"No, no! You're our benefactor—Rebecca's and mine both! How could I possibly shoot you?"
The one‑legged soldier shook his head violently, waving his arms in panic.
"Please, don't give up hope!" Rebecca cried, eyes wide with worry. "We can treat the wound—you're going to be okay! You're not going to die!"
They truly believed White Flame had lost the will to live—that his pain and injuries had finally broken him.
They couldn't have been more wrong.
"Enough," White Flame snapped, brows sharply furrowed. "If you won't do it, I'll do it myself."
Before either Rebecca or Kyros could react, he snatched a pistol off the floor and pressed it against his own temple.
"Wait—no!"
Kyros lunged forward on his wooden leg, knocking the weapon out of White Flame's hand with the butt of his musket.
"Sir, a gunshot wound isn't fatal if treated quickly! Listen to me—I was once Kyros the Gladiator! I've seen worse wounds healed! You mustn't throw your life away!"
"Yeah!" Rebecca cried, clutching White Flame's arm with trembling hands. "Please don't! You saved us—you can't just… die now!"
To them, the answer was obvious:
White Flame was giving up.
He was collapsing under the weight of pain and despair.
They were wrong.
White Flame sighed. "I get it. You mean well…"
A faint, ironic smile tugged at his lips. "…but it really hurts."
Then his expression hardened like steel.
"Little Black—kill me."
Kyros froze mid‑breath. "Kill you?! What are you—"
But the IBM, crouched beside a corpse, simply turned its bandaged head toward him.
It did not move.
"Little Black… can't kill… Master…" it rasped. "Little Black… can't… kill Master…"
White Flame clicked his tongue. "Useless."
In the next instant, before anyone could react—
SHHK—
The blade flashed.
White Flame drew a knife across his own throat.
Blood sprayed across the floor.
Rebecca screamed. Kyros leapt forward, but too late.
White Flame's body collapsed soundlessly.
Kyros checked his pulse, his breath, his chest.
Nothing.
He lowered his head.
"…He's gone."
Rebecca fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Waaah—no! Mister Savior! You can't be dead! You can't die!"
Kyros bowed deeply toward the fallen young man.
"He must have suffered too much… carried too much pain… may his soul rest peacefully wherever he's gone."
Rebecca cried harder, tears splashing onto White Flame's unmoving hand.
"You can't die… you can't leave us… not after saving me…"
None of them saw it.
The faint black particles rising from his skin…
drifting upward like mist…
gathering… stitching flesh back together.
The torn throat sealed shut.
The bleeding stopped.
His fingers twitched.
"Alright, Rebecca… you're too loud."
Rebecca froze mid‑sob.
White Flame sat up.
Just like that.
He casually wiped the drying blood from his neck, reached for a cigarette, and lit it with a soft flick.
Kyros's jaw nearly detached from his wooden face.
"That's… that's impossible. You were dead. I checked—you were dead!"
Rebecca's tears stopped mid‑fall. She stared like she had seen a ghost.
White Flame exhaled a slow plume of smoke.
"There's nothing impossible about it."
"I can't die."
The air went completely still.
Kyros and Rebecca exchanged a terrified, awestruck glance.
Immortality.
Not even legends of the Grand Line claimed such a thing.
White Flame flicked ash from his cigarette.
"Go. Both of you."
"The toys of Dressrosa aren't allowed to harm humans—not even monsters like these slavers. Staying here will only cause trouble for you."
His eyes darkened.
"And you don't want to see what happens next."
He turned and began climbing the stairs.
"Sir! I'm just glad you're alive!"
Rebecca cupped her hands around her mouth, calling after him.
"Please—tell me where you live! When I get home, I'll visit you all the time!"
White Flame stopped at the landing.
His back remained turned.
"Don't."
"My world isn't one you belong to."
He vanished into the second floor.
Rebecca's face fell.
Kyros rested a wooden hand on her shoulder.
"Come, Rebecca. Let's go."
"Tomorrow…" she whispered through trembling lips, "…tomorrow we'll come see him again."
Kyros nodded.
"Of course. The man who saved you… he's a good man."
He looked one last time toward the stairs before escorting Rebecca out into the night.
Upstairs, White Flame surveyed the slavers' luxurious headquarters.
"Not bad. They lived quite comfortably."
His eyes landed on a thick steel safe.
"A safe, huh? Must've belonged to Tuwindis."
"Little Black—open it."
The IBM materialized soundlessly, claws shimmering.
With three heavy swipes, the safe split open like it was made of cardboard.
Inside were piles of Berry notes and bundles of jewels.
White Flame's lips curved upward.
"With this much money, I can finally buy the information I need on Doflamingo's officers…"
His cigarette ember glowed red.
"Diamante…"
"…it's time I returned the favor."
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 5 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 30 Power Stones.
Thank you for your support!