Chapter 445: Demonic Aura - Nine-Sword Style - Asura: Ichibugin!
The blazing flames scorched the sky, ocean waves churned, and the sharp scent of metal mixed with gunpowder smoke.
Zoro stood alone atop the collapsed stone steps. With three swords drawn, his aura roared like mountains and seas.
—Sandai Kitetsu, Enma, and Ame no Habakiri.
In an instant, heaven and earth dimmed, and the air currents were forcibly torn apart by his sword pressure!
The rocks beneath his feet pulverized, his sword aura sweeping horizontally and vertically like a violent storm.
Under that ferocious, intense aura, a blood-red phantom of an Asura seemed to manifest behind Zoro.
Six arms, three faces, eyes glaring with wrath, and a demonic aura that surged to the heavens.
"BANG!!!"
The shockwave blasted outward, sending dust and debris rolling backward.
Inuarashi and Nekomamushi were forced half a step back, their eyes flickering with terror and furious shock.
"Those are—!!" Nekomamushi roared, his eyes wide. "Those are Lord Oden's blades! Enma—and Ame no Habakiri!!!"
Inuarashi's voice carried a furious bellow: "You bastard!! Those two swords—where did you get them!!!"
Hearing this, the black-purple aura on Enma suddenly churned, and the blade of Kitetsu trembled slightly, as if responding to its master's killing intent.
He sneered, his gaze calm yet bone-chilling: "Are you talking about that—ignorant 'Lord'?"
Those few short words sliced through the air like a blade.
Around them, even the flames seemed to freeze.
Inuarashi and Nekomamushi's figures stiffened, their fury freezing on their faces, their breathing skipping a beat.
Two years had passed; how could they not know the truth?
Kaido was dead.
Wano Country had been "liberated."
But Lord Oden's legacy—Momonosuke, Kin'emon, the Nine Red Scabbards... not a single one survived.
That country, where they had entrusted their "legacy" and "hope," had now been replaced by iron and order.
And the man who made all of this a reality—
Was none other than Marine Admiral Roy.
It was a name they feared, yet hated to the very marrow of their bones.
They had tried to console themselves—
Joining Blackbeard was so that "one day, they could exact their revenge."
But in the face of true strength, they were merely deceiving themselves.
Zoro had clearly seen through all of this at a single glance.
The corners of his mouth curled up slightly. Enma hummed, the blade reflecting their unfocused eyes.
"Just as I thought."
"The pets of an incompetent samurai—"
"You don't even have the courage to raise your blades for your hatred. You only know how to bow your heads before the strong."
"Pathetic cowards."
His words fell and exploded like thunder.
The cat and the dog roared simultaneously. Muscles bulging, fangs bared, their eyes filled with both fury and humiliation.
"YOU—!!!"
"YOU BASTARD BRAT—!!!"
High in the sky, Laffitte spread his wings, diving down like a phantom as he shrieked with laughter: "Don't just stand there!! Attack him together!!!"
The moment he spoke, sonic booms erupted in the air. His cane drew a pitch-black arc, transforming into a razor-sharp gust of wind pressure that lunged straight at Zoro!
On the ground, Inuarashi's longsword swung down with the wrath of a thunderbolt, and Nekomamushi attacked from the flank, his razor-sharp claws turning into a flurry of afterimages!
The three forces intertwined, like three roaring Tyrannosauruses pouncing on the exact same prey!
Zoro merely looked up, the corners of his mouth hooking up slightly.
"Hmph."
"Bring it on."
He murmured softly, his right foot stomping the ground. His aura instantly solidified, and all three swords hummed in unison!
"Let me see—"
"How many of my slashes a joint attack from three weaklings can withstand."
"ROAR—!!!"
Inuarashi's longsword flashed with lightning, its edge descending from the sky with the momentum of a thunderbolt, its sword pressure as heavy as a mountain;
Nekomamushi arrived with the wind, his cat claws flipping into a chain of hidden strikes, his speed so fast it almost became a blur;
And high in the air, Laffitte spread his pristine white wings, his cane unleashing dozens of continuous mental shockwaves raining down, shaking the air with continuous sonic booms.
The power of the three converged into one spot. In an instant, the colors of heaven and earth changed, the atmospheric pressure collapsed, and even space itself seemed to warp under the crushing weight of these three killing intents!
However, the man at the center of the storm—Zoro—still didn't move.
He slowly let out a breath and closed his eyes.
In the next moment, his aura abruptly shifted.
An aura straight from the Avici Hell—a blood-like, demon-like, Asura-like oppressive presence erupted from his body!
