A boarding assault on a warship where Admiral Zephyr himself lay in wait.
By making a choice that should have been impossible, the Royal Guard—the very same women who had once been captured by a mafia smuggling vessel—now crossed blades with their former colleagues.
Cathaly, a Royal Guard member with distinctive indigo-blue hair, was a master of firearms who usually provided support from the rear of her three-person cell. She used the leather-wrapped, reinforced stock of her rifle to bludgeon a charging marine, then swiftly turned the muzzle on the next soldier rushing to take his place and pulled the trigger.
Pop! Pop!
Two strangely dry sounds cut through the din of battle. Two shots, fired with the unwavering will to deny survival, with the resolve to kill her target without fail. Another enemy marine fell.
The rifles wielded by the Royal Guard and the ship's other combatants were no common muskets. They were one of the weapons confiscated after the war with Germa: a prototype bolt-action rifle, the J-319. It used special ammunition, making it a weapon that even Cathaly rarely used, but it had been brought out of the armory for this war against the forces of Marine Headquarters. In a way, it was one of the most valuable armaments the Black Cats currently possessed. Unlike a musket, which required a laborious reload after every shot, this rifle could fire five rounds in quick succession and was easy to load, a fact that had contributed significantly to their success in this battle.
"If we could mass-produce this rifle, or at least manufacture the ammunition ourselves, it would make a huge difference. This will require more research."
—"Cathaly!"
She quickly loaded another round and raised her weapon. The voice hadn't come from her side or her rear, where the rest of the Royal Guard was.
"Cathaly!"
It came from the front—from the marine side. Someone was calling her name desperately.
"…It's you. It's been a while."
Standing there was a young male marine, around the same age as Cathaly. He had been in her cohort.
"Thank goodness, I found you!" the man who had once endured grueling training alongside her cried out, his face a mask of desperation. He was clad in the white uniform of a marine, facing his friend who now wore a black suit. "Cathaly, surrender! There's still time! You don't even have a bounty on your head!"
"…How can you say that so easily? It was the Navy that betrayed me. If you're standing here without even knowing that, then you're a fool."
Ignoring her former colleague, Cathaly shot the soldier who had been looking for an opening behind him, putting a bullet through his head.
"Cathaly! Pirates are sent to the gallows!"
"And if I hadn't become a pirate, I would have been subjected to every shame imaginable. A fate worse than death."
Bege, who had plotted to take over the marine slave business, had naturally researched how the slaves were treated. The members of the Royal Guard had later been told the details. They had known from the start, from the conversation between Captain Kuro and Capone Bege in front of them when they were prisoners, that they were destined to be used up and discarded. But the reality was even harsher than they had imagined. When they heard from the marines they had fought alongside for the stability of the West Blue about the tragic state of the soldiers 'freed' from the Holy Land, not a single one of them could avoid picturing the future that would have awaited them had that boy pirate not attacked the smuggling ship that day.
That was why they had all thrown themselves into their training with Mihawk and Rayleigh with a resolve more desperate than ever before. Even those who had returned to their posts after the district headquarters battle had come back, swinging their swords and training their fists, desperate to make up for lost time. They were convinced that the only way for them to live as human beings was to carve a path for their Director, who was fighting the Government with no intention of backing down.
She aimed her rifle at the man with whom she had once shared both hardship and joy. She was a hindrance to holding the front line. She, who had been praised by the Director as being second to none in mid-range support within the Royal Guard, could not afford to be tied down by a single enemy.
"You're in my way, marine."
She placed her finger on the trigger—
Ca–Cathaly—
—Three Hundred Tile True Punch!
The instant she pulled the trigger, the marine, along with the bullet she had fired, was sent flying sideways.
"My apologies, Cathaly! I put too much power into it and blew everything away! Are you alright!?"
"…Touya."
The one who had unleashed the wide-area punch, utilizing the moisture in the air, was another member of the Royal Guard. Touya, one of the foremost practitioners of Fish-Man Karate in their ranks and the helmsman of the main ship, gave Cathaly a small, apologetic bow before immediately refocusing on the battle.
