The Resolve to Cut Through "Concepts"

This Lion Song was completely different from any Zoro had used before.

It carried no attributes, no terrifying demonic aura, and barely even stirred the air with sword wind.

It was swift to the utmost—and simple to the utmost.

In Erza, Gray, and Lucy's eyes, Zoro's figure seemed to vanish in an instant, only to reappear in the next. All they saw were three snow-bright flashes of steel, like intersecting lightning, gone in a blink.

Those flashes did not strike the necklace itself, nor did they slash at the purple energy barrier.

With incomparable precision, they struck the "void."

They struck the weakest flowing node of the "concept" called "curse," which Zoro had captured with his Observation Haki!

At that moment, time seemed to slow infinitely.

Then came an extremely faint crack, as though it had sounded from the level of the soul rather than the real world.

It sounded like shattering glass, and like a snapped string.

Immediately afterward, the eerie purple glow on the Cursed Necklace floating above the altar—the necklace that radiated endless ominous energy—flickered violently like a light bulb whose power had been cut, then went completely dark.

The energy barrier surrounding the necklace silently shattered and dissipated like foam.

The cold, viscous, suffocating aura of "weakness" that filled the mine seemed to find an outlet, surging madly back into the now-dull necklace like a receding tide!

In only a few seconds, the air in the mine returned to its usual freshness.

After absorbing all the curse's power, the black necklace fell onto the altar with a clatter, becoming an utterly ordinary, rust-covered metal ornament. Not the slightest trace of magic or cursed energy could be sensed from it anymore.

The crisis had been resolved.

In a way none of them could comprehend, yet one that left them utterly shaken.

Zoro slowly sheathed his swords and let out a long breath. That strike had looked simple, but it had consumed an enormous amount of his focus. Completely concentrating his will to cut down something intangible had been a new and tremendous breakthrough for him as well.

His swordsmanship had taken another great step forward.

Behind him, Erza, Gray, and Lucy had completely frozen.

They stared blankly at the necklace lying on the ground, then at the man who looked as if nothing had happened. Their minds were utterly blank.

"Wh... what... just happened?" Lucy's voice trembled.

Gray opened his mouth, but not a single word came out. His prized Maker Magic seemed so pale and childish before that inconceivable scene.

Erza's reaction was the strongest. As a master swordswoman, she understood better than anyone what Zoro's strike had truly meant.

He had not been cutting an "object."

He had been cutting a "law"!

Using his supreme will and swordsmanship, he had twisted and severed the established "concept" of this world!

That realm had completely surpassed her understanding of "swordsmanship." This was no longer within the domain of "technique." This was... a realm approaching the "Way" itself!

"You..." Erza looked at Zoro's back and asked in a dry voice, "You... how did you do that?"

Zoro turned around, looked at their expressions as though they had seen a ghost, scratched his head, and explained in his usual simple, blunt manner:

"It's nothing special."

"That thing was just 'there.' So I cut it."

"It's that simple."