"?"
Zoro gave Ren a puzzled glance, not understanding what his last sentence meant.Still, one thing was clear—his employer wanted those pirates dead.
"Make sure you protect yourself."
Without hesitation, Zoro drew his twin blades and dashed forward.
Two-Sword Style: Ushi Bari (Bull Needle)!With his swords poised like the horns of a charging bull, he lunged ahead. In the blink of an eye, eight flashes of cold steel pierced through every pirate standing in his path, leaving them skewered and collapsing in a bloody heap.
It was one of Zoro's rare offensive techniques—a swift, consecutive strike unleashed as he passed by his foes.Right now, he could execute more than eight thrusts in a single instant.
But against these small fry, he didn't even need to use it properly. Just splitting the motion and adjusting his distance was enough to carve through eight enemies in one go.
"Stay back. Don't get in my way."
Zoro walked coldly across the deck, leaving behind eight pirates bleeding from their pierced chests and stomachs.
"I'm moving forward."
"So strong…"
The crew of the Gus gawked in shock. They hadn't expected the man they'd rescued on the island to be this powerful.Had they known earlier, even if the first mate and navigator wanted some quick cash, Captain Saren would never have let him aboard.Yet, in hindsight—it might have been their luckiest decision.
Is he really a pirate hunter?Span, the swordsman guarding the trembling, limp-legged noble Becks, was even more stunned. As a swordsman himself, he could tell how impossibly fast the man's strikes had been.If this were a duel to the death, and the target had been him, he'd have ended up just like those eight men—dead before he could blink.
"Men, keep it together! That's the infamous pirate hunter—Roronoa Zoro!"
Captain Saren shouted, rallying his crew to stand firm.But, if one looked deeper, his words only served another purpose—to draw the pirates' hatred toward Zoro.
If this were a game, he had just pulled all the boss's aggro onto the swordsman.
And indeed—that's exactly what happened.
BOOM—!
A huge dark shadow leapt from the Alvida Pirates' ship, landing heavily enough to make the Gus's deck tremble.
"It's Captain Alvida!"
"But I thought the captain wasn't planning to fight this time!"
"Idiot, the pirate hunter must've caught her attention!"
The Alvida Pirates' morale, shaken by the sudden slaughter, flared back to life at the sight of their captain.
"Fufufu… the so-called pirate hunter, huh?"
Freckled, fat, and ugly, Alvida slammed her spiked iron club into the deck, denting it with a thunderous thud.She eyed Zoro with amusement. "You look pretty handsome. Let's play a little game, pirate hunter. If you answer wrong… I'll smash you into mince with this club!"
"?"
Zoro halted, his cold gaze sharp as a drawn blade.Then came a question that made no sense whatsoever.
"Tell me, pirate hunter—who is the most beautiful woman on these seas?"
Zoro: "???"
Brain.exe has stopped working.Had the question been about liquor, swords, or swordsmen, his answer would've been instant.But women? That was outside his area of expertise.Just thinking about it made his brain freeze.
"What a weird woman… Auntie, are you the captain of this pirate crew?"
Zoro shook his head, scattering useless thoughts, and looked at the gaudy, jewel-covered woman.
"A-Auntie!?"
"How dare you call the captain that—you're dead!"
"Captain, kill him!"
The Alvida Pirates shouted in fury, though beneath that rage lurked deep fear.No one had ever survived angering their captain.
"Bastard! Who are you calling an old hag!? I am the most beautiful woman on the sea!"
Roaring with rage, Alvida raised her massive iron club and brought it crashing down with both hands.
CLANG—!
Metal shrieked against metal. Zoro's feet sank slightly into the deck as he blocked the blow with crossed swords—but he held firm.
"Impossible! No one's ever blocked the captain's strike!"
The pirates gaped. That club weighed over a hundred kilograms—one casual swing from Alvida could send a man flying.
"Hey, Auntie, looks like you're not all that impressive after all."
Zoro tightened his grip, muscles bulging as he forced the club upward with raw strength.Alvida staggered, her guard opening wide.
Two-Sword Style: Dual Slash!
Twin arcs of steel flashed.
"AAAH!"
Alvida screamed, blood spraying from a deep gash across her abdomen.But instead of backing down, her fury only grew, her eyes glowing red.
"Don't get cocky, pirate hunter! I'm worth five million Beli! I am the Iron Mace Alvida!"
She spun her club wildly, whipping up a storm of air.
BOOM—!
Zoro was blown back by the blast, but he flipped midair and landed cleanly.
"Enough playing around, Zoro. End it quickly—and don't kill her," Ren called out, unable to stay silent as Zoro still wielded only two swords.
"Oh, I know."
Without turning, Zoro answered calmly, then drew the third blade—Wado Ichimonji, clenching its hilt between his teeth.
"Announcing your titles before a fight… what's the point?"
With a sword between his teeth, his expression hardened, eyes gleaming like a caged beast."The strong win, and that's all there is!"
"Hah!? I'm the strong one here!"
Alvida roared, spinning into a whirlwind once again.Several pirates and Gus crewmen who couldn't dodge in time were sent flying, coughing up blood.
Three-Sword Style: Oni Giri (Demon Slash)!
Zoro crossed his two swords, the third clenched tight in his mouth.
THUD—!The deck thundered beneath his feet as he lunged forward.
The strike was so fast the human eye couldn't follow it. In the next instant, Zoro was already standing behind Alvida.
SPLASH!
Blood spurted as Alvida's eyes rolled back. She collapsed face-first, crimson pooling beneath her.
The battlefield fell silent.The pirates who had been cheering for their captain froze, throats tight, unable to make a sound.Even the crew of the Gus stood speechless.
A one-second kill?!So this was the legendary pirate hunter.
"Strong? You're not even qualified to be my warm-up."
Zoro sheathed both swords, then removed the one from his mouth, holding it loosely in one hand.He turned toward Ren. "Hey, what's next?"
"Take that ship. Kill anyone who gets in the way."
Ren's voice carried across the deck, and Zoro responded without hesitation—turning back, blade in hand, to begin the slaughter.
He didn't use any fancy techniques this time—just pure, clean sword strikes.And in seconds, the pirates of the Alvida crew fell one after another.
(End of Chapter)