Chapter 18: An Unbreakable Cage
The mood around the Straw Hat Pirates was one of frantic, rising despair.
"Luffy!"
"Zoro!"
"Usopp! Brook!"
Chopper was alternating between his human and reindeer forms, tears streaming down his furry face as he pushed uselessly against the solid wall of spiritual light that encased his friends. They had finally, just barely, defeated the towering "Pacifista" that had hunted them. But before they could even catch their breath, two beams of searing blue-white light had slammed down from the clear sky, pinning their captain and swordsman in place.
It didn't burn. It didn't cut. It was just… impossibly heavy. Luffy and Zoro were straining with every fiber of their being, muscles corded and veins bulging, but they could only manage the tiniest, agonizing movements.
"Let's… get them… out!" Sanji yelled, his leg a blur as he delivered a series of powerful kicks to the base of the pillar holding Zoro. Each impact sent a shockwave up his own leg, making his teeth rattle. It was like kicking a mountain.
Nami was frantically manipulating her Perfect Clima-Tact, trying to generate localized weather phenomena—fog, wind, even small lightning—around the beams. "If it's light, maybe it's tied to atmospheric conditions!" she reasoned, her voice tight with panic. But the pillars remained, serene and unchanging.
Robin, her brow furrowed in concentration, tried a more direct approach. "Tres Manos: Gigante!" Three giant arms bloomed from the ground inside Luffy's pillar, attempting to lift him. The moment they fully formed, a terrible crushing pressure filled the space. With a sound like shattering plaster, the spectral arms dissolved into a flurry of petals before they could exert any force. Robin gasped, clutching her real arms as phantom pain shot through them. Forcing it would mean real, physical damage.
Franky, ever the technician, had tried the brute-force method. "NOT SUPER!" he'd roared, shoving his massive iron arm directly into the light. A deafening BUZZ of spiritual feedback had echoed, and the next moment, he was flat on his back, smoke curling from his joints. He'd been forced to jettison the entire arm assembly to avoid being fused to the ground himself. Now he was down one weapon.
Usopp was chewing his lip, his mind racing. An idea, dangerous and half-formed, flickered in his head. A blast… a big enough, precisely angled explosion from my Kabuto might knock them clear… But the risk was enormous. A miscalculation could shatter their bones or send them flying into another beam. He hesitated, fear and responsibility warring within him.
Their desperation was compounded by the enemy still before them. Sentomaru, the World Government agent with the axe, was advancing slowly, a second, undamaged Pacifista at his side. He looked as puzzled as they were.
"What kind of ability is this?" Sentomaru muttered, scratching his head. "A friendly force?"
The two strongest Straw Hats were neutralized. This was a gift. These two had just taken down a Pacifista together, proving their monstrous growth. With just him and one unit, capturing the rest might have been messy. Now? It looked straightforward.
"Damn it! What did you do?!" Sanji snarled, positioning himself squarely between the approaching threats and Nami, Chopper, and Robin.
"I didn't do anything," Sentomaru stated, his voice flat. "Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you. I am the man with the world's strongest defense and the tightest lips! But if you ask me, this reeks of that new guy's work. The Fourth Admiral."
The words landed like physical blows.
"W-What?! The Fourth Admiral?!" Nami squeaked, her face paling. Sanji's cigarette almost fell from his lips. Robin's blood ran cold. They had all seen, or felt the aftermath of, Admiral Aokiji's power. The very title was a synonym for catastrophic, unstoppable force.
They didn't regret punching a Celestial Dragon. But they hadn't expected an Admiral to be lurking on Sabaody. A Shichibukai was bad enough. An Admiral was a death sentence.
As Sentomaru and the silent Pacifista drew closer, a cold, heavy despair began to settle over the crew.
Then, it got worse.
Whoosh.
A third figure appeared between them and Sentomaru as if teleporting, the air pressure shifting with its arrival. Massive, serene, holding a closed bible.
"Another one?!" Franky bellowed, his remaining fist clenched. "How many of these tin men does the Navy have?!"
This one, however, felt different. Its presence was heavier, quieter, more profound.
"Ye...s... It's him!!" Zoro ground out from within his pillar, his voice strained but his one visible eye burning with recognition and a fierce, unyielding will. He had never stopped struggling; faint wisps of a ghostly aura and the keen edge of sword intent flickered around him, only to be crushed by the relentless pressure. For a man who promised never to lose again, this helplessness was a poison worse than any wound.
Usopp and Chopper whimpered.
Sentomaru blinked. "Kuma? What are you doing here? Did you get orders?"
He didn't suspect treachery. Bartholomew Kuma was the model Shichibukai, the government's most obedient weapon, a fixture in Dr. Vegapunk's lab.
Kuma did not answer. His voice was a soft, mechanical monotone. "Leave them. This matter is for me to handle."
Without waiting for a reply, he began walking, his steps measured and heavy, directly toward the terrified Straw Hats.
Miles away, in the dim light of Shakky's Rip-Off Bar, Silvers Rayleigh set down his mug with a soft sigh. He had been watching, waiting, hoping the kids would find a way. But now, with an Admiral's power manifesting and Kuma's inexplicable arrival, the situation had spiraled beyond their ability to cope.
"It seems this old man can't just sit and watch good saplings get crushed," he murmured to the empty room. "Forgive the intrusion, old friend."
From behind the bar, he drew out a long, simple scabbard. The blade within hummed faintly as he touched it. Then, with a speed that defied his age, he was gone—a streak of movement so fast it barely disturbed the air, racing across the archipelago.
Kuma stepped past Sanji, who was too stunned by the sudden shift to react immediately. The cyborg stopped before the pillar imprisoning Luffy. Luffy's eyes were wide with panic, not for himself, but for his crew.
"Move! MOVE, you bastard! Don't you DARE hurt my friends!" Luffy snarled, his body actually twisting within the beam, rubber muscles screaming in protest as they fought the immense spiritual gravity. His raw, stubborn vitality was a shocking thing to witness.
Kuma looked down at him, his expression unreadable behind his glasses. He slowly raised his large, padded palm.
He's going to kill Luffy! the thought screamed in every Straw Hat's mind.
"Goodbye," Kuma intoned.
His palm moved forward, into the edge of the searing light.
TZZZT—CRUNCH.
It was a horrific sound. The moment Kuma's flesh-and-metal hand penetrated the Reiatsu field, it met not just resistance, but active, violent compression. The fleshy part tore, bleeding instantly. The mechanical components beneath whined and sparked, the sound of finely crafted gears and hydraulics being mercilessly crushed.
He was trying to touch Luffy. With his Nikyu Nikyu no Mi powers, a single touch could repel a person across the ocean, could "push" pain and fatigue from a body. If he could just make contact, he could save the son of his leader. He could send Nico Robin to safety. It was the last, desperate act of a man who had already lost his mind.
His hand pushed deeper, the damage worsening.
Suddenly, a new voice cut through the grove, calm, clear, and laced with a faint, mocking curiosity. It came from everywhere and nowhere.
"Bartholomew Kuma… just what do you think you're doing?"
The air grew colder. At the edge of the clearing, leaning against a bubble-coated tree as if he had been there for hours, was a man in a pristine white Admiral's coat. His dark eyes were fixed on Kuma's bleeding, straining hand.
Levi had arrived.
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