"Hmph." Zoro slowly straightened up again. His chest heaved a few times before he forcibly steadied his breathing.
Then, with a flick of his right hand, he pulled Enma from the ground. The black ryuo had yet to dissipate completely, flickering along the blade.
Next, his left hand reached for his waist. With an even more sinister, lingering ring, the cursed Sandai Kitetsu came into his grasp.
With both swords in hand, Zoro's aura abruptly changed.
He forced down his shock and frustration, replacing them with a sharper, more resolute will.
Then he bent slightly forward, holding one sword normally and the other in a reverse grip. He assumed the most explosive opening stance of his Two-Sword Style, his gaze locked on Gern.
"Hey, Fleet Admiral," Zoro said, his voice low and fierce with defiance. "Still going to judge my swordsmanship?"
"Though what you said... does make some sense!"
"But..."
Before he finished speaking, his aura erupted!
"I'm not who I used to be, either!"
"Two-Sword Style: Two Slashes..."
Just as he was about to finish naming his technique and strike-
"Tch."
Gern clicked his tongue in utter impatience, the sound quiet.
He did not even look Zoro in the eye, merely tilting his head to glance at him out of the corner of his eye.
His tone was as flat as if he were stating the simplest of facts.
"If you were to get kicked from here..."
He raised a hand and pointed at the courtyard of the shogun's residence in the Flower Capital beneath his feet, then gestured toward the faintly visible sea beneath the distant horizon.
"All the way out to sea..."
Gern paused, turned his gaze back, and finally looked Zoro straight in the eye before leisurely finishing his sentence.
"You really would die."
"..."
That