The air was heavy, like the calm before a storm.
A Den-Den Mushi projector was playing a piece of footage on the wall.
In the image, a young man stepped out of mist and smoke, his naginata blazing with light as he slashed downward.
"Sound Cleave — Phoenix Cry!!"
A gigantic phoenix-shaped shockwave tore across the screen and slammed into a three-masted pirate ship. In the silent footage, the ship collapsed in an instant, splintering apart as pirates were thrown into the sea.
Bang!
A thick folder was slammed onto the conference table.
Colonel Brian, commander of G-5, was livid.
"The Axe Pirates. Captain's bounty: 600,000. Total crew bounty: over one million Beli!"
His voice shook with anger.
"And now you're telling me they were wiped out by a nobody kid… in just a few minutes?!"
The officers stared at the frozen frame of Kyle's attack on the wall.
"Sir…" an intelligence officer said carefully, "based on survivor testimony and the footage, the target is a Devil Fruit user. Likely shockwaves or sound manipulation—possibly Paramecia, possibly a special Logia."
"I don't care what type he is!" Brian snapped.
"I care that a rookie destroyed a fully armed pirate ship with one attack! That kind of destructive potential will be a nightmare if we let it grow!"
Then a rear admiral spoke.
"There's something else. That boy was on the same ship as Gol D. Roger and Silvers Rayleigh."
The room went silent.
Those two names already carried weight across the seas.
And now they had picked up a monster-level newcomer?
Brian slowly picked up a pen.
"Draft a bounty notice. Circulate it immediately. The world needs to know this boy exists."
A few days later…
News Coos flew across the Grand Line.
A brand-new wanted poster spread everywhere.
The image showed a black-haired, golden-eyed boy, naginata in hand, body arched mid-swing, eyes blazing with defiance.
WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE
IRON KYLE
Bounty: 1,500,000 Beli
At the next island
Roger leapt onto the dock, arms wide.
"Kuahahaha! Supplies! And a party!"
Their battered ship barely made it, held together by Rayleigh and Kyle's desperate repairs.
The three split up.
Kyle wandered over to a stall selling newspapers and wanted posters.
He was just browsing when a fresh poster caught his eye.
Huh? That guy looks… kinda familiar…
He leaned closer.
Black hair.
Golden eyes.
Naginata raised.
Looking ridiculously cool.
"…Damn, he's handsome."
Then it clicked.
"Oh. That's me."
Kyle ripped the poster off the wall, heart pounding.
"IRON KYLE."
"Not bad. Not bad at all…" he muttered smugly. "Great photo, too. Really captures my kingly aura."
Then his eyes drifted to the number.
"1,500,000 Beli."
His smile froze.
"…That's it?"
Before he could keep ranting, the vendor hung up two more posters.
GOLD ROGER — 15,500,000 Beli
SILVERS RAYLEIGH — 13,000,000 Beli
Kyle looked at his own 1.5 million.
Then at their eight-digit bounties.
"…Ah."
Roger walked up laughing, arms full of booze and meat.
"Oh! That's your bounty, right?! Kuahahaha! One and a half million already! Not bad!"
Rayleigh smiled faintly. "Seems the Marines noticed your debut."
Kyle stared at the three posters side by side.
"…They've got a whole extra zero…"
He sighed.
Yeah… human joy really is not shared.
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