"Why have you stopped moving?"
Bai Yu stepped over the red and white remains.
The pirates confronting him abruptly retreated three steps.
Faced with that brutal slaughter just now, they had clearly been scared out of their wits.
Hiding behind the crowd, Black Axe's expression turned utterly dark, and he roared furiously.
"Trash, a bunch of trash! You can't even kill a brat holding a toy sword! I refuse to believe you're stronger than a specially made cannon!"
Black Axe ripped the canvas off the large-bore cannon behind him, aiming its pitch-black muzzle at Bai Yu.
As the fuse was lit, all the pirates panicked and hurriedly pulled back.
If the cannonball exploded aboard the ship, even if it blasted the brat before them to death, they would also be caught in it.
"A cannon? You don't even dare use the axe you're carrying. Looks like you aren't even qualified to be cut down!"
Bai Yu shook his head, somewhat disappointed.
Didn't real men enjoy battles where every slash bit into flesh?
"Damn brat, die!"
Bang!
The cannon spat a scorching tongue of flame, and the instant the cannonball shot out...
The wooden sword in Bai Yu's hand gave a sound like a ringing blade.
He slashed straight ahead.
Bang!
A golden blade aura flashed past.
The cannonball and Black Axe were engulfed together.
A deafening explosion rang out.
Even the distant sea was forcibly torn open, leaving a vacuum slash mark over ten meters long.
When the blast waves filling the air dispersed, only Bai Yu remained on the shattered deck.
As for the other pirates, they had already jumped into the sea and fled.
But in seas this dangerous, their chances of surviving...
Were probably vanishingly small.
"Was that a Flying Slash? He's a Swordmaster?"
Zoro's pupils contracted.
As he looked at this boy around his own age, disbelief filled his face.
But recalling Bai Yu's bloodthirsty slaughter just now, and that final slash...
Zoro quietly tightened his grip on his two swords, his hands trembling slightly.
It was excitement that caused it!
He had left Shimotsuki Village precisely to challenge powerful swordsmen.
Now he had finally encountered a swordsman around his own age.
He desperately wanted to know just what level he had reached.
"You're too weak right now. I have no interest in weaklings."
Seeing through Zoro's intentions, Bai Yu gave him an indifferent glance before looking toward the cabin.
When he had probed with Observation Haki earlier, Bai Yu had discovered what seemed to be two more signs of life hiding inside.
Since he had already attacked the Black Axe Pirates...
Bai Yu had no desire to leave future trouble behind.
Otherwise, after he left the East Blue, if they learned of his connection to Windmill Village, it would probably bring more trouble.
"You're saying I'm too weak?"
Zoro's face filled with humiliation and anger.
He had only become a bounty hunter half a year ago, but he had already built up a little reputation in the East Blue.
Otherwise, he would not have attacked the Black Axe Pirates.
Now that someone had dismissed him with a single sentence, Zoro absolutely could not swallow this insult.
"Fine. Very good! Then I'll see what ability gives you the nerve to look down on me! I'm a man aiming to become the World's Greatest Swordsman!"
Zoro roared.
He abruptly tightened his grip on his two swords and leaped, charging toward Bai Yu like a tiger or leopard.
"Three-Sword Style: Tiger Leopard!"
Hum!
The three blades overlapped, striking straight at Bai Yu's back like a tiger's claws.
Sensing the incomparably fierce attack behind him...
Bai Yu jabbed with his left hand, his finger landing where Zoro's three blades overlapped as though piercing through the void.
Bang!
The shock waves from the attack dispersed.
Zoro's pupils contracted to their limit.
His Three-Sword Style slash, which had always worked without fail...
Had actually been broken by a single finger.
He had never imagined such a thing.
"Too flashy. In a real fight to the death, you don't have that much time to show off."
"For the sake of your future achievements, you're worth one slash from me now!"
Bai Yu gave a bloodthirsty smile. The wooden sword in his hand had already erupted with powerful Sword Pressure as he brought it down head-on at Zoro.
A plain, unadorned slash!
All it held was brutality and the force to overwhelm ten techniques with sheer strength.
Caught beneath the attack, Zoro felt only the golden light before him swell explosively.
As the shadow of death enveloped his entire body, he hurriedly raised his three swords to block.
Boom!
A blade aura over ten meters long flashed past.
Zoro was sent flying, half the pirate ship's hull torn apart along with him, and crashed straight into his own little boat.
The two swords in his hands had already snapped at the impact.
Even the Wado Ichimonji in his mouth slipped from his bite and went spinning away.
Scarlet blood gushed from his mouth.
He also snapped the little boat's mast in half with the collision.
Feeling stabbing pain throughout his body, Zoro paid it no heed and stared at Bai Yu, disbelief written all over his face.
He had known from the start that there was a gap between them.
But he had never imagined that gap would be like a chasm.
Especially when he saw the Wado Ichimonji, which carried Kuina's dying wish, embedded at an angle in the deck.
Had he been beaten so badly that he had even spat out his sword?
"Who are you? Where exactly did you come from? Why are you so strong?"
Zoro clenched his fists in frustration and demanded through gritted teeth.
They were both swordsmen, both the same age.
Yet his three swords could not even beat a single wooden sword.
Zoro could not accept it.
"You're asking where I came from?"
Bai Yu abruptly stopped walking, turned back, and glanced at Zoro.
"If I really have to say, I came from the Gotei 13. Everyone there wields a blade. Someone of your caliber probably wouldn't rank in the top ten thousand right now."
Bai Yu was not bullshitting. There were still two years before Zoro and Luffy met in the original story.
The current Zoro had only recently left Shimotsuki Village and was a newcomer to bounty hunting.
He had a little reputation, but there was still a huge gap between him and anyone who could truly hold their own.
In Bleach, anyone who could join the Gotei 13 could at least use their Zanpakuto's Shikai or was proficient in one of the four disciplines: swordsmanship, Kido, hand-to-hand combat, and movement.
With Zoro's current strength alone, winning would still be somewhat difficult.
"The Gotei 13, all blade wielders? I can't even reach the top ten thousand?"
Zoro was dumbfounded. Looking at Bai Yu's retreating back, he could not help muttering.
"Is that a training ground for swordsmen? I'll definitely get stronger, fight my way into the Gotei 13's top hundred one day, and make you see me in a new light!"
Bai Yu did not take Zoro's determination to heart.
Right now, he only wanted to see exactly who was hiding inside the cabin.
Bang!
Bai Yu split the cabin's heavy door open with one slash.
The powerful impact whipped up a fierce gust, drawing two girlish cries from inside.
He saw two young girls carrying a wooden chest, trying to squeeze out through the cabin's small window, and their six eyes met.
Was this a fucking eye-contact kill?!
The two girls, who had been sneaking around, instantly felt their scalps prickle.
They had long since noticed the huge commotion outside the cabin.
They had thought they could seize the opportunity to swipe the ship's treasure.
Never had they imagined that now they themselves would be caught up in it too!
"Y-you, who are you? I'm one of Boss Black Axe's people! Barging in like this, you'd better watch out or he'll kill you!"