"Ah! I-I can explain!"
"It has been plenty long since dawn. I was wondering why the plan wasn't carried out..."
Zora looked away from the panicking Jango and up the rocky slope to where a suited man with slicked-back hair stood adjusting his glasses with the heel of his palm.
"What the hell is going on here?!"
Mihawk had filled her in on everything regarding the Black Cat Pirates and the man who'd just arrived: Captain Kuro.
Another pirate who craved peace. But Kuro's methods of achieving it made Zora want to cut him down.
And now she had her chance. She'd already dealt with the mob of fodder alongside Sham and Buchi, though she could see Buchi wasn't fully defeated yet as he crawled toward Jango.
Zora still couldn't figure out how Mihawk knew so much, but she didn't really care. His decision to help save some random village and a girl at the very least showed more character than she'd given him credit for.
"To think that a single woman defeated all of you. How the Black Cat Pirates have fallen. Don't you think... Jango?!"
"B-But!"
Kuro performed several rapid foot movements, kicking up a small cloud of dust before vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Dammit! Even knowing about his 'Nukiashi' technique beforehand, I still couldn't track his movement.
Zora spun around to find Jango standing, freed from his bindings. Kuro beside him now wore a pair of furred gloves with full-length katana blades extending from each finger.
"I'll admit this woman's appearance was outside my original plan. But it's not as though I lack a plan to handle such a situation. Jango."
"Y-Yes?"
"My new plan won't end well for any of you. I'll give you five minutes to clean up this mess. You should understand what happens if you fail?"
Jango nodded frantically before a voice called down from the cliff above.
"Klahadore? What is going on?"
Mihawk leaped down in his cloak with a young woman clinging to his back. The moment Zora saw her appearance and how she held onto him, the Sacred Covenant came to mind. Letting her understand his true reason for coming to this village.
"Miss Kaya... Why are you here?" Kuro asked, studying the cloaked man she had ridden down with.
"I heard everything." Kaya slid down from Mihawk's back and stepped around him. "Is it true? Are you really a pirate?"
Kuro pushed his glasses. "So, you two were listening in. Well then, I believe it's time you knew the truth.
For three years, I spent so much time with you as your butler.
Together we suffered, together we rejoiced and laughed... I devoted myself to you.
For so long... Yes, for so long... I endured it all...
Do you understand?" His face twisted in rage. "I endured it all for this very day when I could finally kill you!"
Zora clenched Wado Ichimonji's hilt between her teeth, ready to charge forward and cut down this bastard. But Kaya moved first.
She reached into her coat and drew a flintlock pistol.
Kuro turned sideways at that moment, pushing up his constantly slipping glasses.
Behind him, Jango's mouth fell open as he stared at her.
Zora understood his reaction given what Kaya was doing, but Kuro wasn't paying attention. He kept talking.
"Do you know what that felt like? I'm a pirate, yet I had to bow and scrape before some snot-nosed girl. I betrayed my nature to grovel before you. Do you have any idea how humiliating that was?"
"I can't believe it..." Kaya whispered.
Kuro looked over at Kaya, and his expression morphed to surprise. "What is this?"
"Even though you lied to me and betrayed me, you're still trying to do what's best for me in the end." Kaya, who'd been holding the pistol by the barrel, tossed it toward Kuro. "Please use this instead. I wish for it to be instant."
What the hell is wrong with this girl?
Veins bulged along Kuro's neck as he ground his teeth. "You depressive little brat! Do you find yourself amusing?"
Kaya hurried back behind Mihawk, clinging to his cloak and peeking out with an expression that answered the question.
"I-I'll... slaughter her..." Buchi gasped as he dragged himself across the ground to reach Jango, his hand closing around the hypnotist's ankle. "C-Captain... H-Hypnotize me... P-Please, Captain!"
Jango immediately knelt and began swinging his stringed chakram while Kuro stood with an unreadable expression.
Zora's muscles coiled. This was her moment. She would defeat them all by herself without Mihawk's hel—
"Call for my help if you require it."
"I won't!"
☠ ☠ ☠
Part of Mihawk's attention remained focused on Kaya behind him as she clutched his cloak. The memory of kneeling to offer his back lingered in his thoughts – that moment of vulnerability, though her closeness hadn't been unpleasant.
This wariness was a remnant of his past life. As Dracule Mihawk, however, he could afford such... vulnerabilities.
Kaya's personality had also taken an interesting turn, though it had cost two additional lives.
Regardless, he could examine this topic later. Right now, it was time to see if Zora could win. Buchi and Jango posed no real threat, but could she overcome Kuro's speed?
He was confident of her victory, but a little motivation wouldn't hurt.
"Zora."
"Look here." He extended his right palm and summoned her Fate Parchment. With a thought, he spun it to face her, allowing her to see her defeated pose in full.
Kaya peaked around his back and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Giving her motivation."
"I used to have that."
"You!"
Zora's loud shout confirmed his assumption: she'd refused to call out her Fate Parchment on her own. The angry blush spreading across her face and neck was, he would admit, rather attractive.
"RAAAH!"
"Get her, Buchi!"
Buchi obeyed and stomped toward Zora, fully powered up and enraged.
Zora matched his state and blitzed forward at maximum speed, crossing her two swords over her chest before lunging. "Oni Giri!"
Buchi flew back like a bullet from the attack and slammed straight into the cliff face, proof that the motivational image had worked.
As the dust and debris settled, Buchi could be seen embedded in the rock, defeated and bloodied.
"How serene he looks now."
Kaya's murmurings were the prelude to the end.
☠ ☠ ☠
"After them, you moron!"
"Fine!"
Kuro dismissed the departing Jango. What kind of ridiculous joke was unfolding today of all days? Where had this duo come from?
