A Cook, A Doctor, A Ghost and A Ronin.

Farewell

Huh? What? Everything's upside down. What's happening? My senses are gone! The Ronin and the brat finally revealed themselves! I have to finish this and immediately report this to Muzan-sama!

Gyokko didn't understand. His vision is all upside down. He can't feel anything. His arms, his tail is all lost. He didn't understand what's going on. Gyokko is in a state of shock from his defeat. His disfigured head fell to the floor.

"Game over, we won." Zoro sheathed his sword back into his scabbards. There's no need to worry anymore. 

"This is the end. Goodbye. There's no need for you to be reborn ever again." Muichiro with his blank expression send his farewell to the Upper Five. Gyokko began to catch up on what is going on.

? 

?!

He cut off my head...?! He cut off my head! He cut my head! He cut off my head!!!! No! Impossible!! I don't believe it! What an incredible turns of events! I lost to a nobody?! Me?! The almighty me?! Gyokko's sense of pride and superiority crumbles instantly.

"Am I in a nightmare?! This could not happen! I will never lose to a human! A mere human! I'm supposed to be better than them! I am superior in everyway!" Gyokko denied his loss, although his body is slowly turning into dust.

"Arrrgh! This shouldn't be!! I! Gyokko!! Losing his head!! To a mere human!! A horrible and disgraceful lower form of life! I am worth a hundred of all of you! I am a chosen superb being!!" On the verge of death, Gyokko starts throwing tantrum on his defeat.

"Kid, can you do me a favor?" Zoro asked Muichiro for one last favor. Muichiro raised his sword.

"You're weak!! You're dying the moments that you are born!! With my godly hands, I took your ridiculous worthless lives and turned them into a beautiful art! You ungrateful maggots-

*Slash!*

*Swish!*

*Slash!*

"That's enough. Just go to hell already." Before Gyokko could finish his sentence, Muichiro cleave him further and further to an equal bite size pieces, shutting the demon up. He's tired of Gyokko's rambling. It just gets him riled up for no reason at all.

"Gee, thanks kid. That fuckface is really loud." Zoro thanked Muichiro for shutting Gyokko's mouth as the demon disintegrate into nothing but dust. Then, Kanamori went towards us. The swordsmith is really worried.

"Tokito!-sama! Ronin-sama! Are you all right?! I had no idea what was going on!" Kanamori approaches the two, carrying a scabbard for Muichiro's sword. Whatever happened, he was relieved to see the two alive and breathing.

"I'm good. A little bruises here and there. But overall, I'm fine." Zoro insisted that he was fine. He bruised himself earlier protecting Muichiro.

"Me too. I'm fine. I feel great right now. But I have to hurry to Tanjiro and the others." Zoro just glared at the Mist Hashira who is trembling and shaking. His breath isn't stable and looks very pale. The kid's not in good shape.

"Your face looks very pale. You're all right?" Kanamori could tell by looking at Muichiro's condition. His face looks very pale.

"Cut it, kid. Stop acting that you're good. You're not fooling anybody." Muichiro didn't look too well right now. He look like he could fall any minute right away.

"I'm totally fine. Didn't you hear me?" Muichiro insisted that he was fine as he forces himself to smile. 

"I'm fine, so...would you please...get Kotetsu?" Muichiro foamed in his mouth and fell to the ground. He lose his consciousness as he slowly succumb to his injuries and his tiredness. Poison was coursing in his veins. Gyokko's poison needles is starting to take effect.

"Oh no! Is he going to die?! What should I do?" Kanamori panicked he didn't now what should he do. He doesn't know what should he act on this situation. Zoro then turned Muichiro on the side, avoiding the boy from choking the bubbles.

"I....could still....fight......." Muichiro tells the Ronin and keeps on insisting that he could still fight. Zoro didn't say anything. Instead, he took Muichiro on a ride. He carried the Mist Hashira in his back and walk away.

"Take a break. You've outdone yourself. You should be proud of your achievement." Zoro gave him a praise after what Muichiro had done. He earned Zoro's respect as a fellow swordsmen. He could see that this boy had a good heart in him.

"Why?" Muichiro asked.

"Why did you help me? Why did you go through such lengths, to save me? After all I did, why did you do it? What makes you do it?" Muichiro didn't understand. Why did Zoro went through such lengths? Why did Zoro keeps on helping others?

Earlier when they first encounter Karaku, Zoro went ahead and took the impact of the surge of wind all by himself. Then he pushed Muichiro away from getting hit by Gyokko's Haki coated octopus tentacles and was thrown to the forest. Zoro went through all that to save Muichiro. 

Why?

"Isn't that what comrades do?" Zoro asked him back with another question and smiled. That took Muichiro by surprise. Helping others also help yourself at the end of the day. It seems that his father's words are true after all.

See? It all worked out.

A semblance of his father, mother and brother stood behind him from afar. With his father and mother smiling at him. His older brother, Yuichiro at first looked at him with a stern gaze before smiling at his brother, proud of what had become of him.

You did well, Muichiro.

All of them waved goodbye. Muichiro's eyes started to flooded with tears, knowing this is the last time he could see his family again. He can't hold back his tears as his family bid him farewell for the last time. The semblance of his family disappeared, shrouded in the clouds of mist.

Muichiro needs to be honest. Since when did he have ever piggyback ride someone? Ever since his father died long ago, he had forgotten how it feels like. The sensation was warm and comforting. Something he had never felt in ages. 

He clutched Zoro's back tighter as tears flowed under his cheeks. He remembered how his father would always piggyback him whenever he was injured and sings a song to cheer him on the way to home. It feels nostalgic.

He wants this moment to last forever....