"He doesn't have a Devil Fruit inside him? How is that possible!"
Burgess roared in astonishment, his voice trembling. "But what he just used, that was clearly a Devil Fruit ability!"
Van Auger and Doc Q exchanged uneasy glances.
Van Auger narrowed his eyes and spoke calmly, "Captain, just now, The Plunderer unfurled six massive black wings on the sea. That ability looked nothing like the one he just used."
"Heh, hehehehe… how interesting."
Blackbeard Teach's dark laughter rolled through the tavern like thunder.
"Listen, lads! There are only two possibilities now!
The first one—maybe the Devil Fruit Shirogai ate is so unusual that even my Dark-Dark Fruit can't nullify it!"
Burgess leaned forward eagerly. "And the second possibility, Captain?"
Teach's laughter stopped abruptly. His grin froze, and for a moment, disbelief flickered across his face.
"The second possibility…" His voice dropped, word by word, dripping with ferocity.
"…He's not a Devil Fruit user at all."
The entire tavern fell into silence.
"…"
"…"
"…"
The four Blackbeard pirates sat in stunned quiet.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang…
Their heartbeats thundered inside their chests, accelerating all at once.
Then, without warning, an invisible pressure swept down on them.
"Captain… I, I feel like something's wrong!" Burgess gasped, clutching the table, his body trembling under an unseen force.
Teach himself was straining to breathe, but his eyes widened in sudden realization.
"…This is… Conqueror's Haki!" he rasped. "Could it be…"
Shirogai's calm smile flashed through Teach's mind.
Clenching his teeth, Blackbeard snarled, "That bastard… he actually has the potential of a king!"
"Cough… cough…" Doc Q collapsed, his frail body unable to endure the weight of the pressure. His face turned ghostly pale as he lay wheezing on the floor.
"Captain, is he deliberately targeting us?" Van Auger asked, his voice strained as he leaned heavily on his rifle like a crutch. Panic flickered in his usually cold eyes.
"Zehahahahaha!!!"
Teach suddenly burst into a manic laugh. He looked out the bar door, grinning wildly with jagged teeth.
"Shirogai Yamikuro! He's not targeting us alone—he's unleashing his wrath on the entire town!"
The greedy fire in Teach's gaze only grew brighter. If I could make this man join me… if I could chain that kind of power to my crew…
"Heheheheh! He's reclaiming the dignity of his captain and crew, stolen by fools! Zehahahaha!"
Shirogai stepped out of the tavern.
He stood at the doorway, his calm smile sweeping across the bustling street.
"What a lively, chaotic town," he murmured.
Then he moved forward.
Crack.
The moment Shirogai's foot touched the street, a chilling wave of ice-blue frost spread outward from beneath him. Within seconds, it coated the cobblestones and swallowed the entire street in a thin, creeping sheet of ice.
Bang!
A thunderous boom echoed, but not through the air—it struck directly inside the hearts of everyone in Mock Town.
"Ahhh! What was that?! A cannon?!" people screamed in confusion, clutching their chests.
Before answers could form, another bang followed.
"Bang!"
Men and women doubled over, groaning in pain, their eyes wide in terror.
Then someone shouted, "It's snowing! Look, it's snowing!"
Indeed, white flakes drifted lazily from the sky. The once-hot street had become cloaked in frost, every breath misting in the air.
Inside the tavern, drunken laughter rang out.
"Hahaha! Those two cowards are still getting beaten? Pathetic!"
"Hehehe, after this, let's hunt them down. We'll take the head of that brat worth thirty million Berries and cash in with those greedy brokers!"
"Shh! Idiot, don't say that too loud—you'll piss off Bellamy!"
Bang!
The sudden booming sound silenced every pirate at once.
"What was that?! Cannons?!"
"Morons! If someone blows this place up, where the hell will we drink?!"
Bellamy, who had been mocking Luffy and Zoro alongside his crew, slammed his cup down in fury.
"Who the hell is making noise and ruining my mood?!" he shouted, storming toward the door.
But he had barely taken two steps when two more thunderous bangs rolled through his chest.
"Bang! Bang!"
"Ghhhaaahh… what the hell is happening?!" Bellamy staggered, his breath ragged, his limbs heavy as stone.
His men collapsed one by one, clutching their chests in agony.
Only Bellamy managed to stay half-upright, his whole body trembling violently.
"Damn it! Who's attacking us?!" he roared, his vision swimming with golden sparks.
Bang!
The sound came again, straight from his own heartbeat. Bellamy dropped to his knees with a thud, teeth gritted as he crawled desperately toward the door.
At last, realization dawned across the tavern.
"It's… the sound of a heartbeat…" someone croaked in horror.
Snap.
Shirogai's next step echoed crisply on the icy street.
Bang!
Another heartbeat exploded inside every chest in Mock Town.
By now, every single soul in the city had been forced to their knees. None could stand.
Inside the tavern, Blackbeard spread a shroud of swirling darkness around himself and his crew, shielding them from the crushing waves of power.
"What incredible Conqueror's Haki," he muttered in awe. "He's fusing it with something else… some kind of mysterious ability."
Indeed, it was Conqueror's Haki combined with the awakened state of the Whisper-Whisper Fruit.
Mind Conqueror's Haki.
Step by step, Shirogai forced submission from every living being in range. No one could lift their head. No one dared to meet his gaze.
"Heh…"
A soft laugh echoed—not in the air, but inside the minds of everyone in Mock Town.
Fear flooded their veins. They all knew: the owner of that laugh was the one crushing them.
"In my homeland," Shirogai's calm voice murmured in their hearts, "there's an old saying. You cannot speak of ice to a summer insect."
His words carried directly into their minds. Whether they wished to hear or not, they were forced to listen.
"It means those born only in summer can never know winter. They cannot imagine ice."
Citizens trembled. Some prayed. Please… don't let him kill us.
Shirogai's voice continued, gentle but merciless.
"So, because you cannot understand, I've brought you ice."
Snow poured harder now, the entire town smothered in a blizzard.
"Wh-Who is it…" Bellamy wheezed from the floor, glaring toward the doorway as frost bit his skin.
An Admiral?
One of the Four Emperors?
No.
The voice came again, this time echoing both in his chest and out loud from the street outside.
"Bellamy," Shirogai said with a soft chuckle, his foot resting on the snowy tavern step, "didn't you say I should come reclaim the dignity of my crew?"
The door creaked open.
Shirogai entered, smiling as his gaze swept across the pirates sprawled helplessly on the floor.
"As you wished," he said lightly, "I'm here."
___
Thanks for the Power stones.