Chapter 44: The King of Wildfire and the Shadow of the Throne
The screen flickered from the blue surgical glow of Law's "Room" to a landscape of scorched stone and falling embers. The rooftop was a memory. Now, after the rooftop fight sometime later the camera plummeted into the heart of the Right-Brain Tower, where a battle was happening.
Standing in a crater of his own making was King the Wildfire. His black wings were unfurled, his suit was wreathed in a flame that looked more like liquid magma than fire, and his eyes—cold and ancient—were locked on a man who should have been dead.
Zoro was back. He wasn't a pancake anymore. Wrapped in enough bandages to make a mummy jealous, he stood with a strange, medicinal steam rolling off his skin. The "Mink Medicine" had forcibly knitted his bones back together, but everyone watching knew the cost: Double the pain, double the hell.
"I don't have time for a masked freak," Zoro growled, the Enma in his hand pulsing with a violent, hungry purple light. "My Captain is upstairs finishing a Dragon. I'm not letting a bird-brain hold me up."
> [Sengoku]: "SQUEAK! (HE'S BACK?! THE MINK MEDICINE?! THAT'S MEDICAL MALPRACTICE! HE'S GOING TO EXPLODE! SQUEAK!)"
> [Monkey D. Garp]: "BWAHAHAHA! Look at him! He looks like a very angry burrito! Eat a cracker, Sengoku, the boy is about to cook a prehistoric chicken!"
> [Buggy the Clown]: "HONK! HE WAS DEAD! I SAW HIM DIE! Why won't these Straw Hats stay in the ground?! It's bad for my blood pressure! HONK!"
> [Dracule Mihawk]: "King... the last of the Lunarians. A race that lived atop the Red Line before the Gods. Roronoa, if you can't cut through those flames, you'll never be more than a footnote."
> [Perona]: "Hmph! Look at him being all cool while covered in Band-Aids. Horohorohoro! He probably got lost on the way to the infirmary!"
> [Eustass Kid]: "HEY! Why does the swordsman get the cool transformation?! I'm literally fighting a giant woman and no one is talking about my scrap-metal punk-bot! THIS IS RIGGED!"
> [Trafalgar Law]: "Kid-ya, shut up. I'm the one who had to stitch him together. If he dies, I'm sending the bill to the Straw Hats."
>
King didn't move. He didn't have to. He pointed a finger, and a beam of fire shaped like a dragon roared toward Zoro. Zoro swung, a massive shockwave of Haki meeting the flame, but King was already behind him.
The speed was abnormal. It wasn't just physical; it was a disappearance. King's kick caught Zoro in the ribs, sending him flying through three stone pillars.
"You're struggling to even stay conscious," King's voice was like grinding tectonic plates. "You carry the swords of a King, but you have the body of a mortal. You cannot scratch a Lunarian."
Zoro slammed into a wall, coughing up blood that turned the white bandages crimson. He looked at Enma. The sword was screaming. It wasn't just drinking his Haki; it was trying to drain his very soul.
"Fine..." Zoro whispered, his right eye snapping open with a demonic green glint. "If you want it all... then take it! If I have to become the King of Hell to win this... then I'll make the devil himself move out of my way!"
> [Kaido]: (Present Day) "WORORORO! King! Show him why we are the strongest! A swordsman is nothing but a toothless tiger without his Haki! Burn him to ash!"
> [Big Mom]: "MAMAMAMA! Look at the little bug twitching! King, bring me his head! I want to put it next to my collection of rare species!"
> [Rocks D. Xebec]: "Vohahahahaha! I like this guy Zoro. Kaido your commander will lose!"
> [Akainu]: "This 'King' is a relic of a dead age. The Marines will cleanse both of them. But... that purple blade. It's disturbing."
> [Koby]: "Zoro-san! Please don't die! Luffy-san needs you! THE ENTIRE WORLD IS WATCHING!"
> [Sanji]: (Typing from Sabaody) "Hey, Moss-head! If you lose to a guy in a gimp suit, I'm never letting you back on the ship! I'll replace your weights with marshmallows!"
>
The Turning Point: The King of Hell Approaches
The screen zoomed in on Zoro's feet. The ground beneath him wasn't just cracking; it was melting. The three blades were no longer just steel; they were wreathed in a flickering, unstable black-and-green fire.
King sensed it. He pulled his mask back, his eyes narrowing. He realized the man before him was no longer fighting to survive. He was fighting to end it.
"I promised a girl a long time ago," Zoro growled, the Wado Ichimonji clamped in his teeth, his voice a muffled roar. "And I promised a moron in a straw hat. I don't care about your 'God' race. I'm going to cut you down and stand at the top of this world!"
The chapter ended with Zoro leaping into the air, his three blades trailing streaks of black lightning that carved through the stone floor like it was butter.