Teach's Fury

She ran toward the man. It was Teach. He had noticed the commotion throughout the royal city, but hadn't paid it any mind. He hadn't expected the figure being chased to run straight toward him.

Looking closely, he saw an eight- or nine-year-old girl wearing a thin, black bodysuit. What surprised Teach was the way she ran—on all fours, like an animal. Her movements were fluid and practiced; it would have taken years to reach that level.

From a distance, she looked like a little stray cat. Still, something about her seemed odd, though he couldn't figure out what was wrong.

She ran up to Teach, her tiny frame and innocent face full of panic. Her ruby-red eyes were clear and free of guile. She looked behind her and pointed, as if to say that pursuers were coming, then tugged at Teach's clothes, apparently hoping he would protect her.

For some reason, Teach didn't refuse. He wasn't the sort to meddle in other people's business. Maybe he was curious, or perhaps he was simply puzzled and wanted to resolve the strange feeling he had.

The little girl was so small that she slipped right inside Teach's coat and hid behind him. She clung tightly to his waist, hanging from his thigh. With his hands full and the pursuers drawing nearer, Teach didn't want to stay there and get tangled up with them. "Hold on tight," he said, then vanished from the spot.

"Woof, woof! Arf!" It wasn't long before some guards followed their hunting dogs to the place where Teach had been. They stopped and circled around, sniffing. "What's going on? The pet's scent disappears here? How is that possible?"

"Keep searching. She has to be somewhere in the royal city. We have to catch her, or we'll all be in deep trouble," one guard said. "Spread out. Each of you search a different area. We'll find her."

"Right." "Got it." They scattered and hurried off in different directions.

In a secluded corner, Teach stood with the little girl still clinging to him. She didn't seem inclined to climb down, as though she felt perfectly safe with him. And she was right: Teach could conceal his presence with Observation Haki, and he'd masked her scent as well, so the hunting dogs couldn't track them.

"Where do you want to go now?" Teach asked. The girl didn't answer. After a while, she quietly poked her head out of his coat. "Meow," she said. Teach frowned. This was getting stranger and stranger. The girl understood what he said, but couldn't speak.

"Home?" Teach understood what she meant through Observation Haki. That warm, wistful longing and anticipation—wasn't it the feeling of wanting to go home?

"Meow!" At Teach's question, the girl nodded and smiled, looking eager.

Teach felt her anticipation rubbing off on him and nodded. "I'll take you there. Do you know the way home?"

The girl shook her head, then closed her eyes as if trying to remember the way. After a while, she opened them, her pupils gleaming, and pointed in the direction of the royal city's eastern side.

"Let's go, then." Teach nodded slightly, and the girl tucked her head back inside his coat.

He couldn't help wondering why he'd spent so many days out and about with children. There was Loya, Anne, and now Mobius, who was following him around.

Then Teach couldn't help laughing. He was laughing at himself. What was he thinking? He wasn't even fifteen yet. He wasn't much older than them, and here he was calling them children.

In the wilderness east of the royal city stood a secluded facility that had once been used to raise pet cats. Teach and the girl arrived there. She seemed to catch a familiar scent and jumped down from him, looking puzzled rather than happy.

They entered the facility. Dust covered everything, but the girl knew her way around. She ran back and forth, searching until she found the place where she had lived: a soft mat, now blackened with age. She lay down on it as if it were familiar, not minding how filthy it was. Then she found a dust-covered ball of yarn and happily began playing with it, rolling it around, tossing it away, then scampering after it to catch it.

After a long while, she seemed to tire of playing and noticed that there was no one else around. Where were her companions? What had happened to them?

The place had been abandoned for at least three years. Teach stood silently, seeming to suppress something as his Observation Haki spread through the entire facility, analyzing everything as though retracing the past.

A scene seemed to unfold before Teach's eyes. The girl, when she was very young—before she could remember anything—had been brought here. She had lived here with lots of kittens, playing and talking with them, eating their food and playing their games.

Many people had watched her and trained her, raising her like a cat—or rather, turning her into one. This facility had been built for that purpose. Once she was taken away, they abandoned it.

There were signs of cats everywhere, along with traces left by the girl. Some had been hidden beneath the dust, but Teach found them one by one.

Slavery existed in this world, but now a term he'd never even considered appeared in Teach's mind: "human pets."

In this country, this kingdom of pets, people were secretly raising human pets, keeping people as animals. Teach could almost see how they did it: whatever animal they liked, they'd take a child too young to remember and make them live with that animal, learning its habits until the child came to believe they were one of them.

They raised human pets the same way they raised ordinary pets. For some reason, Teach felt as though there were a powder keg inside him, ready to explode at any moment.

Human pets. Teach had never even imagined such a thing. No wonder the girl had behaved so strangely when he first saw her. That was what had felt so wrong.

Teach had thought of her as a person, but the girl thought of herself as a cat. They had raised her to become one.

Teach was furious. He couldn't believe something so inhumane could exist right in front of him. He could accept the existence of slaves, but human pets were beyond anything that could be described as mere evil.

For the first time, Teach felt such overwhelming rage. He wanted to destroy this country. His Observation Haki continued to spread until it covered nearly the entire royal city. Many nobles kept all kinds of pets in their homes—and human pets, too.

