Craster frowned, his expression darkening. "I've received a reply from the World Government. They've agreed to make me one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Your Marine no longer has the authority to target me."
Finn's grin widened. "Really? Then please show me the official documents. I'd love to take a look."
Craster's jaw tightened. "The procedure hasn't been finalized yet, but I'm not lying to you."
"So you can't produce them," Finn said, touching his chin thoughtfully. "Craster, have you considered the possibility that the World Government is lying to you?"
Craster stiffened, his eyes flashing with crimson anger. "Impossible! Why would they lie to me!?"
"I'm already here," Finn said with a casual shrug. "Do I really need to spell it out?"
A deeper fury kindled in Craster's eyes. "Are you saying the Seven Warlords system was a trap from the start? A scheme to lure pirates like us?"
Finn scratched his ear, his smile infuriatingly relaxed. "Who knows? Maybe."
Craster took a slow breath, forcing himself to calm down. He turned his gaze to Doflamingo. "When did you become a Marine?"
Doflamingo kept his hands in his pockets, his perpetual smile never wavering. "No, no, you misunderstand. How could I be a Marine? It's simply that Admiral Finn and I have a good relationship, so—"
"So you're betraying me, your ally, to stand with the Marine?" Craster's voice dripped with murderous intent.
"No, no, no," Doflamingo said, shaking his head. "One of you is my good friend, the other is my partner. I'm caught in the middle, so I've chosen not to help either side."
"Do you think they'll let you live after they kill me?" Craster tried to provoke him.
He didn't know about Doflamingo's special status and connections. If he had, he never would have said such a thing.
Doflamingo nodded seriously. "Of course they will."
In that moment, Craster's hand flashed to his waist. A dagger shot from its sheath like a striking snake, stabbing directly toward Doflamingo's chest.
"Then you're my enemy," Craster said with a cruel laugh, reaching out to grab hold of the wounded man.
But then he froze. He stared down at his empty hands, then back at Doflamingo.
"Fufufufufu..." Doflamingo's distinctive laugh rang out. "Did you think I was just some weak businessman you could bully, Craster?"
"Black Knight?" Finn glanced at Doflamingo's chest with mild interest.
The dagger was indeed embedded there, but there was no wound, not a drop of blood. It was obviously one of Doflamingo's near-perfect string constructs, a decoy indistinguishable from the real thing.
The bastard had been wary of Finn from the very beginning. To avoid suffering the same humiliation as their last encounter, he hadn't come in person at all. Only this substitute stood before them.
"What a shame," Finn said with an exaggerated pout. "I was hoping you two would fight so I could take advantage of the chaos."
Because it was a string construct, there had been no blood. Craster had clearly expected to kill Doflamingo instantly and drain him dry, but from beginning to end, he'd probably never even seen the real Doflamingo.
The man had powerful, bizarre abilities, but his tactical instincts left something to be desired.
"I underestimated you," Craster muttered. Then he slowly extended his arm, clenching his palm into a fist. When he opened it again, a single drop of blood welled up in the center.
More droplets followed, falling from his hand. But just before they hit the rooftop beneath his feet, they stopped in mid-air.
The blood droplets connected, flowing together into a single crimson strand. In an instant, they solidified into a long blade of crystallized blood.
The visual effect was striking.
The ability looked genuinely strange.
As Finn watched the performance with academic interest, Craster made an unexpected move. Rather than attacking with the blood blade, he swung his other hand violently. Another dagger shot from his waist, brushing past Finn's cheek and hurtling toward Vergo.
Finn's expression didn't change in the slightest, as though Vergo's life or death was of no concern to him whatsoever.
Fortunately, Vergo was competent. He wrapped Armament Haki around his forearm and drew the utility dagger he normally used to clean Finn's fish. With a precise deflection, he blocked the incoming blade.
But in the next instant, Vergo noticed a faint trace of blood on the dagger's edge.
Understanding flashed through him. The dagger had Craster's blood on it. He was using that blood to remotely control the weapon, disguising it as a normal thrown blade to lower his opponent's guard.
As expected, the dagger that should have fallen to the ground after being deflected suddenly changed trajectory mid-air. It spun twice and shot directly toward Hina, who stood beside Finn.
Hina's combat abilities were still developing, and she was holding an armful of documents. The distance was too close. She had no time to dodge.
A vicious smile spread across Craster's face. He could already see it: the beautiful Marine girl's skin splitting open, blood flowing, and then being drained in one terrible breath until she looked like sun-dried leather.
But just as the dagger was about to pierce Hina's throat, just as panic flashed across her face, the blade struck something invisible and bounced away with a sharp ting, embedding itself in the ground instead.
"My secretary is a beautiful young woman," Finn said pleasantly. "If she gets scarred, are you going to take responsibility for that?"
The moment he finished speaking, an overwhelming gravitational force erupted from his body.
Then he vanished.
The building where Craster had been standing collapsed instantly. The pirate captain plummeted from the rooftop, slammed into the ground by invisible pressure, and pinned there completely immobile.
Doflamingo's eyes widened slightly behind his sunglasses. Another instant takedown?
