【𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨】

ꜰɪʀꜱᴛ ɢʟᴀɴᴄᴇ

She lived that way for 9 more years, spending a total of 13 years at the Pleasure House. Now, she had matured to the age of 26.

She mostly surrounded herself with Toko, who was her young kamuro, Denjiro and Mizuki before she resigned due to old age.

This left her feeling somewhat lonely, though she had so much. The other women were intimidated by her beauty and arrogant personality, though they knew it was only fake. They admired her, but didn't form many relationships with her. No-one her age stayed around her very long, apart from the men that watched the Oiran's Parade whenever she was called by Orochi, her only client as a Tayū, to entertain him at one of his many parties which she hated so much.

When she was running from a man trying to kill her, she was even more guilty. She held Toko tightly as she ran for her life.

She had, for the first time, defied Orochi's orders and slapped him to protect Toko. She and Denjiro had been preparing for a day when she would lose control of herself. Their answer was to fake her death. Wearing a bag of pig's blood underneath her kimono, she succumbed to Denjiro's katana. This was done to protect her but one thing played through her mind every second after her supposed 'death'.

Who would protect Toko now that she was gone?

Denjiro took her 'body' out of the room, where she changed so that she was no longer Komurasaki, but Hiyori. Komurasaki was dead now, in the eyes of the public and to Hiyori once and for all.

There, she managed to run away, bringing Toko along with her. She was recognisable as the most beautiful woman in Wano, but as long as she covered her face, she was hard to identify.

Due to Toko's disrespect of Orochi, they were quickly chased by an assassin aiming to kill Toko. They just wanted to be free, but it seemed that it would never happen again if this man caught up.

Hiyori ran as fast as her feet allowed her to in the barren land surrounded by a thick layer of snow, but it wasn't enough. Her pursuer was catching up, and fast. He had even cut her arm slightly.

In the distance, she noticed a man.

A man with green-hair and 2 swords on his waist wearing a white yukata lined with dark blue fabric and a green haori patterned with darker, forest green swirls.

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Zoro was incredibly frustrated. His sword, Shusui, which he had won after a fair fight 2 years ago had been taken from him.

 Apparently, it was seen as some ancient treasure, being the sword of Wano's greatest Samurai, the Sword God Ryuma. But still, he won it, so he owned it- after a duel with Ryuma's zombie (it's hard to explain) no less! The lack of a third sword on his waist made him more wary of the world around him, and far more cautious in general.

All of a sudden, he heard a woman and young girl shouting for help. The girl giggled, making it seem as if nothing dangerous was actually happening. Zoro couldn't help but stop thinking the situation was serious until he saw a fresh cut on the arm of the woman dribble blood, staining the pure white snow with liquid as red as a scarlet spider lily.

As a crimson shawl flew out from their grasp in the woman's panic, Zoro noticed a man chasing her slice up the red fabric until it was nothing but shreds. At once, Zoro leapt into action.

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Hiyori was sure she was going to die. While she may have gotten away from her life as Komurasaki, Toko was still the girl that accidentally laughed at and disrespected Orochi. The man following her was Kamazo, an assassin, trying to kill Toko for something she couldn't control as well as Hiyori for protecting Toko, even though she wasn't recognisable as Komurasaki with her head covered by a violet shawl.

As she winced, closing her eyes and preparing to take one final breath, she heard a massive clash of steel. In front of her stood the Samurai she had been calling out to earlier, defending her from her hunter with ease.

She was left in awe as he was attacked by another party which he fended off just as easily.
He had a commanding presence, letting him tell the other man, who she recognised as Gyukimaru, defender of the Oihagi Bridge, attacking him to wait- and Gyukimaru listening.

Then the Samurai put on a brilliant display of strength. From her attacker, she found out that he was called 'Zorojuro' - he was an infamous slasher, much like the man attacking her, but something seemed much more noble about Zorojuro than Kamazo, the slasher who was secretly an assassin for Orochi.

She watched, helpless, as he showed an equal, or even greater power than his opponent. All of a sudden, Gyukimaru leaped into action. While he didn't do any damage himself, it left Zorojuro susceptible to a blow in the right shoulder from Kamazo with his razor-sharp scythe.

 She observed them carefully as she couldn't help but gasp. 2 on 1 wasn't fair, but neither was Orochi.
Zorojuro stopped as Kamazo grinned at his supposed prey.

Staring at him was upsetting at first but then... he grinned. Kamazo couldn't pull out his scythe and ended up being pushed away with only one scythe.

Zorojuro was definitely smiling as he pulled out the giant scythe from his shoulder, without a doubt causing further bleeding. He then, to her shock, claimed it as his own as he put the handle into his mouth.

"In... his mouth?", she gasped, worried for his life but also confused by his methods.

In a flash, he put out his strongest attack yet, immediately slashing Kamazo after charging up.
Ryuo, also known as Haki in other lands - he had definitely used it.

Soon after ending the fight, his previous attacker left; clearly, he had business elsewhere. Zorojuro could barely stand, falling to his knees then passing out.

What was Hiyori meant to do in this situation? One thing was abundantly clear.

Help him.

He seemed weakened- the food and water nearby were all poisoned, maybe he had ingested some of it? Nevertheless, she could tell he was a force to be reckoned with, poisoned or not. She knew that she only had one choice; to help him heal at the nearest place for shelter.

A/N

Got this one out pretty fast, I've written a few chapters early in case of writer's block. I literally have chapter 11 written already without writing any of the chapters in between ┏⁠(⁠＾⁠0⁠＾⁠)⁠┛ can't guarantee the rest will come out soon. Well, enough chit-chat.

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