"Your role is to efficiently break the front line. You should be further ahead."
"Yes! My apologies!"
"…No, I'm the one… who should apologize. Thank you."
◆ ◆ ◆
"Such immense Haki. I have rarely experienced one that surpasses Mihawk's."
"And you meet it head-on, Blade Steel! Honestly, you Black Cats are terrifying, down to the last one!"
—Ability users are dangerous, of course, but be extremely cautious with a refined Haki user. You can see it with Rayleigh, but an enemy who has mastered Haki at that level is not someone you can handle easily.
Daz recalled the words Captain Kuro had spoken during a training session squeezed in between his daily administrative duties, as he met the blow from 'Black Arm' with a fist of his own.
(The difference in our builds makes each of his blows heavy. If not for my training with Mihawk and Touya, I would have been sent flying, regardless of the damage. And on top of that—)
He blocked the blow, but seeing no opening to counterattack, he leaped lightly backwards. Zephyr, seeing an opening, stepped forward, but a shadow appeared in his path without a sound.
"Amis!"
"Swift Strike—!"
The captain of the Black Cat Royal Guard. A commander with swordsmanship that ranked among the best in their unit and a superior sense of judgment, she thrust her blade toward Zephyr's exposed torso.
"…Ngh! It won't go through!"
"A fine strike. To think that a girl who was once too afraid to even hold a sword or a gun could, in just over half a year, become more skilled than a middling Vice Admiral."
But it was not a decisive blow. The blade had been stopped, pushed back by Haki concentrated solely on the point of impact. In that instant, another shadow appeared directly behind Zephyr. A woman with black hair cut shorter than Amis's—another Royal Guard member—swung her blade down at Zephyr's neck.
"And you, Airi. You excelled at firearm and cannon training but were hopeless in close combat. To think that you have mastered even Haki."
But before the blade could reach its mark, she was sent flying by a backhand strike. A normal marine would have been incapacitated by such a blow, but the Royal Guard member called Airi dissipated the impact, twisting in the air like a cat before landing on her feet.
(But from a bird's-eye view, the situation is tilting in our favor.)
Daz could see that Zephyr's hesitation and doubt were the main reasons for the wavering in his attacks. Ahead, the pair of Touya and Cathaly were mowing down the enemy forces, and the Black Cat soldiers who had boarded after them were swarming in, preventing the Navy from maintaining their battle line. On the other side, another pair of Royal Guard members, a sword user and a Fish-Man Karate practitioner, were holding back the skilled marines trying to aid Zephyr, sometimes felling them and steadily whittling down the enemy's elite. In fact, most of the enemy's regular marines had already been neutralized by the Negative Hollows that had flown over from the flagship.
(The naval battle is also going well. I was worried we were short on ships, but those two are handling it as masterfully as ever.)
Kika and Troy. Among the Royal Guard, who often held the front line in critical situations, these two had begun to utilize their command skills in fleet combat more than their swordsmanship or Fish-Man Karate, and they had the rest of the enemy fleet completely pinned down.
(Is his fist faltering because he is torn between falling back to rescue his men and pushing forward to defeat us?)
The pressure he felt was comparable to Rayleigh's. The only reason he could withstand it was due to his training, and above all, the teamwork between him and the two Royal Guard members, Amis and Airi.
(I had planned to hold this stalemate and wait for Hancock and the others, but now…)
"…Killer."
"Hm?"
"That was the moniker you were supposed to be given when you started out as a bounty hunter. Daz Bones."
The words brought back memories of a time not so long ago. A year ago. Before he had met Captain Kuro.
"You hunted a fair number of bounties. You were apparently quite the topic of conversation at the district headquarters."
"…They were all small-time."
"But it was enough to live on, wasn't it? Why did you become a pirate?"
"…All the money went to my mother."
"That would be normal for someone your age."
"She spent it all on men and alcohol."
He could feel a slight waver in Zephyr's composure.
