Chapter 18: The Story Ends

"You mean, you want me to give you an explanation? You’ve got it backward."

Siano sneered. "Shouldn't it be you who gives Junichi an explanation!"

"Junichi..."

"Don't say my name!!!!"

Junichi’s breathing was rapid, his eyes red and swollen, and his teeth were almost biting through his gums.

"So you are the mastermind behind the scenes? You are the one who secretly controlled Asakura Island? Then what was the last five years I lived through? And what was that sentimental play you just performed?!"

Looking around, he looked at the corpses on the ground in despair.

"This was just one day, and in one day you killed so many people. In five years, five whole years, how many insane things have you done? Why did you do this!!!"

Sakuraba Tree followed his gaze to the corpses, his expression indifferent.

He cast his emotionless gaze on Junichi again and spoke softly, his voice sounding like it came from the bottom of a dry well.

"Do you remember what I told you about your mother back then?"

"Mother?"

Junichi was even more furious, roaring, "Why are you suddenly bringing her up? What face do you have to mention her now! Didn't she die of illness ten years ago while traveling with you!"

"Aya died during that trip, but not of illness."

"Not long after the trip began that year, passing by the Goa Kingdom, two elegant noble ladies boarded the ship and hit it off with Aya, becoming friends in just a few days."

"They often held tea parties in the afternoon and sat on the deck together at night to watch the stars, laughing and chatting about everything."

"Aya had been working hard with me since I was poor, and after so many years of hardship, except for when you were just born, that was almost the happiest time I had ever seen her."

"Until one day..."

"Those two noble ladies suddenly mentioned wanting to play soccer, but where would they get a ball on a ship?"

"So they suddenly changed their temperament, flew into a rage, beat and scolded their own guards, and even wanted to kill the captain of the guards and throw him into the sea to feed the fish."

"Aya couldn't bear it, stepped forward to persuade them, and that saved the guard captain’s life. She went to the kitchen to borrow materials like a pig bladder, wanting to help sew a leather ball."

"After spending half the night making the ball, Aya was very happy because that way, she wouldn't have to worry about those two noble ladies taking their anger out on the guards again."

"She went to deliver the ball early in the morning, and I slept in a bit before going to find her. Guess what I saw?"

Sakuraba Tree looked blank.

It was as if what he was narrating was a story unrelated to him.

"Aya’s head was cut off, and the two noble ladies used her head as a ball, kicking it happily. The ball she had worked hard on for half the night was stepped on and thrown aside because they thought it was too ugly."

Wha... what?! Junichi’s pupils shrank, and he stumbled back two steps, his body trembling violently.

Siano let out a long breath and remained silent for a moment.

He had some guesses in his heart about the identities of those two noble ladies.

But he didn't interrupt, letting Sakuraba Tree continue to speak to himself on the stage.

In the vast, empty dojo, only that emotionless voice echoed:

"...I was stunned for a long time before I finally came to my senses. I drew my sword like a madman and rushed up, but was suddenly blocked by that guard captain."

"My proud swordsmanship was like a joke in front of that guy. I didn't even last a few seconds before I was stepped under his feet."

"I really couldn't figure it out at the time. After investigating bitterly for a long time afterward, I finally understood..."

"Those two ladies were not nobles of the Goa Kingdom at all, but Celestial Dragons who had secretly run off to the Goa Kingdom to play behind their family’s backs! As for the guard captain that Aya saved, he was the dignified Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Stainless!"

"How funny, how funny... how funny!!!"

Sakuraba Tree suddenly looked up and laughed crazily.

"Hahaha, Aya thought she had made two friends, but she didn't know that in their eyes, she was just a cat or dog they teased on a whim."

"And the guy who had specifically knocked on the door the night before to express his gratitude for saving his life cut off Aya’s head the next day!"

"And me? I was kicked into the sea like a dead dog, drifting for a month before I survived!"

"No wonder you were silent for months after returning from that trip..." Junichi grabbed his hair in pain, muttering in a daze. "But after Mother’s funeral, didn't you slowly walk out of it?"

"Walk out? I never walked out!"

Sakuraba Tree mocked. "I just chose to escape and forget in order to continue raising you and for the dojo I founded, continuing to play the role of the good chairman and good father I was before."

"The real Sakuraba Tree, the original Sakuraba Tree, drowned ten years ago when he fell into the sea!"

