Chapter 139: What Reason is There to Refuse?
Aokiji did not answer Garou's words.
Instead, he steered the conversation in another direction.
"You should know that I am constantly developing new Psychic Powers, right?"
"...The Old Man mentioned it."
Garou didn't understand what he was trying to say.
But thinking that he had already made his decision to leave and continue getting stronger regardless of how the Old Man reacted...
...he just gave a perfunctory reply.
"That's good, then there's no need to explain so much."
The Dojo had collapsed, but the spectating Disciples were still there.
Aokiji signaled Bang to clear the area with a look.
Once the reluctant Disciples were driven away, Bang stepped over the ruins of the collapsed Dojo and walked over to Garou's side.
Garou stared blankly at the sky.
He avoided looking at the Old Man who was his... Master.
Bang's expression was complex.
He believed that after experiencing various events, even being willing to break out of prison to rescue the Masked Hero Garou, he had changed sufficiently.
It was just the young man's pride at work.
Preventing him from fully opening his heart.
But Garou's performance and words today proved to him that Garou was still that same troublesome Garou.
What on earth are you thinking?
Those unfinished words... they're your ideal, aren't they?
What exactly is it?
Worthy of such persistence, such stubbornness.
Going so far as to secretly learn the Evil Fist I had sealed away.
Going so far as to resolve to leave the Dojo.
"The answer is that you're afraid, Garou."
Aokiji spoke in a flat yet certain tone.
This immediately drew the gaze of both the Old Man and the youth.
"I'm afraid? Heh—" Garou let out a disdainful laugh.
Only those who have been seen through get angry.
Knowing the other person's words are false, one only finds them absurd and laughable.
Garou could firmly say to his own heart...
...that facing Aokiji, facing Bang, facing Monsters, he had never been afraid!
"What you fear isn't some enemy, nor is it me." Aokiji pulled over a relatively clean piece of debris and sat down.
"You fear your own ideal."
Without waiting for Garou to argue.
Aokiji spoke again, his elbow resting on his knee and his cheek leaning on his fist.
"Returning to the topic of my Psychic Power development."
Garou's mouth, which had just opened, froze.
The rebuttal stuck in his throat was quite uncomfortable.
Bang was also filled with anticipation.
Desperate to know what exactly the ideal was that prevented Garou from changing.
But he knew he wasn't the protagonist of this conversation, so he could only continue to wait in silence.
"Ice, Azure Dragon, Repel, and the Haki manifested from my will—these are the Psychic Powers I possess that you know of."
"However, there is another ability that I've had from the very beginning."
Aokiji has other abilities?
This sentence couldn't help but pique the curiosity of both men.
"And that is..." Aokiji drew out his voice, feigning mystery.
"The ability to foresee the future."
"I've seen what you would do in a future without my interference, Garou, and I know what your true ideal is."
Bang's eyes widened slightly, and he stroked his beard to calm himself.
After a brief silence, Garou sneered:
"Heh, so in the future you saw, my vision came true, didn't it? That's why you want to stop me."
Such a familiar dialogue.
It seemed to have happened once before with Orochi.
These guys all have an unusual level of self-confidence.
"No, you failed." Aokiji shattered his fantasy.
"And, I'm talking about your true ideal, not your compromised plan."
Garou was still immersed in the shock and doubt of Aokiji firmly stating his failure.
When Aokiji's follow-up words struck his heart like a heavy blow.
My true... ideal?
"absolute evil or whatever is just a product of your fear and compromise."
Aokiji stopped beating around the bush.
He dissected Garou's psychological journey step by step.
"What you truly want to be is an absolutely just and perfect hero, an existence that can eradicate all evil."
"However, you became afraid, concluding that you couldn't reach that grand goal because it requires far more than just powerful martial force."
"So you chose to compromise, turning instead to pursue absolute evil, which only requires absolute martial force."
"A pity." Aokiji shook his head.
"That future version of you, even if he reached what he considered absolute evil, still didn't possess absolutely dominant martial force."
"Failure was only natural."
The wind on the mountain peak blew up at an inopportune moment.
Letting out a lonely whistle through the ruins of the Dojo.
For a moment, silence was like second-hand smoke in a smoking room, emitted by everyone and inhaled by everyone.
Aokiji was waiting for them to digest the information.
Bang was questioning his life. absolute evil? absolute justice?
How did this kid's thoughts swing from one extreme to the other?
Garou forced himself to sit up, his gaze questioning.
"You said earlier that it was a future without your interference, so who could defeat me once I became absolute evil?"
"Don't believe it?" Aokiji looked him over, resting his face in his hand.
"It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not; after all, it's something that happened in another future, and I haven't even mentioned the bombshell news yet."
Aokiji said all this just to give Garou a heads-up.
Following his absolute evil plan wouldn't work.
"There's more bombshell news?!" Bang couldn't help but speak up.
Although he didn't understand exactly what this kid Garou's plan for absolute evil entailed, just from the title alone, it was unlikely to be anything good.
Now Aokiji was saying the bombshell news hadn't been revealed yet.
So what was Garou's absolute evil? Just a prologue and some foreshadowing?
"...Tell me," Garou said in a low voice.
He still couldn't judge the truth of Aokiji's words, yet he couldn't disprove them either.
At the very least, Aokiji had straightforwardly stated his plan for absolute evil and his envisioned perfect hero.
This at least proved that Aokiji's Future Prediction was likely real.
Garou wanted to hear the news that Aokiji judged to be even more important than absolute evil.
What exactly was it?
"If humanity perishes, whether it's absolute evil or a perfect hero, would there be any meaning to their existence?"
Aokiji spoke leisurely.
It didn't sound like a discussion about human survival, but rather casual small talk.
"There is something beyond your imagination that has been watching Earth. If it has its way, everything you stand for will be meaningless."
"So before you fulfill your ideal, you might as well protect the foundation that makes it possible."
"Humanity... perishing?" Garou murmured.
"Aokiji, are you really not joking?" Bang frowned solemnly.
"I never make jokes that aren't funny. Do you think this is funny?" Aokiji said as he stood up.
"Put aside both your true ideal and your compromised plan. Survive first, then consider them."
"If you want to improve your strength, join the Hero Association. Fighting Monsters is one thing, but I will also occasionally hold sparring sessions between S-Class Heroes."
"For someone like you who wants to get stronger through combat, do you really think hanging around the underworld and bullying small fries is enough?"
"Now, is there any reason left to refuse?"
Bang looked at the silhouette of Garou sitting up.
How should he put it?
Originally, Garou's words and actions were his primary concern.
But now, after being informed of the massive future danger by Aokiji...
...this brat's affairs seemed like no big deal.