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Chapter 25: The World's Greatest Swordsman
1,290 Words
"How did Luffy end up sleeping here?"
"I don't know. Maybe something happened after we left?"
"Let's wake him up first."
"Good."
Zoro scooped Luffy up, raised his hand, and his palm blurred in the air. The crisp sound of the slap was particularly jarring on the quiet coastline.
Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap!
Ganyu was dumbfounded. Seeing that Zoro had been slapping him dozens of times without stopping, she finally stepped forward.
"How can you wake someone up so rudely!"
She pushed Zoro aside and pulled Luffy into her arms.
"Luffy, Luffy… wake up."
She called him several times, but he was sleeping like a log. If she couldn't hear him snoring, she might have thought he had died.
"Don't waste your time."
Zoro stood to one side with his arms crossed, pointing to the ocean.
"In his condition, he'll wake up immediately if you just throw him into the sea."
Ganyu naturally ignored this suggestion. After a moment's thought, she came up with a way to wake Luffy up.
She reached out, grabbed Luffy's ear, and shouted loudly into it:
"Luffy, the party's starting!"
This method worked immediately.
Luffy, who had been snoring, suddenly opened his eyes and bounced up from Ganyu's arms like a spring.
"A banquet? I want to go! I want to go!!!"
He looked around excitedly, his rubber neck stretched out as far as it could go.
However, as far as the eye could see, there was only a desolate beach and crashing waves. Apart from his two companions, there was nothing.
"Ganyu, do you know where there's a banquet? I just heard someone calling me."
Luffy blinked, looking completely bewildered as he turned to Ganyu.
"Luffy, there's no banquet. I was the one who called you just now."
Ganyu sighed and straightened the qipao that Luffy had ruffled. She slowly stood up, folding her hands at her waist.
"Ah…"
The excitement in Luffy's eyes turned to disappointment in an instant. His voice carried a hint of resentment.
"Ganyu, why did you lie to me?"
"Because Zoro said that this is the easiest way to wake you up."
Ganyu raised her hand without changing her expression and pointed to Zoro, who was watching the show from the side, completely shifting the blame.
"Ah?"
Zoro's expression froze, his eyes widening in disbelief.
Does this woman not even need to think before she lies?
"It wasn't me…"
Before he could explain, Luffy's fist came hurtling towards him with a whooshing sound.
"Damn it, Zoro, you bastard! How dare you deceive me!"
"Idiot! It wasn't me! Can't you see this woman is lying?!"
Zoro, sent flying five or six meters, sat up and shouted.
Luffy glanced at Ganyu, who looked completely innocent, her eyes even glistening with tears of grievance. His anger flared up even more. "Nonsense! How could Ganyu lie!"
He touched his burning cheek. "Damn it, you're the one who made my face hurt so much, aren't you?!"
Zoro was speechless for a moment, feeling guilty. "Uh… that's true…"
"It really was you! Damn it, I'm going to give you a good beating, Zoro!"
"Hey! Wait a minute… that's not how it is… Idiot! You're serious, huh? Well then, I won't hold back!"
And so, on the desolate beach under the moonlight, Luffy and Zoro finally had the one-on-one fight they hadn't finished before.
The sound of a rubber fist clashing against a scabbard echoed for a long time in the night.
Some time passed.
When Ganyu finally couldn't help but try to stop them, the two of them collapsed on the beach, exhausted.
She looked down at her two companions, who were slumped at her feet, panting heavily, and asked, "Finished?"
"Hmph."
"Almost."
The two answered in unison, then looked at each other and laughed.
"Hahahaha! Zoro, you're really strong!" Luffy wiped the sand off his face and laughed so hard his eyes disappeared.
"Of course."
Zoro rested his head on his arms and gazed at the starry sky. "I set sail to challenge that man. How could I dare stand in front of him if I wasn't strong enough?"
"Who… is that man?" Luffy asked in surprise.
Ganyu also squatted down, resting her chin on her hands, ready to listen.
Even after all this time, this was the first time she had heard Zoro talk about his past.
Although she already knew who that person was, it felt different when he said it himself.
A sharp smile curved Zoro's lips, and his eyes blazed with intense light.
"His name is Dracule Mihawk. He is known to the world as the Greatest Swordsman. I made a promise with someone that I would defeat him and become the greatest swordsman in the world!"
"Wow! That's a great target!"
Luffy clapped his hands excitedly, feeling that the title of the world's greatest swordsman was a perfect match for his dream of becoming the Pirate King.
"It is indeed a very good target, but…" Ganyu said softly, drawing the attention of the two men.
Unlike Luffy and Zoro, who had not yet left the East Blue and had no idea how vast or how ridiculously strong the people in the world were.
She knew very well just how strong Mihawk was, as one of the strongest in the world.
She hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to tell the truth.
"Zoro, I've actually met the world's greatest swordsman. He's probably a hundred times stronger than you are right now."
"One hundred times?!!"
The two of them sat up in surprise, shaking a cloud of fine sand from the beach.
Zoro's expression was grave, and his voice trembled almost imperceptibly. "Are you telling the truth?"
He knew the world's greatest swordsman would be strong, but a hundred times stronger was just too much.
"It's true."
Ganyu met his questioning gaze and said firmly, "Moreover, one hundred times is probably not accurate. His strength may be even greater."
It wasn't an exaggeration. She recalled that in the original story, Shakky had said Rayleigh was a hundred times stronger than the Luffy who had arrived at Sabaody.
After confirming that Ganyu was not joking, Zoro took a deep breath. His body began to tremble.
_s; Ganyu observed his reaction and felt a sense of relief. Having spent so much time together, she understood Zoro. His reaction wasn't fear, but excitement.
Most people would be terrified if they knew their future opponent was a hundred times stronger than them, but Zoro was different. Knowing in advance how formidable his opponent was only made him more excited.
Luffy, on the other hand, was already thinking about how to defeat Mihawk.
"A hundred times stronger than Zoro… that means he's a hundred times stronger than me! Seriously… even if Zoro and I teamed up, we couldn't beat someone like that. But, maybe with Ganyu joining the fight…"
Why did you have to include me?
Ganyu stared at him speechlessly.
Even if she was somewhat confident, she wouldn't be so foolish as to fight the world's greatest swordsman unless absolutely necessary. If a real fight broke out, she wasn't sure who would be left standing.
"Alright, who knows when we'll meet him? There's no need to think about something so far away right now."
She looked up at the setting moon and realized time was running out.
"Now, we should deal with the troubles on this island first.