18. Explosion

The dark night was illuminated by the moon's light.

Thud!

A body fell down.

Blood formed a puddle beneath it, as the moonlight fell upon it an eerie atmosphere descended upon the surroundings.

Zoro stood beside the body with his swords sheathed. He turned around and watched the other assassin make his way towards him.

Seeing that his companion was killed so easily the knife wielding Assassin shuddered. Both of them were peak stage Warrior Masters, for a warrior apprentice to kill one of them so easily....

The assassin didn't retreat, his heart was filled with fear but he didn't retreat. He still had to do his duty!

Without any consideration for his life, he plunged at Zoro.

Blue Mist came out of it's sheath and blocked the knife.

Zoro slid his sword against the knife's blade and tried to knock to it away. The assassin figured it out and moved back, Zoro wasn't about to let go. He pursued.

The assassin saw him approach and tossed out something towards Zoro. Elder Stone watching this was startled, he was about to make a move when an astounding scene unfolded before him.

Zoro used both his sword and send his Haki flying towards these things.

Like a hot knife through butter those things the assassin tossed out was cut down. It landed near him and nothing happened.

The assassin nearly puked out blood. Those were class one core explosives, one of them could bring trouble even to a Warrior master let alone fifteen of them.

Such a number was enough to turn any warrior master into ashes and yet a spectacular scene happened before him.

A young man cut these dangerous explosives and made them into duds.

' Is it because of his special Qi? If it is then it's quite something.'

Even someone as experienced as Elder Stone was amazed at what Zoro did. Explosives made using beast cores were dangerous.

Along with some alchemy, the energy inside the core has been made so that it would cause a huge explosion. The range and destructive property of such explosives varied according to the beast cores used.

The assassin didn't expect such an outcome, he was planning to make use of the explosion to deliver a lethal blow to Zoro but now...

He took a deep breath. Qi poured out of his body into his knife, it's blade was completely covered with his Qi.

A second later the knife changed, it's blade showed growth and a metallic sheen could be seen on its surface.

Zoro felt the sharpness of the knife go up several notch. He guessed it was some kind of technique to increase attack power, like armament Haki.

Qi circulated beneath the assassin's feet and his figure blended in with the night.

Zoro wasn't surprised. He held Blue Mist and defended his side.

clang!

Metals collided.

The assassin was now on Zoro's right side, trying to make a hole on his body. Before waning moon could cut of his arm the assassin again merged with darkness.

' A dual warrior!! And that too of the darkness type!! But still it's not enough! '

Elder Stone was surprised but that was it. He knew of Zoro's battle capability and such meek strength and technique wouldn't faze him.

Zoro skillfully dodged his movements and got behind the assassin.

" One Sword style....

Great dragon Shock! "

Before the assassin could make out what happened Zoro made his move. All of his movements were lightning fast, he held Blue mist and made a vertical cut.

The assassin used his knife to block. Black and glossy coloured Qi poured out of his Knife and tried to counter Zoro's strike.

slish!!!

His Qi couldn't even hold out for a second before he it crumbled. Luckily the assassin was fast enough to move his body to the side.

Thud!

Something fell down.

The assassin retreated and looked down below Zoro's feet. An arm dropping with blood was there with a knife still in its grip.

Zoro walked past the arm towards the assassin. Even with his weapon the assassin was no match for Zoro and now that his arm cut down he was spent.

The assassin suddenly became calm. He knew he couldn't escape, only death awaited him.

His eyes showed madness for a second, Zoro noticed this.

" Go on. Show me your strongest move."

The assassin sneered. Qi circular furiously within him as it gathered above his heart. He took out a class two core and swallowed it, that was the spark needed.

" I will see you in hell, hahahahaha! "

The assassin laughed madly. His skin was now leaking with Qi mixed with darkness and metal.

Zoro could feel tremendous amount of Qi condensing above the assassin's heart.

The energy condensing within the assassin reached a breaking point and...

Boom!!

Against incoming doom Zoro's heart was as calm as still water. Zoro sheathed waning moon and blue mist, his eyes were tranquil without an ounce of emotion.

" Sword follows a will...

Will follows the heart...

anything I don't wish no harm shall remain...

anything I wish to cut shall be cut!!....

Twin Sparrow!!! "

A loud explosion shook the city but an even shocking scene unfolded above the skies.

The raging fire caused by the explosion was cut. The fire didn't even scratch Zoro as he stood within the raging fire like a demon from hell.

Elder Stone shook his head. He wasn't surprised anymore, anything related with Zoro seemed normal to the old man now.

Zoro walked back to the inn and resumed his meditation

While he was calm about what happened, every other force within Maple city was startled. They didn't understand who would be brave enough to make trouble inside the city.

A frantic search for what happened was about to happen with Zoro at the center of all of it.