Protected within the curtain of water, Amatsuki Toki's dark green eyes were shining with an incomparably bright light.
She gazed at the battle before her, and at last the heart that had been suspended finally settled down.
Amatsuki Toki didn't know how much loss her actions would truly cause Rosse.
But no matter what, this was something she had to do.
Rather than being slowly devoured by Rosse until not even a shred of dignity remained, she would rather Wano perish gloriously in battle.
"An excellent performance," Rosse's faintly satisfied voice sounded at Amatsuki Toki's ear.
Immediately after, it was as if a pair of arms wrapped around her neck, pulling her tightly into an embrace.
Instinctively lowering her head, Amatsuki Toki saw those arms were formed from seawater. Yet the touch was clearly like his arms, even his scent seemed to linger there.
"I thought you'd be flying into a rage," Amatsuki Toki spoke with slight disappointment, not minding the body encircling her, only lifting her head to watch the battlefield that had shifted into the sky.
Because of Gion's sudden arrival, she seemed to have been completely forgotten.
Kozuki Oden had already put all his focus into the fight, and the other retainers had gone to evacuate the people. None of them had time to pay attention to her.
No one cared about her existence. No one cared whether she lived or died.
'No, that isn't right.'
'Except him...'
"If your personality weren't so vile, surely more people would like you," Amatsuki Toki sighed.
"I don't need to wear a mask to please others. It's your actions that surprised me," Rosse's leisurely voice came, as if entirely unconcerned with the battle above.
In truth, he really didn't need to worry.
His true body remained in the residence, with Zephyr and Moria nearby, ready to support Gion at any time.
With the three of them together, they were more than enough to suppress Kozuki Oden.
"You refuse to leave us a way to live, aren't you just forcing us to resist?", Amatsuki Toki said coldly. The one responsible for their current plight was none other than Rosse, the man speaking with her.
Even if Oden had broken her heart, she could never have any goodwill toward Rosse.
"If you're not pushed to the brink, how could you bloom into the most beautiful moment of your life?", Rosse said with a smile.
"And right now I'm considered the most beautiful?", Amatsuki Toki sneered. Her entire face was carved with countless gashes, blood smeared all across it, there was nothing beautiful about it at all.
"It's just a skin shell. If you wanted to restore it, your own fruit ability could do it, couldn't it?", Rosse spoke casually. Amatsuki Toki's fruit was by no means that simple.
At first, he had truly thought she would use her power to set the board. He hadn't expected she would choose instead to borrow his hand.
Doing this demanded the greatest sacrifice from Amatsuki Toki, but at the same time it provoked Oden most directly.
By this point, Oden had become the one to hurt her the most. There was no possibility for reconciliation between them anymore.
For an ordinary woman, she probably wouldn't have even thought of such a path.
But Amatsuki Toki not only thought of it, she carried it out.
From the bottom of his heart, Rosse admired her actions.
Though it was a pity, since in the future she could never again be of one mind with him, as a unique piece of his collection, she was absolutely qualified.
At least in his heart, Amatsuki Toki's rating was already above that of Moa and Olvia.
"And what if I restore it? The wounds on the heart can never be healed, can they?", Amatsuki Toki asked with self-mockery. At this point she was frighteningly calm.
From the moment she had left Rosse's residence, she no longer had any way out.
"Time is terrifying. You may remember today after one year, three years, ten years. But after a hundred years, will you still remember your ties to Wano? Will you still remember that scar on your heart?", Rosse chuckled softly.
"I don't know. I won't live that long anyway," Amatsuki Toki's eyes showed no ripple. She understood perfectly what Rosse meant.
Devil Fruits held incredible powers, and the Time-Time Fruit she had eaten was one of the most formidable among them.
If she chose not to travel through time, the time she saved would turn into her lifespan.
That meant that if nothing unexpected happened, she could still live another two hundred years.
But now, she already carried the resolve to die.
Her only reason to keep breathing was to see the conclusion of Wano.
If in the end she could bite off a piece of Rosse, she could leave with a smile.
"You know, I don't fear those who wish for death," Rosse chuckled, "Can you really let go of Hiyori? Lady Toki, surely you don't wish to..."
"What is there to let go of? Look at me now, I'm already like this," Amatsuki Toki tilted her head back, her tone laced with self-mockery.
What sin had she committed?
She was already reduced to such a state, and still Rosse wouldn't let her go.
"If you could really let go, then when you handed Hiyori over, you would have used your fruit ability to send her into the future, not entrusted her to us," Rosse's voice came again.
"Using my fruit to entrust her to the future proves even more how much I care, doesn't it?", Amatsuki Toki's eyes flickered, as if some secret thought had been hit.
"Don't you want to see what they look like grown up? Don't you want to see if those little, cute children can become independent adults?"
Hearing Rosse's whisper, Amatsuki Toki's body trembled uncontrollably.
Everything she had wanted to do for Wano, she had already done.
The only things she still couldn't let go of were Hiyori and Momonosuke.
No matter what, they were her own flesh and blood.
She truly, truly wanted to see what they would look like grown up.
At the corners of her eyes, faint tears welled.
"You devil!"
"Thank you for the compliment," Rosse's voice even carried a trace of pride. Clearly words of hatred, yet to him they sounded like praise.
Amatsuki Toki silently wiped her tears, then slowly exhaled, "What on earth is good about me? Tell me, and I'll change."
"To be able to say such words even now, doesn't that prove your virtue all the more?", Rosse laughed.
"If I'd known things would turn out like this, I should have cut my throat the moment we met," Amatsuki Toki said bitterly.
"Why not refine your fruit ability more, travel back to when I was born, and kill me in the Holy Land?", Rosse said with a chuckle.
"I'm not stupid. How could I possibly kill a Celestial Dragon in the Holy Land?", Amatsuki Toki said speechlessly.
"That's not certain. There are always more methods than difficulties. With the defenses the Holy Land had before, even the World Conference could be infiltrated. You still don't know the value of your fruit. If it were mine, I could play it to its fullest," Rosse smiled.
"Heh. Then if I wanted to use this fruit to kill you, what method should I use?", Amatsuki Toki snorted coldly. She knew Rosse had countless tricks, but that didn't mean she was stupid.
After all these years of effort, her fruit could already support multiple people traveling.
Though the time limit hadn't changed, it didn't mean she hadn't worked hard.
If she caught an unguarded enemy, directly sending them through time would be no different from killing them.
Unfortunately, Rosse had never given her the chance to activate her power.
Every time she was close to him, she couldn't even trigger her fruit, let alone send him through time.
This was guarding against her all along.
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