Roronoa Zoro is dead.
The news spread worldwide within hours of the first special edition being published.
This was partly because every news agency sent out news cougars to distribute the special edition wherever they could, but even without that, the news would have spread quickly.
Vice-captain of the Straw Hat Pirates. The Pirate King's right-hand man. The world's greatest swordsman. The King of Hell.
Roronoa Zoro was a man known across the seas by any of these titles.
And he was dead.
Naturally, everyone wondered,
"How did he die?"
Whether they knew Roronoa Zoro or not, liked him or disliked him, or had no particular feelings about him, everyone knew he was strong. His title was "the world's greatest swordsman," after all.
The front page of the next day's newspapers all explained the reason for Roronoa Zoro's death. He had fought against a coalition of those who harbored animosity towards the World Federation and perished alongside them.
Civilians who read the news were shocked but generally reacted positively.
After all,
"Whether it's Roronoa Zoro or those guys, they're both bad guys."
To civilians, both the Pirate King's right-hand man and the remnants of the Great Pirate Era were villains. Zoro's fight and death were seen as a perfect scenario where the villains had mutually destroyed each other.
"Grandpa! Roronoa Zoro is dead, aren't we having a festival in our village?"
"You brat! Be quiet!"
"Why? Mom said that when the son of the Pirate King died and the Navy won, the village held a festival. She said it was a lot of fun."
"Shh, shh! Don't talk carelessly! Tell everyone else not to even think about a festival!"
However, people did not cheer or hold festivals like they did when Ace and Whitebeard died.
Compared to the Kid Pirates or the Blackbeard Pirates, the Straw Hat Pirates were relatively moderate towards civilians. But they were still known for their crazy, ruthless actions, especially when their comrades were involved, even shocking other pirates.
Would such a crew let it slide if civilians celebrated the death of their comrade?
The same crew that declared war on the World Government when one comrade was captured, and later allied with the Revolutionary Army to bring down the World Government?
There was no force left in the sea to stand against the Straw Hat Pirates. The World Government and Navy, their main adversaries, had fallen, and even the remnants were completely wiped out in this recent battle by Roronoa Zoro.
Currently, the World Federation, the largest power at sea, had a close cooperative and allied relationship with the Straw Hat Pirates.
There was nothing to stop, or even slightly hinder, the Straw Hat Pirates now. Provoking them was not a good idea.
Therefore, anyone with any sense kept their mouths shut and refrained from celebrating Roronoa Zoro's death publicly, only doing so internally.
The hated era of rampant piracy is truly over.
That's what they thought.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the disbanded Straw Hat Pirates didn't care much about what people were saying about Zoro's death.
...Because they had much more important issues to deal with.
...
A man in a diving suit walked steadily underwater.
The diving suit connected to the oxygen tank on the ship was quite heavy, but the young man walked through the sea as if the weight meant nothing.
Something could be seen trapped under a rock in the distance. There, the man found items he recognized immediately.
A green haramaki with vertical stripes. A black bandana that looked like a piece of cloth.
…A purple sword with a flower-shaped decoration.
The man carefully grabbed the three items. Then he pressed a button on his diving suit to send a signal. Shortly after, a mini submarine appeared to pull him up.
He surfaced on the Thousand Sunny, the ship with a lion-shaped prow, and removed his cumbersome diving suit. His bright yellow hair and eyebrows curled like spirals stood out.
It was Sanji.
Sanji carefully placed the items he had retrieved from the sea on the grass. Nami, who had been sitting on the grass with reddened eyes, approached Sanji.
"Sanji-kun."
"Nami-san."
Nami stopped when she saw the items Sanji had placed on the grass. Tears, which had barely stopped, began to flow from her eyes again.
There was no way Nami, who had been with the crew longer than Sanji, wouldn't recognize them.
…In fact, no one in the crew wouldn't recognize Roronoa Zoro's swords.
Sanji cursed inwardly as he saw Nami start crying again. Not at Nami, but at Zoro.
'Damn marimo.'
Do you know how many times Nami and Robin have cried over the past few days because of you?
"I'll get you something to drink."
Sanji, worried about dehydration, offered, but Nami shook her head.
"Sorry. I don't think I can swallow anything right now."
"Nami-san…"
"We found Zoro's body, Sanji-kun."
Sanji froze.
"His… body?"
"Yes."
Body. Nami emphasized the word again. After a moment of silence, Sanji spoke.
"Where… don't tell me. Did Jinbe…?"
Sanji remembered that Jinbe had mentioned he would search the opposite sea. His face turned pale.
A body left in the sea for a long time would be in a horrible state. The body would shrink due to osmosis, and parts might be eaten by marine life. The Grand Line was teeming with Sea Kings, fish, and various marine mammals.
Sensing Sanji's concern, Nami quickly said,
"It wasn't Jinbe who found him. He wasn't found in the sea but on an island."
Fortunately, Zoro's body was intact, without significant damage.
…If not for the dried blood and the terrible wounds all over his body, he could be mistaken for simply sleeping.
It seemed that after his body was buried under a collapsed rocky mountain, it was thickly covered by volcanic ash, which prevented decay by cutting off the air.
"The ones who found him weren't us but the residents of the Hatowari Archipelago… the parents of that girl who gave Zoro the berries."
Nami mumbled.
"Chopper is examining him now."
"..."
"You know, Sanji-kun. I know it sounds strange, especially after finding his body…"
Is Zoro really… dead?
Nami, unable to bear the question herself, sat down and cried. Sanji closed his eyes and cursed Zoro again.
'Damn it, you damn marimo.'
It wasn't just Nami. Robin and all the other crew members had cried nonstop over the past few days.
He bent down and gently patted Nami's back.
"He's alive right now, Nami-san.
He's definitely alive. That stubborn idiot swordsman. Maybe he died once, but now he's definitely alive.
After all,
"You have it too, don't you, Nami-san?"
Sanji took a small piece of paper from his pocket. The paper was clean without any burn marks. The word "Marimo" written on one side identified the paper's owner.
It was Roronoa Zoro's Vivre Card.
...
[Author's Note]
Vote with your power stones, it motivates me to keep posting chapters.
If you're interested, you can read 20 advance chapters on my Patréon.
patréon.com/fumiaki