"Kid, get out of the way! Do you have a death wish?"
With the Marines watching, Sell One Knife had no idea where he found the courage. He shouted at the top of his lungs.
After all, no matter how much he admired Zoro, he could not let the Marines see it. If they got the wrong idea and took him for a Pirate's accomplice, he would be in serious trouble.
Zoro had not joined some minor Pirate crew. He had joined the famous Grim Reaper Pirates.
But right then, Sell One Knife was not thinking about any of that. He just wanted the young man before him to stop doing something so foolish.
Who threw a sword above his head, then stood there waiting to die? It was madness!
Zoro ignored Sell One Knife. He wanted to dodge, but then he seemed to hear a voice echo beside his ear: If you've got the nerve, don't move. Weren't you going to test me?
No one had spoken. It was only Zoro wrestling with himself.
If Zoro dodged, he was confident he could avoid Bartel's sneak attack from behind. But to Kitetsu, that would mean breaking their agreement.
If he meant to test whether Kitetsu would hurt him, he had to stand there without moving.
If he dodged, Zoro would feel as though he had broken a promise. He hated the thought of being a coward. So when Bartel's sword was about to strike him, Zoro gritted his teeth and gave up on dodging.
To Zoro, keeping his word mattered more than his life.
"What? He's insane."
Sell One Knife shut his eyes in fright. The world had gone mad.
"Haha... I've never seen anyone as stupid as you."
As far as Bartel was concerned, Zoro was asking to die.