The Story Comes to an End

"You mean you want me to give you an explanation? The words are backwards."

Xianuo sneered, "Shouldn't it be you who gives Junyi an explanation!"

"Junyi..."

"Don't call my name!!!!"

Junyi's breathing grew rapid, his eyes swollen red, his teeth almost biting through his gums.

"So you were the mastermind? You were the one controlling Asagiri Island from the shadows? Then what were these past five years I've lived through? What was that dramatic act you just put on?!"

He looked around, despairingly at the corpses littering the ground.

"This is only one day. You killed so many people in just one day. Over five years, a whole five years, how many insane things have you done? Why?!"

Sakuraba Tree glanced at the corpses as well, his expression indifferent.

He cast his emotionless gaze back to Junyi, speaking softly, his voice like it came from the depths of a dry well.

"Do you remember what I told you about your mother back then?"

"Mother?"

Junyi grew even angrier, roaring, "Why are you suddenly bringing her up? What right do you have to mention her now! Didn't she die of illness ten years ago while traveling with you!"

"Aya died during that trip, but not from illness."

"Shortly after the trip began, we passed through the Goa Kingdom, and two elegant noble ladies boarded the ship. They hit it off with Aya and became friends within a few days."

"They often held tea parties in the afternoon and watched the stars on deck at night, laughing and chatting, sharing everything."

"Aya had been with me through hardship since I was poor, working hard for so many years. Except for when you were just born, these were almost the happiest days I had ever seen her have."

"Until one day..."

"Those two noble ladies suddenly mentioned wanting to play soccer, but where would they find a ball on the ship?"

"So their temperaments suddenly changed drastically. They flew into a rage, yelling and hitting their own guards, even threatening to kill the captain of the guards and throw him into the sea."

"Aya couldn't bear it and stepped forward to persuade them, saving the captain's life. She then went to the kitchen to borrow materials like pig bladders, wanting to help sew a ball."

"After spending most of the night making the ball, Aya was very happy. Because of this, she wouldn't have to worry about those two noble ladies taking their anger out on the guards anymore."

"She went early in the morning to deliver the ball. I slept in a bit longer. When I went to find her, guess what I saw?"

Sakuraba Tree looked blank.

It was as if the story he was telling had nothing to do with him.

"Aya's head was cut off. The two noble ladies were using her head as a ball, kicking it around with great enjoyment. The ball she had painstakingly made all night was trampled and discarded because they found it too ugly."

"Wha... what?!" Junyi's pupils contracted. He stumbled back two steps, his body trembling violently.

Xianuo let out a long sigh, falling silent for a moment.

He had some guesses about the identities of those two noble ladies.

But he didn't interrupt, letting Sakuraba Tree continue speaking on the stage by himself.

In the vast, empty training ground, only that emotionless voice echoed:

"...I was stunned for a long time before I finally came to my senses. I madly drew my sword and charged, but was suddenly stopped by that captain of the guards."

"My proud swordsmanship was like a joke in front of that guy. I didn't last even a few seconds before I was pinned under his foot."

"At the time, I really couldn't understand it. After investigating tirelessly for a long time afterward, I finally figured it out..."

"Those two ladies weren't nobles from the Goa Kingdom at all. They were Celestial Dragons who had secretly run off to the Goa Kingdom to play, hiding it from their families! As for the captain of the guards Aya saved, he was none other than the Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral, Streles!"

"How funny, how funny... how funny!!!"

Sakuraba Tree suddenly threw his head back and burst into manic laughter.

"Hahaha, Aya thought she had made two new friends, unaware that in their eyes, she was just like a cat or dog they decided to toy with on a whim."

"And the man who specifically knocked on the door the night before to thank her for saving his life, personally cut off Aya's head the next day!"

"And me? I was kicked into the sea like a dead dog, drifting for a month before I miraculously survived!"

"No wonder you were so quiet for several months after returning from that trip..." Junyi clutched his hair in pain, murmuring distractedly, "But after holding your mother's funeral, didn't you slowly start to move on?"

"Move on? I never moved on!"

Sakuraba Tree scoffed, "I was only pretending to escape and forget, continuing to play the role of the good guild leader and good father I used to be, just to continue raising you and for the dojo I founded with my own hands."

"The real Sakuraba Tree, the original Sakuraba Tree, drowned ten years ago when he fell into the sea!"

