Check out my Patreon for advance chapters:
>> Patreon.com/NegativeTranslations <<
----------------------------------------------------
Chapter 5: Defeat of Morgan
1,212 Words
"Hurry up and run, young man! You'll be finished once Morgan arrives!"
"That guy isn't human!"
After the Marines withdrew, the onlookers finally dared to step forward and anxiously tried to persuade the two outsiders.
Zoro ignored them, his gaze fixed on Helmeppo, who was lying in a pool of blood.
The wound that ran across his chest was shocking, but the faint rise and fall of his body proved that he was still alive.
"You're lucky."
He hadn't held back, but most of the power of that Demon Slash had been concentrated on the Marines' guns. Only the remainder had struck Helmeppo.
Helmeppo was indeed lucky to survive; the wound looked frightening, but it hadn't hit any vital organs.
Even though he survived, Zoro had no intention of finishing him off. Such a minor character wasn't worth a second strike.
He was now more concerned about the strange behavior of the person behind him. This woman seemed to be... relapsing.
"It's all over... everything's in chaos... the timeline has been altered..."
Ganyu's pretty face showed a blank expression, her pink and purple pupils were unfocused, and her lips murmured words that Zoro could not understand.
Even though he couldn't understand her, Zoro could still sense her inner panic.
He found it interesting. This was the first time he had seen such genuine, raw emotion from this woman.
"You're panicking like this just because you cut down a Marine's son? How are you going to be a pirate in the future?"
A smile appeared on Zoro's lips as he said teasingly.
"That's not the problem. After you did this, you won't be able to meet him anymore... Sigh." Ganyu didn't know how to explain the original plot to him, so she just looked melancholy.
That's strange. Zoro wasn't this violent in the original story. He cut Helmeppo down with a single slash after only a few words.
Although he wasn't dead, given Morgan's personality, learning that his son had been hacked half to death would surely mean a fight to the death.
Regardless of how things developed, Zoro would no longer be tying himself up and waiting for Luffy's arrival as he did in the original story.
Even worse...
Zoro nonchalantly sheathed his sword and sat down in a chair brought by a resident.
These residents seemed to be treating him like a hero, which showed just how bad Morgan and Helmeppo's reputation was.
They also brought a chair for Ganyu, but Ganyu, who was frowning, politely declined. Zoro couldn't help but frown.
"I have absolutely no idea what you're worried about. They're just some Marines. Once I've killed that guy named Morgan, we can just run away, right?"
"What? Bro, you're really going to go after Morgan?"
"He's the highest-ranking officer at this base. If you could kill him... that would be... fantastic!"
The residents seemed to have suffered under Morgan for too long, and they all became excited when they heard that Zoro was going to fight him.
"That's exactly what I'm worried about!"
Ganyu felt a headache coming on. If you kill everyone and run away, who will Luffy and Coby find to be crew members when they arrive nine days later? What will happen when the Straw Hat Pirates lose their first mate?
And judging from his posture, he even wants to take me with him on our escape.
What is going on? I was originally hoping that by following Zoro, I would meet Luffy and naturally join the newly formed Straw Hat Pirates.
But what if the crew's vice-captain wants to run away with me now?
How about... I help the Marines arrest him?
This was the only solution Ganyu could think of. Morgan could never be Zoro's match. In the original story, he couldn't even beat Zoro after he had been starving for nine days, let alone Zoro in his prime right now.
Only by taking action, as the one who triggered the butterfly effect, can the original plot be put back on track.
A sudden burst of rapid footsteps rang out, and a massive figure appeared in everyone's sight.
"It's... Morgan!"
The residents turned pale and scattered like a tide.
With heavy footsteps, a burly man over two meters tall dragged a giant axe, the blade sparking as it scraped against the stone pavement.
Behind him, the snow-white naval uniforms filled the entire street.
"So it was you who touched my good-for-nothing son?"
Morgan's bell-like eyes scanned the scene, finally settling on the two people at the street corner: a green-haired man and a blue-haired woman.
They don't look like ordinary people.
However, this is my territory. Anyone who offends me, no matter where they come from, will die!
The murderer has been found, so what about my son's body...?
"Huh?" His eyes narrowed. He suddenly reached out, grabbed a nearby Marine officer by the collar, and lifted him up. "He's not dead, is he? You b*stards, how dare you lie to me?"
The Marine officer was terrified and stammered, "Captain, we... we were in such a hurry... we didn't see clearly whether the young master was dead or not..."
"B*stard!" Morgan was furious. He grabbed the man's collar and suddenly threw him forward.
Zoro's eyes turned cold as he looked at the Marine flying toward him. He reached out and caught him steadily.
Just as Zoro was about to put the Marine down, the outline of a giant axe blade fell from the sky, preparing to cleave both him and the Marine in two.
Morgan had taken advantage of the moment Zoro caught the Marine to launch his attack.
"You're really shameless!"
Zoro was truly enraged. This Marine captain's son was a menace, and he himself was even more outrageous, not even caring about the lives of his own men.
These bastards are really ticking me off.
"Three cuts..."
In a flash, Zoro shoved the Marine he had saved aside, then drew his swords and instantly assumed the Three-Sword Style stance.
He was confident that even if forced to retaliate, he could strike Morgan first.
However, someone else was faster.
An icy arrow streaked across the sky, its tail gleaming coldly.
Clang!
A crisp sound rang out, and then something unbelievable happened.
Morgan, who had launched the seemingly formidable attack, was utterly powerless against that arrow. With just a single collision, his massive axe shattered with a deafening roar.
"Wha... what?"
Morgan was stunned to see that the arrow, after piercing his iron axe, did not lose any speed and shot straight into his chest.
Hmm? Why doesn't it hurt?
He felt no pain, but what followed was a bone-chilling cold that froze his flesh until he lost all feeling.
My body is... freezing...
Morgan's pupils widened in shock as he watched his body, starting from the chest, being covered in ice at a visible speed.
A few seconds later, as he fell from the sky, he had turned into an ice sculpture.
Under the sunlight, the ice sculpture refracted a rainbow of colors, reflecting the shocked and bewildered expressions on everyone's faces.