"Eh? She fell down the stairs? Then hurry up and help Kuina get bandaged, you green-haired brat!"
"Th-the bleeding won't stop!" Little Zoro's face was full of helplessness. "She… she hit the back of her head on the ground when she fell!"
"What!?" Ginny, not even caring about the sleeping Bonney in her arms, immediately grabbed Zoro with one hand, then turned into flames and flew toward the house behind the dojo.
Right now, Ginny's face was covered in cold sweat.
Shimotsuki Kōshirō of Isshin Dojo, a warm-hearted, overly kind man, could be said to have been the single greatest supporter of the Revolutionary Army in its earliest days.
Food supplies were the foundation of everything.
To put it bluntly, without Shimotsuki Kōshirō's help, the Revolutionary Army might have disbanded halfway through simply because they couldn't feed themselves.
So even though Shimotsuki Kōshirō had refused dozens of invitations to join the Revolutionary Army over the years, in the hearts of all the Revolutionary Army officers, Shimotsuki Kōshirō was still considered one of them.
But now… Shimotsuki Kōshirō had gone to the granary with Dragon-sama and the others, leaving her to watch the kids, and something like this happened…
Even if it wasn't her fault, Ginny would still blame herself.
"Right ahead!"
Ginny nodded and rushed to the door of the storage room.
But just as she was about to go in, she saw that inside the storage room… there was actually a man in a Marine officer's uniform crouched beside the gravely injured, dying Kuina.
She was about to warn him when she saw his platinum-blond hair clearly.
"Mi-Michael! Thank goodness!"
"Mm, Ginny, we'll catch up later." Michael didn't look back. Suddenly, tiny points of light, like fireflies, began to glow in his hands.
Small… but dazzling.
"Wh-who is this guy!? What's he doing to Kuina!?" Little Zoro struggled anxiously in Ginny's grip.
"We need to take her to a doctor right away!"
"Relax, green-haired brat. If you were worried before… you can rest easy now. With Michael here, no matter what the injury is, he'll heal it. If even Michael can't fix it, then there's no point in finding another doctor."
"Wa… wait! He's that Michael!? The Marine Chief Inspector, 'Gintaka,' Vice Admiral Michael!?"
"Ahahaha, brat, you talk about Michael like he's your idol every day, but now that he's right in front of you, you didn't even recognize him?"
Ginny laughed as she put Zoro down, the tension finally leaving her shoulders.
She had been thinking that if Kuina's injuries were too severe for medicine to help, she would have to call Kuma.
But she hadn't expected Michael, who hadn't appeared in years, to show up in Shimotsuki Village on this very day.
In a way, that meant Kuina… wasn't fated to die.
And just then, the two who had followed Michael for years without holding any official Marine rank—Hawk Eyes and Enel—also arrived.
"Good grief, Michael, when you're on the move, you could at least slow down for Hawk Eyes… trying to chase your two wings with Geppo is no joke."
"I don't see the problem."
"Hey, you stone-faced Hawk Eyes! I'm trying to win you some sympathy here!"
"I don't need it."
Over the years traveling with Michael, Enel's faint aura of death and stoicism had completely disappeared.
But Hawk Eyes' stoicism… was clearly something he was born with. Couldn't be changed.
So the increasingly cheerful Enel became the perfect opposite of Hawk Eyes, and the two became constant bickering partners.
Just as Enel was about to continue, two glowing hands made of Holy Light floated slowly toward them, middle fingers flicked…
Snap!
Both of them suddenly had shiny finger marks on their foreheads.
"Both of you, settle down… can't you see I'm saving someone?"
Michael's tone wasn't heavy. To him, Kuina's injury was easy to treat.
Honestly, even if one of the great doctors of the Pirate World, like Dr. Kureha, had been here, she could have saved Kuina too.
And since Ginny was here, Kuma was probably around as well. Kuma could have "pushed" Kuina's injuries right out of her body.
But the problem was whether they could have arrived in time…
Kuina's luck was clearly very good.
When Michael flew to Isshin Dojo, he had just seen the green-haired Zoro running in a panic to find help.
So he'd casually saved Shimotsuki Kōshirō's only daughter.
To be honest, for Michael, wasn't this also making up for a great regret?
A woman with pure swordsmanship talent even greater than Zoro's… how far could she have gone if she'd grown up?
But speaking of Kuina and Zoro, Michael thought carefully—these two… might even be distantly related, right?
Zoro's grandmother, Shimotsuki Furiko, was the real sister of Shimotsuki Ushimaru.
And since Shimotsuki Kōshirō was of the same clan as Shimotsuki Ushimaru, there was at least some blood relation.
So as third-generation descendants, Shimotsuki Kuina and Roronoa Zoro really were distant relatives in a roundabout way.
In a sense, that was fate.
Of course, Kuina and Zoro clearly didn't know any of this.
But Shimotsuki Kōshirō surely did.
Otherwise, in the original story, even after his daughter died, he wouldn't have entrusted Wado Ichimonji to Zoro.
...
"Uwah!"
Kuina suddenly sat up, both hands clutching her head.
The pain, the feeling of life slipping away—so real… why did she feel nothing now!?
"Don't tell me… I've already crossed into the afterlife!?"
Kuina muttered to herself, then looked up—and saw her father, Shimotsuki Kōshirō, standing by her bed.
"F-father! You too!? Don't tell me that after I died, you felt life wasn't worth living and came down here to accompany me!?"
At first, seeing Kuina awake, Shimotsuki Kōshirō's face had lit up with joy—but now her words left him speechless.
"You're alive and well… what nonsense are you talking about!" Shimotsuki Kōshirō gently patted his daughter's head. The boulder in his heart finally fell away, replaced by endless lingering fear.
If Michael hadn't come, his daughter… would have been lost.
Thinking of this, Shimotsuki Kōshirō let out a deep breath.
"Come on, Kuina. Everyone's waiting for you outside."
Shimotsuki Kōshirō stood up and headed out.
"You'd better thank them properly… they saved your life."
"Ah? Oh."
Hearing that, Kuina got out of bed—only to realize she felt no fatigue at all…
In fact, she was in the best condition she'd ever been in!
Right now, she was certain—even if Zoro's strength increased by thirty percent, she could still beat him easily.
"You… feeling okay?" Outside the door, Zoro looked at Kuina a little awkwardly.
"I'm feeling amazing—so amazing I can beat you all over again!"
"Hmph! Keep bragging!"
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