"Mythical Zoan?!"
Looking at the rapidly approaching snake head, Alo and the others wore strange expressions.
Since they set sail, they had encountered many Devil Fruit users, even numerous Logia types, but they had only met two Mythical Zoan users.
This highlighted the rarity of Mythical Zoan Devil Fruits.
(The Moor brothers who attacked Kouta in the dark on an unknown island were completely unknown to Hua and the others. Therefore, the only Mythical Zoan users they had encountered were Carthese and Kaido.)
Unexpectedly, they encountered one here. kAnshuWu.ξà
However, while the fruit was a Mythical Zoan, the person who ate it… made them feel somewhat odd.
Weak, too weak, so weak they could easily kill him.
A fellow like this actually had the courage to bare his fangs at Kong.
Hmm…
He was in a hurry to die.
"Yamata no Orochi."
Kouta looked up at the eight heads Black Maria had transformed into. With a light laugh, his eyes glared.
The Yamata no Orochi, which was about to charge at Kouta, froze as if bewitched. Its rapidly advancing body came to a complete halt.
"What did you do to me?"
Black Maria was shocked by this sudden turn of events.
Suspended in the air, even with all his strength, he was useless. It wasn't a feeling of being trapped, but rather as if the space around his body had been inexplicably frozen. Only the head wearing the crown in the center could open its mouth to speak; all others were still.
"What did I do? You'll know soon enough."
Kouta stared at Black Maria's only movable head, smiling as he reached out and pressed down on it as if playing a piano.
Above the giant snake head, the void condensed, quickly forming a transparent greatsword. Then, under the terrified gaze of the eyes on the snake head, it was unhesitatingly brought down.
*Swoosh!*
The giant snake head soared into the sky, then with a "thud," it landed heavily on the wooden floor in the center of the room.
The immense sound made everyone's hearts lurch, especially Fururoju and the others who were pinned to the ground by Kouta's domain, unable to move an inch.
Though they desperately wanted to resist, the power, akin to that of a true god, left them with no room for defiance. Now, witnessing Black Maria's colossal snake head, with its terrified, unseeing eyes, lying on the floor, despair completely consumed them.
As the snake head hit the ground, Kouta waved his hand. The blood that was about to gush out rapidly retreated as if in a final burst of vitality, then was tightly sealed within the headless snake neck.
"Not dead."
Everyone gazed at the Yamata no Orochi, now missing a head, with curiosity.
"Yes! Though its aura has weakened, its life force remains vigorous," Hua said, pushing up his glasses. "As expected of a Mythical Zoan user. It seems to kill this fellow, all his heads must be severed. So powerful, possessing eight lives."
Although Kouta had known about Black Maria's fruit ability of having eight lives, seeing it in reality still filled him with a degree of surprise.
With his ability of eight lives and the innate physique of a Mythical Zoan, it was truly pathetic that this creature had remained so useless for decades.
"Forget it, no more fun."
Having seen what he wanted, Kouta had no intention of engaging in further banter with these individuals. However, killing them could not be done crudely; their bodies had to be left behind to convince the samurai in Flower Capital that Orochi was truly dead.
Therefore, he did not use his spatial abilities to turn them into dust. Instead, he extended his right hand and waved forward. From the space before him, ethereal blades materialized and, under Kouta's control, rapidly shot towards Fururoju and the others, as well as Black Maria.
As the blades streaked past, there was no sound, no blood. When Kouta waved his hand, dispelling the materialized blades and retracting his spatial domain, allowing him to hear the outside world, everyone saw Black Maria and Fururoju and the others, now back in human form, their life signs completely extinguished, truly dead.
"Let's go!"
Glancing at the singers he had knocked unconscious upon entering, and the ministers of Wano Country slumped in their seats, Kouta did not bother them. They were ordinary people. With Orochi dead, someone else would handle their crimes; it was not his place.
Stepping out into the moonlight, Kouta looked up at the full moon in the sky and smiled, "You all can explore this city. I'll go find the Road Poneglyphs below. We'll meet tomorrow morning."
"Haha, then I'm off. I've wanted to explore the prosperity I saw from the sky earlier for a long time."
Alo, ever energetic, was the first to leave.
"Wait for us, you scoundrel!"
Hua and Tao exchanged glances and quickly followed Alo.
Though these three often bickered, their bond, forged through years of growing up together and constant skirmishes, was incredibly strong. As long as Kouta wasn't around, they had hardly ever been apart since setting sail.
Even though the Flower Capital of Wano Country now held no one who could threaten them, it was simply more fun to explore together!
"Yohohoho!!"
Brook stood in place, tipping his hat to Kouta in a most gentlemanly fashion, then let out a hearty laugh. "Captain, I'm going to have some fun too."
With that, he quickly dashed towards where Hua and the others had gone. ReadKan.
He continued to laugh loudly as he ran, "Yohohoho!! Ladies, here I come!"
"This guy."
Indigo shook his head, glanced at Kouta, and said with a smile, "Captain, I won't be joining the fun. My experiment has just yielded a promising lead, so I'll get back to it."
"Don't spend all your time in the laboratory. You should go out and have some fun occasionally."
Kouta looked at Indigo, saying with a sigh.
"No, I'm not like Brook. I'm old now, and my desires are long gone."
He waved his hand, and with a series of rustling sounds, he headed towards the Freedom.
"Ever since we left Guts, I feel like Indigo has changed," Guina remarked, a look of confusion on her face as she watched Indigo's retreating figure.
"People… they always let go of something at a certain point. Guts was something Indigo could never let go of, yet dared not confront – his homeland."
"The journey to Guts allowed him to fulfill a wish in his heart, and it set him completely free. Rather than saying Indigo has changed, it's more accurate to say this is his true nature, but he was unfamiliar with us and afraid of me before, so he always presented a facade."
"Is that so?"
Guina nodded, a hint of understanding dawning on her face.
"Uncle Isshou, are you going out to have fun, or will you join us in searching for the Road Poneglyph?" Kouta asked, looking at Isshou.
"Road Poneglyph?"
Before they arrived, Kouta had already told Isshou about their purpose. Although he had no interest in Poneglyphs, he wanted to see them.
Even though he couldn't see.
…