Captain Kuro stood at the top of the slope, his posture ramrod straight, his expression a mask of cold, intellectual fury. He looked down at the scene of utter chaos, at his defeated crew, at the defiant faces of a few children, and his voice cut through the air, sharp and cold as a shard of glass.
"Explain this, Jango."
Jango flinched as if he'd been struck. "C-Captain Kuro…"
"How is it," Kuro continued, his voice dangerously low, "that my entire crew, the once-feared Black Cat Pirates, has been thoroughly dismantled by a handful of brats?"
"B-but Captain!" Jango stammered, trying to defend himself. "You were the one who said the long-nosed liar wouldn't be a problem!"
"My assessment was not wrong," Kuro retorted, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with the palm of his hand. The movement was precise, familiar, but now held a terrifying new menace. "The plan was perfect. The only flaw was in the tools. It seems that in the three years I have been living a life of peace, you have all become pathetically weak."
The insult, delivered with such calm disdain, struck the Nyaban Brothers harder than any physical blow. Their cat-like confidence was replaced by wounded, furious pride.
"Weak?!" Sham hissed, getting to his feet.
"How dare you!" Buchi added, clenching his clawed fists. "While you were playing butler, we were the ones out on the sea! We were fighting, plundering, making our name feared! We are stronger now than we have ever been!"
"That's right!" Sham declared, a mutinous fire in his eyes. "We don't need a captain who's gone soft! We'll kill you right here and take the fortune for ourselves!"
In perfect sync, the two brothers lunged at Kuro, their claws extended, aiming to tear him apart from two sides.
But they were attacking a ghost.
In the blink of an eye, Kuro vanished. The brothers' attack hit nothing but empty air, their momentum causing them to stumble into each other.
"Where did he go?!"
"Behind you."
Kuro's voice was a whisper right behind their ears. They spun around in a panic, claws raised to strike, only to find nothing there again.
"No. Behind you."
He was behind them again. He moved without a sound, without a trace, a phantom in a black suit. It was his signature technique, the Nukiashi, or Stealth Foot.
Before they could even process his impossible speed, they felt the cold, sharp touch of steel against their throats. Kuro was now standing between them, his hands raised, the ten razor-sharp blades of his Cat Claws gleaming inches from their carotid arteries. They were completely at his mercy.
Jango watched, a cold sweat breaking out on his brow. 'There it is… the Shakushi…' he thought, recognizing the technique. He shuddered. 'And that habit of his… pushing up his glasses with his palm. It's not a tic. It's what he does right before he kills someone without a second thought.'
"You have grown stronger, you say?" Kuro whispered, his voice devoid of all emotion. "Your strength is an illusion. Your pride is an insult. But… I am a man who values a well-laid plan."
He retracted his claws slightly.
"I will give you one final chance to prove you are not completely useless."
He looked towards Zoro, Nami, and Usopp.
"You have five minutes. Kill them all."
He paused, letting the weight of his next words sink in.
"If you fail… I will kill every single person on this coast. And I will start… with my own crew."
The ultimatum was absolute. The brothers' mutinous anger was instantly replaced by a primal, desperate fear of their own captain. They turned, their eyes now filled with a savage, cornered-animal ferocity, and focused all of it on their one remaining target: Roronoa Zoro.
They charged.
Zoro, still armed with only one sword, braced himself.
"ZORO!"
He glanced to the side. Nami, seeing the situation, had acted. She kicked his two discarded swords across the ground. They skidded to a halt right at his feet.
"Don't think this means I'm thanking you!" Zoro grunted as he deftly picked them up, one in his free hand, the other returning to its rightful place between his teeth.
Now, he was whole again.
As the Nyaban Brothers leaped at him in a furious, clawing assault, Zoro met them head-on. The fight was no longer a desperate defense. It was a duel.
CLANG! SHING! CLANG!
Steel met steel. He was now a whirlwind of three blades, matching their speed and overwhelming their ferocity.
"It's time to end this!" Zoro growled. He crossed his arms, his three swords forming a fearsome X. "Tora Gari!" (Tiger Hunt!)
He lunged forward, a single, powerful, downward cutting motion with all three blades. The attack was too fast, too powerful. Buchi and Sham were caught in the steel torrent and were sent flying, crashing to the ground in a battered, unconscious heap.
Zoro stood over them, panting, but victorious. He raised Wado Ichimonji, pointing its tip directly at the still figure at the top of the slope.
"You're next, Kuro."
But the fight wasn't over.
A low groan came from the ground. Buchi, the stout brother, was pushing himself up. He was bruised, bleeding, and barely conscious, but his fear of Kuro was stronger than his wounds.
"Captain… Jango…" he gasped. "Hypnotize… me…"
Jango, seeing this as his only chance to appease Kuro, immediately raised his ring.
"Right! A power-up for Buchi! One, Two, Jango! You are strong! Your muscles are like steel!"
Buchi roared as the hypnotic suggestion took hold. His muscles seemed to swell, his eyes glowed with mindless fury, and he rose to his feet, now a berserker fueled by hypnosis and terror. Zoro cursed, raising his swords again to face the powered-up foe.
Seeing Zoro occupied, Nami knew this was their chance. She started sprinting towards the massive pile of wood where their real trump card was buried.
"Luffy! Wake up!"
Jango saw her. "Oh no, you don't!"
He flung his spinning chakram, the razor-sharp ring whistling through the air, aimed directly at Nami's back.