"…My first bounty was a drunken bandit." He could still remember the feeling. "The reward was 100,000 Berries. I figured that no matter what my mother spent it on, there would be enough left for bread and dried fish for a while, so I strangled him with a rope."
For some reason, the man had been separated from his companions, so drunk he wouldn't wake up even when shaken. He had approached cautiously, tied the man's hands with trembling fingers, then his feet, and then slipped the rope around his neck. He would never forget that feeling.
"And then I took the body to the military exchange and got the money. 100,000 Berries, just like the poster said. It was the most money I had ever seen in my life. I thought that even my mother, who only ever yelled or hit me, would be happy."
The fight continued. He met a fist dyed black with a fist hardened by his own Haki and ability, then immediately transformed his hands and fingers into blades to unleash a slash.
"But she yelled at me. She asked me what I was thinking, that she would have gotten more money if I had brought him in alive."
"…That's right. That is the system." The government needed to make examples of the increasing number of criminals. Just as with the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, public executions of captured bounties were likely being held every day in some execution ground, drawing large crowds of spectators. For that reason, there was an additional reward for bringing them in alive.
"I tried to do better the next time… but I couldn't. I was too afraid to keep them alive. So I found an opening and killed him. And the next one, and the one after that."
He knew this was a question meant to unsettle him. He had indeed been invited to join the Navy after bringing in his third head. It wasn't surprising that Zephyr knew some of the details.
"…When I found the Devil Fruit, I thought it was a turning point. I thought I could finally become strong. Get strong, earn Berries… and get my mother's praise…"
He had been poor. Besides his mother's drinking money, it was all he could do to buy bread. He would gnaw on stale, discounted bread and withered cabbage, earning a pittance each day by scavenging or carrying luggage. But by killing, he had been able to get his hands on large sums of money. By getting them drunk, setting traps, shooting them from afar with a bow and arrow… he had used every trick in the book to kill the weakest ones he could find.
"And then I ate that fruit and got this body. A body of steel that swords and bullets couldn't harm. So I thought… I thought I could become a hero like Sora, a Warrior of the Sea."
But…
"But I couldn't."
—"What happened to your parents?"
—"…Killed by the Family. I don't know what they did, but it was retaliation."
He remembered the conversation he had with the pirate he had attacked, intending to claim his bounty. His current captain. At that moment, he had hesitated. He had hesitated—and lied.
"With my steel body, I succeeded in capturing someone alive for the first time. It was terrifying, but I took the knives and bullets with my own body, subdued a mid-level mafia boss head-on, handed him over to the military, and went home with a huge sum of money… but…"
—"Idiot! Why did you have to go and mess with the mafia!?"
"I could never get my mother's approval."
—"In that case, you go and bow your head to the mafia!"
—"Now that you have that creepy body, maybe they'll see some value in you!"
—"…What's with that look… hey."
—"St-stay back! Don't come near me!"
—"You… monster!"
"In the end, I… my mother…"
"My mama—"
◆ ◆ ◆
Powerless words escaped the steel blade's lips. But even so, his Haki did not waver. If anything, it grew slightly stronger. The two Royal Guard members flanking him, who had heard his story, were the same.
"Even with a body of steel, even helping my parent, even beating the bad guys… I couldn't become the hero I admired."
"Daz Bones…!"
"My mother was weak. The bounties I killed… the weak die first. The weak are killed, and I was on the side that killed because I was strong. That's what I believed, but…" A small, almost imperceptible smile touched the steel blade's face. "Ever since I met a man who is trying to make a fairy tale come true, I just don't know anymore."
A roundhouse kick, dyed black, came flying. The large motion made it easy to predict, but the moment it connected, it transformed into a slash. He could block it, of course. But even so, the slash pierced his Haki slightly, cutting his skin.
"To be under a man who avoids plunder despite being a pirate, who tries to rule the people while repeatedly calling himself a villain… one cannot help but realize what a narrow world one was seeing."
