Hearing Kuina's words, Zoro felt his eyes grow a little moist.
This was the exact same voice from his past, sounding as though it were just yesterday.
There was no mistake; it was Kuina's voice. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
"I'm not dreaming, am I, Kuina? You've really come back to life. What exactly is going on?"
Kuina explained,
"It was the Emperor of the Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets who resurrected me."
Zoro froze upon hearing this.
"Resurrected?"
"Are you truly alive? This isn't some kind of dark magic, is it?"
He worried that the Emperor had used some sinister sorcery to revive her, making a mockery of the dead.
Of course, deep down, he desperately hoped her resurrection was genuine.
Kuina replied with absolute certainty,
"It is a true resurrection, of course. My heart is beating, and blood is flowing through my veins."
In truth, she had been the most worried about this herself. She had also feared being brought back by some dark art, leaving her body as nothing more than a walking corpse.
But that wasn't the case at all. She could feel herself breathing, no different from when she was alive.
Hearing this, Zoro finally let out a sigh of complete relief.
"That's good, then. Haha."
He was overjoyed. This was easily the happiest moment he had experienced in over a decade.
His heart had never felt so unburdened.
Kuina was equally delighted.
"To think you've already become a great swordsman renowned throughout the world. Your sword skills must be far superior to mine now."
Zoro replied modestly,
"I do all right. Oh, right, the Wado Ichimonji should be returned to you."
"Nami, please hand my weapon over to Kuina."
After being locked in the prison, he had noticed his three swords were missing, presumably confiscated.
Kuina was quite surprised to hear this.
"I can't believe Father actually passed that sword down to you. In that case, keep it. Your achievements make you more than worthy of such a fine blade."
Afterward, the two caught up, discussing everything that had happened since Kuina's passing.
Eventually, Kuina and Nami took their leave. Although Kuina wanted to release Zoro from his cell,
Nami stopped her, explaining that the Emperor would release him later and that now was not the right time.
Zoro settled back into his cell, feeling completely at ease. Kuina was alive again.
He never expected the Emperor of the Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets to possess such an incredible ability.
Even though he knew Kuina was destined to become an Imperial Consort,
since she didn't object to it, he naturally had no reason to oppose it either.
The only thing that mattered was that Kuina was truly alive. That was the most important thing of all.
It meant the heavy sorrow in his heart was completely washed away, leaving his mind clear and untroubled.
Meanwhile, Sanji stared at Zoro's unusually joyful expression.
"Why did they call you out there?"
Zoro answered casually,
"It's nothing."
"Once we're let out of here, I won't be joining the fight against that Emperor anymore."
Because the man had resurrected Kuina.
He had mended the greatest regret of Zoro's life.
Hearing this, Sanji's face twisted with displeasure.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Luffy was equally shocked and confused.
"Zoro, don't you want to save our crewmates anymore?"
Zoro replied nonchalantly,
"I do, but I'm afraid we simply don't have the strength for it. He knocked all of us out with just a single glance."
"Furthermore, I now know that Emperor possesses even more terrifying powers."
Refusing to give up, Sanji retorted,
"So what if he has some new power? Are you just going to back down? That's not like you at all. Weren't you always shouting about becoming the world's greatest swordsman?"
"Back when you were incredibly weak and faced the world's greatest swordsman, did you have any chance of winning then?"
Zoro explained,
"Becoming the world's greatest swordsman isn't some impossible delusion. I can see the hope of reaching it because my sword skills improve every single day."
"But that man can literally resurrect the dead. Do you honestly think someone like that is an opponent we can defeat?"
Sanji was utterly stunned by these words. Luffy was shocked, and the rest of the crew was equally dumbfounded.
Sanji spoke in sheer disbelief,
"What kind of stupid nonsense are you spouting? How could anyone possibly do something like that?"
Zoro looked him dead in the eye.
"I saw it with my own two eyes. There is absolutely no mistake."
Sanji was left completely speechless. Even though Zoro was hopelessly terrible with directions, he was not the type of man to lie about something like this.
Even Luffy was at a loss for words, as this was a concept entirely beyond his comprehension.
At that moment, Brook chimed in with sudden excitement.
"Zoro-san, did you really see someone come back to life? Was it a resurrection with actual flesh and muscle?"
He had also been resurrected once using the Revive-Revive Fruit, but he had been reduced to nothing but bones by the time it happened.
Zoro glanced at Brook.
"Of course it was with flesh and blood."
He couldn't even imagine the horrifying sight of Kuina being resurrected as a mere skeleton. While he might have still been slightly happy, he definitely would have flown into a rage and hacked the Emperor to pieces.
Hearing this, Brook's eyes seemed to light up—even though he didn't have any eyes.
"Then... could I also be resurrected with flesh and blood?"
He desperately wanted to be revived—truly revived.
This body of his had absolutely no flesh, meaning he couldn't do any perverted things even if he wanted to.
Zoro stared at him.
"You'd better give up on that idea. Resurrection isn't something that can be done so easily. If you want to be revived like that, you'd probably have to die all over again first."
Brook instantly deflated. It was true.
No one on the seas had ever heard of such a miraculous return from the dead.
Furthermore, why would that Emperor ever help him?
Besides, he had made an enemy of the Emperor this time around. Just being spared from death was already a blessing.
The next day, Olvia woke up in a spacious bed. The Lord was no longer by her side.
However, her body was still covered in his scent. She even gently touched her own stomach.
The Lord was simply too vigorous.
Perhaps she really had already conceived a child.
But she no longer felt any sense of helplessness. That man had given her true happiness.
Feeling a bit sticky, she washed herself clean before stepping outside to breathe in the fresh air.
Not long after stepping out, she encountered a young woman who looked exactly like her. Her heart swelled with emotion.
"You must be Robin, right?"
Overcome with emotion, Robin threw herself into Olvia's arms.
"Mother."
She never expected to see her mother again. Even though she was now the same age her mother had been, the embrace still felt incredibly warm and familiar.
Olvia basked in Robin's embrace. This was her daughter, without a shadow of a doubt.
She hadn't expected her little Robin to grow into such a stunningly beautiful woman. It was no wonder the Emperor had taken her into his harem; she was a woman even more remarkable than Olvia herself.