"My head… it hurts so much…"
Consciousness surfaced slowly, pulling him up from a bottomless, pitch-black trench of oblivion. Katakuri struggled to open his eyes, his vision greeted by an unfamiliar ceiling made of cold, damp stone blocks.
"Yo, you're awake."
A slightly hoarse, unfamiliar voice came from beside him. Katakuri turned his head toward the sound. Leaning against the opposite wall was a man he didn't recognize—he had dark skin, striking silver hair, and peculiar tattoos on his face. He was looking at Katakuri with a cold, detached expression.
"You are…" Katakuri squinted, his vision still blurry. He tried to clear his head, and his gaze slowly drifted to the pair of huge black wings folded behind the man's back. Recognition dawned. "You're… King?"
"What, surprised to see my face?" King's lips curled into a self-mocking sneer.
Katakuri subconsciously nodded, then winced as a sharp pain shot through his skull. To be honest, he was definitely surprised. The true identity of "The Blazing Calamity" King, the Beasts Pirates' top executive, had always been one of the New World's greatest mysteries. He always wore a hideous leather mask that covered his entire face, never revealing his true appearance. Even Katakuri, a top commander of a rival Yonko crew, had been curious about the face hidden beneath that mask.
Today, his curiosity was satisfied in the most unexpected way possible. It also made him understand instantly why King always wore such a cumbersome mask.
"Black wings, silver hair, dark skin…" Katakuri said slowly, his crimson eyes wide with surprise. "You're a Lunarian. It's said that just reporting your existence to the World Government is worth one hundred million Berries. The legendary race, thought to be long extinct!"
Hearing the words "Lunarian" and "report," King's eyes, partially hidden beneath his silver hair, turned cold and dangerous. A flood of terrible memories surged through his mind—of his childhood spent in a cold laboratory, being studied like a rare animal. He forcefully pushed the memories down, then shot a mocking glare at Katakuri, scrutinizing him from head to toe.
"Is that so? Well, the feeling's mutual," he sneered. "I also didn't expect that the second son of the Big Mom Pirates, the so-called 'perfect' older brother of the Charlotte Family, was hiding such an… interesting face beneath that thick scarf." He deliberately emphasized the word "interesting." "That mouth of yours is really something. It opens up quite wide, doesn't it?"
The words struck Katakuri like a physical blow. He instinctively reached for his neck, only to find nothing but empty air. His thick scarf, the one he never took off, the one that hid his eel-like split mouth from the world, was gone. His face was completely exposed. King had, with pinpoint accuracy, stepped on the most sensitive and untouchable landmine in his heart.
"You got a problem with my mouth, you tattooed bastard?" Katakuri snarled, his voice a low growl squeezed from between gritted teeth.
"What? You want to fight?" King shot back without hesitation. "Bring it on, split-mouthed eel."
In an instant, the two were at each other's throats again. Invisible sparks flew through the air as they prepared to trade blows within the cramped cell. But in the next moment…
"CLANG!"
The heavy, metallic sound of Sea Prism Stone shackles rang out with sharp irony. Both men were jerked to a halt by the heavy cuffs on their wrists and ankles. A wave of profound weakness washed over them, draining their strength and causing them to slump onto the cold stone floor.
King and Katakuri stared at each other, wide-eyed and panting. After a long moment, the tense atmosphere finally dissipated, replaced by a heavy silence of shared misfortune. A wry smile appeared on both of their faces almost simultaneously.
Katakuri was the first to break the silence. He sighed. "Forget it. We've ended up like this… I don't think there's any point in us fighting anymore."
King remained silent, but it was clear he agreed. What was there to argue about? They were both prisoners, shackled with Sea Prism Stone that negated their Devil Fruit powers, and locked away in some unknown, sturdy prison. They were both captives of that monster. In this situation, neither of them was in a position to mock the other.
Another awkward silence fell between them. Finally, Katakuri spoke again. "How many moves did you last against that guy?"
King knew exactly who he was talking about. He didn't bother to lie, answering concisely, "One move."
"Is that so…" Katakuri said nothing more. He, too, had been knocked out with a single punch from the monster named Takero. The fact that King had suffered the same fate was strangely comforting. From that perspective, it meant their strengths were about equal. Thinking of this, his mood, which had been soured by the exposure of his face, improved slightly.
Unaware of Katakuri's thoughts, King tried to recall the final moments before he lost consciousness. A look of solemnity and a trace of lingering fear appeared on his stoic face.
"That guy's strength… is on another level," he said, his voice low. "Not even Governor Kaido has ever given me such a feeling of overwhelming pressure. I suspect that guy isn't human at all."
As a Lunarian, King knew that many strange and powerful beings existed in the world. But he had never seen or heard of anything like Takero's terrifying power. The raw, unreasonable strength he displayed seemed to exist on a completely different dimension. Heaven only knew where a monster like that had come from.
"Why think so much about it?" With his secret exposed and his freedom gone, Katakuri seemed to have accepted his fate, his tone becoming surprisingly open-minded. "Whether he's human or a monster, it doesn't change anything for us now. We should be thinking about how to get out of here."
At the mention of escape, King fell silent once more. Get out? Is this guy dreaming? he thought. Even if they somehow managed to break free from the Sea Prism Stone shackles, they would probably be caught and dragged back by that monster before they even made it off the island.
Just as the two men were lost in their own grim thoughts, confused and uncertain about their future, a sound cut through the silence.
"CREAK—"
The heavy iron door of the cell began to swing open from the outside.
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