KABOOOOOOOM!
The explosion shattered Kaya's nightmare, jolting her awake with a gasp. Her heart hammered against her ribs, and the floorboards beneath her bed still vibrated from the shockwave, but the mansion itself was dead silent.
"Merry?" she called out, her voice small and trembling. "Klahadore?"
No answer came, leaving only a heavy, suffocating silence in the wake of the blast. Driven by a cold dread, Kaya threw a coat over her nightgown and stepped into the hallway. She descended the grand staircase, her bare feet making no sound on the cold wood, but at the bottom, she froze. Her hands flew to her mouth.
Merry was lying on the rug, his woolly hair matted with red blood, his chest heaving with shallow, ragged breaths.
"Merry!" She fell to her knees beside him, tears blurring her vision. "Who... who did this to you?"
Merry's eyes fluttered open, hazy and unfocused. He grabbed her hand, his grip weak and desperate. "Miss Kaya... run..." he wheezed. "It was... Klahadore. He is... Captain Kuro."
The world seemed to stop. Kuro... a pirate? A memory flashed in her mind - Usopp yelling at the gate, desperate to warn her, and how she had slapped him, calling him a liar.
"So..." Kaya whispered, a sob tearing from her throat. "Usopp... he was right all along?"
"I am afraid so," Merry breathed. "We were... wrong."
Hearing him, a cold, desperate resolve settled over her. I will give him everything, she thought, wiping her tears. If I sign over the fortune, maybe he will leave. Maybe he will spare the village. It was a naive plan, but it was the only weapon she had left.
She stood up, forced to leave Merry there, and stumbled out the front door. She ran down the long road, her weak legs shaking, heading straight toward the smoke rising from the beach.
At the edge of the forest, shadows stepped out to block her path. "Halt!" Kaya gasped, shrinking back in fear, but it wasn't pirates. It was the baker, the butcher - a dozen men from the village holding axes and pitchforks, their faces pale with fear but set with determination.
"Miss Kaya?!" the baker exclaimed, lowering his weapon. "You shouldn't be here!"
"I have to go," Kaya said, her voice trembling but firm. "I can pay him to stop."
"Pay him?" one villager scoffed. "The explosion woke us all up. We realized... Usopp was telling the truth." "Where is Usopp?" Kaya asked.
The men looked down, ashamed. "We looked for him," the baker said quietly. "He wasn't at his house, and we couldn't find him anywhere." He gripped his pitchfork tighter. "That idiot... knowing him, he went to the beach to fight them alone. We're going to save him."
Kaya looked at them. They were terrified, ordinary men, but they were moving forward. "Take me with you," she said. "Please."
The villagers hesitated, then nodded. They surrounded her, forming a protective group, and moved quickly toward the coast.
They reached the top of the slope that overlooked the beach just as the sun began to rise. Below them, the Bezan Black was a burning wreck, and on the path, the fight had seemingly paused.
"Look!" a villager whispered.
Down below, a boy in a straw hat was standing calmly, dusting off his hands. Across from him, sitting slumped against the cliff wall, was Klahadore. The butler was covered in dirt, his suit torn, and blood was trickling from his nose.
One of the villagers raised a shaking finger, pointing at a crumpled heap on the path. "Is... is that Usopp?"
Kaya followed his gaze. Her breath caught in her throat. Usopp was lying face-down in the dirt, motionless. He was covered in blood, and his famous long nose was bent at a sickening, unnatural angle.
"USOPP!" Kaya screamed. She tried to run to him, but the baker and the butcher held her back. "Let me go! He needs help!" she cried, struggling against their grip. "Please!" "Miss Kaya, stop! It's too dangerous!"
The commotion on the cliff caught Luffy's attention. He looked up, shielding his eyes from the rising sun. "Hah," he snorted, his face twisting in annoyance. "More spectators. Just what we needed. More things to deal with."
Across from him, Kuro slowly stood up. He wiped the blood from his face, but he didn't look at the villagers. He didn't even look at Kaya. He started to laugh.
"He... he he he... HAHAHAHAHA!"
It was a broken, hollow sound. Kuro clutched his face where his glasses used to be. "This just keeps getting better and better," he whispered, his voice trembling with rage. "Three years. Three years of serving tea. Three years of bowing to trash. All ruined."
He looked up, his eyes wild. "Even if I get the money now, the Marines will know. The village knows. I will never have my peace. I will never be free of 'Captain Kuro'."
He lowered his hands. The ten blades on his fingers glinted. "There is only one solution now," he said, his voice turning ice-cold. "I have to kill everyone. My crew. The villagers. The girl. No witnesses."
