In the royal palace of Alabasta,
Under Princess Vivi's careful care, King Cobra slowly regained consciousness. When his eyes opened and the familiar ceiling of the palace came into view, confusion immediately filled his face.
Hadn't he been forced by Crocodile to go to Rain Dinners, the base hidden within the kingdom of Alabasta? Then why was he here now?
Before Cobra could understand what had happened, Princess Vivi, who had been waiting beside him, threw herself into his arms and burst into tears.
"Father! You finally woke up! I… I thought I would never see you again!"
King Cobra looked down at Vivi, who had buried herself against his chest, and for a moment everything felt unreal, almost like a dream. He slowly raised his hand and gently touched his daughter's head, and only then did he finally realize that this warmth, this voice, and this trembling body in his arms were all real.
No matter what had happened, there was nothing happier than being reunited with his beloved family after such a long and painful separation. Cobra hurriedly wrapped his arms around his daughter, holding her tightly as his eyes reddened with both concern and guilt.
Even if he was a king, he was still a father before anything else. He could feel how much his daughter must have suffered because of his own helplessness.
Nami stood quietly at a distance, watching Princess Vivi and King Cobra finally reunite, and a soft sense of relief filled her chest.
Once upon a time, Bell-mère had also held her like that whenever she made a mistake, wrapping her in those same warm arms. Unfortunately, that warmth had long since become a precious memory she could never touch again.
Before Nami realized it, tears had already slipped down her cheeks. Perhaps it was because she missed Bell-mère. Perhaps it was because she was moved by the bond between the father and daughter before her.
And just as Nami felt happy for Vivi and King Cobra's reunion, elsewhere...
Shiki had finally arrived above the Blackbeard Pirates.
At that moment, Teach was grinning down at Crocodile, who lay half-dead on the ground. His tone sounded falsely sympathetic, but every word carried a naked cruelty.
"Don't blame me, Crocodile. A man who loses has no right to complain about what happens next."
As soon as those words fell, darkness began crawling out from his body like thick black smoke.
The power of the most dangerous Logia fruit.
The Yami Yami no Mi.
"Your power… I'll make good use of it."
Just as the darkness was about to swallow Crocodile, a voice suddenly came from above.
"Taking someone else's spoils without asking?"
The Blackbeard Pirates were instantly on guard. Every one of them looked up at the same time.
A figure was slowly descending from the sky.
Shiki looked down at them with a faint smile.
"That is not a good habit."
Teach narrowed his eyes and stared at Shiki for a moment. Then his grin stretched wider, revealing his missing teeth.
"Zehahaha…"
"That hair… and those two swords. If I'm not mistaken, then you must be Shiki, aren't ya?"
Teach spread his arms, and ambition burned openly in his eyes.
"Three hundred million berries right after entering the Grand Line, huh? And the man who brought down Crocodile."
Burgess raised his head and burst into loud laughter.
"Wihahaha! So this is the guy? He doesn't look that big!"
Van Augur's face remained expressionless, but the barrel of his rifle had already turned toward Shiki.
Laffitte placed one hand on his hat and smiled.
"My, my. To appear from the sky at such a perfect moment… how unlucky."
Teach, however, was different from the rest. His eyes flickered as he spoke words that made his crew look surprised at first, then slowly understand.
"Looks like the sea dropped something even more interesting in front of me today."
Teach spread his arms wide, his grin growing broader.
"How about it, Shiki? Do you want to join my crew? I may not look like much right now, but I'm confident the world will be in my hands one day! Zehahaha!"
Shiki merely looked at Blackbeard in silence for a moment before calmly extending one hand toward them.
"Pointing a gun at someone while inviting him is not appreciated."
His smile did not change.
"Though even without that, I would have punished you for uttering such vile words."
The instant those words fell, Van Augur, who had been aiming his rifle at him, suddenly flew straight toward Shiki, as though some invisible force had seized his body and dragged him through the air.
None of the Blackbeard Pirates reacted in time.
Even Van Augur himself could not resist. Yet as he was pulled forward, his eyes remained cold, and he still raised his rifle with frightening composure.
Bang!
The bullet tore through the air, aimed directly at Shiki's forehead.
Shiki tilted his head slightly.
The bullet brushed past his cheek and vanished into the sky behind him.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Van Augur fired several more shots in succession, each one precise and deadly, yet not a single bullet could touch Shiki before a hand closed around his throat.
"Good aim," Shiki said, his voice carrying genuine praise. "But not good enough."
As he spoke, his hand became covered in a deep red aura.
Advanced Armament Haki flowed from his palm and drove straight into Van Augur's body.
And in the next moment...
Bang!
Van Augur's body burst into a bloody mist.
The sniper of the Blackbeard Pirates was dead.
"Augur!"
Burgess's muscles bulged as he took a step forward, rage twisting his face.
"You bastard!"
The rest of the crew reacted in their own ways, shock, anger, and killing intent flashing across their faces. But before any of them could move, Teach raised one hand.
"Stop, you idiots."
Teach stared at Shiki through squinted eyes. His gaze moved from Shiki's outstretched hand to the faint red aura still fading around his fingers.
"Zehahaha…"
"So that's your answer, huh?"
Teach spread his arms wildly, as though the death of his own crewmate had been nothing more than a bad joke thrown at him by the sea.
