Since we're heading to the Grand Line from the East Blue anyway, traveling with Luffy sounds pretty good.
Zoro always felt that he'd encounter many strong people alongside Luffy. That's because Luffy has Conqueror's Haki, and someone with the makings of a king is bound to face countless trials and tribulations. They'll either be crushed by these hardships or become king by overcoming them.
Zoro liked that idea. He knew clearly that becoming the world's greatest swordsman wouldn't be easy. Traveling with Luffy would certainly keep things from being boring.
"That's great!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly, but he corrected, "But I'm the one who's going to beat those demons!"
As they talked, they had already passed through the forest, and then they saw the outline of a village.
Ch ch ch…
At that moment, the two of them keenly heard a sound. It sounded like…
Chewing?
Luffy and Zoro's expressions changed. They immediately rushed towards the source of the sound, and finally discovered a 'person' squatting at the edge of the village next to another person lying on the ground, voraciously chewing on their flesh and blood!
It was a demon, a man-eating demon!
The demon's face was filled with frenzy, as if it were a delicious delicacy.
No one would have guessed that the monster inside had long since replaced the human appearance he had. He had transformed from human into a monster that fed on humans.
"!" Zoro's expression was grim. This wasn't the first time he had seen a demon, but it was indeed the first time he had seen one eating a person. He had known demons ate people, but he had never witnessed it firsthand.
Witnessing this scene today brought them an unparalleled shock. They couldn't imagine that such primal violence existed in this world, such a bloody and terrifying spectacle!
If not for Zoro and Luffy's extremely strong mental fortitude, they would have likely vomited.
"You bastard!" Luffy charged forward directly. He had always been cheerful before, but that was before he witnessed such an enraging scene. Since setting sail…
No, since birth, this was the first time Luffy had seen such a sight: people like himself being treated as food, brutally and savagely consumed by demons.
Is this a demon?!
Hearing about cannibalism and seeing it are two entirely different things.
Luffy quickly charged out. Could an ordinary demon evade the punch thrown in his rage? He was immediately struck in the head by Luffy's fist and sent flying for several hundred meters.
Luffy stood in front of the person being gnawed upon. Their face was a bloody mess, their body was bluish-green, and half of their body had already been eaten. A large amount of blood stained the ground, appearing so wicked under the dark night sky…
"Human…?"
The demon, sent flying by Luffy, wasn't dead. Although its skull was likely shattered, the demon's incredibly strong regenerative abilities kept it alive.
The demon's body contorted, its eyes filled with a craving for blood and flesh. "Two more humans have arrived, excellent! I'm going to…
"Enough talk," Zoro's figure instantly appeared behind it. He held his black longsword in his hand, and the next moment, the demon's head slowly separated from its neck.
"A demon's weakness is its head and sunlight. You must completely sever its head from its body to kill them," Zoro told Luffy.
Luffy's expression was grim. He stood by the bloody, mangled corpse, his eyes filled with anger.
"Is Gato inside?"
"...Maybe, but this doesn't look like Gato's headquarters," Zoro said.
"Then let's find someone who can talk." Luffy stretched his arm out, grabbed a large rock in the distance, and then rapidly retracted his arm. But instead of pulling the rock back with his arm, he himself was pulled towards the rock by his arm.
But Luffy didn't stop at the rock; he used the momentum to continue flying into the distance. His target was…
The original Cocoyasi Village!
Zoro watched Luffy's figure gradually disappear. He then looked at the demon he had decapitated, his heart also filled with anger. Even though the eaten person had no relation to him, this was basic human empathy.
Boom!
The sounds of fighting could already be heard in the distance. Zoro advanced with icy eyes. These demons…
Deserve to die!
Luffy's strength was indeed considerable. By the time Zoro arrived, the village was already filled with beaten-down individuals, both demons and humans. It seemed that even demons with an extreme craving for human flesh would cooperate with humans at times.
Naturally, demons can only operate at night. If they were looking for something, they would need to use the power of humans who could operate during the day.
Zoro had no mercy for them. He finished off the defeated individuals, who were no longer able to fight back after being beaten by Luffy.
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Finally, he left a few seemingly stronger demons. Zoro held his sword to their necks. "This time, I won't ask about Muzan's location. Tell me where Gato's headquarters are."
When asking demons for confidential information, it sometimes triggers a curse that directly kills the demon, preventing them from revealing secrets. But Gato clearly wasn't among these secrets.
"That's right. To you, Gato is just food. Why would you consider his information confidential?" Zoro quickly figured this out. No matter how impressive Gato appeared, it couldn't change the fact that he was merely a dog raised by demons.
Gato was just a human, one who could move under sunlight. He must have relied on demonic power to rise to prominence. Even if he appeared glorious now, how could demons respect him?
"Orange Town…"
After asking for the location, Zoro cut off the demon's head without blinking.
"Zoro, didn't you say you'd let him go?" Luffy asked somewhat blankly.
"Are you an idiot?" Zoro had a "╬" mark on his forehead. He put away his sword and said, "Reason with a man-eating monster like this? You're a pirate, and you care about such things?"
Luffy pouted. "I would never lie."
"You're lying right now," Zoro chuckled.
"Huh? Am I?"
The statement "I would never lie" was definitely a lie. Zoro didn't believe anyone who never lied.
He couldn't be bothered with Luffy and quickly hurried back to their small boat with him. But when they returned to the forest, they stopped.
Because in this forest…
There was the smell of blood!
"Bellemere!" Luffy and Zoro's pupils shrank. They knew something must have happened to Bellemere!
They hurried over and both froze at the entrance of Nojiko's former home.
A large amount of blood lay in the forest. Blood seeped from every house…
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