"Death of the Spoon"

Zoro's Three Swords firmly suppressed Kuro's ten blades.

Kuro's seemingly slender arms bulged with veins. Unable to withstand the tremendous force, his knees bent slightly, and his heels ploughed two deep gullies into the grass!

"This guy... leave him to me!" Zoro gritted out to Ronan and Luffy during the deadlock.

"Hey!" Luffy hopped anxiously at the side. "Zoro! Didn't we agree we'd take him on together?!"

"No need!" Zoro suddenly let out a furious roar, exerting force through both his arms and waist at once!

Clang—!!

A force far beyond Kuro's expectations surged through the Three Swords.

Kuro felt an irresistible monstrous strength crash into him. His prideful claws could no longer maintain their defensive stance, and he was viciously forced back by the immense force!

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Kuro staggered back five or six steps before barely managing to steady himself.

His arms had gone numb, and his ten fingers could scarcely hold onto the heavy claws.

Suppressing the sharp pain churning through his abdomen and the numbness in his arms, he stared at Zoro in shock.

So heavy! This Kid's strength... completely overwhelms mine?!

Kuro's heart sank.

Since when had the East Blue produced an expert like this? This kind of strength, this kind of swordsmanship... he couldn't be some nobody!

"As someone who abandoned his ambitions and prepared to cling to life on this little island, how could you know about the rising star who appeared in the East Blue over the past year?"

Ronan's voice drifted over leisurely, as though he were providing commentary.

Enjoying the physical enhancement brought by fivefold training, he calmly introduced Zoro to Kuro.

"The swordsman facing you is the Three Sword Style master who has become famous across the Great Sea over the past year—the Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro!"

"Hey, Ronan! You're talking way too much!"

Hearing Ronan's exaggerated introduction, even someone like Zoro could not help blushing slightly. He snapped at him irritably.

"Roronoa... Zoro..."

Kuro chewed over the name, the gloom on his face nearly dripping with water.

He knew he had run into a tough opponent today.

"Enough nonsense!" Kuro let out a shrill hiss. "A fight isn't decided by whoever has more strength!"

He knew that neither Ronan's foresight nor Zoro's strength was something he could resist head-on.

His only—and greatest—chance of victory lay in his unparalleled speed!

Kuro made his decision.

He bent slightly at the waist and lowered his body to the extreme. Like a crouching cheetah, he assumed an intensely aggressive posture.

His knees bent, his muscles taut as he gathered strength.

His clawed hands hung naturally at his sides, swaying faintly, but the sharp blades of his Cat Claws had already opened slightly, reflecting a chilling glint beneath the sunlight.

The atmosphere in the courtyard became stifling at that moment.

The wind stopped.

The birds fell silent.

Even Luffy and Zoro unconsciously slowed their breathing.

Kuro's aura rose madly, and a chaotic, savage killing intent that distinguished neither friend nor foe spread from his body.

"Huh?"

Luffy's eyes suddenly widened.

"Where'd he go? He disappeared!"

The moment Luffy said those words, Kuro's figure vanished before Zoro and Ronan.

It was not point-to-point Teleportation like Silent Step, but total evaporation from sight!

The patch of grass beneath his feet was instantly blasted upward by an invisible force, sending shredded grass and dirt flying everywhere!

"He didn't!"

Ronan's voice rang out amid the chaos. At some point, his eyes had become incomparably focused. The fivefold enhancement to his Spiritual Power allowed him to barely catch a trace of movement.

"He didn't disappear! It's a rapid footwork technique beyond our understanding! He's so fast that the naked eye can't see him at all!"

A term surfaced in Ronan's mind—Death of the Spoon!

Here it comes! This is Kuro's strongest, indiscriminate move!

Ronan knew clearly that this move involved Kuro using his maximum speed to unleash indiscriminate, high-speed slashes throughout a certain area.

He moved so fast that even he himself did not know what he would cut, nor could he control when he stopped!

It was a mad technique for killing!

"Zoro!" Ronan roared. "Don't try to follow him with your eyes! He can't control himself! Hold your focus!"

"What?!" Zoro was startled, but he had no time to understand what Ronan meant.

Because the symphony of death had already begun!

Hiss—! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss—!

Piercing sounds of tearing air came from every direction in the courtyard at once!

Kuro's figure turned into countless gray-black afterimages, crazily darting and ricocheting through the area!

The ten claws in his hands were like the Grim Reaper's scythes, shredding everything in their path into fragments!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The rose bushes Kaya had carefully planted, the stone benches used for decoration, even the tree Usopp had hidden behind earlier...

All of them suffered dozens of slashes at the same instant!

Wood chips flew! Stones scattered! Red petals danced wildly through the air like a rain of blood!

"S-So fast!" Luffy stared around him in shock. He could not even tell which one was Kuro's real body.

"Damn it!"

Kuro's speed had already surpassed the limits of his dynamic vision!

"Hahahaha!!"

Kuro's deranged laughter came from all directions, echoing throughout the courtyard.

"Do you see it, Kids?! This is my Death of the Spoon! Within this area, I am a god!

Where's your foresight?! Where's your strength?! Before absolute speed, they mean nothing!!"

"Die! Die! Let me... tear all of you into fragments!!"

Kuro accelerated once again!

Wood chips flew! Stones scattered! The red rose petals were shredded by his claws, dancing wildly through the air like a rain of blood!

Countless crisscrossing claw marks appeared on the villa's white walls and its hard stone pillars.

In just a few seconds, the entire backyard had gone from a beautiful garden to ruins on the verge of collapse!

"Damn it!"

Zoro held his Three Swords before him, trying to block.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Three crisp impacts rang out from his left, right, and back almost simultaneously!

Zoro felt three powerful forces strike him. Sharp pain exploded through his tiger's mouth, and the chaotic impacts sent him stumbling!

He could not judge where the attacks were coming from at all!

"Argh!" Zoro cried out in pain.

His brand-new white shirt was instantly torn apart across the chest, revealing five horrifying bloody gashes. Blood immediately stained the front of his clothes red.

Such fast speed... such fierce attacks...

There's no way to know where he'll attack from!

"Whoa!"

On the other side, several slash marks suddenly appeared across Luffy's red vest as well.

Though his rubber body spared him most of the blunt force, the sharp blades still left shallow wounds on his skin.

"I can't find that guy anywhere!"

Luffy shouted anxiously. He could only throw punches wildly like a headless fly, yet he could not even touch the corner of Kuro's clothes.

"Don't panic!"

Ronan's voice rang through the storm. Keeping watch over their surroundings, he loudly explained to the two of them.

"Rather than saying we don't know where he'll attack, look at his indiscriminate attacks around the courtyard and you'll see—

That guy can't control the direction of his attacks either! He's too fast, and that's the drawback!"

Just as Ronan finished speaking—

An icy, extreme sense of mortal danger, as though it would freeze his very soul, suddenly struck from behind him!

It was killing intent far greater than that of Silent Step!