Bang!
The sound of a gunshot rang out from high up on a building, causing Zoro to frown. A gun was hardly the weapon of choice for a sorcerer, and it wasn't commonly used in Japan to begin with.
Zoro could feel the muscles of Toji, whom he was riding on, tense up. As Toji's every nerve seemed to focus behind them, Zoro clicked his tongue.
"Focus on running, not me."
The gunshot from the building was clearly aimed at the clone, not Zoro.
Click.
This one was different, however.
Countless bullets struck the ground where Toji had just passed.
Ratatatatat!
The sound of gunfire came a moment too late; bullets travel faster than sound.
Zoro, holding onto Toji's neck, scowled.
"Even though Dad is running on a rooftop with no one around, to spray bullets in the middle of Tokyo..."
It seemed like whoever was doing it didn't care if they accidentally killed someone. They were clearly out of their mind.
And moreover...
"They're targeting me first, not Dad."
The quality was really poor. Naturally, a normal human couldn't possibly aim at Zoro, who was being rapidly carried by Toji at full speed, so all the shots missed.
"Oh, one's coming right."
It seemed like a spray and pray approach since one was finally on target. Zoro, seeing a bullet flying straight towards his head, reached for the handle of his sword to slice it.
But Toji was faster, wrapping his arm, which was covered in an armored hue, around Zoro. If he hadn't caught the bullet with his hand,
Crunch!
As he opened his hand, the crumpled bullet dropped from Toji's grasp. Zoro, riding on Toji's back, could clearly hear the anger in Toji's voice.
"How dare they..."
Some bastard targeting my son.
Toji's green eyes glinted with a deep intent to kill as he spotted the shooter, a distance no normal human could visibly identify, looking precisely at a sniper who had mounted his rifle on a building window.
"!"
The sniper, making eye contact, flinched and quickly hid. Toji stopped and seemed ready to chase immediately, but Zoro gently tapped on Toji's back and calmly said,
"The clone is the priority right now."
There was no time to deal with every trivial person.
"..."
Toji pondered for a moment before tightly securing Zoro and sprinting towards where the clone might be, all the while keeping an eye on the fading presence of the sniper.
...
When Toji and Zoro arrived at their destination, Geto and Gojo were already by the clone's side.
"How did you get here so fast?"
"Oh, we just succeeded. Using Blue for high-speed movement!"
"We can't use it in crowded places though," Gojo added.
The clone, presumably the girl, was sleeping on a sofa, and the building's exterior wall in front of her was blown open, revealing the clear sky.
As Zoro jumped down from Toji's back, Toji scrutinized Zoro and then the girl. Confirming that both were unharmed, he spoke to Geto and Gojo.
"Take care of Zoro for me."
Before they could respond, he disappeared. Gojo blinked.
"What's with him? What happened on the way here?"
"There was a sniper."
"...Was that shot meant for your dad?"
"They were targeting me. Neither dad nor I got hit though."
Of course. Satoru understood why Toji had run off immediately after setting Zoro down.
'Given his gorilla temperament, he wouldn't just let someone who shot at Zoro get away.'
Geto murmured gravely.
"If it was a sniper..."
"It's likely a non-sorcerer."
Sorcerers generally didn't use guns. Guns don't work against curses, and there's a lot of resistance in the upper echelons to integrating modern weaponry with sorcery.
'Such a stupid thought,' Zoro bitterly reflected. Why not utilize a powerful weapon that's readily available? In a world where people die every day.
Gojo tilted his head as he sat on the sofa.
"Did Time Vessel Association hire a foreign hitman?"
"Probably. That type of gun is rare in Japan."
Zoro, having been reincarnated, had studied the weapons and tactics of this world. Among those, guns had particularly caught his attention—they were incredibly advanced and varied compared to his previous life.
'Here, most people die if they're shot.'
In this world, the limits of non-sorcerers' capabilities are relatively low, hence the development of firearms that can kill easily and in large numbers.
But in his previous life?
'Just go to Paradise, and you'll find plenty of powerhouses who can dodge or block bullets.'
By the time you get to the New World, a gun fired by someone who hasn't mastered Armament Haki is practically meaningless. Most can simply avoid it using Observation Haki.
With a lucky shot, they might not take damage thanks to Armament Haki or Devil Fruit abilities. There were plenty tough enough to just pull out the bullet and charge again.
"I wouldn't have even blinked if I got shot once or twice in my past life."
Now, his body was younger, and the guns in this world were much more advanced.
Gojo leaned back, making a thoughtful sound, then said briefly, "That's troublesome."
"...Yeah."
Even if there's a skilled non-sorcerer sniper with a good gun on the other side, it's just a nuisance for the four of them. It wouldn't be enough to cause death or serious injury. There wasn't really anything that could make them fail their protection mission.
"It might be a bit tricky to handle since it's a foreigner and a non-sorcerer."
Well, they'd just knock him down and hand him over to the police. In this country, just possessing that kind of gun would freak out the cops.
Geto asked, "Surely they wouldn't just send a non-sorcerer against the four of us. There must be sorcerers too, right?"
"That would be really dumb."
Zoro listened to the casual conversation of the two for a while, then turned his gaze towards the clone lying on the sofa.
