The moment he was caught in the spell, Zoro realized he was standing on top of a bomb.
Not metaphorically, but an actual bomb. Transported to an unknown location and almost stepping on a bomb, Zoro urgently gathered all his Armament Haki to its limit and covered his entire body.
Boom!
With a deafening explosion, dozens of mines detonated simultaneously. The mountain trembled, and the area where the mines had been collapsed, burying Zoro under a mound of dirt.
Swoosh!
Cutting through the dirt, the assistant director, now possessed by Kenjaku, effortlessly dodged an attack aimed at him.
Kenjaku's eyes sparkled with excitement.
"So, he wasn't one to die from something like this."
A spell that locks on to an opponent and teleports them to a designated location. Kenjaku had taken over the assistant director's body and targeted Zoro at his most peaceful and unguarded moment, but it was unfortunate.
'It won't be easy to finish this, will it?'
Well, good. Kenjaku had more than this prepared.
With a burst of energy, Zoro erupted from the dirt in his three-sword style. Despite the landslide caused by the mines, Zoro was unscathed.
Thud, Zoro landed safely and faced off against Kenjaku. While spitting out a mouthful of dirt, his eyes were clear and focused.
'What kind of guy is this?'
Logically, one might think the assistant director had gone rogue, but it was much more than that.
Kenjaku spoke lightly.
"Too bad. You didn't die."
"Traps like that are too familiar to me."
A pirate on the Grand Line gets up in the middle of the night whether it's a naval ship in sight or a typhoon, always ready to fight or flee. There was never a moment of complete peace in a pirate's life.
Zoro had experienced such unpredictable battles numerous times, such as continuous fights against the Warlords even when near death.
Above all, Zoro was someone who, regardless of his peaceful surroundings, was always ready to draw his sword and enter a battle.
It was more his nature than a result of training or experience, a unique trait that wouldn't change across any number of lifetimes.
A natural-born fighter, as someone whose face Zoro couldn't even recall once said.
Kenjaku's smile deepened. Honestly, he was impressed.
'Where did such a creature come from?'
In sorcery, there's a concept of equivalent exchange. When a sorcerer is born, a corresponding spirit is born, and every curse carries a price equivalent to what it gains.
Yet, despite being a pure non-sorcerer, Zoro possessed tremendous power. Terrible with directions, yes, but… well. Kenjaku thought that didn't seem like a curse.
'If it were, he wouldn't be able to run straight at his enemy in front of him.'
A curse doesn't change with circumstances or can be overcome. But Zoro always found his way in battle when facing an enemy.
'There are no exceptions for a curse.'
Therefore, Zoro wasn't cursed, Kenjaku concluded.
Not only in Japan but also abroad, even after gathering information, unfortunately, it was not possible to understand exactly what Zoro is or how such a being came to exist.
'But that's as far as it goes.'
His interest in Zoro was not intense enough to override his curiosity about the purpose he desired.
'Originally, Toji was supposed to kill the vessel.'
But since Toji had quit being a sorcerer killer and had become affiliated with the Jujutsu High, it changed direction to prevent the vessel from assimilating.
'Toji doesn't really have a reason to prevent assimilation.'
Thus, Kenjaku manipulated Toji to request that it hinder the vessel's assimilation.
Their father-son relationship was tight, and Zoro, who usually protected innocents, especially women and children, was easy to manipulate.
'I even arranged for the vessel and Zoro to meet beforehand.'
Kenjaku chuckled as he recalled the scene where Zoro handed down the straw hat to the vessel, which seemed straight out of a romance manga.
Due to potential accidents, the vessel rarely received permission to go out. The reason Riko got permission that day was because of Kenjaku's interference.
As expected, Toji fulfilled Zoro's request and secretly extracted the vessel. Tengen, the vessel, and the tightly bound sorcery of causality were powerless against the intervention of the renegade curse.
At that point, Zoro became nothing more than an annoying obstacle.
'Obstacles need to be removed.'
Though not entirely uninterested, Zoro was too troublesome to be kept alive just out of curiosity, especially since his future growth was uncertain.
Kenjaku was thoroughly prepared. He had taken over the body of the director when he was out on a mission, allowing him to traverse the barrier of the Jujutsu High, and had deliberately destabilized the signal in the Jujutsu High to create a pretext for Zoro to come. A spell that activates only when eyes meet required that Zoro had to look his way, facilitated by a voice recorder containing his brother's voice.
'Satoru Gojo couldn't come with Zoro to the Jujutsu High.'
Probably the Gojo family was involved in the extraction of the vessel, so they needed the head of the family, Satoru Gojo, to control them.
That left Zenin Toji and Geto Suguru as the most likely to accompany Zoro... Kenjaku had calculated that Geto Suguru, whose combat style was quite different, would more likely complement Zoro, and this was exactly right.
The common weakness of Zenin Zoro and Geto Suguru was that they weren't particularly fast. Of course, they were somewhat fast, but not enough to disrupt Kenjaku's spell before it activated.
'They can't be killed while all four are together.'
But if it's just Zoro and one-on-one, Kenjaku was confident he could kill him before either Satoru Gojo or Zenin Toji arrived.
Zoro wouldn't have any means to counter 'this technique.'
Kenjaku brought his palms together, interlocking all ten fingers. Then he chanted:
"Domain Expansion."
Womb Profusion.
A non-segmented domain merged with space and spread out. Faces of the dead intertwined to form wooden pillars, casting ominous branches.
And then,
"…!"
An immense gravity pressed down on Zoro, pulling him into the dark abyss of venomous waters.
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