By adding Fire nature into his swordsmanship, Zoro's attacks can deal more damage. Wind chakra makes his attacks much sharper, but the burn effect of the fire can give additional damage.
Currently, Zoro is still experimenting with his fire nature transformation. He wants to know if it will be effective to be used against powerful opponents and how it is compared to wind chakra.
Zoro raises his swords and lines them up into a straight horizontal line. He closes his eyes to concentrate before suddenly opening them and swings his swords.
"Three Sword Style: 1080 Pound Phoenix!"
A very big spiralling fire cannon bullet made of 3 fire energy blades fly toward the Pains. It almost hits them, but then the Deva Path Yahiko repels it using Shinra Tensei.
Zoro uses a lot of power for that attack, but it can't break through the repelling power of Shinra Tensei. Though it's strong enough to almost hold the Shinra Tensei for a while before getting destroyed.
The Almighty Push's power also diminishes a lot because of the clash, so it can't reach Zoro. Zoro knows that Nagato didn't use Shinra Tensei's full power to repel his attack. But he also didn't go all out for that attack.
'Maybe I still have a chance to match Shinra Tensei's full power. But going all out now will wear me out very quickly. So I actually still need to grow more.'
He hasn't fought hard for a long time in real battles, so he couldn't grow well lately. Sparring matches still help him grow. But he has been fighting against the same opponents too many times, so he has gotten used to their skills which can't help him grow more.
He needs more growth stimulants from real life-threatening battles, but there aren't many enemies who can make him feel like that. This fight against Pain is the first dangerous battle he has had in a long time.
'I need to push myself more even if it drains my energy rapidly. This is a chance to push my limit after a really long time.'
Zoro charges toward Pain and swings his swords from above. He aims at the Deva Path whose jutsu is still in cooldown. But then the Asura Path blocks his swords with 6 big and thick metal drill hands. 2 drills block each of Zoro's swords.
The Preta Path sneaks from behind to absorb Zoro's chakra, but Zoro jumps to the left where the giant panda has waited. There is the giant 3-headed dog on the right, so there's no empty spot for him to go.
The giant panda sends its giant fist at Zoro who stands below him. Zoro spins his body while swinging his sword, creating an energy blade tornado that hits the giant panda and throws it away while cutting its thick skin.
His Dragon Twister also repels the other Pains that came to attack him. They can't absorb Zoro's skill because it's not made out of chakra, so they fall back to avoid the Dragon Twister.
But when they retreat, one of them suddenly gets defeated. Zoro uses the moment when they focus on escaping the Dragon Twister to attack the one closest to him, the Human Path whose power is controlling soul, which is quite useless in battle while the enemy is still in a good condition.
Zoro uses Purgatory Ogre Cutter to cut the Human Path in a flash while they focus on the Dragon Twister. It was actually an experiment to see if he could catch them off guard and it worked, which means he can distract them for a moment to trick their shared visions.
He actually wanted to target the Naraka Path who could fix them, but he was too far and always stood behind the Deva Path. So he chose the closest one which coincidentally was the Human Path.
Then Zoro moves to attack again, targeting the summoner, the Animal Path. But then he stops to block an object that flies very fast. He crosses his swords on his left side and a hard long black rod suddenly hits his swords.
It's so fast and powerful that he gets pushed far to the right until he crashes onto trees. He gets up quickly to look at the thing that hits him.
'That must be the rod that is made by Rinnegan's ability. The same thing that Nagato uses to control those corpses. It really is hard.'
Zoro taps the rod with his sword and he can already feel its hardness. Its hardness is comparable to metal, making it a good item to be used as a weapon.
But it doesn't feel that hard either, that's why Hinata can break the black rods that stab Naruto. The one that Obito and Madara make after they become Jinchuuriki of 10 Tails must be of a much higher quality because they don't break easily.
'Well, they got the power of 10 Tails, so it should be obvious. But this fight is really troublesome.'
Zoro sees that the defeated Human Path has been repaired by the Naraka Path. The Deva Path that shot the black rod using Shinra Tensei is holding more black rods in his hands.
All 6 Paths of Pain are still eager to fight without any worries. They are just puppets, after all, and they can fix anyone that gets defeated, even if Zoro cuts them to pieces.
The battle continues and Zoro still can't find a way to defeat Pain. They just keep reviving the ones he destroyed and he can't even target the Naraka Path because they protect him with everything they got.
'Damn! How did Naruto defeat them in the series? This really is not easy. Am I seriously still weaker than the 16 y.o Naruto? Well, he has the 9 Tails in him, so maybe that's why. But I shouldn't be that weak.'
Zoro forgets that Naruto doesn't exactly fight Pain alone. Also, there are many factors that can affect the result of battles like compatibility, luck, strategy, information, and the 9 Tails' power.
Though any of those doesn't matter for Zoro because as a Solo Hunter, everything is due to his lack of power. If he can't defeat Pain, that means he is not strong enough because if he is strong enough, then he can just overpower Shinra Tensei and kill them all at once.
So he needs to get stronger and polish his skills even more. This battle is the best whetstone to polish himself now, so he keeps fighting Pain even though they just won't die.
"Now that I think about it, you being unable to die is actually the best for me. I can just keep fighting you to improve myself. Others would have died a few times already by now when they fight me. So you guys are actually the best partners for me to have a real battle for a long time."
Zoro smirks excitedly even though he looks tired and has quite a lot of injuries on his body. His body doesn't seem to be in his best condition to fight, but his spirit says otherwise.
Nagato who sees it through Pain can only think that Zoro is crazy. This is the first time he finds someone who enjoys battles purely for the battle itself. He knows many people who seem to enjoy battles but in reality, what they enjoy is the kill, not the battles.
"Konan, have you ever known anyone like him? Someone who enjoys the battle itself."
"I can't recall anyone. I only know people who like killing or torturing their enemies."
"Yeah, those kinds of people usually only fight those weaker than them and would flee when the opponents were stronger. But this guy, he actually likes fighting someone he can't defeat."
"He is a maniac."
"Right. Maybe because he grew differently from us."
Nagato then switches to Deva Path Yahiko to talk with Zoro.
"You, why do you seem to enjoy this battle so much? Don't you feel despair when you can't defeat your opponents?"
"Oh? You are talking again now? And the first thing you do is ask that? Hahaha. Well, to tell you the truth, I actually don't know. I don't know why I feel happy when I have dangerous battles. Maybe I enjoy the thrill, maybe I like how I keep getting stronger after each battle, maybe it's just my nature. But who cares? As long as I enjoy it, that's all that matters."
"..... I see. It's for your own pleasure. You only think of yourself. Selfish people like you who only think of themselves are the reasons this world becomes full of war and death."
"Pfft! And you think you aren't selfish? Who are you kidding? You do anything you want including killing innocents or should I say civilians if it means achieving your goal. But you sugarcoat it by saying it's for world peace. Well, those people will be at peace after death, I think. Still, you said you hate war. But what makes you different from those who made the wars in the past when you also kill civilians like them? I'm not a good man, but at the very least, I never killed even a single civilian intentionally. It's a different case if somehow those civilians' lives were implicated by my actions, but I only ever kill criminals or non-civilians who have death as the risk of their jobs. For me, you are just a hypocrite."
Zoro seems to anger Nagato because suddenly all 6 Pains start attacking him more ferociously. He grins while fighting the more serious Pain who is controlled by the angry Nagato. This truly has gotten better for Zoro.
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Chapter 117. Edo Tensei Rasa
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