FOUCH !
Thanks to the speed at which Zoro was moving, it only took him twenty minutes to cover the Osaka–Kyoto distance.
As he entered the city, he noticed that the smell of salty air, which had been fading the farther he went, had now completely disappeared, and it made him uncomfortable.
'Damn, looks like I've become a real Osakan. Barely 30 minutes since I left and I'm already homesick.'
He didn't pay much attention to that unease, choosing instead to focus on his hunt.
He continued until he reached the city center, where the residual traces led him to an abandoned building.
'Alley, abandoned building. What's next? The sewers? Or the closed subway station? I'm tired of these clichés.'
Putting aside his complaints, he hurried to hide in the shadows and got off his skateboard, placing it inside a nearby crate.
He then observed the abandoned building more carefully. Just like the one used to torture Toji, it was a factory.
'The gate is locked; if I try to force it, I'll alert them.'
He kept looking, but only found windows blocked by cinder blocks.
'I'll check the roof, but first let's make sure I'm at the right place.'
Zoro abruptly extended the range of his Haki, covering the entire building. And luckily, the traces hadn't led him astray.
'I see the auras of the children. Thank God they're not dead yet.'
He also sensed the disgusting yet familiar aura of cursed energy not far away.
'It's surrounding another aura, so it's not a cursed spirit but a curse user. But then why were there so many traces? And also…' He diverted his attention from the inside and focused on the roof. 'There's another one up there. A guard?'
Instead of putting pressure on Zoro, it only stimulated him further, as shown by the small smirk under his half-mask.
Still hidden in the shadows, he stretched. Then he hopped lightly to get the blood flowing.
After a few minutes of warm-up, he was ready.
'Let's violence.'
He moved quickly through the shadows, heading for the unlit side of the factory.
He rolled up the sleeve of his sweatshirt, revealing a knife case wrapped around his wrist.
There were four knives, but he only grabbed two and coated them fully with Armament Haki.
Then, placing one of them in his other hand, he slowly pushed it into the wall.
The knife pierced the concrete like butter.
He pushed himself up with the knife and drove the second one higher into the wall. His legs were now completely off the ground.
He removed the first, repositioned it above him, and stabbed it in again. And so on he continued.
Meter by meter, slowly but surely, he got closer to the roof of the factory and the mysterious individual stationed up there.
He climbed silently, making no noise, and after five good minutes of climbing, he was one jump away from the roof.
He took a deep breath.
'Maximum effort.'
He propelled himself upward, pushing off with his knives.
Before even landing, he grabbed and drew another knife, which he threw at the guard who had his back turned.
'And that's one.'
But the guard was clearly more skilled than Zoro expected, as he heard the sound of the projectile slicing through the air and dodged to the side at the very last moment.
Once he avoided the danger, he spun around suddenly and covered himself with a thick layer of cursed energy.
Meanwhile, Zoro finished landing.
"Sheesh! You dodged that? Not bad."
'His amount of cursed energy is high, and he seems well-trained. If he has more tricks, he's at least Grade 1.'
The guard was dressed similarly to Zoro, all in black.
But unlike Zoro, who wore normal clothes and a simple mask to hide his identity, his opponent wore an actual camouflage suit.
His opponent was clearly a professional, because instead of wasting time recovering from his surprise, he began questioning Zoro.
"Who are you, and what are you here for?"
Zoro didn't answer directly and instead drew Wado Ichimonji and Shusui.
"I came here to deal with the cockroach that's been parasitizing my territory lately."
The tension in the air thickened when he finally answered.
"So my client is your target."
The information settled calmly in Zoro's mind.
"Your client, huh? Then I guess you're also a curse user."
The guard, who had crouched earlier, stood back up.
"This doesn't concern you."
An amused Zoro replied to his subtle provocation.
"Yeah, you're right—it doesn't concern me because…" Zoro took a combat stance, "you and him are going to die either way."
The guard reached behind his back and pulled out two Desert Eagles.
He aimed them at Zoro and pulled the triggers three times.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Six bullets flew toward Zoro, but he didn't bother stepping back or jumping.
He simply shifted the spots targeted by the bullets.
He realized the bullets were made entirely of cursed energy, but each had a different color.
Two were red, two yellow, two green.
The bullets passed him and lodged themselves into a nearby building, forming six holes. But these holes were strange.
Two showed burn marks, two others also burns but with faint electric arcs dancing around them, and the last two had walls that had simply melted on contact.
