Dororo: A Novel
Tsuji Masaki
Part Seven
The Tale of a
New Sea Voyage
Chapter 2
Torn sails rustled in the cold wind.
Dororo and Hyakkimaru were on the deck of the ship.
"Will your wish finally come true
now?" Hyakkimaru asked.
Dororo had Hyakkimaru's sword arm in
his hand. Now that the demon was dead, Hyakkimaru had his real arms,
and the sword arms were detached from him.
"Hehe... I told you that I'd
definitely get the sword from you."
"Then when the ship reaches a port
somewhere, we'll say goodbye, I suppose."
"Why would we do that?"
"What?"
"So I achieved my goal." Dororo
shrugged. "You still got monsters to fight, right, aniki? So I think
I'm gonna follow you until we clear out all the monsters."
"We?"
"Yes, we!"
Hyakkimaru smiled briefly, but then
he choked. "Okay. But if you're sticking around, I'm going to give
you a bath."
"You won't." Dororo appeared
nervous. "I'm the greatest phantom thief in all of Japan! I don't
need no stupid bath! Hygiene is overrated. I don't need to be clean
to stalk you, ya moron! Pumpkin-head! Someone dropped you on your
head when you were born. Hah!"
***
The mast creaked overhead. With the
demon defeated, the haunted ship was just a ship again, albeit one
in extremely bad repair. The wind filled the ship's dilapidated
sails, and Dororo and Hyakkimaru headed out into open waters.
The two boys sat on the deck, gazing
at the far-off horizon, smelling the sea air and looking at the
rolling waves.
Dororo had stolen Hyakkimaru's sword
arm, and Hyakkimaru had regained all of his missing limbs.
Dororo and Hyakkimaru, where will
they go now?
I don't know, and they don't know,
but they'll go as far as they can!
THE END
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