The clone, Amanai Riko, was a girl with thick, braided dark hair and a white headband, wearing a neat school uniform, looking every bit the middle schooler she was supposed to be.
Where have I seen her? Zoro felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
Rustle, Riko seemed about to wake up, moving slightly.
"Oh, looks like she's waking up?"
Gojo leaned over to look at Riko closely.
Finally, her eyelids opened, and she looked up with blue eyes.
Blink, blink. She caught sight of Gojo's face up close.
And then, she threw a punch.
"What are you doing to me!"
Of course, Amanai Riko's punch was easily blocked by Gojo's limitless technique.
Riko immediately sprang up from the sofa and leaped away. Zoro exclaimed in appreciation of her movement; it seemed she had at least some basic self-defense skills. 'Basic' being the operative word.
Riko raised her fists in a defensive stance and shouted, "Who are you people! If you plan to kill me, one of you will have to die first! Strange white hair, bangs, and even a child! ...Eh, a child?"
Riko's eyes widened as she noticed Zoro.
"Are you... the boy who gave me the straw hat that time?"
Hearing this, Zoro also remembered. The girl whose straw hat, just like Luffy's, had gotten stuck in a tree, and Zoro had cut down the branch to retrieve it.
'Now that I think about it, didn't a maid called her Lady Riko back then?'
The name Riko wasn't unusual, so he hadn't thought they were the same person. For Zoro, it was also an almost forgotten incident.
Gojo glanced at Zoro and asked, "What, a friend?"
"No."
"No! We just crossed paths once."
Zoro and Riko denied simultaneously. Gojo nodded.
"Right, wouldn't be your friend."
If she had been, Zoro would have probably turned everything upside down by now, regardless of assimilation or anything. Satoru thought to himself.
Zoro's gaze shifted towards the elevator. One of the maids who rode on a curse that Geto had tamed appeared. It was the same woman Zoro had met before, her brown hair rolled up neatly and dressed in a maid's uniform.
The woman said in a gentle voice, "Lady Riko, these people are the ones who saved us."
"Kuroi! ...What are you riding on?"
"This is a curse from that person with the bangs," explained Geto, smiling kindly.
"Riko, we're not here to harm you," he reassured.
As he was about to say more, Toji appeared, leaping through the blown-out wall with a big sword and a curse of armory wrapped around him.
"Ahh!"
Riko screamed, clutching Kuroi, while Gojo clutched Geto.
Zoro, the only one who had sensed Toji's presence beforehand with his Observation Haki, calmly greeted him.
"You're back?"
"Yeah, took care of it."
Caught a non-sorcerer, half-killed him and dumped him in front of the police station with his gun. The cops can handle it from here.
Gojo patted his chest.
"Ah, really scared me! Teacher, why did you come up from there?"
"It was faster this way."
"Are you Spider-Man or something? Did you climb up the building wall with a line or something?"
"Where's that? I just jumped up."
Of course, scaling a wall by jumping was something that would terrify any ordinary person. Toji knew it was conspicuous, but there were more bombs planted by the killer on this side, so he had no choice but to scale the wall to disarm them.
Amanai shivered and pointed a trembling finger at Toji.
"As I thought, suspicious!"
"Ha..."
Geto sighed and shook his head. It looked like the explanations were going to be lengthy.
...
After explaining to Riko that they were sorcerers dispatched from the jujutsu high for a protection mission, they all gathered in the living room.
Gojo, crossing his legs while sitting, said, "I thought you'd be depressed about the impending assimilation, but you're quite spirited for a kid."
Riko, who had been petting a curse like a pet, snorted dismissively.
"Pfft, this is why commoners..."
She put her hands on her hips and said proudly, "Listen well. Those who do not know speak of assimilation as death. But assimilation means that Lord Tengen becomes me, and I become Lord Tengen. My heart, soul, and body! All of these continue to exist even after assimilation."
Zoro slightly raised his eyebrows.
There was no hesitation in Amanai Riko's words just now.
But also no certainty.
It wasn't that she was wavering, pondering, and then firmly deciding to speak those words. She was merely repeating what someone else had said.
That made it all the more hollow, devoid of any real contemplation.
Zoro quietly observed Amanai Riko.
Yaga had explicitly described this mission as both 'protection' and 'erasure.' If it was truly a concept of coexistence or fusion as Riko described, Yaga would not have used the term 'erasure.'
'He's not one to speak lightly.'
That meant, something about Amanai Riko as Amanai Riko would disappear after the assimilation. Permanently.
Did Riko know this?
"Changed your wallpaper?"
"Yeah. Pretty, isn't it?"
"So about assimilation... if people would just listen when they talk!"
Riko yelled at Geto and Gojo, who were engrossed in their own conversation, ignoring her. Then she snapped back to reality.
"Kuroi, Kuroi! Isn't it time to go to school?"
"Classes have already started. It would be best not to go today—"
"Quiet! I will go no matter what!"
Toji frowned as he looked at Riko.
'It's going to be hard to provide close protection there.'
Having researched Amanai Riko's background in advance, Toji knew she attended Renchoku Girls' Junior High.
At that place, unlike Toji who could blend in by concealing his presence, the other three would stand out conspicuously. After all, it was a girls' school.
'I'll have to contact Yaga.'
He needed to ask how much they should indulge the will of the charge. Toji thought to himself.
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