"I thought I could keep escaping like this. After all, what could I do? Revenge? Revenge on whom? Celestial Dragons or a Marine Vice Admiral? I wasn't even a master swordsman, where would I get the ability!"

He grinned.

"But fate wouldn't let me bow my head!"

"In that shipwreck five years ago, I almost drowned in the sea again while saving people, but I survived in the end. Not only that, I found a Devil Fruit in the wreckage that drifted over from a merchant ship!"

"You know almost everything about what happened later."

Sakuraba Tree finally turned his body around. The place on his chest that had been pierced by the blade earlier was surging with wood chips, and it was repaired as before in an instant.

His expression also gradually became indifferent.

"Fate saved me twice and sent the power of the devil to me. This was clearly encouraging me to embark on the path of revenge."

"So, I destroyed everything that belonged to Sakuraba Tree with my own hands."

"The dojo, family, old friends... these would only make me reluctant to give up, continue to curl up on this small island, be a poor worm licking its wounds, and be afraid to take the step of revenge!"

"As for the lives lost at my hands over the years?"

Sakuraba Tree sneered and shook his head slightly.

"Don't worry, they didn't die in vain; it was valuable. Over the five years, these puppets earned me over a billion Beli, finally allowing me to save enough money to have the capital to go for revenge."

"Shameless! You... you... don't you have any remorse or guilt at all!"

Junichi’s face was pale, and his finger pointing at Sakuraba Tree was trembling. "You are crazy! Completely crazy! It turns out you became a madman five years ago!"

"Those two Celestial Dragons deserve to die! I also wish I could cut off their heads to avenge Mother! But did you have to use this method?! Would Mother be willing to see you do this? To take revenge, you caused so many innocent people to die. After you die, will your soul have the face to see her!"

"Show some respect, Junichi."

Sakuraba Tree’s voice turned cold abruptly. "Five years ago, I was ready to kill you, but in the end, I softened my heart and let you drift on the sea to fend for yourself, which was equivalent to saving your life."

"But you shouldn't have, you shouldn't have returned to this island just when I was ready to take my final bow, and you even brought..."

"A brat who likes to get in the way!"

The moment the words fell.

Hundreds of puppet strings flew out from his skull, dancing and growing against the light, turning into countless dark yellow vines as thick as arms.

Sakuraba Tree’s voice sounded again, mechanical and cold like a puppet, not like a human:

"Things can happen once or twice, but not a third time. Junichi, since you don't cherish the chance to live that I gave you..."

"—Then just become my puppets together with this brat!"

*Shhh shhh!*

Amidst the sound of breaking air, the dark yellow vines arrived in a flash, surrounding Siano and Junichi from all angles in an instant.

Siano looked at these thick lines that were twisting crazily like a group of snakes.

"Do you still have the strength to fight?" He suddenly turned his head and asked. "If you don't want to fight him, I can understand."

"..."

Junichi looked at the figure on the ring in silence, suddenly wiped his tears, and gritted his teeth:

"I don't want to escape, Boss! My father, Sakuraba Tree, just as he said himself, died long ago. The one on the stage now is just an evil spirit wearing his body."

"He wants revenge? Then he’ll have to wait until I avenge my father first!"

Siano looked at Junichi with some surprise.

"Take it."

He took out the "Masamune" sword and threw it over. "This ability is indeed a bit tricky. I’ll deal with the main body, and you be responsible for helping me cut off those branches."

Junichi took it subconsciously and stood back-to-back with Siano.

*Swish swish!* Before he could adapt to the feel, several puppet strings attacked from the side.

He immediately held the sword horizontally to block the first wave of impact, then slashed down from the side, instantly cutting the thick lines into two pieces.

Such a fast sword... Junichi was surprised. The sharpness of Kuina’s Wado Ichimonji was no more than this.

Siano had already looked up, narrowing his eyes at the root of the puppet strings.

"Who allowed you to still be up there, acting mysterious!"

He stretched out both hands abruptly, grabbed the nearest few vines, his knotted biceps suddenly bulged like hills, violent power poured in, and he pulled fiercely!

"Get down here!"

*Crack-crack*, it was the sound of the edge of the ring cracking after being rubbed. Sakuraba Tree’s withered body was instantly pulled off the ground.

