Noon was always a strange time of day—busy, yet relaxed.
Once the cooking fires were lit, people could finally look forward to a quiet lunch and a brief rest afterward.
Cocoyasi Village was no different.
Columns of smoke rose from homes throughout the village. Children who had been running wild outside hurried back in a panic, because if they were late for lunch, the adults at home would definitely scold them.
For a moment, the entire village looked like a peaceful painting.
Little Nami skipped through the forest path, clutching a book in both hands as though it were the greatest treasure in the world.
"Hehe!"
She lifted the book up toward the sunlight and spun around happily, bright and lively as a little sprite.
"See? With me covering for you, we really managed to steal it!"
Nojiko wore a sly grin, clearly proud of herself.
"When I finish drawing the map, let's take Bell-mère with us and go on an adventure!" Nami's smile widened even further, her face glowing with excitement at the thought.
"Let's get back for lunch first. If we're any later, Bell-mère's going to yell at us again." Nojiko stuck out her tongue and made a face at Nami before breaking into a run.
"Last one home is an idiot!"
"Nojiko, that's not fair! Wait for me!"
Their childish voices echoed through the lush green forest, calm and carefree enough to soothe the heart.
It was the kind of scene no one would want to ruin.
But pirates weren't included in that "no one."
Boom!!
A violent shockwave rolled through the air, and even the ground beneath Nami and Nojiko's feet trembled.
The two girls stumbled in the middle of their chase and crashed hard onto the dirt.
Nojiko didn't even have time to cry out.
The day pirates destroyed her village—
she had heard that same sound over and over again.
That sound filled her with instinctive terror.
It was the sound of cannon fire.
"F-fire!"
Nami's frightened cry rang out from behind her.
Nojiko scrambled to her feet and turned around.
Roughly five hundred meters away, flames were already roaring up through the forest.
Black smoke spread through the air, carrying the acrid stench of gunpowder in every direction.
A cannonball had landed there just moments ago.
…
Boom!
A cannon fired from its barrel, the metal tube quivering slightly as it released a sharp, bitter smell of gunpowder.
Don Krieg held a spyglass in his hand, a cruel smile on his face.
Then—
the smile froze.
Smoke was indeed rising from Cocoyasi Village.
But only from the forest.
The shot had landed far from the homes and people.
No one had been killed.
It had missed.
A ridiculously basic mistake.
Under normal circumstances, such a thing would have been nearly impossible.
But today, the entire Krieg Pirates crew was under the grip of overwhelming fear.
That fear had left every man on edge, their nerves frayed and their blood running cold.
And that fear came from one man—
the man with the demonic blade.
Kairos D. Vale.
"You useless piece of trash."
Krieg's fingers tightened around the spyglass so hard his knuckles turned white.
Then he hurled it to the deck and crushed it under his boot.
In the next moment, that same black boot lashed out and slammed into the gunner's stomach with a sharp crack.
"Boss Krieg! Spare me!!"
The gunner rolled across the deck, smashing his head against the wooden planks. Blood immediately streamed down his face.
Even so, he forced himself up through the pain and crawled forward, kneeling before Krieg and begging over and over again.
"You can't even hit a target from this range?!" Krieg snarled.
There was no mercy in his eyes—only a savagery that looked ready to devour someone whole.
His boot came down on the back of the kneeling gunner's head.
Then—
he pressed harder.
And stomped again.
"Aaaaah…!"
The gunner's scream turned even more shrill.
But no one in the Krieg Pirates dared speak.
Every pirate kept his head lowered in silence.
Gradually, the screaming weakened.
Then it faded into ragged breathing.
"That one's useless now. Throw him into the sea and let the fish have him."
Krieg wiped the blood from his boot and pointed at the gunner, who was barely clinging to life. His voice was full of disgust and cruelty.
In dead silence, two pirates grabbed the dying man by his arms and legs and tossed him overboard.
He sank into the sea without raising more than a tiny splash.
The death of a crewmate only deepened the silence across the fleet.
Some pirates trembled ever so slightly, terrified that they might be next.
Krieg was brutal by nature.
But this wasn't just brutality.
Kairos' relentless pursuit had thrown his state of mind into chaos.
That immense fear pressing down on him needed an outlet.
And Cocoyasi Village just happened to be here.
So Krieg gave the order.
The gunner's mistake provided him with a convenient target for his rage.
But one life wasn't enough.
"Keep firing… no, forget that."
A vicious gleam flashed through Krieg's bloodshot eyes.
"Full speed ahead. I'll show this village—no, the entire East Blue—the might of the Krieg Pirates."
"Yes, sir!"
The pirates under his command shuddered violently.
They knew exactly what Krieg intended.
And one by one, cruel red light ignited in their eyes.
Krieg needed to vent.
So did the pirates who had been slaughtered like livestock all day.
At this point, the entire Krieg Pirates crew had only one purpose left.
To kill.
Only by butchering the entire village—
only by looting, burning, and destroying everything in sight—
could they numb the fear gnawing at their hearts.
The pirate ships surged forward at full speed, like a pack of monstrous beasts charging toward shore.
…
Urgent cries filled Cocoyasi Village, each one sharper and more frightened than the last.
"Pirates! Pirates are coming!!"
The warning spread through every street and alley.
It was too important not to.
This was a matter of life and death for the entire village.
One person told ten.
Ten told a hundred.
Within minutes, everyone in Cocoyasi Village knew.
Twelve pirate ships were heading straight for them from the nearby sea.
The villagers gathered at the harbor and stared out at the water.
"Is that… Krieg's pirate crew?"
An older villager with broader experience recognized the Jolly Roger snapping in the wind, and his face instantly turned pale.
"Krieg? You mean that infamous pirate captain?"
The moment those words were spoken, panic spread through the crowd.
"This is bad. Why would he come here?!"
"I heard Krieg isn't just strong—he's far crueler than most pirates."
"There's nothing in Cocoyasi Village worth someone like him coming for!"
The villagers were thrown into chaos, panicked and unsure what to do.
"Enough!"
As the village sheriff, Genzo forced himself to step forward and shout at the top of his lungs.
A small pinwheel sat on his head, absurdly childish when paired with his dark cap, making him look faintly ridiculous.
But in the face of a pirate invasion, he showed a level of composure no one had expected.
Genzo knew exactly what this moment meant.
He was Cocoyasi Village's officer.
He could not afford to panic.
"You lot—go contact the Marine base and tell them the Krieg Pirates are attacking."
He pointed quickly toward several older women in the crowd.
"Yes!"
They nodded hard and hurried off.
"The rest of you… get your weapons ready."
Genzo's expression remained steady, though his eyes were clearly working through every possibility.
"If these pirates only wanted money, they wouldn't have started by firing cannons…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't need to.
Everyone understood what he meant.
"We don't need to defeat them," Genzo said, forcing himself to stand as straight as possible. "We just need to hold out until the Marines arrive. That's our victory."
Time ticked by, second by second.
At last, Genzo's courage began to spread through the crowd.
The villagers looked at one another and found the same resolve in each other's eyes.
"Protect the village!"
A young man raised his fist high and shouted the words with ringing force.
"Protect the village! Drive off the pirates!"
The cry became a spark.
More voices rose.
Then more.
Until the entire harbor thundered with a single will.
The villagers stood united.
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