But in that moment, scarlet light flashed in Craster's eyes. His entire body suddenly exploded, transforming into several torrents of blood that shot in different directions.
"Is there any record of this ability?" Finn asked calmly.
"No, Admiral," Hina replied quickly. "According to our intelligence, he's never used this technique before."
"Make a note then," Finn said. "Paramecia-type, Blood-Blood Fruit. Special classification. Can simulate elemental effects. Similar to Katakuri's Mochi-Mochi Fruit or Gasparde's Candy-Candy Fruit."
"Yes, Admiral." Hina nodded, already pulling out a notepad.
This was how most Devil Fruit encyclopedias were compiled: bit by bit, through accumulated field intelligence.
Katakuri's Mochi-Mochi Fruit was a known special Paramecia. Marine Headquarters also had a similar case in Gasparde, user of the Candy-Candy Fruit. That man would eventually defect, but for now he remained a loyal Rear Admiral.
The Blood-Blood Fruit was clearly Paramecia-type, but the man before them could use pseudo-Logia abilities. Almost certainly a special classification.
The scattered blood streams converged, and Craster's figure reformed. Not only that, but his subordinates seemed to finally realize what was happening. They began crawling out from the alleys near the port.
"Boss, are you alright?"
"Did Doflamingo betray us?"
But before these pirate lackeys could finish expressing their loyalty, a vicious aura pulsed from Craster's body. Torrents of blood erupted outward, piercing through his crew's bodies.
Craster raised one hand and pulled.
A massive volume of blood was ripped from the pirates' bodies. In mere seconds, dozens of men collapsed as desiccated corpses.
The blood gathered before Craster in a swirling crimson mass.
"So you pirates really are disgusting," Finn said with a hint of genuine exasperation. "You kill your own subordinates without a second thought?"
"Subordinates?" Craster's cruel smile widened. "I don't need useless subordinates. They're just blood banks." His eyes gleamed with sadistic anticipation. "Prepare to feel despair, Admiral!"
He thrust both arms forward. The blood torrent hovering before him exploded into a barrage of projectiles, firing like machine-gun rounds in a sweeping curtain toward Finn and his group.
Vergo pulled the bamboo stick from his back, wrapping it in Haki. Hina dropped into a defensive stance.
Doflamingo didn't bother moving. He wasn't really there anyway. He stood with his hands in his pockets, smiling as he watched the show.
But whether Vergo or Hina, their preparations proved unnecessary.
The blood-red barrage halted exactly three meters from Finn, as though striking an invisible wall. No matter how much blood Craster fired, none of it could advance another inch.
Craster didn't seem surprised. He gestured again, and the blood flow shifted, gathering and then spreading to surround Finn's group entirely.
"Blood Eclipse!" Craster roared.
The concentrated blood mass suddenly dispersed, transforming into a vast but thinner crimson mist that blanketed the entire port.
Hidden throughout the area were local gangsters and thugs who'd been watching the confrontation. The moment the blood mist touched them, their skin began to blister and rot. Their screams filled the air.
Within moments, their bodies dissolved completely, contributing even more blood to the expanding fog.
"Cihahahahaha! Admiral, I'm the type who gets stronger the longer I fight! Enjoy this feast of blood!" Craster's laughter echoed across the port.
Finn observed the blood mist being held at bay by his repulsive field, a flicker of genuine admiration in his eyes. "This ability really is impressive."
The capacity to steal enemy blood and continuously amplify offensive power made it a devastating weapon on any battlefield. If the Whitebeard Pirates had possessed such an ability during the Battle of Marineford, the carnage would have been unimaginable.
This fruit was born for war.
"Admiral!" Hina said urgently. "If he continues like this, the innocent people on the island and our soldiers on the warships—"
"Tch, I wanted to see what other tricks he had," Finn said with mild disappointment.
He slowly raised one arm, extending his palm toward the blood mist.
Doflamingo's eyes widened behind his sunglasses. Was Finn actually going to touch the corrosive fog himself?
But just as Finn's palm was about to make contact, purple-black energy radiated from his hand.
In Doflamingo's astonished gaze, the dense blood mist covering the area in front of Finn began flowing toward his outstretched palm. It condensed from vapor into liquid, spiraling between his five fingers in an elegant, controlled stream.
If you didn't know better, you'd think Finn was the Blood-Blood Fruit user.
Within three to five breaths, all the blood mist in the port had gathered before Finn's hand.
What was even more startling was that the blood, which had been a massive torrent in Craster's control, was now compressed into a sphere roughly the size of a basketball.
"Compression..." Doflamingo whispered.
Finn had clearly used gravitational force to compress all the blood together. Despite its small size, that sphere had to be incredibly dense, extraordinarily heavy.
Craster stared in confusion, repeatedly trying to manipulate the blood. He could still feel his connection to it, but he couldn't pull it free. It was as though the entire mass had been locked in place.
"Is that really all you've got?" Finn asked, his tone mocking. "How disappointing."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writing takes time, coffee, and a lot of love.If you'd like to support my work, join me at [email protected]/GoldenGaruda
You'll get early access to over 50 chapters, selection on new series, and the satisfaction of knowing your support directly fuels more stories.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~