Weakness Is the Original Sin

"Die!"

Higuma slammed a smoke bomb to the ground.

"Boom!"

Thick purple smoke erupted instantly, filling the entire room.

Visibility was completely blocked.

It also carried a pungent, spicy stench.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Luffy and Ace choked until tears streamed down their faces.

"Damn it! He got away!"

Sabo clutched his stomach and forced himself to his feet, his face full of frustration.

Smoke bombs like these were a ninja's tool, making it extremely difficult to track anyone amid the chaos.

Just when everyone thought Higuma was about to get away.

A dull thud came from within the smoke.

"Thud!"

It was the sound of flesh striking flesh.

Then.

There came a shrill scream.

It was ten times more miserable than the cry from his scalded hand earlier.

Like a pig being skinned alive.

Kahn's voice drifted calmly from the smoke.

"Where do you think you're running?"

"Your heartbeat is so loud. What did you think this smoke could hide?"

A gust of wind blew through.

The smoke dispersed.

Kahn held Higuma by the throat with one hand, lifting his entire body into the air.

Higuma's feet kicked wildly above the ground, and his face had already turned dark purple.

His left leg was twisted at a bizarre angle.

It was clearly broken.

That dull thud just now had been the sound of Kahn kicking through his leg bone.

"Spare... spare me..."

Higuma struggled to force out a few words.

From lack of oxygen, his eyes bulged, and his tongue was nearly hanging out.

That once-arrogant face now held nothing but fear of death.

Kahn looked at him.

There was still no warmth whatsoever in his eyes.

"A god may forgive ignorant believers."

Kahn spoke softly, as though stating an unquestionable truth.

"But that doesn't mean."

"You can provoke me without limits."

"Especially when."

"You laid hands on someone you shouldn't have."

Kahn's fingers tightened slightly.

Higuma's cervical vertebrae creaked under the unbearable pressure.

Higuma desperately used his uninjured hand to grab Kahn's wrist.

Trying to pry apart that iron grip.

But to his despair, he discovered.

That fair, slender-looking arm was as hard as granite.

It did not budge in the slightest.

"That kick was for that idiot, Luffy."

Kahn clenched his other hand into a fist.

He delivered what looked like a light punch to Higuma's stomach.

"Pfft!"

Higuma's eyes flew wide open.

He spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of organs.

That punch had shattered his spleen.

Without immediate treatment, he would not survive the night.

Kahn released his hand.

He tossed Higuma to the ground like a piece of trash.

Higuma collapsed like a dead dog, taking breaths in but unable to let any out.

The inn fell deathly silent.

Ace stared blankly at the scene.

This was the first time he had witnessed Kahn's brutality so directly.

During their usual sparring, Kahn beat people too, but he had always held back.

But now.

This was true violence.

Pure, efficient, and suffocating.

"What?"

"Scared stupid?"

Kahn turned around and looked at the three little brats standing there like wooden statues.

He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his hands.

Though there was not a trace of blood on them.

"This is the sea."

"This is the world you've been dreaming of exploring."

Kahn pointed at the half-dead Higuma on the floor.

"Without strength, this is what happens."

"Either you get trampled underfoot and humiliated, or your bones get broken like a dead dog's."

"Weakness itself is the original sin."

Luffy shrank back slightly.

He looked at the pitiful Higuma on the ground, then at the cold-faced Kahn.

All of a sudden.

He felt that compared to the always-smiling Shanks.

This brother standing before him was the truly terrifying one.

Yet he also felt something strange in his heart.

Though Kahn was frightening.

As long as he stood behind him, it seemed like he would not have to fear even if the sky fell.

Just then.

A set of footsteps came from the doorway.

They were light.

Accompanied by the slapping sound of sandals against the floor.

"Yo."

"Looks like I came too late."

Everyone turned around.

The red-haired man was leaning against the shattered doorframe.

He still held that iconic Straw Hat in his hand.

Shanks looked over the wreckage filling the room, then at the mountain bandits on the ground whose fates were unknown.

