Chapter 68: Zoro, Who Traveled to another world, Ate the Thunder Fruit
Bane held banquets in Cloud Village for seven consecutive days, finally having his fill of sky beasts. It turned out these creatures were genuinely useful—their effects nearly matched those of Sea Kings.
But that was all. Seeing nothing particularly special about sky beasts, Bane decided not to linger any longer.
Before leaving, however, Bane planned to take Zoro back to the Empire to settle the Thunder Fruit matter first. This would make Zoro a Thunder Fruit user unafraid of the sea's curse. After eliminating this weakness, the Thunder Fruit would surely become truly "invincible."
Deep in the sea of clouds, a small boat was anchored. Due to the thick surrounding mist, the two figures aboard appeared somewhat blurred.
Feeling this location was secluded enough, Bane stopped rowing and let the boat drift in the cloud sea. He looked at Zoro and said, "We'll stay here."
Zoro asked in confusion, "Can Devil Fruit side effects be eliminated here? Or do you have some secret method that can't be exposed?"
"This is my core secret, but I told you and Nami about it before. You thought I was bragging and didn't take it seriously," Bane complained.
Since Bane was someone who often spouted nonsense and bragged thoughtlessly, Zoro pondered for a long time but couldn't remember what he'd said.
"I told you I'd take you to another world. Did you forget?" Bane reminded him.
Zoro was stunned momentarily, remembering the incident, then asked with surprise in his eyes, "What do you mean?"
Bane offered no further explanation. Instead, he used his mind to mobilize the power of the mysterious door within his body. To Zoro's surprise and shock, a space-time door slowly opened before them.
As the door revealed a crack, the power of frozen time and space surged out. Almost instantly, everything seemed to stop.
Bane was about to show off to Zoro, but when he turned around, he found Zoro had been "frozen"—just like when he'd first encountered Teach. Motionless, without breath, as if he didn't exist.
"Right, this happens," Bane clicked his tongue upon seeing this. He reached out to pick up Zoro, held him under his arm, and stepped through the space-time door.
The same phenomenon occurred on the Empire's side. Time and space froze, and Bane could feel his strength rapidly draining away. Even though he was countless times stronger than before, this strength drain seemed completely unreasonable.
Not only that, when he stepped through the door, Bane noticed that as his footsteps fell, the blue colorful halo representing the pirate world seemed to have been "extinguished."
'Seeing this scene still confuses and puzzles me. What's going on with this door?'
But there was no time to think about it now. He stepped into Empire territory and quickly closed the gate because his physical strength was nearly exhausted.
When the portal closed, time and space resumed normal flow. Zoro, who'd been held under Bane's arm, suddenly "came back to life." He was stunned at first, then his face grew embarrassed and annoyed. After all, this posture was too humiliating, so he quickly broke free from Bane.
Then Zoro was stunned again. He'd been focused on his awkward position and only now realized he was no longer in the sea of clouds!
"Where is this?" Zoro asked in confusion, looking at the uninhabited mountains and forests around them.
"Another world," Bane responded casually, but this wasn't the time for explanations. He said directly, "Quick, eat the Thunder Fruit here—the curse won't affect you."
Although Zoro still had many doubts, he wasn't someone who liked getting to the bottom of everything. He quickly suppressed his shock and confusion and took out the Thunder Fruit.
He had complete trust in Bane, so he retrieved the Thunder Fruit and took two bites.
Bane had once told Zoro that when he'd eaten his Devil Fruit, he hadn't found it terrible—he'd even thought it was quite delicious.
But Zoro wasn't truly naive. He'd heard rumors and later asked Issho about it. Issho had told him Devil Fruits tasted awful and he'd almost been unable to swallow his.
Considering that Issho was steady while Bane always liked joking, plus considering the rumors, Zoro naturally thought Devil Fruits must taste horrible.
As a result, when he took a bite, his mouth filled with the fresh fragrance of fruit wood. He felt no discomfort whatsoever.
"It really is this delicious?" Zoro asked in surprise.
"Why would I lie to you? It must be because this world is different," Bane said with a pout.
Since it wasn't bad to eat, Zoro made the same choice as Bane. He consumed the entire Thunder Fruit in no time, leaving nothing behind.
After eating the Thunder Fruit, he stood quietly and waited. Then Bane saw lightning flashing in Zoro's eyes. Seeing this, Bane immediately said, "Think about the feeling when you learned the Six Powers. Control your body and slowly adapt to this ability!"
Back then, Bane had still been a rookie. In the first two days after eating the Dark-Dark Fruit, he couldn't control his dark power from time to time. He'd later discovered this was due to poor body control.
After hearing Bane's instructions, he quickly calmed down and concentrated his mind. The thunder power in his eyes that had been threatening to overflow quickly dissipated.
After that, Bane never disturbed Zoro. Zoro simply stood there, motionless, as if resting with closed eyes. However, one could see electrical arcs occasionally flashing across his body, making crackling sounds.
After waiting over half an hour, Zoro suddenly opened his eyes, drew the Wado Ichimonji from his waist, then slashed at the dense forest ahead.
Dazzling lightning attached to his cutting strike, and with a swish, it cleaved through the dense forest before them. Black smoke rose from the cuts of the severed trees. This blow had clearly condensed thunder and swordsmanship!
"It's done!" Zoro said excitedly.
He'd become a Thunder Fruit user.
And the kind that wasn't cursed, wasn't hated by the sea, and wasn't restricted by seastone!
At this moment, Zoro felt he'd mastered supernatural powers and was invincible. He immediately looked at Bane with excitement in his eyes, wanting to challenge him.
But before Zoro could act, he saw a malicious smile on Bane's face and dark elements flowing at his fingertips.
"What? Want to spar with me? Of course your big brother will take care of you," Bane asked with a smile.
Zoro's face twitched several times, then he said, "Let's talk about it in a few days. I just got this ability. Although it's not out of control, I haven't truly mastered it yet."
"That's unfortunate," Bane clicked his tongue, slightly disappointed.
Seeing his malicious expression, Zoro couldn't help saying, "Don't worry. I'll let you experience the power of the Thunder Sword Master soon enough."
"Hahahahahaha," Bane laughed several times but didn't discourage Zoro. Instead, he said encouragingly, "Very good! I'll look forward to it!"
After resolving these matters, Zoro couldn't help asking, "Is this a different world?"
"To be precise, it's the world I was in before," Bane responded.
After listening, Zoro was silent momentarily, then asked in surprise, "So you're not from our side?"
"That's right." Bane nodded slightly, then introduced the situation here to Zoro.
After they chatted for a while, Zoro said with emotion, "I thought I'd walked out from the bottom of a well, but I didn't expect I'd just gone from one well to a slightly larger one. Besides our side, there are other worlds."
"That's why I told you from the beginning—you won't regret following me. In the future, we'll see an even wider world." Bane patted Zoro's shoulder.
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