The scene of Zalia getting up shocked Leda. "She was hit by Kuro's Ultima. It's fine if she didn't become a bloody mess, but she can still stand up?"
Crowe pushed up his glasses. "The life force of an esper is really strong."
"Ha, ha…"
His calves trembled.
The spine is wailing.
All the cells in his body were cracking and dying.
Salia's upper body was bent and she was gasping for breath, her hands were on her knees and her blood was falling down in large clumps, like sticky mud, probably because there was something else.
His fingers were slowly opening up, as if they were bound by something heavy.
The platinum spear condensed in his palm and he held it in his hand.
*Swish!*
The spear was raised and pointed directly at Kuro. Salia raised her head and spat out firmly, despite the blood flowing from the corner of her mouth, "I want to save the world."
"Tsk."
Kuro clicked his tongue. "The world is still a child. Don't be so cruel to him. What did it do wrong that it needs you to save it?"
His Profound Meaning is not so easy to receive. Although Zalia did not become a meat paste, she only withstood the body of an esper. All the joints in his body, including his bones should have been broken.
And now standing up …
"Will? It's amazing…"
Kuro exhaled a mouthful of smoke and held the hilt of the knife at his waist with his right hand. With a swish, a black light appeared. He held Autumn Water and bared his teeth. "All of you, what the hell is willpower!"
Whoosh!
His figure flashed in the air, raising a black straight line that went straight to Zalia and slashed down.
Salia stared straight at Kuro. In her pupils, Kuro's slightly ferocious figure gradually merged with an unfamiliar figure.
The same wantonness, the same power in the pupils of others…
Thirty years ago, Salia was also like this.
… .
[Crime] Salia, 30 years ago, was not an ability user at all, but a pirate who burned, killed, and robbed.
Flames, ruins, wails, and hideous smiles.
"Spare, spare my life…"
A wounded civilian grabbed an ankle and begged.
Chi!
Soon, a knife pierced his head.
"Moo."
Young Salia pulled out his blade and put it on his shoulder, grinning at the nearby pirates. "Hey, little ones, search carefully, don't leave any treasure!"
"Oh!!" The pirates' shouts were mixed with the sound of burning flames and they looked unusually manic.
Ferocious, wanton, and powerful. This was his perspective in the eyes of those civilians.
He kept killing and robbing until he finally got a bounty of more than 300 million Berries and became a thorn in Marine's side.
And then he was caught …
Until one day, there was a riot in Imperton, where only one person escaped. They finally had a chance to escape, and Zalia was one of them.
But at the age of eighty, he could no longer adapt to the increasingly cruel sea and had no choice but to wander to an island and prepare to start a new life.
However, because of his identity as an outsider, he was not liked by the local residents. He did not want to have anything to say to these residents. Although he was old and did not want to sail the sea, he could still plunder a few towns.
Robbing a wave of money and then finding a new place to be a rich man is not impossible.
… .
It was the same snowy day. Zalia, who was hiding in a corner of a residential building and looking for an opportunity to start killing and robbing, met her for the first time.
The little girl with long pale blue hair.
"Here, Grandpa, this is for you."
The little girl held the rice ball in her hand and gently handed it to Zalia.
"Get lost, little brat." The hoarse voice was filled with endless malice. At the same time, his hand began to exert force, preparing to squeeze this ungrateful little thing to death.
"Let's eat. If you're hungry, you have to eat. Grandpa has been here for two days. He eats snow every day. It's not good for his health. I made it myself."
She had a smile on her face and did not care about the dirt on Salia at all. She grabbed Salia's hand with one hand and placed the rice ball in his.
That smile did not change at all. There was no disdain or hypocrisy. There was even no pity or sympathy. It was just a simple smile. It was the gentlest and most innocent kindness in the world.
At that moment, Zalia hesitated.
He did not attack.
Later on, the little girl came here every day to deliver rice balls, and they became more and more familiar with each other. Finally, they even received her home. That day, the little girl was very happy to say that she finally had a 'grandfather'.
Grandpa …
His life stopped at 20 or 30 years ago, when he didn't even have a child, but he directly became a grandfather.
He felt very awkward.
In particular, this little girl is an orphan. Her parents were killed in a pirate robbery. Although the house she lives in is very tidy, it is also very simple.