'Different attributes for each bullet? The red ones must be fire or explosion, the yellow is electricity, and the last ones are either acid or poison. Very interesting technique.'
While Zoro admired his opponent's powers, the guard was far from idle. Taking advantage of Zoro's supposed distraction, he unleashed a wall of bullets.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
It didn't stop—an uncountable number of projectiles raced toward Zoro.
'Let's see if you can dodge this,' the guard thought confidently, though his heaving chest showed the heavy energy cost of the barrage.
His surprise was immense when he saw Zoro deflecting every bullet coming his way with a black blade.
'What the hell?'
He couldn't understand what he was seeing—this kid, likely half his age, was neutralizing a technique he had spent years perfecting.
Zoro, on the other hand, was genuinely impressed.
'He forced me to use Armament Haki.'
From the start, Zoro had no intention of using Armament Haki. He planned to fight only with his body and sword techniques, but his opponent's ability forced him otherwise.
'The red and green bullets aren't really a problem, but the yellow ones are. Electricity would travel through my swords and reach me if they're hit without Haki.'
Deflecting the last bullet, he vanished from his opponent's sight with a sharp sound and reappeared behind him, Shusui raised overhead.
It was a Soru—unlike the incomplete one from his beginnings, this one was perfect and efficient.
His opponent, once again proving he deserved Zoro's estimation, dodged the descending katana and even while off-balance found a way to attack.
BANG!
BANG!
Two point-blank shots.
Zoro was forced to retreat again with Soru, giving his opponent time to regain balance and reposition.
Their positions were now reversed: Zoro stood where the guard had been, and the guard where Zoro had been.
The tension peaked as the guard opened his mouth.
"My innate technique is called Mystic Ammunition."
'A cursed technique reveal?'
"This spell allows me to create cursed-energy bullets, each with an attribute like fire, explosion, acid, or adhesive. The stronger or more complex the attribute, the more cursed energy it costs."
He then displayed his Desert Eagles.
"I absolutely need a firearm to use the spell, and I don't choose the caliber of bullets. The technique adapts to the gun and automatically creates the correct caliber."
'This is an excellent innate technique. Extremely versatile. If cursed energy is the only limitation, it has S-rank potential. Imagine an anti-cursed-energy bullet or a gravitational bullet. This technique is really busted—it's just a shame he can't do more with his current energy level.'
As a power-scaling fan, Zoro had mastered the art of dissecting abilities and imagining their strongest uses.
Mystic Ammunition was clearly a cursed technique worthy of attention. It was like the Construction technique.
Although less potent, it shared the same flaw: the massive cursed-energy requirements for optimal use.
'He has a lot of experience, but I can tell he's not comfortable in direct combat. He must be an assassination-type fighter.'
Zoro's heart was pounding quickly. Excitement surged through his body, but he did his best to calm himself.
'I want to fight him longer, but I have to hurry—the idiot downstairs definitely heard the fight.'
Zoro sheathed Wado Ichimonji before speaking to the guard.
"Tell me, what's your name?"
The guard didn't reply and simply holstered one of his Desert Eagles. Now holding the other with both hands, he began focusing all his cursed energy into the weapon.
Zoro didn't mind.
"Fine, don't answer. I'll find out one day."
As soon as he said that, Zoro closed his eyes, and his opponent did the same.
Zoro placed Shusui behind his head and gripped his bicep with the other hand.
"Sight. Hearing. Smell. Taste. Touch. Thought. And unto the six mortal senses…"
His opponent kept pouring more and more cursed energy into his weapon.
"Good. Evil. Neutrality. And further unto each, purity and corruption."
The Desert Eagle began trembling under the pressure.
"The 36 earthly desires of this world."
The guard opened his eyes and finally released a devastating bullet.
"ERASURE BULLET!"
BANG!
Zoro thrust his hand forward with force, compressing the air toward his opponent.
"Ittoryu: Sanjuroku Pound Ho." (Exemple here)
Both released their techniques at the same time.
The guard's bullet erased everything around it. Even the concrete on the roof vanished despite the meter-sixty distance between them.
Normally, Zoro's compressed-air strike should have been erased too—however, its trajectory was anything but normal.
Unlike the straight-line bullet, Zoro's attack moved like a vortex.
It passed far enough from the bullet to avoid erasure and continued forward.
The guard was already fainting from lack of energy and couldn't dodge. The attack did not miss— the compressed air hit him like a cannonball.
BOOM!