Earth · A Certain City · Late Night
The rain poured in torrents.
In the darkness, Guts, battered and bruised, shielded two trembling children behind him.
Before him stood a gang of armed thugs—scum who took pleasure in pillaging and killing in this lawless district.
"Hand them over and walk away. You get to keep your life!" the leader of the thugs roared, eyes filled with greed.
Guts only smirked coldly.
In his past life, he had been nothing more than an ordinary man.
Yet even in this collapsing, end-of-the-world era, he still clung stubbornly to the oldest and heaviest conviction—Justice must not be trampled upon.
He adjusted his breathing slightly, fists clenched.
Knowing Death was certain, he refused to take even half a step back.
The next moment—the thugs surged forward.
Guts threw punches with all his might, falling again and again, only to struggle back to his feet each time.
Blood soaked his tattered raincoat, his knuckles shattered against steel pipes, his ribs caved in from rifle butts.
But he never collapsed in front of the children.
Until the final bullet pierced his heart in the cold, rainy night.
In the last flicker of consciousness, he tilted his head towards the pitch-black sky, the faintest trace of a smile on his lips.
"If there's a next life…"
"Let me be born in a world where absolute justice can purge all filth."
Darkness swallowed him whole.
*****
Deep in the New World, Marine Headquarters · G-1 Branch Hospital.
The night was heavy, the corridors thick with a bone-chilling cold.
The stench of blood mixed with the sharp bite of disinfectant, drifting sluggishly through the air, turning this already harsh military hospital into something resembling a battlefield ruin.
Inside an emergency ward—Guts eyes snapped open.
A blinding white light pierced his pupils.
Above him was an unfamiliar, oppressive ceiling, cold and detached, hanging overhead.
Faint yet urgent voices murmured nearby.
"...Thank goodness he was brought in time..."
"...He's Vice Admiral Sakazuki's nephew... Must not let anything happen to him..."
"...But... the family... completely wiped out..."
The words were like sharp needles, piercing through the haze of consciousness.
The next moment, a torrent of memories mercilessly crashed into his mind.
'Sakazuki?! Is this... the world of One Piece?!'
'I... have transmigrated?!'
Yet before he could process the shock or gather his thoughts, another, far more brutal memory followed.
A small town in the North Blue.
What should have been a peaceful night was instead swallowed by black flags blotting out the sky.
Pirates—A pack of lawless beasts, surging in from the sea.
Flames, screams, blood, despair.
His father—the proud captain of the town's defense force—lay in a pool of blood.
His mother, gentle and silent, shielded his younger brother with her body before vanishing into the inferno.
And the countless familiar, smiling faces—one by one, they fell beneath the pirates' blades.
As for the so-called 'protectors'—the Marines—they arrived only the next day, when it was all over, putting on a show of false pity and mercy.
A volcano seethed in his chest.
Pain.
Rage.
Hatred.
Mingled with the memories of his past life as a 'fanatical believer in Akainu's Absolute Justice', the true blood-soaked vengeance of this life poured into his soul, weaving his convictions and hatred into an unshakable will!
Guts clenched his teeth, trembling slightly as he slowly tightened his fists on the hospital bed, his knuckles turning white from the force.
He muttered to himself, his voice low and resolute.
"...This world doesn't need the freedom of scum pirates."
"—Only Absolute Justice."
The moment this conviction fully solidified—
[Ding—]
A cold yet steady mechanical tone echoed in his mind:
[Absolute Justice System successfully bound.]
[Initial used unlocked.]
[Rule: Host accumulates Judgement Points for each pirate eradicated, usable for self-enhancement.]
[Upgrades available: Physical Strength · Armament Haki · Observation Haki · Fruit Mastery.]
[Initial Devil Fruit Ability Awakened: Logia Type · Air Fruit.]
Air Fruit.
Control the atmosphere, tear the skies, crush everything!
Wind, pressure, explosion, dominion, absolute supremacy over the battlefield!
Guts was stunned for a brief moment.
Then, a blazing conviction surged within his chest.
This was fate's gift—and the iron law of war.
If the world was destined to drown in blood and chaos—then he would tear it apart, purge it and reshape it with absolute power!
At that moment, the hospital door was pushed open with a heavy creak.
A stifling wave of scorching air rushed in, as if the very atmosphere had been baked molten by magma.
Dressed in standard Marine uniform, Sakazuki strode in, his presence thick with killing intent.
His face was dark as cast iron, his shoulders trembling slightly, as if suppressing towering fury.
In that instant, the temperature in the room seemed to spike by dozens of degrees, the floor faintly scorching beneath his steps.
Sakazuki stopped before the bed.
His iron-forged eyes bore into Guts.
Their gazes met.
And Guts saw it.
Within those eyes, long accustomed to ruthlessness and execution, there was now—a glimmer of something almost human, suppressed to the extreme.
Faint, yet exceptionally clear.
That was—the last shred of tenderness he had left in this filthy world.
Reserved solely for him, his only family.
Sakazuki remained silent for a long while.
Finally, his voice rumbled low and heavy, like molten lava rolling beneath the earth.
"Guts."
"From this day forward, only the two of us remain in this world."
"Are you ready?"
Those few words seemed to crush the air, shattering any lingering possibility of the warm family that once was.
Guts slowly sat up.
His pale fingers clenched into fists beneath the sheets, knuckles whitening from the force.
His gaze was like a blade piercing through morning mist—cold and unyielding.
"I'm ready."
"Starting today, I will enforce Absolute Justice."
"I will never allow pirates in this world—to set foot on land alive again."
"Merely exterminating pirates isn't enough."
"I will sever the very soil that breeds evil in this world."
"—I will forge a new order with Absolute Justice!"
Sakazuki didn't respond.
He simply raised his head silently, gazing out the window.
In the distance, the night pressed heavily upon the sea, devoid of light, as though the entire world were scorched by invisible fury.
Beyond that dark, abyssal horizon, the skies over the North Blue still faintly bore the remnants of blood-red thunderclouds.
Later rumors would tell—that over these three days and nights—Sakazuki alone had slaughtered dozens of notorious pirate crews across the North Blue.
No survivors.
The entire coastline of the North Blue lay in ruins, as though ravaged by molten flames.
No orders.
No reports.
Only pure, merciless retribution.
—That was Sakazuki's elegy.
—And his final requiem for his family.
Outside the hospital room, winds howled and clouds churned.
Far across the sea, Gol D. Roger was nearing the end of his journey, carrying with him a fate that would change the era.
And now, in this broken corner of the New World—a boy's oath quietly took form.
A 'star' that would tear through the darkness and reshape justice silently rose.
'Justice does not grow on its own.'
'Justice must be forged in blood and fire.'