What amazing monster strength... Sakuraba Tree narrowed his eyes.

Although he had witnessed the puppet being vulnerable when he faked his death just now, the feeling was completely different when it happened to himself.

However, he was not a puppet that didn't know how to adapt.

With a thought, his pair of soles suddenly opened like two small wooden doors.

Countless fine puppet strings rushed out, breaking through the dojo floor tiles, digging deep into the ground, and fixing Sakuraba Tree’s body firmly in the air.

No matter how surging the pulling force from below was, it couldn't pull him a bit at this moment.

Next should be... Hmm? Sakuraba Tree’s expression changed abruptly. In his pupils, a shadow was rapidly growing, and below his peripheral vision, the ground where Siano had been standing was already empty!

Wha... when?

Before he could think too much, Sakuraba Tree hurriedly urged his body to puppetize completely.

For those controlled by him, it was equivalent to completely destroying their autonomous consciousness.

But for himself, the ability user, transforming his whole body into a hard wood state and then layering it on the surface of his skin was the best defensive armor.

*Boom!*

Siano grabbed the steel frame hanging from the ceiling, kicked on the load-bearing pillar behind him, and used this last leverage to approach several meters abruptly.

Finally, the moment Sakuraba Tree completed puppetization, he appeared in the air on his left side.

"Caught you!"

He smiled ferociously, smashed a punch into Sakuraba Tree’s left shoulder, and the shockwave exploded in a ring.

The hard, puppetized body collapsed a large piece instantly, revealing the empty chest cavity inside.

The splashing wood thorns grazed Siano’s muscle layer, but they couldn't pierce in at all, and after being bounced away, they fell to the ground one after another.

How could... Sakuraba Tree’s pupils shrank.

He didn't know how many times he had tested his torso with a blade before. With his swordsmanship, he could at most only slash through the first layer of the hard wood shell and couldn't hurt the inside at all.

But it was actually pierced by this brat’s punch?

This is bad!

Even if he had overestimated as much as possible, this guy’s strength was still far stronger than he expected!

A touch of panic surged into his heart after a long time.

Before he could make a response, Siano took the opportunity to step firmly on him.

The boy’s delicate face was close at hand, but when he grinned at this moment, in Sakuraba Tree’s eyes, it was as terrifying as a devil.

"Maybe you don't know, but your feel is really very, very similar to the orange trees in my hometown."

Siano’s mouth was almost reaching his ears. "And unfortunately, when I was farming in my hometown, the thing I liked to do most was hitting orange trees."

*Boom!*

Before the words were finished, Siano rode directly on Sakuraba Tree, and a set of violent boxing techniques, as urgent and heavy as a thunderstorm, bombarded the other party’s chest.

He had punched those trunks or wooden stakes hundreds, or even thousands of times every day. Accumulating over a year and a half, it was hundreds of thousands of sets.

Sweat never goes to waste.

At this moment, with the target’s material texture almost the same, everything became familiar.

*Boom boom boom!* In the continuous dull sound of punch after punch, Sakuraba Tree’s aura weakened at a speed visible to the naked eye.

His consciousness was also gradually dissipating.

No, it can't be like this... I can't fall here!

Sakuraba Tree’s career had clearly ended!

I should have used a new identity and a new name to complete the long-planned revenge plan!

His right hand struggled and trembled slightly. He wanted to control the puppet strings he had released from his skull at the beginning to fight back, but there was no feedback at all.

What is going on again?!

Sakuraba Tree looked down with all his might. In his blurred peripheral vision, he could vaguely see—

On the ground below, Junichi was holding a katana, still slashing wildly among the thick vines.

Taking advantage of his main body being restrained, he didn't know how long he had been slashing, but by now, he had almost cut all the puppet strings into pieces.

"Last punch!"

The moment despair surged up, he also heard Siano’s low drink in his ear.

*Boom!*

The surface of the hard wood body had long been fragmented, and under this blow, it completely lost contact with all puppet strings.

The body that lost support fell straight from a height of seven or eight meters and smashed into the ground, creating a huge crater.

Siano walked down, creaking on the other party’s knees, and turned back to look at the center of the spider-web-like cracks.

—But Sakuraba Tree’s eyes were wide open, staring at the ceiling with unwillingness, but the withered body didn't move, and there was no sound anymore.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 21 =====