"I thought I could keep running away like this forever. After all, what could I do? Revenge? Against whom? The Celestial Dragons or a Marine Vice Admiral? I'm not even a swordsman, how could I possibly have the ability!"

He grinned.

"But fate simply wouldn't let me bow my head!"

"During that shipwreck five years ago, I almost drowned again while trying to save people, but I survived. Not only that, but I also found a Devil Fruit from the wreckage of a merchant ship!"

"You pretty much know the rest."

Sakuraba Tree finally turned his body around. The place on his chest that had been pierced by a blade before was now churning with wood splinters, instantly repairing itself as if new.

His expression gradually turned indifferent.

"Fate saved me twice, and then sent the power of a demon to my doorstep. This is clearly an encouragement for me to embark on the path of revenge."

"And so, I personally destroyed everything that belonged to Sakuraba Tree."

"My dojo, my family, my old friends... these things would only make me reluctant to give up, to continue shrinking on this small island, acting like a pathetic worm licking its wounds, afraid to take the first step towards revenge!"

"As for the lives I've taken over these past few years?"

Sakuraba Tree let out a sneer and shook his head slightly.

"Don't worry, they didn't die in vain. They were valuable. These puppets and marionettes over the past five years earned me over a billion Belly, finally allowing me to save enough money to have the capital to seek revenge."

"Shameless! You... you... don't you feel even a shred of remorse or guilt!"

Junyi's face turned deathly pale, his finger pointing at Sakuraba Tree trembling. "You've gone mad! Completely mad! You were already a lunatic five years ago!"

"Those two Celestial Dragons deserved to die! I also wish I could chop off their heads to avenge my mother! But must you do it this way?! Would Mother want to see you do this? To seek revenge, you've killed so many innocent people. When you die too, will your soul still have the face to see her!"

"Watch your tone, Junyi."

Sakuraba Tree's voice suddenly turned cold. "Originally, I was prepared to kill you five years ago, but in the end, I softened my heart and let you drift at sea to fend for yourself, essentially saving your life."

"But the worst thing you could have done was to return to this island precisely when I was ready to take my final bow, and bring someone with you..."

"A troublesome brat!"

The moment his voice fell.

Hundreds of puppet strings suddenly shot out from the crown of his head, dancing and growing wildly in the light, transforming into countless dark yellow vines as thick as a man's arm.

Sakuraba Tree's voice rang out again, mechanical and cold like a puppet's, utterly inhuman:

"A mistake can happen once or twice, but not a third time. Junyi, since you cherish the chance to live that I gave you so little..."

"--Then why don't you, along with this brat, become my puppets too!"

Chh, chh!

With the sound of air being torn, the dark yellow vines shot forward with incredible speed, instantly surrounding Xianuo and Junyi below from all angles.

Xianuo looked at the thick, writhing lines that resembled a nest of snakes.

"Do you still have the strength to fight?" he suddenly asked, tilting his head. "If you don't want to fight him, I can understand."

"...I, I..."

Junyi silently gazed at the figure on the stage. He suddenly wiped away a tear and gritted his teeth.

"I don't want to run away, Boss! My father, Sakuraba Tree, is just as he said – he died long ago. The person on stage now is merely an evil spirit wearing his shell."

"He wants revenge? He'll have to wait. Let me get revenge for my father first!"

Xianuo looked at Junyi with slight surprise.

"Take this."

He directly took out the Masamune sword and threw it over. "This ability is indeed a bit tricky. I'll deal with the main body, and you can help me chop off those branches."

Junyi instinctively caught it and stood back-to-back with Xianuo.

Swish, swish! Before he could even get used to the feel of the sword, several puppet strings attacked from the side.

He immediately brought the blade forward, blocking the first wave of assault, then slashed down fiercely from the side, instantly cutting the thick strings in half.

What a fast sword... Junyi couldn't help but be surprised. Even Koshiro-sensei's Wadō Ichimonji wasn't this sharp.

Xianuo, meanwhile, had already looked up, squinting at the source of the puppet strings.

"Who gave you permission to keep pretending to be a god up there!"

He suddenly thrust out both hands, firmly grabbing the nearest vines. His bulging biceps swelled like hills, and with a surge of ferocious power, he yanked hard!

"Get down here!"

Crack, crack! The sound of the stage's edge grinding and cracking echoed. Sakuraba Tree's withered branch-like body was instantly lifted off the ground.

