"Kin'emon... Why is it that fire erupts every time you swing your blade?"
The question came during a lull in training. Kanata had been observing Kin'emon's swordsmanship and found herself genuinely puzzled. Kin'emon, who was sharing a cup of tea with Kawamatsu, answered without hesitation.
"Hm? My Foxfire Style is a secret art designed to burn as it cuts—and to cut through fire itself. It stands to reason that flames follow the blade."
That doesn't make any sense, Kanata thought, biting back the retort. Instead, she asked for a demonstration. Since they couldn't exactly summon a fire out of thin air, Kanata signaled for David.
"What is it, Captain?" David asked, approaching.
"Kin'emon claims he can slice through flames. I want to see it for myself. Can you produce a blast for us?"
"You want an explosion? Piece of cake," David grinned.
"Good. Kin'emon, on my mark."
The two squared off in the center of the training field. A crowd of curious onlookers began to gather, but Kanata warned them back. She didn't want to give Skura more work by letting people get scorched.
Kanata stepped behind Kin'emon and gave David a sharp nod. At her signal, David detonated his entire body. A massive shockwave of heat and flame roared toward Kin'emon, intending to swallow him whole—only for the samurai to draw his blade in a blur.
The explosion was literally split in two. The scorch marks on the ground left a jagged, V-shaped trail where the fire had been diverted around the samurai.
"I see... you truly did cut the fire," Kanata murmured.
"I acted on instinct," Kin'emon said, sheathing his blade. "But is that gentleman alright? He suddenly blew himself up!"
"Don't worry. He's a Devil Fruit user. That's just what he does."
"A Devil Fruit user?"
"Do I really have to explain this from the beginning...?"
Kanata realized they might have a different name for it in Wano, much like they called Armament Haki "Ryuo." She asked if they had heard of a cursed fruit that granted strange powers at the cost of being able to swim. Kin'emon nodded, admitting he had eaten one himself. He called his power the "Garb-Garb Technique," an art that allowed him to manifest clothing at will.
"Is that... useful?" Kanata asked. "Does it just save you from buying new clothes?"
"The garments created by my Garb-Garb technique vanish if they take significant damage," Kin'emon explained. "It's fine for everyday wear, but I wouldn't recommend it for the heat of battle."
"That sounds... remarkably specific and slightly useless," Kanata noted. Still, she knew Devil Fruit powers were limited only by the user's imagination. Perhaps it was good for infiltration, if nothing else. "Well, in the outside world, we call that an Akuma no Mi—a Devil Fruit."
"And you possess this power as well, Kanata?"
"I do. David has the power of explosions. That's why you don't need to worry about him."
She decided to ignore the logistics of classification for now. Apparently, Kanjuro was also a user, but that was a conversation for another time. Right now, Kanata was fascinated by the Foxfire Style.
"It's a handy technique," Kanata said. "David, blow up again. I want to try something."
While Kanata could negate fire with her own ice, she wanted to learn the principle of the cut. If she could slice fire, she might finally have a way to deal with Big Mom's Prometheus, which had been immune even to Haki-infused strikes.
"Now, now, Kanata," Kin'emon chuckled. "I spent years mastering this style. You cannot simply expect to learn it in a—"
Slice.
"WHAT?!" Kin'emon roared, his eyes nearly popping out of his skull. "You copied it on your first try?!"
Kanata had stepped into David's explosion and cleanly bisected the blast with her spear. Scotch walked over to Kin'emon and placed a comforting hand on the samurai's shoulder.
"Don't try to measure her with common sense," Scotch said. "It'll only give you a headache."
"But... but I spent my youth... my life's blood on that art..." Kin'emon slumped to his knees, devastated. Kawamatsu patted him on the back in sympathy.
Kanata, meanwhile, was idly spinning her spear, watching sparks fly from the tip. "This is useful," she mused. It was one more tool for her arsenal. She still had to figure out how to handle Zeus, as there seemed to be no secret art for "cutting lightning," but this was progress.
"Coming to Wano was worth it for this alone," she said.
"Sure, if you ignore the fact that you just broke Kin'emon's spirit," George added.
"All learning begins with imitation," Kanata said, unbothered. "If I want to learn a skill, I copy it. Why is he upset?"
"Because normal people can't just copy it!" Scotch yelled.
***
While the crew trained, Skura was secluded in his room, refining a new chemical compound. Beyond his duties as a doctor, Skura had a personal obsession: developing medical treatments specifically for Devil Fruit users. His goal was to create a drug that affected the lineage factor of a user without the lethality of Prism Stone.
He remembered his failure at Little Garden, where his medicine had caused Samuel to go berserk. He was determined not to repeat the mistake. He held out a flask of neon-purple liquid to Samuel.
"Drink this."
"I have a really bad feeling about this," Samuel muttered. "Is that glowing purple stuff actually safe to ingest?"
"It has zero effect on the normal human body," Skura said, consulting his clipboard. "I tested it on myself to ensure that much."
"The 'normal' body?"
"It should only trigger a reaction in Devil Fruit users. There are no side effects... probably."
Samuel looked at the liquid with genuine terror. Gloriosa and Kaye, who were also in the room, looked equally disturbed. Kaye, being a Mythical Zoan user, had been called in as a backup subject, but Gloriosa was ready to intervene if Skura tried to force her to drink it.
"Is it truly safe?" Gloriosa asked.
"Theoretically, it should affect any user, but the exact manifestation is unknown," Skura admitted. "I need a test subject to proceed. Kanata promised me enemy users to experiment on, but they're hard to capture alive."
Skura had chosen the safest possible compounds, using Samuel's blood samples as a baseline.