Kaya stopped struggling. She looked down at the man she thought she knew. "Klahadore?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
No answer came. He didn't even blink.
Kuro let his arms hang loose. He started to sway. He wobbled left... then right... his body limp, like a pendulum swinging in the wind. He looked like he was about to fall over.
Luffy watched him, confused. Is he drunk? Is he passing out?
But the reaction from the Black Cat Pirates was immediate panic. "Oh no..." one of the grunts whispered, his face draining of color. "It's coming!" another shrieked. "He's going to do it! The Shakushi!" "We're not safe! RUN!"
The pirates, who had been terrified of Zoro a moment ago, suddenly became desperate. They threw themselves at Zoro, not to attack him, but just to get past him. They scrambled over each other, screaming, trying to get as far away from their own captain as possible.
Luffy ignored them. He kept his eyes locked on Kuro, waiting for the attack. He's fast, Luffy thought, crouching down. But I can see him. I just have to wait for him to move.
Kuro bobbed lower... and lower... And then, he vanished.
Luffy's eyes darted left. Nothing. He darted right. Nothing.
For the first time, Luffy's composure cracked. His eyes widened in genuine shock. I... I can't see him. This wasn't like before. There was no blur of motion. No sound of footsteps. Kuro had simply ceased to exist.
"Where?!" Luffy hissed.
He forced himself to stay calm. He stopped looking with his eyes and started listening, checking every angle. He stood in the center of the path, completely still, waiting for the invisible death to strike.
SCRATCH!
Suddenly, three deep claw marks appeared in the dirt, right next to Luffy's feet. There was no one there.
SCRATCH!
Twenty feet away, the solid rock of the cliff wall split open. Stone chips flew into the air. Still, no Kuro.
Luffy stood in the center, his head snapping back and forth. He was trying to follow the sound, but his eyes were useless against this speed.
"Left? No... right?" He gritted his teeth. He couldn't track him.
"AAAHHHHH!" A Black Cat pirate trying to flee suddenly froze. He looked down as a thin red line appeared across his waist. His top half slid slowly off his bottom half. He was dead before he hit the ground.
"AAAAHHHHHHH!" This time, the scream came from the top of the cliff. The village baker shrieked. His arm, still gripping a pitchfork, went flying into the air, severed cleanly at the elbow. Blood sprayed over his neighbors.
"RUN! HE'S KILLING EVERYONE!" The scene collapsed into total chaos. The villagers grabbed the screaming baker and dragged Kaya back toward the forest. Kaya looked back, horrified. Near Usopp's unconscious body, a pirate lay dead, arterial spray erupting from his cut throat. "Usopp!" she cried, but the villagers pulled her away into the trees.
Luffy stood still, forcing himself to focus. SHING! He felt a sharp sting across his back. He spun instantly, swinging his fist. SWISH! Nothing but air. He reached back, touching the wound. His fingers came away wet and red.
Luffy's calm face twisted. A vein popped on his forehead. "This is getting annoying now" he growled.
Just then, the invisible wind changed direction. It headed for the side of the path. Alvida was standing there, casually leaning against the cliff wall, watching the slaughter with a bored expression.
CLANG! Kuro appeared out of thin air. He was moving at maximum speed, his ten blades aiming to slice Alvida into ribbons. The blades struck her shoulder. But they didn't cut.
ZIIIIIP!
Instead of slicing, the blades and Kuro himself slid right off her skin. It was like hitting wet ice. Moving too fast to stop and finding zero friction, Kuro lost all balance. "Wha….?!" He stumbled forward, his momentum carrying him face-first into the cliff wall.
CRASH!
Kuro bounced off the rock and landed hard on his backside, looking dazed. Alvida looked down at him. She touched her shoulder; there wasn't even a scratch. She threw her head back. "BAHAHAHAHA! Is that it?" She hefted her iron mace, looming over the stunned captain. "Should I finish him, Captain?"
Everyone froze. The villagers peering from the trees, the surviving pirates, Zoro... they all looked at Luffy.
Luffy stepped forward. His anger was gone, replaced by a cold, heavy determination. "NO." He cracked his knuckles again. "Stand back, Alvida." He walked toward Kuro "It has to be me. The Captain, who kicks his ass."
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A sick wealth lady waiting for her long nosed knight.
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Author here:
hloooooo
Did you read my new work ?
Chapter 1: March of the Billion
Chapter 2: Finally an Immortal
Chapter 3: EL LOCO