"We are being attacked, I repeat, the pirates are attacking us!" shouted a citizen who held a spear in his hand.
All the inhabitants were terrified; fear filled the air, and the sound of drums and hurried footsteps echoed through the streets. Even so, the bravest took a step forward and said:
"We will not allow them to take our city!"
Everyone, in unison, shouted with great strength:
"YES!"
On the other hand, I, from the front of the store, watched everything in silence. I could feel how the ground trembled with each explosion and how the smell of smoke began to cover the atmosphere. The mayor grabbed me tightly, noticing that I was about to run to join them.
"You're not going, it's too dangerous, and you know it yourself. You've already lived it in your own flesh... you can't do anything," said the mayor, closing his eyes with frustration and concern.
"Mayor, I...! I WILL NOT ALLOW ANYONE ELSE TO GET HURT BECAUSE OF MY INCOMPETENCE!!!" I roared with fury.
I pushed myself forward and jumped, hitting the mayor's chest, who fell to the ground from the impact. Without losing a second, I started running straight toward the battlefield, with my heart burning with determination.
"Not for nothing was I once considered a hero!" I exclaimed firmly, as the wind hit my face and the flames of battle reflected in my eyes.
I fell silent for a moment. All of that felt so distant, yet at the same time so present in my mind. The sound of the fire crackling in front of me brought me back to reality.
"Ahu..." murmured X, looking at me with a mixture of surprise and sadness. "That was... harder than I imagined."
"Yeah," I replied with a tired smile. "But that's already in the past."
The protagonist stood up from the seat on the stairs of the pet shop. As I looked at him, he seemed calm, but also serious. His gaze was fixed on the horizon, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Leave it to me, Ahu," said X with complete confidence. He walked a few steps forward and waved his hand from side to side in farewell.
Snap.
X disappeared without leaving a trace. In the blink of an eye, he was already in the middle of the battlefield. Around him, chaos reigned: ruined houses, fire devouring the walls, and smoke dyeing the sky gray. From above, floating calmly, X observed the confrontation: a hundred citizens against a hundred pirates.
"ATTACK!!!" roared one of the pirates, raising his sword as his subordinates charged forward like a wild pack.
"LET'S FINISH THEM OFF!!!"
Snap.
The sound was soft, but reality shattered for an instant. A tremor rippled through the air, and from nothing emerged a colossal wall, solid as a mountain, separating both sides. The impact was so strong that the ground rippled under everyone's feet.
Snap.
The white-haired boy appeared in front of the pirates, yawning disinterestedly while covering his mouth with one hand.
"Come on then," he said in a calm, almost bored voice.
"What the hell just happened?!"
"Who is that brat?!"
"Ha! Stupid kid, we're going to cut you into pieces!"
The pirates' laughter echoed defiantly, ignoring the power they had just witnessed. But X only watched them with a half-smile.
"Don't underestimate your opponent."
One of the pirates ran toward him, swinging his sword furiously.
"Shut up! We didn't come here to liste—!"
Snap.
Time seemed to stop. An instant later, the pirate collapsed… or rather, his body had fused with the ground, turned into a perfectly flat graffiti — an exact copy of his figure frozen in terror.
Silence fell like a slab. No one breathed.
"W-What… what was that?" one murmured.
"Entertain me a little," said X, running his hand through his hair, with a defiant smile.
The pirates roared with rage and charged at him, raising swords and muskets.
"GET HIM!!!"
X closed his eyes. A slight movement, a simple step back, and all their attacks missed by mere millimeters. He turned, dodged, disappeared, and reappeared among them as if reality itself couldn't hold him.
Snap.
Half of the pirates vanished from the ground. A second later, the sky darkened... and they began to fall. Bodies dropping like rain, crashing one after another against the ground.
Those who remained looked up, paralyzed.
X, without wasting time, twirled his index finger and threw a small coin into the air.
Snap.
The coin shone, trembled... and began to grow. Once, twice, ten, twenty times its original size. In a matter of seconds, it had become a projectile the size of a house.
Impact.
The roar echoed throughout the town. The pirates were hurled against the wall like rag dolls, screaming in pain.
"AAAGHHHH!"
Dust rose. The fire danced around him. X walked among the debris, calm, while the ground trembled beneath his steps. Suddenly, a pirate appeared behind him, wielding his sword with all his strength.
The blade sliced through the air.
But X was no longer there. He appeared above the sword, balancing on the hilt with his heels and a smile.
"Nice try... but you're not very stealthy. I could hear your footsteps a while ago."
"Huh?"
X raised his foot.
With a single movement, he slammed it into the pirate's head. The blow was sharp, brutal. The body fell like a sack, leaving a dent in the ground and an overwhelming silence among the few still standing.
X exhaled slowly, cracking his neck. "Now then... who's next?"
"Damn it! He defeated everyone in the blink of an eye!" shouted a terrified pirate. Panic overtook him, and without thinking twice, he started running, fleeing from the white-haired boy as if he had just seen a deity.
Snap.
The air distorted. In a blink, the fleeing pirate appeared right in front of X, colliding straight into his chest. The impact didn't move him even an inch; the pirate, on the other hand, fell backward to the ground, trembling.
X tilted his head slightly, revealing a calm, almost amused smile.
"Tell me... who is your captain? Why the urge to attack this city?"
The pirate, trembling with fear, tried to crawl away with all his strength, but his legs wouldn't respond. Terror had completely paralyzed him. Suddenly, he felt a weight on his back: the white-haired boy's foot had pinned him effortlessly.
"I'll ask you again. Who is your captain? Why are you attacking this city?"
X's voice sounded deeper, colder… carrying an authority that froze the blood. The pirate began to sob, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"We attacked this city because it had lots of treasures! We wanted to take everything!" he exclaimed between sobs, his voice trembling.
X kept his foot pressed against his back and said in a low, almost threatening tone: "And...?"
The pirate felt the weight on his back intensify, crushing him little by little.
"Our captain is Don Krieg! We discovered through clues from other areas that there were many treasures here! Please forgive me, I was only following orders!" he screamed desperately.
X finally lifted his foot, and the pirate, without looking back, ran away as fast as he could, stumbling over the debris as he fled.
The white-haired boy watched him leave, with a thoughtful expression.
"I've heard that name before... Don Krieg, the commander of the largest pirate armada in the East Blue. The Krieg Pirates..." he murmured seriously, as the fire of the battlefield reflected in his eyes.