More importantly, watching Kaya climb back onto that cloaked man's back without a care in the world revealed something crucial. Kuro understood their attitude well.
These strangers weren't taking them seriously. No, they weren't taking him seriously. A decision he'd make them regret, starting with this woman who'd cut down all his men earlier. As little value as they possessed, that small amount had a purpose for today.
"How much of that five minutes is left?" Zora raised her two katanas. "I'll end you in the time that remains."
"Let's see you try it."
The words left his lips as Kuro extended his Cat Claws. He became a dark blur that shot past her position, his left hand lashing out to carve a shallow but stinging line across her shoulder.
He came to a stop two meters behind her. "Too slow," he sneered, spinning around to admire his handiwork. Instead of seeing her felled from the strike, she had already turned toward him and now held an offensive stance.
Zora's unexpected defiance only stoked his rage. He intensified the assault, his claws weaving a deadly net of steel that should've shredded any opponent. She countered his tempest over and over. Crimson streamed from various wounds across her arms and torso, yet she refused to yield beneath the onslaught.
Kuro leaped back to create distance, his breathing slightly labored. Blood from the cuts darkened the white fabric of her shirt where it stretched tight across her chest.
"Why is an outsider like you sticking her nose into this village's business?!"
She glared at him. "Because I don't like you."
The simplicity of her answer infuriated him beyond reason. How dare she reduce his carefully orchestrated plan to such a trivial reason? His feet struck the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust as he activated his 'Nukiashi' technique.
In an instant, he vanished from sight and reappeared behind her. This was a perfect, silent ambush, his claws descending toward her exposed back in what should've been a guaranteed mortal blow.
Metal rang against metal.
Kuro's pupils dilated. Zora had spun – not in desperate panic, but in a deliberate, waiting motion – her two swords catching his claws in a powerful cross-block. She had been ready for him.
"You should've stayed away," she said in a low voice.
Before his mind could process her words, she exploded forward with a powerful shove. Her counter-attack came lightning-fast, carving a clean slash across his chest as she sent him staggering backward.
His composure, maintained for years through countless battles, shattered completely.
All traces of his cold, calculating persona vanished in an instant. His body began swaying back and forth in fluid, hypnotic motions, his posture shifting forward as he slipped into his combat trance. If precise stealth couldn't break her defenses, then unpredictable and overwhelming force would have to do.
"'Shakushi!'"
His body became a phantom of velocity that tore across the sandy slope. Control became impossible at this speed. He transformed into an agent of indiscriminate carnage that struck without pattern or precision. Steel and flesh met his blades repeatedly as her faint groans reached his ears, each collision a flash when he streaked past in unpredictable arcs.
The frenzied assault couldn't last forever. Stamina drained rapidly from the intense technique, forcing him to slow to a halt. He turned, expecting to find her broken and bleeding on the ground. Victory should have been absolute.
What greeted him defied all expectations. Rather than crumpling in defeat, she'd planted her feet firmly in the sand. Though her body bore fresh wounds and blood, her stance radiated unwavering focus.
She brought her two swords together, crossing them before her chest. The air then droned as the crossed blades started spinning faster and faster, generating a powerful vortex of wind around her form.
Zora spoke, her words muffled by the sword clenched between her teeth. "'Santoryu Ogi: Sanzen Sekai!'"
She exploded from that stance, her spinning blades sweeping past his Cat Claws with lightning speed, shattering the weapons as they continued their deadly arc. Three devastating strikes raked across his chest, sending white-hot agony racing along every nerve as the wounds tore deep.
As Kuro's vision darkened, a bitter realization cut deeper than any blade. Three years of careful planning, three years of orchestrating his escape from both piracy and the relentless marines who hunted him – all undone in less than a single morning. He'd been so close to the peaceful life he craved. Freedom from bloodshed, scheming, and endless pursuit had been within his grasp, only to slip away like sand through his fingers. All because this female swordsman stood against him simply because she didn't like him.
He collapsed backward, unconsciousness claiming him in defeat.
☠ ☠ ☠
Kaya found her feelings rather odd. Growing up, she'd always been sensitive and against violence. Brutality like she'd witnessed earlier would've horrified her. Not to mention Kuro's betrayal, which would have left her in tears.
But here she stood, unmoved.
How much had she changed over the past year? Was it Merry's death that altered something in her, coming so soon after losing her parents? She hadn't cried since then. Perhaps the endless hours alone in her room, trapped within her own thoughts, were responsible.
Whatever the cause, today awakened feelings she hadn't experienced since those carefree Sunday trips to the village with her parents.
"Kaya, turn around and cover your ears."
"Okay."
She turned to face the trees surrounding them. Behind her, Jango lay sleeping with Hawk Eyes kneeling beside him.
His real name was Dracule Mihawk, she'd learned, but when she saw those ringed eyes, 'Hawk Eyes' seemed like a perfect fit. For now, she would keep this clever little nickname to herself.
Those striking eyes had proven too much for Jango. While she'd stayed composed, he hadn't been so fortunate, fainting the moment Mihawk removed his cloak. What an odd man!
As she stood facing the trees with palms pressed firmly against her ears, dizziness washed over her. Reality crept back in as her legs trembled beneath her weight. Her body had grown weak, and the excitement that had carried her this far was finally fading.
Trying to steady herself proved futile as her hands slipped from her ears, strength ebbing away. The world tilted dangerously around her, and she felt herself falling backward through the air. But thankfully a pair of powerful arms caught her before she could hit the ground, and through her blurring vision, she glimpsed Hawk Eyes looking down at her.
"This is it for me..." she whispered. With the faintest trace of a smile crossing her pale lips, she added, "Or maybe I just need to rest. We'll find out."