Red the Blood Blade

Two pig hind legs hung over a roaring campfire. The fierce flames licked at the meat, and fat dripped steadily, making the fire flare now and then.

Rubick had no idea how to roast meat, and Zoro's technique was crude. Rubick doubted the meat would even cook through this way.

But for safety's sake, they had to make do.

"Help me turn these. I can't watch both by myself."

Seeing Rubick waiting to be fed, Zoro handed him the roast on the left and focused on the hind leg in front of him.

Rubick had no choice but to copy Zoro, turning the leg constantly so no single spot burned and the meat cooked evenly.

"I thought we'd need to brush it with oil or honey."

As Rubick turned the meat, he complained, "But we're just roasting it plain. I'd rather eat their awful cooking."

"But you don't have any money."

Zoro shot back without looking up, then handed him a fruit knife. "Cut the meat up. Otherwise, it'll never cook through."

"Thanks a lot."

Hungry and rolling his eyes, Rubick began cutting into the meat, splitting open the larger chunks.

"This is such a stupid way to roast meat," he said. "Why didn't we cut it into small pieces and skewer it from the start? Wouldn't that be easier?"

Zoro nodded. "Yeah. I'll do that next time."

"Like hell you will!"

Fuming, Rubick took down the hind leg and laid it on a broad leaf he couldn't name. He cut the half-raw meat into cube-sized pieces, skewered them, and put them back over the fire.

That sped things up, but the meat hadn't been marinated. With nothing but a little salt added after roasting, it tasted awful.

Rubick washed down the last of his dinner with difficulty. It reminded him of a class barbecue at a forest park during his college days in his previous life. After they got back to school, every single one of them had suffered an upset stomach.

He rubbed his belly. It already felt uneasy.

Zoro didn't seem to care. He finished an entire hind leg, then leaned against a tree and closed his eyes to rest, his expression unchanged.

"Get some rest while you can. If I'm right, that lot won't be able to sit still tonight."

At the entrance to Withered Leaf Village's meeting hall, where the villagers normally gathered, a band of pirates had taken over.

"Captain, let's do it!"

The man they called captain was the same fellow who had claimed to be the village chief. Without his headscarf, his bald head gleamed in the light.

The captain was Red the Blood Blade. He grinned viciously. "I was hoping we might kill a few more Marines, but forget it. We leave tomorrow morning. Todd, take some men and kill those two newcomers. We can't let them reveal where we are."

Todd hesitated. "Captain, the one with three swords at his waist is Zoro the bounty hunter. A few men won't be enough to take him."

Red cursed. "Looks like I'll have to do it myself."

As captain, Red couldn't throw his men at Zoro until they overwhelmed him. It would ruin his standing. Confident in his own strength, he decided to handle Zoro himself.

As for that older man, Rubick, Red laughed to himself. The fool had no sense of danger at all. He was useless.

Red waved his hand. "Come on, boys. Follow me."

The pirates crowded around Red as he headed for the shore. Beneath the rising cooking smoke, they spotted Rubick and Zoro.

With numbers on his side, Red gave a signal, and dozens of pirates surrounded the two men by the water.

Red burst out laughing. "You two actually stayed? Sorry, but now you're not leaving."

Zoro stood, stretched, and yawned. "Took you long enough. Any later and I'd have fallen asleep."

Zoro was completely at ease, as if the hundred or so men before him were nothing. He said quietly to Rubick, "Old man, watch yourself when the fighting starts. I might not be able to look after you."

Rubick nodded, then challenged the man who had posed as village chief. "You're pirates, aren't you? Tell me where the villagers are."

Red looked Rubick up and down. "Strange. You don't look like a Marine, so why ask about the villagers? And why should I tell you?"

Red laughed. "Speaking of which, those women this afternoon were really something! Ahahaha!"

The pirates around him joined in. Their leering faces made it all too clear what had happened.

Rubick felt his breathing quicken. His own life might be a mess, but he couldn't bear to see others suffer.

In his previous life, if something happened far away, the most he would do was give a post a like to boost its visibility. If it happened right in front of him, he would watch without interfering. He hadn't had the means to care for anyone but himself.

In this life, though, he had the power to act, and he would do what he could. Even at twenty-eight, his heart still burned with the passion of a hotheaded young man.

"Zoro, leave that bastard alive. I want to know where the villagers are."

Zoro clenched Wado Ichimonji between his teeth and drew his other two swords. His words came out clearly. "No problem. The information in his head is the only thing a piece of trash like him is worth."

Rubick wasn't in the mood to wonder how Zoro could speak so clearly with something in his mouth, but he added, "His head might be worth a fair bit too."

Zoro eyed Red's bald head. "True. That bald head reminds me of Red the Blood Blade."

Red seethed. He hadn't expected that the two men surrounded by his crew would still have the nerve to discuss his head. Through gritted teeth, he roared, "Get them!"

Red drew his long blade, nearly five feet from end to end. Gripping it with both hands, he dragged it low. The blood groove along its edge was dark red with dried blood. After a few strides, he leaped and brought it down toward Zoro's head.

Zoro didn't retreat. He warned Rubick once more to be careful, then met Red with an upward slash.

Zoro's strength was overwhelming. Red gained nothing from his powerful downward strike. Taking Zoro's slash head-on, he nearly lost his grip on his sword.

Sent flying backward, Red flipped in midair and landed in a crouch. The force drove him another half meter across the ground before he finally came to a stop.

This one's tough!

Red figured he couldn't handle Zoro alone, but with so many men, they should be able to take him down. They only had to deal with that weakling first, then surround and kill Zoro together. He glanced toward Rubick, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.