"I shall brave hardships and not grow weary..."
The deep, low chant echoed out, like an incantation from the depths of the underworld.
The ground fractured, crushed stones floated into the air, and the temperature plummeted into freezing cold.
A black-and-red demonic aura spewed from Zoro's body like a tidal wave, instantly engulfing the entire battlefield!
Inuarashi and Nekomamushi's offensive stalled. Their pupils shrank violently in that moment—
In their line of sight, Zoro's figure had completely transformed.
—Three heads, six arms, and demonic eyes burning with blood.
The invisible phantom of Asura slowly unfurled behind him. Nine flashing blades swirled in the void.
Every single blade burned with blood-red flames, and every single eye burned with wrath.
"This is—the path of Asura."
Zoro opened his eyes, which had now turned into blood-red vertical slits!
"Kiki: Kyutoryu—Asura: Ichibugin (Demonic Aura: Nine-Sword Style—Asura: One Mist Silver)!!!"
"BOOM—!!!!"
Zoro moved.
No superfluous movements. No flashy techniques.
There was only a streak of dark red light,
Which, in the very next instant—tore the entire world apart.
Nine sword gleams erupted from Zoro's body,
Like nine cursed blades drawn simultaneously. With unimaginable speed, they crisscrossed, sliced, and pulverized everything around the three of them!
Inuarashi's lightning longsword was shattered in mid-air, sparks flying;
Nekomamushi's sharp claws were severed, his body torn open with dozens of bloody gashes by invisible slashes;
High in the sky, Laffitte's wings were disassembled into a mist of blood, an expression of sheer disbelief still frozen on his face.
There was no explosion.
No deafening crash of clashing metal.
There was only that nearly inaudible sound of the "wind's breath"—
And then, everything went still.
The three of them simultaneously lost their strength and plummeted to the ground.
A mist of blood permeated the air, transforming into a silver fog,
Shimmering with a freezing chill in the pre-dawn light.
Click—clack.
The sound of three swords returning to their sheaths rang out like the ending note of a war.
Zoro slowly turned around, his back straight as a mountain.
The Asura phantom behind him slowly dissipated, and the nine sword gleams vanished along with it.
His voice spread low through the wind: "The path of Asura—"
"Stopping war through slaughter, shattering illusions with the mind."
The wind blew once again, scattering the blood mist and dust.
The silver light gradually faded, and the Asura dispersed.
Only that proud, solitary figure remained, standing at the summit of the ruins.
The Asura aura on Zoro's side had not yet fully dissipated, but the air on the other side abruptly congealed.
Doc Q slumped over his horse, which had half of its wings severed. His face was a sickly pale as he coughed out two cold, sinister laughs.
"Cough, cough... Let you taste my 'sickness,' little girl."
He raised a bony finger, dark purple miasma churning at his fingertip.
In the next moment, a thick fog surged out—
Corroding the air and eating away at metal, the crushed stones along its path instantly turned green and melted.
—Sick-Sick Fruit: Plague Domain.
Kuina's footsteps paused slightly. With every breath, it felt as though some formless poison was invading her body.
A grayish-white layer surfaced on her skin, her healthy color rapidly fading.
"Got her...?" The corners of Doc Q's mouth slowly curled up, a sickly satisfaction flashing in his eyes.
High above, Van Augur immediately captured this moment. The Vision-Vision Fruit activated, his data-eyes flashing with light patterns.
—Three red lines locked onto the target!
"BANG! BANG! BANG—!!!"
Three bullets blasted out at supersonic speeds. Their trajectories were flawlessly precise, sealing off all of Kuina's possible escape routes!
However—
Hum—
The air trembled slightly.
Kuina's silhouette suddenly blurred and distorted in their line of sight. Like a shattered mirror image, she transformed into countless blood-red fragments scattering in the air.
The three bullets pierced straight through, hitting nothing but thin air.
"Wh—!" Van Augur's pupils contracted violently. He immediately unleashed his Devil Fruit abilities to their absolute limit.
Vision expanding, piercing through walls and seeing through the dust, he scanned a radius of several kilometers.
—But there was nothing.
No body temperature.
No heartbeat.
Not even a single trace of airflow from a breath.
"She's... gone?!" Cold sweat rolled down his temples.
The very instant his words fell—
A freezing voice sounded out low behind him, like the edge of a blade scraping against the bones of his ear:
"—Were you looking for me?"
Van Augur shuddered, all the hairs on his body standing on end.
He whipped his head around, only to see the shadow beneath his own feet slowly twisting as a pair of icy, desolate eyes opened from the darkness.
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