34 Chapter 34

The meeting place was an already closed theater.

Toji watched an old sign that read 'Private Property, No Trespassing' from a distance before spitting out the spirit bead he had been carrying in his stomach. Regardless of his willingness to negotiate, he had no intention of letting his guard down.

Wrapping the inflated spirit bead around his body, Toji quietly entered the theater without anyone noticing.

The ticket booth was blocked by wooden planks instead of glass, and chairs were torn out and scattered around. The lighting was dim, but to Toji, this level of darkness was no different from broad daylight.

…And then, Toji smelled something he couldn't ignore.

'Blood.'

Toji's eyes sharpened. He took out a special grade sword, Yuun (遊雲), from the spirit bead and surveyed the surroundings. The strong smell of blood came from two places, but he could only hear one heartbeat. The implication was clear.

'One dead, one not yet dead.'

Toji tensed his body, ready for combat, and headed towards the source of the heartbeat.

…Soon, he realized there was no need for that.

"Hey, you've arrived. Sorcerer killer."

An old man with white hair tied back was sitting in front of the screen. Blood was dripping from the old man's mouth, and his left arm had been completely severed, rolling on the ground.

Intuitively, Toji recognized the old man in front of him as the person he was supposed to deal with.

"I came to make a deal."

"I called you here, cough! Didn't you know?"

Toji glanced at the man's corpse left in a corner. It was so brutally mutilated that, if not for a keen eye, one couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. The old man chuckled as he noticed where Toji was looking.

"It's the guy who took my arm, cough, I wanted to finish him off properly. But with my body like this, ha, I couldn't do it properly."

"Mad old man."

"Sorcerers, keck. Aren't they all the same?"

Toji narrowed his eyes as he spotted a headband on the floor. It was soaked in blood, but the emblem embroidered on the headband was clearly from Time Vessel Association. It seemed the rumor of him being pursued by Time Vessel Association was true.

The old man said:

"It belongs to the dead. I've abandoned that emblem."

"Indeed."

It would be absurd to carry the emblem of Time Vessel Association after deserting.

"Heh, well. Truth is, I feel like I haven't quite let go of that emblem. Khek, khek!"

Born into a family of little renown, he devoted his life to Tengen.

After being scorned as a bastard, unable to inherit the family's sorcery, and expelled, he struggled to enter Time Vessel Association. Working for Tengen, considered a sage and historian of the sorcery world, he believed he would prove himself valuable. He believed he would be recognized.

Yet, this is where he ended up.

'How can you expect others to recognize you if you don't recognize yourself?'

Recalling an unforgettable voice, the old man laughed half-madly.

"Ha, ha, ha! You were right! How could they recognize me when I don't even recognize myself! Heh, kuh-luk, I wonder how much they'll mock me in the afterlife…."

Toji looked down at the old man contemplatively. Negotiating was futile. Though the man was barely clinging to life, his death wouldn't be surprising.

Toji could have pressed for the location of the sword or simply walked away...

"Any last words?"

Impulsively, Toji asked. He didn't know why. He just felt like it.

The old man, not expecting such a question, looked up at Toji blankly.

"In the men's restroom floor, kuh-luk, there lies the item we agreed to trade. It's sealed with a spell that only I or Lord Tengen can open... But, if you can take it, it's yours."

The old man pulled out a blood-soaked paper from his bosom. It had a bank name and account number written on it.

"Send the money to this account."

"Even though you're about to die?"

"It's not my account. Kuh-luk, it belongs to someone who claims to be my daughter."

'I'm your daughter!'

He had always thought that she wasn't his daughter. Yet, ironically, she was the only one he thought of in the end.

"...Now, it doesn't matter what happens."

Whether she was his real daughter or not. Whether the sorcerer killer actually sends the money to her or not.

The old man saw Toji pick up the paper and snickered. What a sight to behold at the end of his life. That sorcerer killer even considering a dying man's request.

The old man's eyelids fluttered before slowly covering his pupils. His breathing stopped, followed by his heart.

Toji watched as the old man's breath and heartbeat slowed down and then quietly ceased. Despite having witnessed death more than once, he felt an odd sensation this time.

Turning around, he headed to the men's restroom. The entrance was cluttered with wooden planks, making it difficult to enter.

Bang!

Toji stomped his foot on the floor forcefully, causing tiles to burst upwards and the ground to cave in. Beneath the floor, a securely locked long box was revealed. A single word was engraved on the surface of the box.

"...Kannon (観音: Avalokiteshvara)?"

Was this the name of the sword? Naming a sword after a Buddha seemed off. Toji frowned thoughtfully.

He tried to open the box with force, but as the old man said, it was sealed with a spell, and not even Toji's strength could budge it. Toji then filled the mouth of the Jurei with Yuun and took out the Ama no Sakahoko (Inverted Spear of Heaven).

The function of the Ama no Sakahoko was to dispel active spells. No matter how advanced the spell, it posed no problem with the Ama no Sakahoko at hand.

Toji wedged the blade of the Ama no Sakahoko into the crack of the box. The spear easily pierced through the spell surrounding the box and flung it open.

"..."

The moment he saw the sword, Toji knew the old man's words were not bluster.

The sword before him was pure white. Like a layer of undisturbed snow in a deserted place, both the scabbard and the handle were immaculately white. Although the blade was still sheathed, the straightness and sharpness characteristic of a famed sword were unmistakable.

Carefully, he lifted the sword. The moment he gripped the handle, a cool sensation swept through his body, causing Toji to tense involuntarily.

Slowly, Toji drew the sword from its scabbard.

Chak.

"…Ah."

A sigh escaped Toji's lips.

The jet-black blade, in stark contrast to the white handle and scabbard, was exceedingly sharp. It wasn't ornate, but it was a good, solid, and stable sword.

Examining the dark blade, Toji's expression turned subtle. Over the past few years, he had seen this pitch-black color quite often.

It was the exact same color as the armament Haki known by Zoro.