At last, his gaze settled on Kahn.

A hint of surprise flashed through his eyes.

He had originally intended to step in.

After all, the killing intent coming from that mountain bandit had been real.

But he had not expected.

Before he could draw his sword, before he had even reached the doorway.

The fight had already ended.

And it had been a completely one-sided crushing defeat.

"Well, this is a little awkward."

Shanks scratched his head, revealing a troubled smile.

"I was planning to play the hero and save the beauty... no, save the brats."

"You stole all the glory."

Kahn casually tossed aside the handkerchief after wiping his hands.

It landed right over Higuma's twisted face.

As if covering him with a white burial cloth.

"Trash that only knows how to bully children."

"Isn't worth getting your hands dirty over."

Kahn looked at Shanks.

Their gazes met in midair.

One was calm as a deep pool.

The other was profound as the sea.

Shanks suddenly smiled.

He walked inside, not minding the dirt on the floor as he stepped over the mountain bandits lying there like corpses.

He stopped before Luffy.

Then crouched down.

Looking at the little brat who was still sniffling.

"You okay?"

Shanks reached out and rubbed Luffy's head.

Luffy had been holding it in.

But the moment that familiar large hand touched him, all his pent-up grievance burst forth at once.

"Waaah—!"

Luffy opened his mouth wide and burst into loud sobs.

"Shanks!"

"I thought I was going to die!"

"Sob, sob, sob!"

Tears and snot smeared all over Shanks's pants.

Shanks did not mind.

He merely smiled helplessly, letting the little snot-nosed brat cling to his leg and cry.

"All right, all right."

"A man shouldn't cry so easily."

"Even though I wasn't the one who saved you this time."

Shanks looked up at Kahn.

"You should have learned quite a lot from this lesson."

Kahn shrugged.

He had never cared much for sentimental moments like this.

He walked over to Ace and Sabo.

Looking at the two boys with their heads lowered and defeated expressions on their faces.

"Can you still walk?"

Ace gritted his teeth and stubbornly lifted his head.

"Yes!"

His whole body hurt, but he did not want to show weakness before Kahn.

Much less embarrass himself in front of that red-haired pirate.

Sabo also rose to his feet with the help of the wall.

His top hat was slightly crooked, making him look a little comical.

"Looks like we won't be having that meal today."

Kahn glanced at the inn that had already been smashed to pieces.

"Let's go."

"Back to Mount Colubo."

"Extra training tonight."

The moment they heard the words "extra training"—

Ace and Sabo's calves trembled at the same time.

They had not been this scared even when facing death just now.

But hearing Kahn mention extra training now filled them with genuine fear from the bottom of their hearts.

Kahn paid no further attention to the others in the room.

Nor did he bother with Higuma, who had only one breath left.

Trash like him would be crippled even if he survived.

He turned and walked out.

Seeing this, Luffy quickly let go of Shanks's leg.

Wiping away his tears, he chased after them.

"Wait for me!"

"I want extra training too!"

"I want to become as strong as Kahn!"

Watching the four brats leave.

The smile on Shanks's face gradually faded.

Ben Beckman appeared behind him at some point.

The cigarette butt between his lips flickered faintly.

"That kid named Kahn..."

Benn Beckman exhaled a ring of smoke.

His tone was graver than ever before.

"That level of control, that temperament."

"And that... arrogance that doesn't belong in this world."

"Boss, that kid may become a huge problem someday."

When Kahn had made his move just now.

Benn Beckman had seen everything clearly from outside.

That had not been a fight at all.

It had been an execution.

Precise, cold, efficient.

And the way Kahn had looked at Higuma in the end.

That gaze that disregarded life.

It sent a chill through even Benn Beckman, a pirate who had killed countless people.

Shanks placed the straw hat on his head.

It hid half his face.

"Yeah."

"A huge problem."

"But..."

Shanks recalled how Kahn had covered Higuma with a handkerchief at the end.

Though it had seemed casual.

At least it showed that the kid was not entirely without limits.

"As long as he isn't an enemy."