Toku was hungry.
Not for food in the ordinary sense, but for the simple, grounding act of cooking and eating. The kind of hunger that reminded him he was still flesh and blood beneath the invisibility.
He slipped aboard the Cross Guild flagship like smoke unseen, unheard, unfelt. The Suke Suke no Mi made every step effortless. Guards walked past him without a glance. Lookouts scanned empty air. He moved straight to the galley, found the stores, and prepared a quick, sharp meal: grilled fish, rice, and a simple sauce. He ate standing up, invisible, savoring each bite with detached efficiency. When he was done, he wiped his mouth and left the galley exactly as he had found it.
Hunger satisfied.
Now for the rest.
Buggy's foolishness had nearly complicated everything. Mihawk's blade had reminded him of his limits. Revenge and cleanup were due.
He carried a small vial of clear liquid in his pocket Silent Catch (Shizukana Himo). A toxin Reiju had once designed as a chef's tool: fast, painless, meant to kill sea kings instantly without struggle. A quiet line that brought in the catch. Perfect for this.
Toku moved to the main mess hall.
The officers were gathered Cabaji juggling knives idly, Mohji feeding scraps to Richie the lion, Mr. 3 (Galdino) shaping wax idly, Mr. 1 sitting with crossed arms, and a handful of Impel Down lieutenants laughing over drinks. Alvida was elsewhere, alone in her quarters. Toku saved her for last. She would be the main dish hunger first, then horniness.
He moved among them like a ghost.
One by one, with clinical precision, he dosed their drinks, their food, the rims of their cups. The toxin was tasteless, odorless. It would activate in exactly one minute.
Toku didn't waste time.
While the toxin worked its way through their systems, he began the killing spree.
He was efficient. Cruel. Detached. A madman with perfect control.
Cabaji stood up to perform a trick. Toku drove a hidden needle into the base of his spine then sliced his throat from behind with a borrowed knife. Blood sprayed across the table as Cabaji gurgled, eyes wide.
Mohji turned at the sound. Toku stabbed him in the groin first deep, twisting then drove the blade up under the ribs. Richie roared and lunged; Toku sidestepped and slit the lion's throat in one clean motion. The big cat collapsed mid-leap.
Mr. 3 tried to form a wax barrier. Toku was already behind him stabbing him repeatedly in the kidneys and lower back, then finishing with a cut across the carotid. Wax melted uselessly as the man choked on his own blood.
Mr. 1 stood, blades ready. Toku moved faster slashing the tendons behind his knees first, then driving the knife into his throat while he was still standing. Mr. 1's steel skin did nothing against the toxin already spreading or the precise, vicious strikes.
The Impel Down lieutenants dropped one after another some stabbed in the groin or throat, others simply collapsing as the toxin hit. Gurgling. Choking. Blood spilling across the table and floor in synchronized horror.
Exactly one minute after the first dose, the remaining officers convulsed and died where they sat or stood eyes bulging, mouths foaming red, bodies twitching in unison.
The mess hall fell silent except for the drip of blood.
Toku stood among the corpses, invisible, breathing steady.
He wiped the knife clean on a dead man's coat.
Alvida waited in her quarters.
His hunger was sated.
Now it was time to quench something else.
He moved toward her door like a shadow that had never been there.
The Cross Guild had just lost half its officers in under two minutes.
And the monster wearing Sanji's face was only getting started.