The shattered stones beneath Zoro's feet suddenly trembled, and in the blink of an eye, he shot forward like a bolt of green lightning.
His twin blades hung low, parallel to his sides, and glinted coldly as they trailed behind him, casting chilling arcs of light in the air.
"Two-Sword Style: Climbing Tower!"
Two streaks of steel-blue light surged along the blades. A tremendous, compressed force simmered within the dense metal of his swords.
As he closed in on Shura, Zoro suddenly slashed upward with both Wado Ichimonji blades. His entire body followed the motion, soaring into the air.
From the upward slash, two trails of radiant blue energy extended like a staircase to the heavens, mercilessly lashing out at Shura.
Zoro, now airborne, ascended those glowing strikes like steps, climbing higher and higher, until he stood in the sky directly above his enemy.
Beneath the blood moon, Zoro's shadow loomed large, completely engulfing Shura.
The twin slashes struck hard, slamming violently against Shura's dark crimson blood blade. But Shura remained unshaken, standing firm, absorbing the blow with his monstrous physique.
Clang! Screeeech,
A piercing metallic clang rang out, followed by a drawn-out shriek like light scraping across metal. Despite the devastating force of the blow, Zoro showed no sign of slowing down.
High in the air, he raised his twin blades again, aiming them straight down at Shura, who had just barely recovered from the first assault, and slashed again.
Even the very air was cleaved apart, forming a visible vacuum in the wake of his attack.
The wind roared violently.
"Two-Sword Style: Response to Climbing Tower!"
Once again, two vicious slashes erupted from his blades, crashing down from above. The trajectory matched his previous attack perfectly, layering additional force onto the initial strike and slamming down against Shura's blood-red sword.
Screeech!!
This time, the sheer pressure forced Shura to yield.
With a grunt, he kicked against the solid ground, sliding backward over three meters.
The ground beneath his feet cracked and split, a deep groove trailing where he skidded.
But that wasn't the end.
Zoro, still airborne, used the rebound force of his last strike to hover in place. He hadn't even begun to fall.
He lowered his head slightly, a wild grin spreading across his face, not just a smug confidence in himself, but a mad defiance of the very world around him.
He raised both swords again, blades slowly aligning at the tips into a single deadly point.
Suspended midair, Zoro's body curled inward. His clothes flapped violently in the swirling winds born from his previous strikes.
His expression turned grim and ferocious.
His right eye sparkled like a star, glowing with a brilliant, diamond-blue light.
Amidst this dark-toned world, it blazed with unmatched intensity.
"Two-Sword Style: Flash Slash!!!"
His bent legs suddenly snapped outward, stepping on thin air as if it were solid, unleashing a sharp sonic boom.
Like a meteor, he shot toward Shura at breakneck speed.
His twin blades fused into one unified strike, like a razor-sharp spear, cutting through the air with a shriek and driving straight toward his opponent.
"Rōkō!!"
Faced with Zoro's rapid flurry of close-range attacks, Shura was forced once more to activate his Zanpakutō-like ability, barely managing to block Zoro's full-powered assault.
But the twitching, trembling edge of his blood blade made it clear, it wasn't as effortless as it looked.
"Heh…"
Seeing that his attack had been stopped, Zoro didn't show the slightest frustration.
Instead, he grinned, a devilish smirk, like a trap had just been sprung.
"Two-Sword Style: Rapid Thrust Combo!"
Zoro spun mid-air with a swift 360-degree turn, landing lightly on the ground, and without pausing for even a second, he launched forward again, twin swords stabbing toward the barrier in front of him.
His blades blurred into a storm of afterimages, piercing the air with a frenzy of stabs.
Each thrust carried a chilling arc of blade light.
Faster and faster he went, until even his arms became indistinct shadows.
The only thing left visible was the shimmering field of rippling blue energy in front of him, growing denser with every second.
In just a few heartbeats, Zoro had unleashed hundreds, even thousands of powerful strikes.
Each one was at full strength.
Within the Rōkō Domain, Shura's dark golden eyes began to dim, as if he were on the verge of passing out.
But still, he clung to consciousness, forcing himself to endure.
Until,
The relentless, point-focused slashes suddenly stopped.
Behind Zoro's vicious and devilish expression, a rare calm emerged, an almost enlightened serenity.
He threw both swords behind him, their blades reflecting the crimson glow of the blood moon.
That scarlet shimmer, as if from the edge of the world itself, radiated an eerie stillness, tinged with finality… and despair.
"Two-Sword Style: Endbringer!!"
Summoning every ounce of strength in his body, Zoro unleashed a massive horizontal twin slash.
WOOOOSH!!
A hurricane-force wind exploded outward. Stones rattled and cracked underfoot.
The twin blades merged into one terrifying crescent-shaped slash.
A blood-red crescent moon shot forward, steeped in cruelty and the lust for destruction, slicing toward Shura with deadly intent.
The dazzling red light looked like the end of days, scorching the earth, sweeping away all dust, leaving only a field of polished stone.
BOOOOM,
"AAAHHHHH!!!"
The mighty slash vanished suddenly, as if swallowed by another dimension.
But in its place came a howl of pure agony from Shura.
His voice was still hoarse, still deep, but the volume and the burst of bloodlust that followed shook the very space around them into eerie stillness.
The wind died.
he earth stilled.
Not even the air dared to move.
Zoro lowered his blades.
It was the first time he had ever seen Shura in such a broken, tormented state.
Shura, who had taught Zoro for years, was his second mentor, second only to Koshiro.
Though there was no true death in this soul realm, the pain imprinted on their Mental Powers was very real, and absolutely unforgettable.
"I… will not yield!!!"
After the wave of pain, Shura's voice erupted again, a defiant roar from deep within, unwilling to accept defeat.
Zoro's grip faltered slightly, his hand trembling for just a moment.
Shura dropped to one knee, driving the crimson Wado Ichimonji into the stone beneath.
Zoro looked on with a complicated expression.
He understood.
Because Shura… was born from his own soul.
He knew exactly what Shura's defiance meant.
Kuina represented his mental power.
The Beast symbolized his physical strength.
Both could grow stronger alongside Zoro.
But Shura…
Shura was his sword path itself.
A tool. A road.
But not Zoro himself.
So while he had been born powerful, that was all he was.
After today's battle, with his defeat, Shura would now become the weakest of Zoro's three inner Mental Powers.
Zoro understood his pain.
But still—
That couldn't be the reason to stop moving forward.
"Don't worry…" Zoro finally spoke, his voice low but steady.
He brought both blades together.
One black, one white, two Wado Ichimonji, suddenly radiated brilliant light.
Within a crimson glow, their forms began to merge…
When the light faded, Zoro held only one sword in his hand.
A dark red blade, identical to Shura's blood blade!
"Tool or road, it doesn't matter."
"If you are my sword path…"
Zoro raised the blade high, grinning with blind confidence as he declared boldly:
"Then you arethe world's strongest sword path!!"
"One-Sword Style: Asura!!"
"Slash!!!"
WHOOSH,
A blood-red wave burst from Zoro's blade, roaring forward at incredible speed.
In an instant, it reached Shura.
In that moment, the earth, the sky, the blood moon, and space itself…
All dimmed under the fury of his strike.
Sound. Color. Heat. Smell,
Everything vanished.
The entire space was split in two.
Shura remained kneeling, looking up at the blood-soaked, gasping Zoro.
His expression mixed regret with reluctant acceptance.
Then, his crimson form began to disintegrate into particles, disappearing into the fading world…
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