Aftermath and the Journey Home

"...That was all."

Zoro's casually spoken words struck Erza, Gray, and Lucy's hearts again and again like the heaviest warhammer, leaving them speechless for a long time.

Simple?

How was that simple?!

Lucy stared at the necklace on the altar, now no different from ordinary scrap metal, and felt her entire worldview being dismantled and rebuilt over and over. She had studied magic since childhood, and everything she knew had been founded on principles such as "magic power," "conservation of energy," and "laws cannot be violated."

But today, this man had told her in the most unreasonable way possible—that so-called "laws" could be cut apart, as long as your "sword" was sharp enough.

For the first time, this shook her faith in the "magic" she had always believed in. Was magic really omnipotent? Before certain absolute, pure forms of power, did it also seem somewhat... powerless?

Gray, meanwhile, stared fixedly at the Wado Ichimonji in Zoro's hand. He could not understand how that seemingly unremarkable blade had accomplished all this. He tried to analyze it through his own concept of "shaping"—had Zoro bestowed some kind of "cutting" "form" upon the blade? But he quickly gave up, because he knew they were not things that existed on the same level.

Zoro's sword had no "form." Or rather, its "form" was cutting itself.

This gave Gray a new perspective on the Maker Magic he took such pride in. He had always pursued more complex, more powerful, more dazzling "forms." But today, he seemed to see a completely opposite path leading to the ultimate extreme—tempering the simplest "intent" to its absolute limit.

Erza's feelings, however, were the most complicated of all.

As a swordswoman, she understood better than anyone just how terrifying Zoro's slash had been. It was no longer merely swordsmanship. It was a realm of the "heart"—the manifestation of "where the heart wills, the sword arrives."

She thought of herself. Her Knight magic allowed her to equip hundreds of sets of armor and wield hundreds of famous swords. But in the end, she relied on the power of "armor" and "swords."

But Zoro seemed to rely on nothing at all. In his hands, a blade was merely an extension and vessel of his supreme will. Even if he held not a blade, but a branch—or even nothing at all—Erza had no doubt that he could still unleash that earth-shattering strike.

I... still have so far to go. Erza silently sighed to herself, yet her eyes held not the slightest trace of discouragement. Instead, an unprecedented blazing fighting spirit ignited within them.

She had found a new goal. One worthy of spending her entire life chasing—and surpassing!

"Hey, what are you three still standing around for?" Zoro's voice interrupted their thoughts. He had already jumped down from the altar and nudged the necklace with his foot. "Wasn't the job finished? Hurry up and pack up. We're heading back for drinks. I don't want to stay in this air for another second."

His words finally brought the three of them back from their immense shock.

"Ah... right! The job's finished!" Lucy hurriedly said. She ran forward, carefully wrapped the Cursed Necklace, now stripped of all its power, in a piece of cloth, and placed it in her backpack. It was proof of the job.

Gray also walked over. Looking at Zoro with a complicated expression, he said, "Hey, moss-head... thanks for earlier."

This was the first time he had thanked Zoro so sincerely. It was no longer gratitude for a companion's help, but the purest respect of a weaker person for a powerful person beyond his reach.

Zoro merely glanced at him and gave a noncommittal "Mm."

The four-person team set off on their journey home.