He has been living such a hard life, why should he help others? And it's a completely unrelated person.
"Why?" Salia asked the question in her heart.
"Eh? Why?"
The little girl tilted her head and said matter-of-factly, "If you have difficulties, you need help. There are no whys and whys. I have the ability to help people, and Grandpa, you lack help, so it's normal for me to help Grandpa."
This sentence sounded so upright, without any thoughts in it.
The light in that gaze made Zalia not dare to look directly at him.
He was an old pirate. Whether it was this little girl or the people in this town, he could kill them easily, but compared to her…
He was like a weakling.
… .
The longer he lived with the little girl, the more difficult it was for him. He didn't know what was wrong with him.
Perhaps it was the innocence of the little girl and her own evilness, or her parents had been killed by pirates, or maybe she was a pirate.
Until his uneasiness was maximized, he finally revealed his identity.
Perhaps he should not enjoy this warmth and peace.
"Eh? Is Grandpa a pirate? Or a fugitive? It doesn't matter, you have already paid the price for your mistake. The most important thing is to know what you have done. Hey, I was right."
The little girl showed an embarrassed smile and said something under the almost trembling eyes of Zalia.
"Look, Grandpa, you will repent, and so will those pirates. They have their own difficulties. If they all become better, then there will be no struggle in this world."
"I want to do this when I grow up, be it pirates or Marines, if they don't fight, the world will be peaceful. Does this count as saving the world, well… It's decided, I want to save the world!"
The light in the girl's eyes made Zalia seem to see a god.
From that moment on, Zalia firmly believed that in the rest of his life, he would try his best to fulfill the ideals of a little girl!
Until …
The fire, the shouting, the spears…
On that day, Zalia went to pick herbs because the little girl's body was very weak and she had not been well-nourished for a long time.
However, there was a surprise. When he was picking herbs, he found a Devil Fruit. This thing is good. It may save the little girl's life. Even if it doesn't, through the fruit, she can obtain power and complete her dream of growing up faster.
Then, when he returned, the Spirit was gone.
A pirate pierced his 'spirit' with a spear.
This scene directly drove Zalia crazy.
By the time he came back to his senses, he had already killed the pirate, but he couldn't save the little girl.
"Grandpa…"
The little girl lay in Zalia's arms and smiled: "I also made a mistake, I wanted to persuade those pirates, but I didn't expect myself to die… Is this the feeling of death, is this what Mom and Dad felt at that time?"
"Can't people really understand each other? Can't people really put down their struggles? What a pity, I still want to save the world…"
"You can! You can definitely do it! You are my granddaughter. What you want to do will be realized!"
But no matter how much Zalia shouted, that angel-like existence would never show her smile again.
Her existence as a 'spirit' is gone, but her ideals are still there.
As long as I am alive…
Salia picked up the Devil Fruit and bit into it.
Fruit, is the fruit of the human.
Perhaps it was destined that this fruit would let him atone for his sins.
He directly activated the final ability of the fruit and integrated himself into the little girl, making her 'alive' again.
Corpses can also be used with such abilities, although they will only be puppets.
But that doesn't matter.
"I will show you the world without struggle, the world without sin, the world of peace and perfection, I…"
… .
"I will save the world!!!"
The oath from two years ago overlapped with the words of the present, and a light appeared in Zalia's pupils, and her roar resounded throughout the entire Ice Island.
The platinum spear in his hand shone brightly and he stabbed it towards Kuro.
Bang!!!
Light and shock waves spread out around him, causing the entire island to tremble.
The highest mountain began to avalanche like a tsunami, rushing down with snow waves.
But soon, the avalanche stopped, and a large amount of snow floated up and stopped there.
On the battlefield, Kuro appeared behind Zalia and maintained his posture of waving his sword. Behind him, Zalia also maintained her spear movement, but the platinum spear gradually turned into light spots and dissipated.
Kuro straightened his back and slowly sheathed his knife. He was about to take a puff of his cigar when he realized that most of the cigar in his mouth had been broken.
"Forget it…"
He spat out the cigar and lit another one. He slowly exhaled the smoke and said in a deep voice, "I forgive you."
Snap.
Zalia's body fell heavily to the ground.