always wanted to defeat Hawk Eyes, firstly to prove himself, secondly to fulfill his promise with his master and Kuina, and thirdly because he didn't think Hawk Eyes truly deserved the title of the world's greatest swordsman.
Something so outrageous must have been done by Kibutsuji Muzan in front of his master to make him unable to resist drawing his sword again. What truly surprised Zoro was that his master drew his sword but didn't kill Kibutsuji Muzan.
Although he didn't know how Kibutsuji Muzan survived, it seemed that Kenshin had caused him great psychological trauma. So much so that back then, when he merely sensed the residual aura of the black sword Dark Moon through Bellemere, he was so scared that he shut down his senses.
If Kokushibo initially wanted to recruit him out of admiration for his talent, then after Kibutsuji Muzan learned of his identity, if he still tried to recruit him, it would definitely be to deal with his master.
Kokushibo said nothing further. He simply took out his sword.
The scabbard was covered in a tumor-like texture. The sword Kokushibo drew from it was a bizarre long sword covered in eyeballs on the hilt and tsuba. This sword was named 'Mournful Cry God's Departure,' forged from his blood and bones.
The moment the sword was unsheathed, it was an incredibly fast strike.
"Tamakazari no Tsuki"
In an instant, he unleashed several slashes, and a large amount of crescent-shaped moon slashes were directed at Zoro.
"It's finally here," Zoro's lips curved slightly upwards. His initial search for demons was precisely to fight Kokushibo, and now this wish had finally been fulfilled.
He drew his other sword and, combined with the Dark Moon, advanced in a two-sword style, slicing through the countless crescent-shaped sword energies that flew towards him. In an instant, he approached Kokushibo's body.
"Disdainful Moon: Erosion"
Seeing Zoro easily break through his first strike and quickly approach, Kokushibo's expression remained unchanged. He simply swung his blade broadly, blocking Zoro's twin swords, and then with another swift strike, the immense power forced Zoro back.
"Two-Sword Style: Cyclone Slash"
Facing the great enemy he had long wanted to face, Zoro finally began to use his full strength. Himura Kenshin's modified Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu style, adapted to Zoro's style, was sufficient to adapt to Zoro's various states.
Whether it was one-sword, two-sword, or three-sword style, Zoro could unleash the essence of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu.
This was because one of the core principles of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu was 'reading the opponent's moves,' which didn't depend on how many swords you were holding. Once this technique was mastered, other sword skills could be easily modified.
In the world of One Piece, this so-called 'reading the opponent's moves' was already considered an application of Observation Haki, much like the Six Power techniques.
With Kenshin's guidance, Zoro's strength had definitely increased by several levels compared to his counterpart in the original story. This could be seen from the fact that he could still keep up with the current dual-condensed aura Luffy.
It was only after using Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu that Zoro truly used his full strength. However, Kokushibo said coldly, "The same style, but the people are vastly different."
Kokushibo suddenly exerted force. His already bizarre blade became even more peculiar at this moment, growing longer than before, and sprouting a bizarre, branching blade.
"Moon Dragon Tail!"
Kokushibo swung his sword rapidly. Instantly, countless small crescent-shaped slashes combined to form a gigantic, enormous crescent, sweeping away everything in front of him.
Zoro slashed with both swords. The next moment, a large torrent of air transformed into a 'shockwave,' roaring towards the crescent slashes that Kokushibo had unleashed.
"Two-Sword Style: Seventy-Two Troublesome Winds!"
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