What incredible strength... Sakuraba Tree narrowed his eyes.

Although he had witnessed the puppets being easily defeated when he faked his death earlier, the feeling was entirely different when it was happening to him.

However, he was not a puppet that couldn't adapt.

With a thought, the soles of his feet suddenly opened like two small wooden doors, creaking.

Countless fine puppet strings shot out from them, piercing through the dojo's floor tiles and burrowing deep into the ground, firmly anchoring Sakuraba Tree's body in mid-air.

No matter how powerful the pulling force from below, it couldn't move him an inch.

Next, it should be... Hmm? Sakuraba Tree's expression suddenly changed. In his pupils, a shadow was rapidly growing larger, and in his peripheral vision below, the ground where Xianuo had been standing was already empty!

What... When?

There was no time to think. Sakuraba Tree hurriedly activated his body's complete Puppetization.

For those controlled by him, it was equivalent to completely destroying their independent consciousness.

But for him, an ability user, transforming his entire body into a hardened wood state and layering it on the surface of his skin was the best defensive armor.

THUMP!

Xianuo grabbed a steel frame hanging from the ceiling and pushed off a load-bearing pillar behind him, using this last bit of leverage to suddenly close the distance by several meters.

He finally appeared in the air to Sakuraba Tree's left, just as the latter completed its Puppetization.

"Got you!"

He grinned ferociously and smashed a fist into Sakuraba Tree's left shoulder, the impact exploding outwards in a ring.

The hardened body of Puppetization instantly caved in a large section, revealing an empty chest cavity within.

Splintered wood shards grazed Xianuo's muscle surface but couldn't penetrate at all, bouncing off and falling to the ground.

How could this be...? Sakuraba Tree's pupils contracted sharply.

He had tested his sword on his own torso countless times before. With his swordsmanship, he could at most cut through the first layer of hardened wood, but he could never injure what was inside.

Yet this brat had pierced through it with a single punch?

This is bad!

Even though he had tried his best to overestimate, this guy's strength was still far greater than he had anticipated!

A sense of panic, long absent, surged into his heart.

Before he could react, Xianuo had already used the opportunity to firmly plant himself on Sakuraba Tree's body.

The young man's handsome face was inches away, but as he bared his teeth and grinned, Sakuraba Tree saw a devilishly terrifying sight.

"You might not know this, but your feel is really, really similar to the orange trees back home."

Xianuo's mouth stretched almost to his ears. "And unfortunately, during the off-season back home, my favorite thing to do was to beat up orange trees."

THUMP!

Before he even finished speaking, Xianuo, still riding Sakuraba Tree, unleashed a rapid, heavy, and violent barrage of punches, like a torrential downpour, onto the latter's chest.

He used to punch those tree trunks or wooden stakes hundreds, even thousands of times a day. Over a year and a half, that amounted to hundreds of thousands of sets.

Sweat was never wasted.

Now, with a target of almost identical material and texture, everything became second nature.

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP! With each successive blow, accompanied by dull thuds, Sakuraba Tree's life force visibly weakened at an astonishing rate.

His consciousness was also gradually fading.

No, I can't let this happen... I can't fall here!

Sakuraba Tree's career was already over!

He was supposed to start his long-planned revenge with a new identity and a new name!

His right hand trembled slightly as he struggled, trying to control the puppet strings he had released from his head to fight back, but he felt no response.

What's going on?!

Sakuraba Tree forced his gaze downwards. In his blurred peripheral vision, he could vaguely see--

On the ground below, Junyi, holding a katana, was still rapidly slashing through the thick vines.

Taking advantage of his main body being restrained, he didn't know how long he had been cutting, but by this point, almost all the puppet strings had been chopped into fragments.

"Last punch!"

As despair washed over him, Xianuo's low shout echoed in his ears.

BOOM!

The surface of the hardened wood body was already shattered. With this final blow, all connection to the puppet strings snapped.

Its support gone, the body plummeted straight down from a height of seven to eight meters, smashing into the ground and creating a massive crater.

Xianuo stepped down from Sakuraba Tree's knees with a crunch and looked back at the center of the web-like cracks.

--Sakuraba Tree's eyes were wide open, staring at the ceiling with unconcealed resentment. His withered body was motionless, and there was no longer any sign of life.