Chapter 17

Have you returned?

Did you come looking for me?

Where have you been all this time, and what have you been doing?

Why didn't you come back until now?

Do you know how much I've looked for you?

Zoro was full of questions he wanted to ask, filling up his throat. For now, he swallowed all those questions. There was something else he needed to do first.

Click.

Adjusting the blade of the bone sword in his hand, Zoro strode towards Toji. The bone sword turned black, wrapped in a strong aura of armed color.

Toji, coming to his senses too late, hurriedly approached Zoro.

"What happened to you—"

Thump!

Before he could finish his sentence, the flat side of the bone sword, charged with as much armed color as possible, struck Toji's lower abdomen directly.

"Ugh!"

Feeling as if his stomach was being sliced in half and a nauseating pain overwhelmed him, Toji clutched his belly and doubled over, retching. He was dumbfounded, both by the fact that Zoro had attacked him and that the attack was very painful.

Thud.

The impact caused the armory spirit that had been swallowed to pop out of his mouth. Luckily, it wasn't dead. Toji had thought it might have died from the shock inside his body.

Seeing the coiled-up armory spirit, Zoro raised his foot, seemingly about to stomp on it. Toji hastily stopped him.

"No."

Spirits that can store weapons almost without limit are very rare. Moreover, killing it now would mean the artifacts inside couldn't be retrieved.

Zoro paused to look at Toji, then slowly opened his mouth.

"Is that all you have to say?"

"..."

"It seems we're meeting after quite a long time."

Toji.

Not 'Father,' but 'Toji.'

Before he could even process his feelings about this, Toji's hand instinctively reached out to grab Zoro's arm. However, fearing he might hurt Zoro if there were any injuries, his hand didn't actually touch his skin.

The moment his hand caught the tattered clothes, Toji's instincts screamed.

Hospital.

Toji hoisted Zoro up and slung him over his back. Zoro stiffened in surprise.

"What— wait a minute."

"First, we need to get you to a hospital."

Why Zoro was here, why he was covered in blood, why he attacked him, and why that attack was so painfully effective were questions for later.

After getting to the hospital, after making sure Zoro was alright.

Then it wouldn't be too late to talk.

Toji quickly picked up the armory spirit, swallowed it again, and prepared to run. Zoro, realizing what Toji was doing, wriggled on his back.

"Wait, there's still something I need to say."

"I'm going to run. Make sure you hold on tight."

"I'm not hurt. Can you hear me?"

"To avoid human eyes... No, that's not the issue. The quickest route—what about Megumi, is Megumi also like you—"

"Would you listen to me!"

Bang!

While Toji was rambling, Zoro hit him on the head again with the flat side of the bone sword. The pain made Toji groan and clutch his head.

In the meantime, Zoro had jumped down from his back and now stood in front of Toji with his arms spread wide, declaring firmly.

"I'm not hurt."

And neither is Megumi.

"Look. No injuries."

Only then could Toji properly assess the situation. Indeed, Zoro's clothes were torn and dirty, but there wasn't a single small cut to be seen on the skin underneath.

And from behind Zoro, there was the smell of blood.

Reflexively, Toji moved to Zoro's back, positioning himself as if to protect him. Though he felt no presence of the living, that was the case.

Two bodies were lying in the dark alley. One human, one spirit. The human seemed to have just died, judging by the scent of blood, and the spirit was nearly dead.

"..."

Suddenly, Toji recalled the disappearing barrier.

Barriers disappear under three main conditions: they're destroyed from the outside, the sorcerer who cast them lifts them voluntarily...

Or the sorcerer who cast them dies.

'It can't be.'

A four-year-old child defeated both a sorcerer and a spirit?

'Without a single scratch?'

Having grown up in one of the three great families of Zenin, living a life as a sorcerer killer and encountering numerous sorcerers, he had never heard or seen anything like this.

"I beat them."

Zoro said calmly. His face looked too much like usual. Barely moving his lips, Toji managed to ask.

"...How did it happen?"

Zoro let out a deflated sound. It seemed like he was both astonished and trying to suppress his anger.

"Is that really what's important right now?"

A few days ago, during the early hours when he neither slept nor trained.

Zoro had decided, upon meeting Toji again, to recognize him.

To see if Toji was still their father.

Or if he wasn't.

If they still meant something to Toji, it would be the former; if not, the latter.

The chances were fifty-fifty. Zoro had resolved to stay neutral until he met Toji. Otherwise, if the outcome differed from his expectations, his response might be delayed.

So when Toji suddenly picked him up, Zoro was truly flabbergasted. It was incomprehensible how someone usually so perceptive couldn't even notice the absence of injuries and, pale with fear, insisted on going to the hospital while inquiring about Megumi's well-being.

And yet.

"Why didn't you come back?"

Knowing that we might not be okay.

Knowing that we still mean something to you.

...Knowing that you still love us.