Playing with Humans

"Worthless showpiece! It can't withstand the full force of my conviction!"

Conrad's Haki and willpower merged seamlessly, gathering into a lamp of Conqueror's Haki whose flame burst forth.

The flame burned fiercer and fiercer, clinging like a bone-deep brand. Behind him, the faint image of a golden figure with glaring eyes appeared, holding the Glazed Ring Blade.

Sengoku stared at the golden figure behind Conrad. Drops of Golden Wax dripped from his melting cloak. His mind buzzed, and he was left bewildered.

How could Conrad's tiny amount of Haki actually set his Buddha Form cloak ablaze?

He instinctively looked down at his own bulky golden belly. The difference was glaring. Was there something wrong with his Buddha Form?

Conrad seemed to see right through his thoughts and spoke words that struck him to the core.

"Appearance reflects the heart!" Conrad met his gaze and stared him down.

Sengoku was a brilliant strategist, but at that moment, it was as if a door had opened in his mind. The phrase burned itself into his memory, tangling in his thoughts like a mess of threads.

The two rows of white teeth in his golden face ground and trembled. His eyes behind his round glasses were vacant as he muttered to himself, as if his mind had fallen into chaos:

"Buddha Light... golden lamp? Buddha Light? Golden lamp! Argh... Buddha's Palm!"

Boom!

In Buddha Form, Sengoku's slender legs—barely a third as long as his torso and less than a fifth of its volume—sprang like steel beams, launching him out of the flames and into the sky.

He raised his hand, ready to unleash a mighty palm strike against the clouds above, venting his frustration and smashing every eyesore out of sight.

But then he glanced down and saw Marineford. He was an Admiral, and his leap in Buddha Form had already drawn the attention of quite a few Marines.

He pulled back the palm that was about to strike, suppressed his Buddha Form, and returned to his usual self: an elegant strategist in a white uniform covered in medals. He flew back toward the main city's pavilion with Geppo.

Sengoku kept his head lowered and didn't look back. Even without turning around, Observation Haki let him feel the gaze fixed on him from behind: indifferent and pitying.

"Appearance reflects... the heart. Two moves... I'll practice the first two moves! I can do it!" His face seemed to darken.

Conrad walked down the Mountain Pillar Stairs.

He regulated his breathing. No matter how fierce a flame was, it needed fuel. Even the worst Tekkai needed sustained heat above its melting point to melt.

Besides, Sengoku wasn't scrap iron. He had Conqueror's Haki too, along with a body honed over decades, a Devil Fruit, and Haki.

After their brief exchange, Conrad had felt the gap between them. It was like diamond hardening itself against a mountain.

"Looks like I won't be able to subdue the old man for a few years."

He had already decided that once he could defeat Sengoku, if the old man still refused to listen and reason failed, he'd simply hit him hard!

Some rebellious disciples just wouldn't amount to anything unless you forced them.

Old Street District 2.

An open space with a tire swing hanging from a tree.

A long-faced, mustached man wearing thin-framed glasses and a katana at his waist pushed a little girl on the swing.

He was smiling, yet his features were scrunched together, giving him a deeply troubled look.

"Rear Admiral Kadal!" Conrad called warmly as he walked over from the street, carrying a cake box and several bags of fruit.

"Who are you?" Kadal had barely read the papers lately and hardly followed the news. For the past two years, he'd had only one mission: capture the Sun Pirates.

"My name is Conrad. I'm a new recruit at the Zephyr Training Camp," Conrad said frankly. "I'm curious about the Sun Pirates and would like to ask you a few questions."

Kadal's face tightened further. He couldn't help giving a cold snort.

But after glancing at his daughter and telling her, "Daddy has something to take care of. Play by yourself for a while," he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his uniform. He lit one for himself, then offered the open pack to Conrad.

"No, thanks." Conrad waved it away.

Kadal put the pack back into his wrinkled uniform. It was stuffed with all sorts of odds and ends and clung close to his body. It looked as if he hadn't washed it in ages—or even taken it off.

Smoking, he headed toward the house. Conrad wasn't the first person to come asking him for information.

Conrad followed him inside. The home was neat and simply furnished, and a blonde young woman wearing an apron was busy in the kitchen. He set the cake and fruit on the coffee table.

Once inside, Kadal flopped onto the sofa, propped his legs on the coffee table, and flicked ash onto the floor. "Who sent you to ask? Who wants to capture them?"

"No one." Conrad sat on the left side of the sofa, where the smoke wouldn't drift toward him. "I just want to learn about the Sun Pirates."

"What's a new recruit like you going to learn?" Kadal's tone sharpened. He sneered, "Fish-Men have ten times the arm strength of humans. One slap, and they could crush you to death!"

Conrad didn't feel like chatting any longer. He asked directly, "Where do they operate? Do they have any targets right now?"

"None!" Kadal reacted as if he'd been provoked, remembering how the Fish-Men had repeatedly dismantled his ship, beaten him half to death, and thrown him into the sea.

"They don't have any targets! They're just a gang of violent thugs! They steal gold and silver, abuse people, then toss them aside, like it's all a game! Those outsiders... they treat humans like toys!"

Crash!

A bottle fell from the display cabinet and shattered across the floor. The blonde young woman covered her ears, her face twisted with bitter anguish.

She hurried to fetch a broom and a mop to sweep up the glass and clean the floor.

"What now! You don't want me back! You're trying to make me suffer, give me dirty looks, is that it? Fine, I'll leave!"

Furious at the sight, Kadal irritably ground his cigarette out against the wall, leaving a small black scorch mark. He yanked his legs off the coffee table, dragging the tablecloth and all the gifts down with them.

Bent over with his hands in his pockets, he strode toward the door.

Conrad was an outsider, so he naturally wouldn't show concern for the man's wife at a moment like this. He didn't get up, but calmly said, "Your daughter's on the swing. Let's talk inside."

Kadal stopped, sat down on a chair by the door, and lit another cigarette. He reached into the fridge and pulled out a beer he'd drunk half of the night before, then took a couple of gulps.

"There's nothing to talk about. I can't catch them, and sooner or later they'll cause a disaster!"

"I saw them take a little girl from some villagers. She was about the same age as my daughter! That sawtoothed Fish-Man called Arlong slapped her so hard she fell to her knees."

At that, Kadal shuddered. He took a deep drag and continued slowly, "I led a team in to rescue her, but Arlong dismantled our warship, planted his foot on my head, and ground it against the deck."

Conrad listened to his account, compared it with what he remembered, then asked, "Can you describe what the girl looked like?"

Kadal looked up. "Her hair was a mess, and she wore overalls. No matter how badly she was beaten, she kept smiling."

He remembered it clearly. The girl had kept smiling as she apologized: "I'm sorry. I'll try harder to clean. I'm sorry. Please don't hit me. No matter what you do to me, I won't cry. I'll work with a smile. Please don't kill me."

Conrad was sure: Kadal's account was heavily skewed by his perspective. It wasn't what had really happened.

The girl's name was Koala. She had once been a slave of the Celestial Dragons. After Tiger freed her, she fled with the other slaves to an island.

The Sun Pirates hadn't abducted her. The villagers had entrusted her to Tiger so he could take her home to see her mother.

And the moment Tiger successfully brought Koala home was the moment he was ambushed and killed by the Marines.