One Piece: With Sign-in System

'That voice... that figure...

So familiar...

Who is it?

Wait, I remember now.

The owner of that voice…'

Zoro, who had received a healing spell from Ron, gradually regained some consciousness. In his hazy mind, the last image he saw before passing out surfaced once more.

At that moment, two urgent voices rang out in his head.

"Zoro… Zoro!"

Zoro's awareness gradually sharpened, his eyes slowly fluttering open.

Seeing his eyes open, the two of them were overwhelmed with joy.

"Zoro! You're awake!"

"That's such a relief!"

Luffy's grinning face entered Zoro's sight as well. Flashing his signature carefree smile, he laughed, "Hahaha! That's great, Zoro! You're okay!"

Zoro stared blankly at him and muttered, "I... am still alive?"

"Hahahaha! What kind of nonsense are you spouting in broad daylight? Of course, you're alive!"

Luffy pressed down on his straw hat and beamed at him, his smile as bright and simple as ever.

As Zoro gazed at him, his awareness fully returned, and the sensations of his body began flooding his mind—confirming the undeniable truth.

He was still alive.

Raising a hand, he touched his bandaged chest, murmuring to himself,

"That voice and that figure I saw before losing consciousness… were they just hallucinations?"

At that very moment—

A jet-black sword light tore across the sky above the Baratie.

The clouds split apart from the sheer force of it.

The sky darkened, winds howled, and the sea roared with towering waves!

"!!"

Lying on the ground, Zoro stared up at the sky in stunned silence.

As a swordsman—one who was just a step away from crossing into a realm of true danger—he could sense, more than anyone else present, the terrifying might within that strike.

"The battle between those two… has started, huh? Damn, that's insane!", Luffy tilted his head back, gazing at the sky, his voice full of awe and amazement.

"Those two...?"

Zoro's heart clenched as he turned sharply toward Luffy. "Who are you talking about?"

Luffy looked down at him and, without hesitation, answered,

"The guy who cut you down... and Ron."

Hawk-Eye... and Ron!

Zoro's eyes widened instantly, his mind shaken to the core.

So it wasn't just an illusion!

That really was him!

BZZT!

Zoro suddenly felt another terrifying sword aura explode into the sky—completely different from the previous black slash.

This one belonged to someone else.

Ignoring the pain from his injuries, he braced himself against the ground, struggling to sit up. His head snapped toward the direction of the fight.

Southeast of the Baratie, far beyond the horizon—

A crimson sword aura shot into the sky before his very eyes.

The slash was like a crescent moon, stretching for miles. The blood-red light painted the sky in an eerie, hellish glow, turning that entire direction into a sea of crimson!

The momentum soared into the heavens!

The sheer brilliance of that crimson sword aura seemed as if it could pierce through the sky itself!

Under the intense gazes of Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy—

That blood-red slash tore open the entire sky above them!

A colossal rift, stretching thousands of meters, appeared within the clouds, dyed in a deep crimson hue. The sky churned as the severed clouds rolled violently.

Every person aboard the Baratie, along with those on the surrounding islands, instinctively looked up.

And when they saw that terrifying blood-red fissure in the sky, they were all utterly dumbfounded, struck with an overwhelming sense of awe and disbelief.

"This... has to be a joke, right?"

Gin swallowed hard, cold sweat trickling down his face.

"Is this really something a human can achieve?"

Before the shock of the blood-red slash could fully settle in, another jet-black sword aura cut through the sky, sweeping past the Baratie.

As the sword energy surged by, violent gales howled.

Nami had to grip the nearby wall tightly to prevent herself from being blown away by the force of the wind.

The sea raged even more furiously, tossing Luffy and the others' small boat into a violent frenzy, rocking it uncontrollably on the towering waves.

"This is the power that a true top-tier swordsman possesses..."

"Compared to them, I'm nothing. The gap is as vast as the sky and the earth..."

Zoro clenched his fists tightly, his gaze locked on the battlefield far beyond the horizon.

Ron had already reached that height. He was now standing among those legendary swordsmen, competing for the title of the world's strongest!

And what about himself...?

His teeth ground together, his fists trembling with the force of his grip.

Was this not the same as back when he first trained in the dojo?

No... perhaps the gap was even wider now than it was back then!

Then what had all his years of training been for?

Those two promises...

Could he truly fulfill them?

Could he really catch up to and surpass him in swordsmanship within this lifetime?

For the first time, doubt crept into Zoro's heart. His unwavering spirit as a swordsman wavered for just a moment.

"Ah... Ron really is incredible. He's so much stronger than before."

Luffy's voice of admiration rang beside Zoro, pulling him from his thoughts. Turning his head, he saw Luffy standing there, one hand pressed against his straw hat, gazing in that direction with a bright, carefree grin.

"No doubt about it. He's the one I have to surpass."

Zoro stared at Luffy's beaming face, unable to stop himself from asking, "Don't you want to defeat him? Even though the difference in strength between you two is so vast, a gap you might never be able to close—how can you still smile?"

"Why wouldn't I smile?"

Luffy looked at him, puzzled. "Isn't a goal worth chasing supposed to be as strong as possible? If it were easy to catch up, what would be the fun in that?"

"Reaching the destination in one go doesn't sound like much of an adventure or journey, does it? The process is what really makes it exciting. Even if I never reach it, as long as I give it my all and have no regrets, isn't that enough?"

Zoro stared at him in stunned silence.

A short distance away on the Baratie, Sanji took a long drag from his cigarette, then exhaled a slow stream of smoke as he gazed toward the endless sea.

"Giving it your all, leaving no regrets, huh..."

Something about those words resonated deeply within him.

…

Far to the southeast, in the vast ocean.

On an uninhabited island, two overwhelming sword auras clashed, piercing the heavens. The sheer killing intent blanketed the entire island, causing every living creature to tremble and cower in absolute terror, frozen in place.

Two figures closed the distance between them at blinding speed—

And then, simultaneously, they swung their swords in a devastating strike!

Crimson and black flashes streaked across the battlefield—

A single blood-red blade clashed against an ominous black sword!

Clang!

A crisp, resonating chime rang out as the blades met.

For a fleeting moment, the entire world seemed to fall into utter silence.

Then, in the very next instant, a monstrous wave of sword wind erupted between the two!

The area within a hundred-meter radius around them was instantly torn apart by their combined sword auras!

Rocks, soil, grass, even grains of sand—all were shredded into countless pieces by the raging shockwaves, split again and again, until they were reduced to nothingness.

A ripple-like shockwave spread outward from the clash, engulfing the entire island in an instant.

Wherever it passed, the earth was torn apart, leaving deep, straight fissures that stretched for miles. Entire sections of the dense forest were flattened as if a massive scythe had swept through them, leveling everything in its path.

Even the ocean surrounding the island surged violently, roaring with towering waves that reached for the heavens.

Ron, wielding one of the Supreme Grade swords, the Blood Moon Blade, held off Hawk-Eye's downward strike from Yoru, one of the greatest black blades in existence.

With a single upward flick, the terrifying sword energy trapped between them found its outlet, exploding skyward like a raging flood!

The thick, stormy clouds above the island were instantly split apart by two slashes—one black, one red.

A massive cross-shaped rift tore through the heavens, stretching tens of thousands of meters long and hundreds of meters deep!

The churning storm clouds rushed toward the fissure, yet despite their turbulence, the massive wound in the sky refused to mend.