Chapter 58: The World Should Not Be So Distant

Zoro was completely unaware of this, holding a map in one hand and stroking his chin with the other, saying in confusion:

"That's right."

"I followed the map."

Johnny turned his head to take a look, then painfully covered his eyes:

"You're holding it upside down!"

"Uh..."

Zoro's old face flushed red; he immediately corrected the map in his hand, looked at the distant sea, and forcibly changed the subject:

"However, we can count this as a blessing in disguise; we can avoid a storm on this very island."

"With just this small boat, it is simply impossible to cross the sea in such a storm and reach the next port."

Seeing this, Joseph and the other could only hold their noses and admit it.

After all, what Zoro said was not wrong.

On the distant sea, waves surged, and clouds gathered with flashing Lei Guang; a storm was visibly approaching.

Moreover, the two had Another Layer of worry.

Earlier, when the Gao Wen pirate crew appeared at Diya Port, they had to exert great effort to trick Zoro into going there; for this, Joseph even contributed his already shriveled wallet.

Just mentioning this caused a pang of heartache.

Therefore, going to other ports at this time carried a high probability of encountering the Gao Wen pirate crew.

The opponent now already vaguely holds the title of the First Swordsman of the East Blue; if Zoro met him, given his personality, he would draw his sword and challenge him on the spot.

The result was predictable.

Being able to avoid the opponent here could be counted as the best of bad luck.

Joseph comforted himself this way, yet couldn't help but touch his wallet again.

For a moment, silence reigned, with only a thousand lines of tears in their hearts.

"First, hide the boat well. We will take the supplies, find a safe place nearby to weather the storm, and then proceed according to plan to capture the pirates in the vicinity."

Johnny made the arrangements, and Joseph naturally raised no objections.

Zoro's eyebrows, however, furrowed slightly; he raised his hand and pointed toward the distant sea surface, saying:

"What is that?!"

Joseph looked up toward the distance.

A familiar pirate flag appeared in his line of sight: a round shield as the base, printed with a skull emblem; if it wasn't the Gao Wen pirate crew, then who was it?

Wait, I've already hidden on a desolate island, yet I still can't escape?

That's a bit rude, don't you think?

"Big Brother Zoro, we..."

Joseph turned his head and saw Zoro's eyes gradually igniting; his heart instantly grew half cold.

He reached out to touch his wallet again, feeling pain so intense he could hardly breathe; Johnny beside him also twitched at the corners of his mouth, unable to speak for a moment.

Zoro's hand, however, was already resting on his sword hilt:

"No mistake!"

"That is absolutely the pirate flag of Knight Gao Wen!"

"The First Swordsman of the East Blue?"

"Before entering the Grand Line to challenge the man standing at the summit, securing the title of First in the East Blue first seems like a good choice!"

"Moreover, if luck is on our side, could the title of First in the East Blue also reach Heaven? Reach Kuina's ears?"

Recalling the promise made with his dearest friend, Zoro's eyes grew firm.

He walked step by step toward the coastline.

With each step, three long swords were drawn from their sheaths, flashing with a chilling, sinister gleam.

Having set sail for several years.

Although his strength still had a considerable gap compared to when he first appeared in the original story, he had gradually established his own reputation in the East Blue.

In the past, he had challenged countless swordsmen of the East Blue, and those people, in his hands, basically could not last more than a few moves!

But at this moment, merely looking at that figure standing on the bow in the distance, a bead of cold sweat already slid down Zoro's forehead:

"This guy is on a completely different dimension from others, but how could a man ever regress because of strength?!"

Joseph and Johnny watched Zoro's figure; they wanted to stop him, yet ultimately could not bring themselves to speak.

It was only because long-term coexistence had made them understand that once the man before them made up his mind, he would not change it!

"With Big Brother Zoro's strength, even facing that monster, he shouldn't lose, right?"

Joseph swallowed hard, yet his hand already anxiously gripped the curved blade at his waist; Johnny said Solemnly:

"If Big Brother Zoro truly cannot defeat him, we will fight to the death to rescue him!"

"Don't forget, he once saved our lives; now is the time to repay him!"

Joseph nodded:

"Isn't that a matter of course?"

In the distance.

The pirate ship gradually anchored on the beach.

Gao Wen, accompanied by Nami and two others, along with a crowd of pirates, quickly disembarked and walked toward Zoro's location.

Just now, when on the sea surface, seeing Zoro's figure, he had not yet recognized him.

But now.

Although the man right before his eyes still looked somewhat youthful compared to the face Gao Wen remembered, and his height was only a little over one meter seventy.

The defiant look in his eyes and the three swords in his hands unmistakably proved that the other party was one of the biggest targets he had in the East Sea.

Roronoa Zoro — the future King of Hell, a man whose potential started from Gold.

One had to know that Xiang Keluo, once raised to Silver, together with Ajin, had already caused Gao Wen's physique and Observation Haki skill to leap up two whole levels in just over a month.

Then what could a Gold-level Zoro achieve?

The mere thought of this filled Gao Wen's eyes with an irrepressible excitement; at this moment Zoro had already been regarded by him as something already in his grasp.

Very soon.

The two sides confronted each other on the beach.

Between swordsmen, a single look is often enough to convey each other's intent.

Gao Wen looked at Zoro's nearly burning gaze, laid one hand on the Guanshi Zhengzong at his waist, and shouted:

"State your name!"

"Challenger!"

A fierce grin curled at the corner of Zoro's mouth:

"Roronoa Zoro!"

Clack!

A long blade was bitten in midair by Zoro, and he gripped the other two swords tight; a razor-sharp aura had already risen around his whole body.

"Draw your sword!"

"The East Sea's Number One Swordsman!"

Gao Wen's brow rose, a strange streak of mischief welling up in his heart; he thrust the Guanshi Zhengzong together with its scabbard into the ground, then slowly drew a dagger from his breast and said with some regret:

"Sorry, I don't think I have a smaller toy than this on me."

"Toy?"

Zoro was briefly stunned, fury rising in his heart — Gao Wen's bearing was already little short of an insult.

"Then I'll start by forcing you to draw your sword!"

Saying this, Zoro shifted his stance; the two swords in his hands crossed like a pair of horns, and the aura about his whole person grew ever more fierce.

His thin clothes flapped loudly in the sea wind; an invisible killing intent had already locked onto Gao Wen.

"Three-Sword Style — Oni Giri!"

After a furious roar, Zoro's figure suddenly shot forward, reaching Gao Wen in the blink of an eye.

Three blades slashed toward Gao Wen's throat from three different directions!

He had once used this very move to cut down countless self-styled swordsmen, and so he had absolute confidence in it — yet he also knew clearly that between himself and the man before him lay a gap as vast as a heavenly chasm.

Force you to draw your sword!

Zoro's gaze was razor-sharp; the three streaks of silver light, however, were forcibly blocked in the very next instant…

Clang!

The toy-like dagger in Gao Wen's hand met the exact point where Zoro's three blades converged head-on; Zoro felt as though he had hacked into a wall, his arms trembling ceaselessly from the rebound transmitted through the blade!

"Even if the gap is huge, there has to be a limit!"

"Bastard!"

"How can the distance between us be so impossibly vast?!"

(End of this chapter)