"I will inform Koushirou-sensei."
Hiroto then asked, "Why did you come looking for me?"
"The first time I saw you was after you destroyed that Marine fleet. I thought you were a heinous pirate. After visiting various places, I discovered you aren't what I initially imagined."
Issho smiled. "A pirate who is as gentle to civilians as you are is rare. And I also heard a sentence: 'Stand up, no kneeling allowed.'"
As he repeated it, a moved expression appeared on his face.
There are few strong people who help the weak, but it's not like they don't exist. For example, he did it once himself. He destroyed a kingdom's regime and let a new regime take over, but the result... nothing changed.
Compared to what he encountered here, it was completely different.
Only here, only in Gosa Village and Cocoyasi Village, the civilians who were helped here gave him a feeling he had never had before.
Like... they had a backbone.
"This is a quite complicated question."
Hiroto's gaze changed slightly, and he held up a finger. "You have to owe me another favor, and by the way, tell me why you feel this way?"
"Okay."
Issho agreed immediately and then said, "Although I am from Wano Country in the New World, the same hometown as your teacher Koushirou, later, because of my Devil Fruit Ability and some visions, I left that place."
"After years of traveling, I finally settled in a non-affiliated nation called the Aoi Kingdom. That is my second hometown."
"It was also there that I chose to draw my sword and slay the evil I saw. In the end, I even uprooted the system that carried out cruel rule. I replaced it with a newborn regime for the Aoi Kingdom, but..."
Issho's expression became complicated. "But nothing changed. In just a few years, the Aoi Kingdom returned to its original state. I changed the Aoi Kingdom, but thinking carefully, it seems like nothing changed at all."
Hiroto looked at Issho and said, "The reason is simple. The people you truly want to help received charity. You give them opportunities, you help them kill powerful enemies, but they don't understand exactly what they are fighting for."
"In the end, when the factors that forced them to fight disappear, they will rot because of human greed. Eventually, the dragon slayer becomes the dragon."
"The reason the people here give you a different feeling is that I didn't give charity, but gave them the opportunity to fight for themselves."
"..."
Issho's expression shifted constantly. He seemed to understand something, yet felt it was separated by a thin mist.
"Let's leave it at that. If you don't understand, then go and practice it." Hiroto shook his head and didn't say much more.
Then, he drew Shigure and stared at Issho with eager eyes. "Now, it's time for you to repay the first favor."
"What do you need me to do?"
Issho composed his thoughts, and his expression became serious.
Hiroto said succinctly, "A fight, from low to high intensity, and in the end, give me a fatal wound. No matter what I want to do, in this world, power is essential. Now there happens to be such an opportunity, these are the prices I am willing to pay."
A very vague statement but it made Issho nod thoughtfully. Inquiries, doubts, and confusion were all unnecessary. The man before him who could provide answers was by no means a suicidal person who couldn't see himself clearly.
"Then I won't be polite."
Yakuza Kasen was drawn out a fraction, and a vast, majestic gravity filled the area in the next instant.
Under the invisible heavy pressure, the ground of the tangerine grove collapsed inch by inch.
Zoro's face changed drastically because he found that he actually couldn't move.
So strong...
This man of strange origin was unimaginably strong.
"Don't be nervous, Zoro. This is my battle. Go watch from the sidelines and don't let anyone disturb us." Hiroto gave a reminder and then actually closed his eyes.
'Observation Haki?'
Issho immediately understood what the other party was seeking.
Extreme pressure!
Without hesitation, Issho drew Yakuza Kasen, the sharp blade pointing to the sky, and a violent purple light soared into the air.
In Zoro's shocked gaze, a hole was pierced through the clouds in the sky.
The air around the man weighed like a mountain range, it stole your breath.
Terror.
Absolute terror.
That was Zoro's first impression.
"I'm getting serious."
Issho warned, expanding his gravity field across hundreds of meters, then splitting it finer.
Torrents of gravity surged at Hiroto from every direction. A single hit and the clashing vectors would rip him limb from limb.
Even held back, only a notch above Hiroto's level, the merciless technique was outright lethal.
A primal crisis flared, never before had Hiroto felt death so close. Life's survival instinct snapped him into total focus.
Issho's gravity streams were savage, a tiger lunging for its prey. One mis-step meant mutilation.
Shunpo!
Hiroto's figure flickered, narrowly slipping the first crushing waves. Still, his clothes were shredded, skin beneath turning purple-black.
No question: the foe outclassed him.
Yet…
Dancing on a blade's edge, Hiroto laughed wildly. "Hahahaha! Now this is a fight!"
A gale burst through the tangerine grove, sparks blooming into a sea of flame. Before it could advance, Issho pressed his cane-sword down, the fire bowed and died.
Invisible gravity chains appeared, coiling to cage the entire grove.
BOOM!
Amid the roar, immense gravity tore the earth from every side—ground ripped apart, trees snapped.
The whole orchard was shredded in an instant.
Caught inside, Hiroto felt gravity yank him left, right, up, down—every axis reversed.
It was like a hill stacked on his shoulders, stealing breath.
And that wasn't the worst.
He sensed unseen chains hunting him.
A spar? A lesson?
Such thoughts vanished—only primal dread remained.
BOOM!
Hiroto stamped down, wind and fire burst beneath his sole, rocketing him onward.
Wind-fire boost!
The ground he'd stood on split into a dozen chunks that shot away.
Still, the chains multiplied—hundreds now. They slithered through the shifting gravity like a swarm of serpents.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
One patch after another was torn to flying pieces.