"Looks like I got rejected."
Shiki floated above them, his golden hair swaying in the desert wind.
"Should I make myself clearer?"
Almost immediately, Teach let out another low chuckle and raised both hands.
"No need. I understand."
Burgess turned toward him in disbelief.
"Captain!"
"A pirate makes his offer, and the other side gives his answer. That's all there is to it."
Teach glanced at the rifle lying in the sand, then looked back up at Shiki.
"Van Augur followed me because he chose to. He pointed his gun because he chose to. A man who sails the sea should know better than anyone that one wrong choice can cost him his life."
His grin widened again, revealing those missing teeth.
"Zehahaha… That's the pirate way, ain't it?"
Teach was not the kind of captain who would throw his life away for pride alone.
"Let's go."
Burgess gritted his teeth.
"Captain, are you serious?"
"I said let's go."
This time, Teach's voice turned cold.
Burgess clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles cracked, but in the end, he forced himself to step back.
Laffitte gave Shiki one final look, then lowered the brim of his hat.
"My, my… What an unfortunate encounter."
Doc Q coughed weakly.
"Fate… seems especially cruel today…"
Stronger neighed beneath him, as though even the horse wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible.
And just like that, the Blackbeard Pirates began to retreat.
Teach walked at the front, his broad back steady beneath the desert sun, but the smile on his face had faded ever so slightly.
He hated this feeling.
But he hated dying even more.
The WORLD was still waiting for him.
A single sniper's death was nothing compared to that dream.
Today, he would endure.
One day, he would remember this debt.
One day, when the time was right, when his hands held enough power, when the world itself trembled beneath his feet, he would return every humiliation a hundredfold.
That, too, was the pirate way.
"Did I give you permission to leave?"
Teach slowly turned his head.
The ugly expression he had been hiding finally surfaced on his face.
"…What's this now?"
His smile was still there, but there was no warmth in it.
"You killed one of my men. I swallowed it. I have no intention of fighting you either."
Darkness crawled out from beneath his boots, spreading across the sand like spilled ink.
"So what more do you want?"
Shiki looked down at him calmly.
"Nothing difficult."
His voice was light, almost careless.
"I simply want to kill you."
Even Shiki himself was somewhat surprised.
In the original course of events, Blackbeard had wanted to capture Luffy and use his bounty as a stepping stone to obtain the position of Warlord.
He should have been the perfect target. Yet now, even after one of his own crew members had been killed in front of him, Blackbeard had only laughed and swallowed his anger.
Cold sweat broke out across Teach's face.
Although he had already revealed the power of his Devil Fruit, he truly did not want to fight such a pointless battle here.
He knew better than anyone that ambition without patience was nothing but suicide.
He was not like the others... he could feel it. Shiki was strong—incredibly strong.
So strong that, for a moment, it felt as if Red-Haired Shanks or even the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger himself, was standing before him.
That terrifying Haki was no joke.
That was why Teach had lowered his head.
That was why he had chosen to endure.
He had no desire to fight someone as dangerous as Shiki this early.
So Teach forced the grin back onto his face.
"Zehahaha…"
This time, the sound was rougher.
"Kill me, huh? That's a pretty harsh thing to say to someone you just met."
Burgess could no longer hold himself back.
"Captain, let me smash him!"
Before Teach could answer, Shiki's eyes shifted toward him.
Burgess's body suddenly sank.
Boom!
The sand beneath his feet exploded downward.
His knees slammed into the ground, and the sheer force drove him so deep that cracks spread outward like a spiderweb.
"Gah!"
Burgess tried to stand, but an invisible weight pressed down on him from above. His body sank deeper and deeper into the sand, as though the desert itself had turned against him.
"What… the hell…! Captain, save—"
Those were his last words.
Before he could finish speaking, the pressure crushed him completely beneath the sand, grinding his body into a bloody paste underground.
"A loud mouth," Shiki commented indifferently.
Teach's pupils shrank.
Only now did he truly understand.
This man really did possess the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi.
And worse than that, its power had already reached the stage of awakening.
"You really intend to start a fight with me here?"
"Start?"
Shiki looked down at him calmly.
"You were already standing on the chopping block. What right do you have to decide whether the blade falls?"
Shiki's words made Teach's cheek twitch. He could endure humiliation—he could even cast aside his pride—but if someone still blocked his path, then lowering his head meant nothing.
A pitch-black aura billowed from his body, swallowing the sand in gnawing waves.
Teach flung his arms wide, the corners of his mouth cracking into a savage grin.
"Zehahaha!"
His laughter thundered across the desert like cannon fire.
"Fine, then!"
The darkness behind him surged higher, an ebbing tide of oblivion.
"If you won't let me leave…"
His bloodshot eyes gleamed with murderous resolve.
"Then prepare to be dragged into the abyss with me!"
Shiki watched the tide of darkness unfurl, eyes steady as still water. A faint curve tugged at his lips.
"That's more like it."
A translucent panel—visible only to him—blinked into existence, its glowing script revealing why he had pressed Teach this far:
[Ding! Vast Darkness-type energy detected.]
[Compatibility with "Yami Sukehiro" template: 100%.]
[Extraction possible.]
[Objective: Eliminate target "Blackbeard" to seize the Yami Yami no Mi. Template progression and additional upgrades will be granted upon completion.]
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