"I'm Luffy, the man who's going to become the Pirate King!!!"
"Huh?!"
Staring at the grinning idiot in front of him, Zoro felt a headache coming on.
A bandanna was tied around his head. His eyes were sunk in shadow, the look of a beast ready to bite.
And yet here he was, tied to a wooden post.
To understand how he ended up like this, you had to go back to the day he and Kuina parted ways, both setting sail with the same vow: to see who would claim the title of the world's greatest swordsman first.
"Zoro, let's meet again out there on the sea! We'll see who becomes the strongest swordsman in the world!!!"
With Wado Ichimonji at her waist, Kuina waved, then sailed off.
"Don't talk big. Right now, I'm not weaker than you at all."
Zoro's mouth curved into a smile as he watched the ship fade into the distance, then he stepped onto his own path.
Ever since five years ago, after he'd truly completed his fundamentals, he rarely lost to Kuina anymore.
In the world of One Piece, setting aside certain special races and physiques, men on average did have stronger bodies and higher combat ceilings than women.
And Zoro was a swordsmanship prodigy.
Truth be told, he had already pulled slightly ahead of Kuina in straight combat.
That reality hit Kuina hard, a girl who had beaten Zoro down since childhood. She sank into a slump for a while.
Then she remembered something Ozz had told them when they were kids, a method for growing stronger.
"Getting stronger is actually simple. Keep polishing your body and your basics, then go challenge the strong. Only battle can forge you into a true powerhouse of the sea."
Training plus fighting.
That was the conclusion the two of them drew.
After Zoro began suppressing her, even defeating her, Kuina chose the sea without hesitation.
She was his rival, his childhood friend, the one who stood beside him as an equal.
Watching that small boat drift farther and farther until it was only a speck, Zoro, now carrying three black bladed swords at his hip, felt nothing but confidence.
Beside him, Koushirou looked on at his daughter and his student, both having sailed or soon to sail, and his heart grew heavy with emotion.
"You're about ready to go too, aren't you, Zoro?"
"Yeah… I am."
Zoro nodded, posture straight and proud.
"I can feel it. My progress is slowing down. I'd rather go out there and see the gap between me and the real monsters."
Even now, he could still picture that scene as if it were yesterday: Ozz splitting the sea with a single swing.
It was the first time Zoro truly understood how vast the ocean was.
But in his youth and swagger, he believed with all his heart that one day, he would reach that level.
A young man with a dream stood tall.
…
Right now, though, Zoro was in pretty rough shape.
Because he'd been tied up here for days and nights without food.
"I found three swords. I didn't know which one was yours, so I brought all of them."
Luffy carried three swords over and held them out.
"All three are mine. Because I use Three Sword Style."
Maybe famous blades adjusted themselves to their owner, because if you looked closely, each of those swords was just over a meter long in Luffy's hands.
One of them stood out sharply from the other two, different in color and design, elegant and sleek like a masterpiece.
"Hey, Zoro, this one looks way cooler than the other two!"
Luffy stared at the swords with a child's curiosity.
"Don't mess with that! That isn't my sword!!!"
And right then, Axe Hand Morgan marched in with his soldiers, surrounding them completely, clearly unaware of how wide the gap between them really was.
As the Marines charged with blades raised, Zoro's expression didn't change.
Clang!
Three swords snapped into place, his stance locked, stopping them cold.
He turned eyes like a demon toward Luffy's innocent face.
"I'll become a pirate with you. But listen up. I'm not giving up my ambition."
"I'm going to become the world's greatest swordsman. For the promise, and for the person who entrusted me with a named blade…"
"I'll make my name echo across the whole world!!!"
"If you get in the way of my dream, then you can commit seppuku."
But Luffy only grinned wider, like Zoro had just said something he liked.
"Of course! The world's greatest swordsman as the Pirate King's crewmate? That's perfect!!!"
…
Meanwhile…
Inside a luxuriously decorated hospital room, countless nurses in eye catching outfits worked tirelessly, doting with practiced care.
One fed him fruit. Another massaged his shoulders. Ninrin accepted petting like a pampered cat, letting her master play with her however he pleased.
Ozz lounged back, one hand idly stroking the white haired, dark skinned, winged Seraphim, the other flipping through old newspapers.
He wanted to learn what had happened while he was gone, and how far things had drifted from the world he remembered.
Hawkeye…
Good. Living well. He'd even grown out that signature beard. Still the same cold, sharp Mihawk in Ozz's memory.
Sailing around in his tiny boat, cutting people down. Keeping that routine for years took a special kind of stubbornness.
As for Doflamingo, still the same too.
Just not young anymore. Shorter hair, more mature presence, but that arrogant bite hadn't dulled.
Ozz nodded. Looks like everyone's doing fine.
Then he turned to Crocodile…
Wait… what?!
Ozz went blank for a second, then stared harder.
That gloomy face was familiar, sure, but…
Why did "Little Sand" turn into "Old Sand"?!
His first thought was Emporio Ivankov, but that didn't make sense. Ozz had warned him repeatedly not to mess with that.
Even if Crocodile infiltrated the Revolutionary Army, Dragon wouldn't be selling Ozz that kind of favor.
So if it wasn't Ivankov…
The Devil Fruit that could change someone's sex, in Ozz's memory, there was only one.
The Shiku Shiku no Mi, the Sick Sick Fruit.
"…"
Ozz's lips twitched. He couldn't help sighing at Crocodile's sheer determination.
How badly did he want to become a man?!
"Well… at least it's not irreversible."
Chewing a grape, Ozz slowly sat up. With a flick of his hand, the beauties around him retreated immediately.
He curled a finger upward.
The doctor appeared in front of him in an instant.
"Huh?! Why am I here?! Ozz, sir?!"
Ozz ignored the man's shock and went straight to the point.
"My injuries. How long until I'm fully healed?"
Hearing the question, the doctor could only smile politely.
"It's like this. Most of your wounds are minor. We can only assist from the outside as much as possible."
"Honestly, even if you didn't come in, with your physique you'd still recover to perfect condition on your own, just more slowly."
Ozz had indeed been treated well here. Faster than pure self healing.
But now he was already mostly recovered.
The rest could be handled by his own body.
It was time to go for a walk again.
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