"It will likely affect your transformation," Skura said. "Zoan types are the easiest to observe for this kind of data."
"I get why you can't test it on David," Samuel sighed. "If he goes berserk, the whole ship blows up."
Samuel took a deep breath. "Fine! Here goes nothing!"
He downed the liquid in one go, grimacing at the foul taste. It didn't burn like the last batch, but he felt his heart rate begin to climb. Skura began his interrogation, checking for any physical changes.
The effect was immediate.
"Whoa... my claws are longer than usual," Samuel said, staring at his hands.
"Your fangs have elongated as well," Skura noted. "And your frame in Hybrid form is leaner than the standard. Can you shift into another state?"
Samuel tried to focus. He found he could now access intermediate forms—a state halfway between Human and Hybrid, and another between Hybrid and full Beast.
"The effect lasts for about two minutes," Skura whispered, writing furiously. "No signs of berserk fury. As a drug to enhance the versatility of a Zoan user, this is a success."
"I guess I wouldn't mind using this if it makes me stronger," Samuel admitted. "The New World is full of monsters; I need every edge I can get."
"It still needs refinement," Skura said. "The dosage is tricky. If I increase the potency, it could become a lethal poison."
"Well, let me know when you've got the final version!" Samuel laughed. "Kaye, you want some?"
Kaye hid behind Gloriosa and shook her head vigorously.
***
In the New World, on a desolate winter island, a different kind of gathering was taking place. A crew of pirates sat around a bonfire, surrounded by the corpses of a rival gang they had just slaughtered.
Suddenly, a gargantuan blue dragon descended from the clouds.
"Welcome back, Lord Kaidou," the men shouted, bringing out barrels of sake and heaps of meat.
The dragon shifted back into human form. Kaidou sat heavily on the frozen earth, his face a mask of pure fury. King and Queen stood nearby; they were covered in bandages, their wounds from the battle with the "Witch's Crew" still fresh.
Kaidou was in even worse shape. One of his horns was snapped, and his ribs had been shattered. He wasn't sure if the horn would ever grow back.
After his defeat by Kanata, he had been captured by the Navy. He had awakened while being transported to Impel Down, sunk the escort ships, and escaped. But even with his monstrous constitution, it had taken him days to reunite with his crew.
"Those bastards were tougher than they looked," Queen grumbled.
"The Captain wasn't the only problem," King added. "Her officers were masters of Haki."
Kaidou bit into a massive hunk of meat, his eyes glowing with malice. "She looked like Octavia... but she wasn't her. She didn't wear that mask."
"You mean Kanata, the 'Dragon-Slayer'?" Queen asked. "If she looks that much like her, she's probably the daughter."
"Daughter... right," Kaidou growled, washing the meat down with a gallon of sake.
He remembered the duel. Kanata had an entirely different aura than Octavia. Octavia had never cared about collateral damage, but Kanata had been focused, clinical. And her power was far more refined.
"I'd almost want her as a subordinate," Kaidou muttered, "but every time I see that face, I just want to kill her."
His hatred for Octavia ran deep. If Kanata was her daughter, she was the perfect target for his resentment.
"We lost a lot of men," King noted. "We need to replenish our ranks."
"Find some rookies and break them until they join," Kaidou ordered. "And we need more supplies. Shiki has a territory near here, doesn't he? We're going to raid it."
Kaidou was in a foul mood, and nothing settled his nerves like a good slaughter. He didn't care about the consequences of declaring war on the Golden Lion. In this sea, might was right. And he intended to prove he was still the strongest.
***
"Pah! I thought that was a giant cotton candy!"
"It's clearly a thundercloud, you idiot! Turn the ship before we hit the storm!"
Shiki the Golden Lion and Dr. Indigo were patrolling their territories on their floating island-ship. Since the news of Shiki's retreat at Water Seven had spread, rival pirates had been emboldened, launching attacks on Shiki's holdings.
"Pests," Shiki spat, lighting a cigar. "Guerrilla tactics... how pathetic."
"Byrnndi World, the 'World Destroyer'... his name is popping up everywhere," Indigo noted. "His bounty is only 200 million, yet he's causing quite the headache."
"He's a loudmouthed brat," Shiki dismissed him. "He doesn't have the scale or the class to be a true threat. He's just a gnat biting at a lion."
He checked a damage report and winced. His Human Shop (Slave Shop) at the Sabaody Archipelago had been completely dismantled. It was one of his most lucrative businesses, especially with the Celestial Dragons as clients.
"Kanata hit me exactly where it hurts," Shiki growled. "She's a clever one."
"Are we going to rebuild the shop?" Indigo asked.
"Not yet. I don't have the manpower to spare. The World Government keeps pestering me through Cipher Pol to reopen, but I'm too busy cleaning up the mess she left behind."
Shiki had used the slave trade to build connections within the Government, but now those connections were becoming a liability. Cipher Pol was breathing down his neck, demanding he resume business even as the Government's own papers touted his "defeat."
"I think it's time we let Cipher Pol loose on Kanata," Shiki mused. "They can't be happy about a woman who kills World Nobles wandering the sea. I'll use them to kick the Navy into gear."
He still wanted Kanata as a subordinate, but his rationality was starting to win out. She was growing too fast. The news that she had dismantled Kaidou was the final straw.
"Dr. Indigo... once we've finished this cleanup, summon the officers."
"Targeting her at last, Captain?"
"Yes," Shiki said, his eyes turning cold. "She's too dangerous to leave unchecked. If I can't own her, I'll bury her."
Unlike Roger, whom Shiki respected, Kanata was a threat to the very order he intended to build. And in the Golden Lion's world, there was only room for one king.
***
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