Deep within the forest, two figures stumbled through the undergrowth before collapsing beneath a massive tree.
"Hah… hah… we're alive…" Ivankov panted heavily, his oversized head leaning weakly against the trunk. "That hag… what a monster!"
Bartholomew Kuma didn't reply. He was staring at his hand. Just moments ago, that very hand had shoved the Paw-Paw Fruit into his mouth.
The taste still lingered indescribably foul but within his body, a strange new power surged like a tide.
"Vee-haw! We made it, Kuma!" Ivankov regained a shred of strength, slapping Kuma on the shoulder. "All thanks to that black-haired guy! Who was he anyway? Damn, he was handsome!"
In Kuma's mind, an image burned bright: a lone man, naginata in hand, standing defiantly against Charlotte Linlin's massive frame.
"…Yeah." Kuma's voice was low, but within his eyes, fear was being replaced by a spark of fire.
"We need to save Ginny and the others!" Ivankov forced himself upright. "While everything outside is chaos, this is our best chance! With your new power, we can "
His words froze.
The sky had gone dark.
Above them, a massive pentagram blazed into existence, glowing red and inscribed with shifting runes. The aura it released pressed down on their souls, suffocating and dreadful.
"…What is that…" Ivankov's voice quivered with terror.
From the center of the sigil, a figure slowly descended, wreathed in black lightning and unnatural flames.
He wore a black suit, his head wrapped with a peculiar turban, a sharp moustache framing his face. His emotionless eyes gazed downward, and his lower body bristled with insect-like legs that scraped against the air.
Boom!
The moment he touched the ground, a shockwave rippled outward. The earth split, trees toppled, even the air seemed to freeze solid.
Ivankov didn't even manage a scream before the overwhelming aura crushed his consciousness. His eyes rolled back and he collapsed like a rag doll.
Only Kuma remained awake, his Buccaneer bloodline and the fresh surge of power from the fruit barely keeping him conscious. But the strain was unbearable his bones creaked, his body pinned mercilessly to the ground.
The newcomer was none other than one of the Five Elders: Warrior God of Science and Defense, Saint Jaygarcia Saturn.
Saturn ignored Ivankov's unconscious body. His gaze locked solely onto Kuma.
"Little Buccaneer," Saturn said softly, his words cold enough to freeze blood.
"From the moment your tribe was born, there were only ever two choices. To live as slaves… or to die."
Those words stabbed into Kuma's mind like iron spikes.
He remembered his father in chains, whispering the legend of the Sun God Nika before his life was taken. A god who brought laughter and freedom to the oppressed.
He remembered the black-haired man, a pirate strong enough to stand against monsters like Linlin, yet willing to risk himself to save strangers.
Why?
Why could some act like gods, judging the lives of others at will… while others chose to stand like heroes, protecting the weak?
And why… why was he born only to be a slave?
Anger rose within him, fiercer than pain, hotter than fear.
Kuma forced his hands into the fractured earth, pushing against Saturn's oppressive aura, trying to straighten his crumbling body inch by inch.
"Old man…" His voice was hoarse but steady. "You think yourself powerful?"
Blood smeared his face, but in his eyes burned a fire that refused to go out.
"If we're born only to be slaves… then why are we born at all?"
"This… this has no meaning!"
He thought of his comrades, gunned down like prey. He thought of Ginny. He thought of Ivankov. He thought of the man who stood alone against Linlin to save them.
"If… if I had the strength right now…" Kuma's chest heaved, his voice rising into a raw cry. "I'd be like Nika, doing everything I could to save those just as wretched as me!"
His declaration echoed through the silent forest. Naïve. Reckless. Yet so full of conviction it could shake hearts.
Saturn was unmoved. His cold voice cut through.
"And this is why your kind must be erased from history."
He raised his staff, its tip gathering a black sphere of annihilation.
Resistance itself, in the face of absolute power, was sin.
The moment before it fired
A shadow appeared at his back.
The black-and-gold naginata pierced forward, a line of death aimed straight at Saturn's neck.
No bounty. No warning. Just blades for the Five Elders!
Face-to-face ult! No hesitation!
Silent Piercing Thrust!
Clang!
The scream of steel rang out, shattering the silence.
Kael Grylls' pupils shrank.
His all-out thrust, cloaked in soundless death, had been stopped cold. Saturn's spider-leg appendage blocked it effortlessly, sparks scattering as steel met chitin.
The recoil slammed through Kael's arms. He skidded back, carving deep furrows into the earth before regaining his footing.
Hard. Harder than Linlin.
Kael flexed his numb wrist, the easy grin gone from his face, replaced with grim focus.
Saturn turned, his emotionless gaze settling on Kael for the first time.
He glanced at the faint white mark at the tip of his appendage and spoke in a tone that finally carried a ripple of interest.
"A peculiar Devil Fruit… and Haki of this level." His words were flat, declarative. "You are a pirate?"
"Damn right."
Saturn's expression didn't change. There was no anger. Only disdain, as if observing an insect.
"No matter. Crushing two bugs instead of one makes no difference."
Kael spat to the side, raising his middle finger with a crooked grin.
"Eat shit, you smug bastard."