Red the Aloof

"Are you really Douglas Barrett?"

An aged voice echoed through the darkness, reaching Barrett's ears with perfect clarity.

Seeing the speaker, Barrett's lips curled slightly upward. He stepped forward and arrived at the cell door.

His mountain-like, hulking body instantly blocked out all the light in the cell.

"What do you think?"

"Red."

The silver-haired old man inside the cell was none other than Patrick Redfield.

Known as Red the Aloof, the legendary Red Count.

A man who had stood on equal footing with Roger and Whitebeard all by himself.

The strongest lone wanderer of the old era's seas!

Back when he had been aboard Roger's ship, Barrett had crossed paths with this solitary powerhouse.

Clatter!

The chains fell to the ground, scraping against the floor with a rattling clatter.

Red stood and slowly walked over to face Barrett, meeting his gaze with calm eyes.

The immense aura radiating from Barrett pressed down like mountains and seas.

Even Blackbeard would have felt fear.

Yet before Red, that terrifying presence was no more than a gentle breeze.

As Barrett sized Red up,

the other man was studying him as well.

Red's eyes were deep, carrying endless traces of time.

There was a rumor in the seas of the New World.

It was said that Patrick Redfield's eyes could see through people's hearts.

Anyone who fought him, so long as he touched them, would have their memories read, all their weaknesses exposed, and then be effortlessly defeated.

In Red's memories, the Barrett before him had always been an exceptionally pure man.

This junior, several decades younger than him, possessed perseverance and talent rarely seen in the world.

At just fifteen years old, Barrett had already possessed strength comparable to Dark King Rayleigh.

Back then, he had boarded the Oro Jackson as a "challenger," constantly challenging Roger.

In battles against Golden Lion and Whitebeard, Barrett had often been the one charging at the very front.

He had always been fearless in the face of death.

The countless overlapping scars on his body bore witness to that.

More than twenty years ago, when Barrett was only twenty-two, he had finally drawn the attention of Marine Headquarters.

To deal with him alone, the Marines had launched a Buster Call. Even Garp and Sengoku had been deployed.

Although Barrett fought a glorious battle against the Marines, exhaustion gradually piled up.

As the Buster Call slowly drained Barrett's strength, the pirates he had previously defeated launched a surprise attack, ultimately causing his defeat and imprisonment in Impel Down's LEVEL 6.

In a sense, the treatment the Marines gave him was nearly the same as what Red himself had received.

Even so, during these twenty years in prison, Barrett had never stopped training himself.

Even when food was scarce, he had continued tempering himself in prison day after day, year after year, without interruption, like a machine that never tired.

He was like a freak born solely to fight and grow stronger.

Other than endless blood and fire, he had wanted nothing else in life.

Red's eyes could see through people's hearts.

During these twenty years together in Infinite Hell, he had observed this old acquaintance, Barrett, several times.

In every one of those observations, Barrett's thoughts had been laid completely bare.

Battle, slaughter, surpassing everything...

Arrogance, brutality, contempt for everyone.

That was what filled Barrett's heart.

But beginning half a year ago, Red had been surprised to discover that his Observation Haki, which could see through people's hearts, could no longer see through Barrett at all.

Something Red could not understand seemed to have changed within this exceptionally pure man.

Facing Barrett's intensely oppressive gaze, Red spoke.

"I'm curious about what happened to you. You no longer have your old obsession or madness. Even your arrogant nature seems to have restrained itself considerably. Such an almost reborn transformation is not something often seen on these seas."

A country could change, but one's nature was hard to alter.

Once a person's character had formed fixed ways of thinking, it was extremely difficult to change.

Especially for a man like Barrett, whose will was as firm as iron.

Hearing Red's words, Barrett curled his lips. "I merely figured a few things out."

An eerie red glimmer flickered in Red's eyes. "The last person I couldn't see through was your captain, Roger."

"Captain Roger?"

Barrett's gaze seemed to pierce through the thick walls of Impel Down, seeing Roger from many years ago.

He recalled challenging Roger again and again, only to be crushed and defeated each time by the other man's overwhelming strength.

The corners of his mouth gradually rose, stretching apart to reveal rows of stark white teeth.

Under Red's slightly shaken gaze, Barrett spoke in a voice brimming with powerful confidence:

"My goal is to surpass Roger and become the strongest!"

"So it's only natural that I should be able to do this."

"Surpass Roger?" Red's expression grew somewhat complicated, as though Barrett had stirred ancient memories within him.

At that moment, Barrett suddenly extended his index finger.

As the power of the Combine-Combine Fruit activated, his index finger twisted and wriggled, turning into a stream of particles that recombined into a key.

Then, under Red's slightly stunned gaze, he inserted the key his index finger had become into the cell's keyhole.

Inside the keyhole, the recombined flesh particles quickly found their optimal arrangement, transforming into a key that matched the lock.

Click!

With a crisp sound, the heavy Sea-Prism Stone iron door creaked open as Barrett pushed it aside.

Watching Barrett walk into the cell, Red said calmly:

"Are you sure you want to release me? We may become enemies."

Barrett looked down at the unruffled old man and understood what he meant.

Just as Barrett trusted no one because he was too obsessed with battle and excessively pursued his own strength,

Red, who possessed Observation Haki capable of seeing through others' thoughts, was likewise unable to interact naturally with others.

He was Red the Aloof, forever alone, without companions, drifting across the seas by himself.

Like a lonely ghost.

Two people who did not believe in companions could never become companions themselves.

If Barrett intended to recruit Red, then his plans would undoubtedly fail.

Red's answer was another crisp click.

Clang!

The chains crashed to the ground, and Red regained his freedom.

Barrett turned and walked out of the cell, leaving Red with a broad back as heavy and imposing as a mountain.

"Don't flatter yourself."

"I have no need for things like companions."

"Red, you are the proud Red Count, a man capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with Roger and Whitebeard."

"I need you to return to the seas and regain your peak strength..."

Barrett turned his head slightly, his mouth pulling into an exaggerated grin. "Then I'll challenge you and defeat you!"

Red smoothed the wrinkles from his black-and-white prison uniform and leisurely walked out of the dark cell, his face carrying both loneliness and wistfulness.

"My peak... I'm afraid that's no longer possible..."

"No! You will return to your peak!" Barrett declared without hesitation.

Red's sharp pupils contracted slightly, and faint ripples stirred within his heart, still as a dead sea.

But he said nothing.

It was as though he were waiting for Barrett to continue.

"In a place called Sleepy Town, there is something you need."