Seeing the slight opening created as Zephyr entered a defensive stance, Amis immediately unleashed a flurry of slashes.
"I was the weak one. That is why I made a mistake. I kept averting my eyes from the right path, no matter how much of a dead end I was in."
He blocked the unavoidable slashes with his Haki, but they too pierced it slightly, and his own blood began to fly, gradually staining his marine uniform red.
"I have neither the legs to appear anywhere in an instant like the Captain, nor his strategic mind. I am just a failed hero, a mere ability-using pirate, but…"
(No—)
Something inside the boy, Daz Bones, had solidified.
(It is true that you have sinned. But—!)
He felt the same thing from the pirate before him that he had felt from the soldiers he had trained over the years, the ones he knew would achieve greatness.
"Yes, I have decided."
"When I chose to become a pirate, I never imagined days of battle like this. But even so… no, precisely because of that."
"I will fight—for someone, somewhere."
A memory from his own childhood flashed through Zephyr's mind.
(No. That's not it, Daz Bones! That resolve of yours is the same as his—!)
He remembered the port town where the Navy used to dock, how he would play, tying a scrap of cloth around his neck like a cape, pretending to be Sora, Warrior of the Sea.
"What I wanted was something ordinary. Happy days with my family. The desire itself should not have been a mistake."
He was still a boy. A boy who had defeated many bounty heads and now, as a pirate, was defeating many strong enemies. He had shouldered a great deal of karma.
"And yet, what I wanted was so far away. Even now, looking back, I don't know how I could have reached the right answer."
And bearing that karma, he now stood proudly before a Marine Admiral.
"And so, averting my eyes from my dream, averting my eyes from the right path, I chased the bounty before me, and could see no other way but to kill others. The result included, it is a sin. A sin I must continue to bear."
"It is too heavy a burden to simply wash away. But… that's why."
"That is why I cannot turn my eyes away again from the right path I have now been forced to face, even as a pirate."
He had to defeat him. He had to secure 'Blade Steel' and the Royal Guard before the government could interfere, or he would be damning those who should not have to bear such ill repute to a cruel fate.
But—
"I ask you, Marine. If you defeat us and conquer Mopuchi, will that bring peace to the people?"
He could not answer.
"The marriage between the princess and the Celestial Dragon is entirely one-sided. For whose sake is it? Is it to bring happiness to the princess, or to the people of Mopuchi?"
There was no way he could answer. Whether they captured the Black Cats or drove them away, it was easy to imagine what would happen to the people of Mopuchi. They would be devoured. The royalty they had rescued, the people they had protected, the town they had built. Beautiful daughters, even royalty, would be made into playthings, the men would be reduced to serfs, and the old and young who were not even fit for that would be killed or used as targets in a killing game.
—Just like a country occupied by pirates.
"…So, you cannot answer."
"Then all the more reason we cannot back down. We cannot lose."
As if in agreement with the steel blade's words, heavy slashes from Amis and Airi came at him from both sides simultaneously. Their Haki-infused blades now carried an even stronger will, making each attack heavier. It was the will to protect. The strong will to protect the weak, the people who could not fight, the country. The will that should have been on his back was now being carried by the pirates before him.
Before he could infuse his arms with Haki to block, he reflexively leaped back and dodged. He knew it was a bad move. He had felt that he could not block it.
He created distance again, facing the 'Blade Steel' and his former students who flanked him.
"As long as the right path for us to follow is here, neither defeat nor retreat is an option."
This boy was not a king, like Kuro. He did not feel the kingly pressure he had felt from that pirate.
"Vice-Director of the Black Cat Pirates, Daz Bones."
But the name, declared anew, was filled with a dignity befitting the leader of a company. So much so that it strongly reminded him of the figure he had once wanted to be. The way he had wanted to be, as a child, and even as an adult.
"State your name, Marine."
—Damn it, you'll get yours!
He remembered standing up to a cowardly bully who was picking on a girl in his port town.
—Hahaha! Bring it on anytime!
