Zoro's appearance undoubtedly made the atmosphere at the banquet turn strange:
What had originally been a simple company annual meeting had now become the set of a melodramatic romance.
Seeing Zoro's and Tashigi's respective reactions, the onlookers, led by the employees, had practically imagined the following cliché plot:
A country boy came to the city to work for a major corporation, only to discover that his childhood sweetheart, whom he had not seen for years, had already found herself a wealthy patron in the city—and that rich man who had stolen his love was also the owner of the corporation.
The only question was—
Did Miss Tashigi truly not know that green-haired guy, or was she pretending not to recognize her ex because she despised him? Or was there some unspeakable complication involving amnesia, terminal illness, or them being long-lost siblings?
Thinking of these exciting and entertaining plot developments, the crowd's gazes immediately grew heated.
Tashigi felt those strange looks, and her cheeks could not help but flush hot:
"Sir!"
Tashigi pursed her lips in embarrassment and annoyance, then earnestly reiterated to Zoro in a voice tinged with anger:
"I really don't know you!"
Zoro remained silent, but the excessive excitement in his eyes had already faded into clarity:
The woman before him truly was not Kuina.
Once Zoro calmed down, he quickly noticed the differences between the two:
Kuina had been strong-willed by nature. Since childhood, she had aspired to surpass men as a woman, and her words and behavior had all been tomboyish;
Yet Tashigi, who looked so much like her, was far too gentle and soft, like a harmless little white rabbit.
"Sorry."
"I really did mistake you for someone else."
Zoro apologized in an indifferent tone, yet an irrepressible loneliness lingered in his eyes:
His Kuina