Chapter 6: The Blood-Stained Port
Three pirate ships, their sails emblazoned with crude black skulls, docked at the harbor under the cover of chaos.
Boom!
Cannonfire shattered the peaceful morning. Explosions rocked the shoreline, reducing warehouses and fishing shacks to burning wreckage.
"Captain!" one of the pirates called out from the deck, a curved knife in one hand and a manic grin on his face. "Jackpot! This port's full of merchant ships—easy pickings and no defenses. We're gonna be rich!"
"Kahahahaha!" The captain, a massive man with wild red hair and a tattered tricorn hat, stood at the bow, brandishing a giant cleaver-like blade. "You heard him, boys! Sack the town! Take everything that shines!"
Cheers erupted from the decks.
"Kill, loot, and burn! The women and treasure are mine!"
With a roar, the pirates leapt from the ships and stormed the port. Over a hundred bloodthirsty marauders hit the cobblestones like a flood.
Panic set in immediately.
"Pirates! Run!"
"Get out of the way!"
Terrified townsfolk scattered in all directions. Some bolted deeper into the town, others hurled themselves into the sea in desperation. The harbor became a stampede of bodies, screams, and rising smoke.
Boom!
More cannonballs soared overhead, crashing into homes and igniting fires. Flames licked the sky.
Cries for help echoed from every direction. Children wept, elders fell behind. A dockworker screamed as a pirate's blade found his back, his blood staining the wooden planks.
That single death was enough to ignite a frenzy.
Fear turned into madness. People trampled each other trying to escape, screams swallowed by chaos. Dozens were crushed underfoot—not by pirates, but by each other.
"Hahaha! Captain, we've already cleared the port!"
The ship's first mate laughed, watching the carnage unfold from above.
Smack!
Without warning, the captain slapped him so hard he spun across the deck.
"Don't speak unless you're saying something worth hearing," the captain growled, stepping down onto the dock with theatrical swagger.
He stood tall—three meters of pure menace—and raised his blade high.
"I am Alex Jesse, captain of the Bear Pirates! I hold a bounty of 43 million Beli! Anyone who values their life—bring me your treasure, or die where you stand!"
The town froze.
His voice boomed across the square, silencing the shrieks. All eyes turned to the enormous man standing like a war god on the raised platform.
Charlotte had just arrived when he heard that name.
"Forty-three million…"
He frowned.
Back then, forty million was no small feat. If this were the era forty years from now, that bounty would probably be worth over a hundred million.
He didn't know if he could take this guy—yet. But it didn't matter.
Alex Jesse's laughter thundered again. "Spread out! Empty every house. Kill anyone who resists!"
"AYE, CAPTAIN!"
Over a hundred pirates poured into the town like locusts.
That was when Charlotte moved.
He dropped down from a nearby rooftop like a meteor, fists clenched tight.
Boom! Boom!
Two pirates went flying backwards, unconscious before they even hit the ground.
Alex Jesse blinked, then laughed. "Kahahaha! A kid? What is this, amateur hour? Go back to your mama's teat!"
The crew roared with laughter.
Charlotte didn't reply. He vanished in a blur.
Bang! Bang!
Two more pirates fell—faces caved in, blood spraying.
Alex Jesse's smirk faded. "Kill him."
More than a hundred pirates swarmed Charlotte, drawing flintlocks and cutlasses.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots rang out—but Charlotte didn't flinch. With Observation Haki activated, he weaved through the bullets like a phantom. His movements were fluid, precise, untouchable.
Then he charged into the horde.
Steel flashed. Limbs flew. Blood painted the cobblestones.
Charlotte's blade spun like a storm, cutting through pirates as if they were paper dolls. Screams echoed as he carved a path straight through the enemy.
The frenzy took him.
That dull rage—the one he'd been suppressing for years—erupted like a volcano.
"KILL! KILL! KILL!" he roared, his eyes glowing crimson.
He was no longer calm.
He was no longer human.
He was a beast unchained.
Fear set in. The pirates, once confident in their numbers, hesitated. Some backed away. Others dropped their weapons entirely.
But it was too late.
Charlotte didn't stop.
He tore into them with savage glee, his body soaked in blood, a manic grin on his face. It wasn't just a fight—it was a catharsis.
A release.
"Damn you!" Alex Jesse shouted, watching his crew die like dogs. "These men took me years to gather!"
But the crowd, the townsfolk who had survived the initial assault, had no sympathy for the pirate captain.
They stared in disbelief at the one-man army cutting through the Bear Pirates.
"Is… is that really Charlotte?!"
"He's a monster!"
Some wept with relief. Others simply watched, too stunned to move.
Charlotte raised his blood-soaked sword to the sky and let out a howl.
"YAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!"
Suddenly, an invisible pressure exploded from his body.
A shockwave of pure will.
Conqueror's Haki.
Red lightning crackled in the air. Pirates and civilians alike dropped where they stood, unconscious before they even realized what hit them.
Even Alex Jesse flinched, eyes wide.
"H-He's got… Conqueror's Haki?!"
It made no sense. He'd been pirating for years—he could count on one hand the number of people he'd seen use that kind of power. How could a boy possess it?
Charlotte didn't care.
He kept moving.
The fallen pirates were no longer a threat, but he cut them down anyway. Mercy wasn't part of his vocabulary right now.
Ivan, finally arriving on the scene, staggered under the pressure of the Haki. He clung to a support pillar to keep from falling.
"Wh-what… what happened…?"
He lifted his head—and froze.
The battlefield was littered with corpses and unconscious bodies.
Only two figures still stood: Charlotte, drenched in blood and heaving with adrenaline… and Alex Jesse, sword in hand, visibly shaken.
Charlotte glanced at the final pirate.
With a slow, deliberate swing, he cleaved through the last standing crew member, the man's body crumpling in a spray of red.
He turned to Jesse.
Grinning wide, Charlotte tilted his head back and howled again.
"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
A second wave of Conqueror's Haki erupted—thicker, deadlier, brimming with bloodlust.
Ivan collapsed.
And Alex Jesse, trembling, dropped to one knee.
His massive sword was the only thing keeping him upright.
But his hands were shaking.
He knew what he was facing.
He wasn't up against some boy with a bounty dream.
He was staring down a future monster.