A child, wearing his mother's leftover cloth as a cape and his father's oversized sunglasses, had shouted the heroic name he had been thinking of for so long.
"I am…"
—My name is!
—The Hero of Justice!
"Of Marine Headquarters… a Special Admiral…"
—Z!
"Zephyr!"
He had to defeat him. He had to. As a Special Admiral of Headquarters, he had to defeat him. Who? Evil. The pirates. The pirates who were the symbol of evil. He infused his arms with Haki, dying them black, and charged.
His students were the ones who moved. Airi quickly threw two knives, naturally infused with Haki. He took them head-on. One missed by a hair's breadth, the other pierced his left shoulder. Dodging or deflecting them would have slowed him down. He had to push forward, even if it meant taking some damage.
"Teacher!"
"Prepare yourself!"
Ahead of him, Amis and Airi were waiting with drawn swords. Their blades glowed black, both of them in a thrusting stance.
(Good Haki!)
He lunged forward to meet their simultaneous thrusts. By shifting the point of maximum impact, the two blows failed to pierce his own full-powered Haki, but they completely killed his momentum.
Behind the two, who vanished in an instant, was the 'Blade Steel.'
"Oooooh!"
With his Haki greatly diminished, he thrust his fist forward. The 'Blade Steel' also thrust his fist forward—and the impact shook the ship.
◆ ◆ ◆
The impact was so great that anyone nearby would have been sent flying. The battle raging around them, which had been heavily skewed in the Black Cats' favor, came to a halt.
A short distance from where the impact occurred, a small body lay on the deck. Daz Bones—the 'Blade Steel'—had fallen. Zephyr—'Black Arm'—was on one knee.
"Mag…"
Looking at the unconscious Daz Bones, Zephyr smiled. He smiled, and he cried. Tears streamed down his face.
"Magnificent."
And then he looked down at his own chest, which was stained crimson. A clash of fist against fist, a blow that had transformed into a slash at the moment of impact. A blow he had seen many times, yet had been unable to completely defend against. He had managed to nullify one of the four slashes, but the others had gotten through.
"…Hero…"
The Marine Headquarters Admiral, with three deep claw marks carved into his chest, collapsed to the deck.
The cheers of pirates echoed across the deck of the Marine warship.
◆ ◆ ◆
A dream.
Seeing the impossible sight of a completely white space, Daz Bones immediately knew that was what it was. Even if this were the afterlife, he was certain that, from the feeling of that last blow, he had seriously wounded Zephyr.
In the white emptiness, Daz stood up and immediately saw something. Himself. He saw himself from behind, crouched down and crying.
"…I always wanted to leave you."
As the sound of his own quiet sobs echoed around him, he spoke to none other than himself.
"I thought that if I left you behind, if I cut you off, I could become an adult."
He took a step closer to the self who was crying alone, with no one to rely on.
"I thought it was a turning point. When I ate the Devil Fruit… and when I became a pirate, going along with the Captain's impossible tale."
The crouched back was not so different in size from the current Daz. And yet, it was slightly smaller, and much, much younger.
"But… yes. I'm sorry. I was wrong."
"A turning point… there's no such thing, is there?"
To the young boy who was undeniably connected to his present self, Daz poured out his heart.
"Looking back, there are moments that drastically changed the flow of things, but you can probably only find them in hindsight…"
Ever since he had met that bespectacled boy pirate, his days had been nothing like he had imagined. His life had been filled with unexpected events, and he didn't think he himself had changed that much. He hadn't changed since the day he had stopped crying.
"It's not that a turning point comes and you change, or that you grow… and it's not like you suddenly disappear, either."
But he could certainly feel the things he had accumulated since the days when he was still crying.
"The me I am now is without a doubt a continuation of you…"
Through his repeated interactions with others, something he had never done before, Daz Bones was finally able to see the boy he had been when he cried.
"…I'm sorry. For trying to leave you behind, for trying to pretend you didn't exist. I, of all people, should have known that's what you would hate the most."
"Yes…"
"Let's go. Together."
***
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