At first, he might have thought it was some sort of strange fetish or role-playing. With every instance he discovered, his fury burned more fiercely.

Teach had never considered himself a good person. He was profoundly selfish, and most of what he did was for his own sake. But this was something he couldn't tolerate. It shouldn't exist. This country had to be wiped out. The royal family and nobles all had to die. He could barely hold back his Conqueror's Haki.

The girl looked dejected. This place was familiar and yet strange. It was her home, but it wasn't her home anymore.

Teach walked over to her and gently stroked her head. The girl looked up at him in confusion. "From now on, you can come with me," he said softly, his expression gentle. For the first time, a trace of pity stirred in his heart.

"Meow!" The girl understood and nodded, rubbing her little head against Teach's foot.

"Do you have a name?" Teach asked, looking down. "Pito?" The girl made a strange sound, as if she understood what he meant. First she shook her head, then she looked at Teach expectantly.

Teach understood. "You don't have one? Then I'll give you one." Naming her was a bit of a bother. He thought it over, but couldn't come up with anything suitable. Then he remembered the sound she'd made earlier and rubbed her little head. "How about Pito? Neferpitou."

"Pito. Neferpitou?" The girl repeated her name, her face brightening with a smile. She rubbed her sweet little face against Teach's palm, clearly pleased with it.

Teach smiled. Pito wasn't pronouncing it quite right. He would have to teach her to speak and get her used to standing upright like a person again.

Teach was in a good mood now, but that didn't extinguish his rage. He had sensed a large force heading toward him. The royal city had probably been searched almost everywhere, and they'd guessed that Pito was most likely here.

"Hide inside. They've found us," Teach said quietly. The girl nodded. Her short, white, wavy hair disappeared back inside Teach's coat, and she clung securely to him.

Teach knew that the girl had eaten a Devil Fruit, and its power was probably related to cats, given that they had raised her as one.

His anger flared up again. The guards had found them, but he had no intention of running. He needed to vent, to let it all out. They had come at just the right time. They could make one final contribution to Teach.

He flashed out of sight. Outside, hundreds—nearly a thousand—guards had arrived. One by one, the hunting dogs caught Pito's scent, then stopped and turned toward the troops behind them. They barked twice before looking toward the facility. What they were after was inside the abandoned building ahead.

"Just as I thought. She ran here." The captain of the guard smiled, the corners of his mouth lifting. "I used to be stationed here, so I know this place very well. This was her home as she grew up."

"As expected of the captain! So what do we do now? Go straight in?" one of the guards behind him asked, sucking up to him.

"Surround the facility first, so she can't escape again. This is an order from His Highness, so we have to carry it out carefully. We can't afford to make any mistakes," the captain said.

Suddenly, the hunting dogs ahead backed away a couple of steps, as if frightened, sensing something terrifying.

"What's wrong?" one of the guards asked. Then his body froze as a voice suddenly sounded beside his ear. "Is that so? You've made me angry. So you're all staying here!"

Teach suddenly appeared, his hands clawed. One claw pierced straight through the captain's chest. The man's eyes widened as if he wanted to see Teach's face, but he couldn't keep them open. "C-Captain!" the guards behind him cried out. Fear of Teach gripped them too. The man before them was powerful—far beyond anything they could handle.

With their strongest fighter dead, they'd lost their anchor, and their once-cohesive formation instantly fell apart. They wanted to run. To them, their own lives mattered more. They could leave the responsibility for what happened to their dead captain.

One by one, they backed away, their steps quickening before they turned and fled. Their footsteps were chaotic, but a sharp whistle tore through the air, sounding the horn of their deaths.

Teach struck. He had decided to let no one escape.

Teach moved faster than the human eye could follow. "Demon Claw: Bloody Massacre." His voice was soft and cold. In an instant, dozens of people collapsed, identical deep, blood-red claw marks carved into their necks.

Teach didn't stop. His fury couldn't be quelled so easily. The moment he chose to strike, these people's fates were sealed. He wouldn't even spare the dogs.

Teach's claws flashed, sending out streaks of blood-red light—pure sword slashes, impossibly sharp and unstoppable. They pierced the guards in an instant, then continued on to the others behind them. Their armor, the weapons in their hands, their own flesh and blood—nothing could stop the slashes.

In the dark of night, Teach was like a death god, nowhere to be seen. All they could hear was the rush of air as he moved, filling them with terror. The deadly claws of both his hands kept reaping their lives.

In just two minutes, the ground was covered with corpses. Not one person remained alive. Teach killed far too quickly: every second, a dozen or even dozens of people fell. Their deaths were horrific, their faces filled with fear, panic, and pain. Some guards had been cut clean in half, some sliced through the waist, and others had their throats severed.

The hunting dogs, too, were now dead.

Teach was a ruthless butcher, showing no mercy. This merciless slaughter only deepened his understanding of his claw techniques.

The air reeked of blood. Blood flowed across the ground, gathering into little streams. The bright moonlight fell upon the land, making the scarlet pools gleam and sending shivers down the spine. Teach's blood-soaked claws dripped steadily. Lost in fury and slaughter, he'd forgotten to stop the blood from running off his hands.

This place was like hell!