Non-Killing Justice

At the center of the island

Zephyr gripped Rock's wrist tightly, his knuckles whitening from the force.

His breathing was extremely unsteady, veins bulging at his temples like green snakes as though he were using every ounce of willpower to suppress something.

Barto Lomiu, pinned beneath his feet, was trembling—not from fear, but from excitement.

A wild, almost crazed grin appeared in his eyes as he screamed inwardly:

"Purple-haired Marine!! Hahaha—it's him!! He won't kill me, I survived!!!"

Rock's Observation Haki slowly spread out. Rather than cutting off his senses, he deliberately gathered the voices he heard into his consciousness.

The next instant, the air trembled faintly with lightning, transforming into an Inner Voice Echo that only Zephyr could hear.

Barto Lomiu's thoughts were "broadcast" into Zephyr's ears through the lightning: "Wonderful!! It's that purple-haired idiot!!!"

"I survived again!!!"

Zephyr's brow twitched violently.

"Hehe... when I get back to prison, my 'old friend' should have everything ready, right?

Will three hundred million Berry be enough to get me out again?"

Zephyr's fingers visibly trembled.

"North Blue is fucking unlucky. I only slaughtered a few villages and ran into someone tough... Next time, I'm going to East Blue! Yeah, East Blue—"

Rock had a feeling the next thought would be disgusting, but he continued transmitting it.

"I heard the nobles there love watching 'mermaid performances'... What if I can't catch any mermaids? Then I'll use pregnant women instead—"

Zephyr's pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints.

For that moment, his breathing nearly stopped.

Rock opened his eyes and calmly, restrainedly, clearly repeated:

"He's thinking—

"The next time he gets out, he'll go to East Blue, cut open pregnant women's bellies, stuff them into fish tails, and make mermaids to sell to nobles for entertainment."

No thunder sounded. The world was deathly silent.

The sea breeze stopped, and the shadows of the trees no longer moved.

Even the air seemed to have frozen into ice.

Barto Lomiu's face instantly turned deathly pale. His lips trembled as if convulsing, and a terrified voice escaped him. "You... how could you know...!!"

At that moment, uncontrollable sobbing came from the shelter.

Someone had recognized that voice—the voice that had laughed madly amid the flames all those years ago.

Three years ago, it was this man—

Who killed their children,

Who killed their husbands,

Who killed their fathers,

Who killed the future of their entire village.

A child poked half his face through a crack in the shelter's wooden door.

That face was pale, filthy, and streaked with tears.

Yet there was no trust in the Marines in his eyes, no light of hope for rescue.

There was only naked, blazing hatred—hatred fierce enough to burn through a person.

The child screamed, "It was him!! He killed my father!!!"

His voice was so hoarse it broke apart, while village women and elders desperately held him back.

Zephyr froze. It felt as though an invisible hand had seized his chest—

Cold, cruel, leaving him unable to breathe.

Lightning churned as the earth awaited its descending judgment.

Zephyr's thoughts drifted between worlds: the smoking pirate limbs scattered across the ground; the tearful, hate-filled eyes behind the crack in the door;

The horrific scene of pirates slaughtering that village years ago; the "Non-Killing Justice" he had always upheld.

All of it merged into a massive hammer and struck his heart.

The silence stretched on, so long it seemed even the thunderclouds were holding their breath.

His lips trembled as he finally forced out a broken murmur. "The law... procedure... justice... requires..."

But his voice was as weak as a candle flame in the wind.

Rock spoke softly. His voice was gentle, yet it struck the soul like thunder. "You heard him."

"The thing in front of you doesn't even count as human."

"It's merely a plague wearing human skin."

"And you—"

"Are personally issuing that plague a license to spread."

"—Boom."

Something deep within Zephyr snapped.

His hand... trembling, slowly loosened.

Suddenly, rain poured down from the sky like a string of broken beads.

It grew heavier and heavier, as though it intended to wash the world into ash.

Thunder rumbled, illuminating Zephyr's pale, rigid profile. Rain and the stench of scorching filled the land, turning it into a bleak purgatory.

At last, Zephyr completely released his grip.

That hand, once symbolic of "non-killing," now trembled faintly in the wind and rain.

He did not look at Barto Lomiu. With his back to him, he asked steadily, "Lightning, how long will it take to make this place... clean?"

Rock answered flatly, "One second."

Zephyr nodded.

Without another word or another glance at that collection of sins,

he simply turned and walked step by step toward the shelter entrance.

The moment Barto Lomiu saw Zephyr truly leaving, his twisted expression became utter terror.

He struggled desperately, flailing his limbs toward Zephyr like a mad dog.

"Wait!! You can't leave!!!"

"You're Zephyr of 'non-killing'!! You swore an oath!!!"

"Didn't you say you wouldn't kill us?!!"

"You bastard!! Get back here—!!!!"

The howling wind tore his cries apart.

Zephyr's footsteps paused in the rain for half a second. His voice was so soft it was nearly inaudible, swallowed by the downpour.

"That Zephyr... died just now."

The next instant, the sky split apart.

"Rumble—!!!"

Lightning roared down from the heavens like a spear of judgment.

The screams were instantly drowned out. The remnants of the Bloodsail Pirates turned into charred ashes beneath the lightning.

Sin was burned clean. Rain washed away the scorched smell, and white vapor rose from the soil.

Zephyr walked up to the shelter. The children stood behind the elders, trembling all over, yet glaring at him.

It was not fear.

It was not reliance.

It was hatred and incomprehension buried for three years—the burning, piercing question in their eyes.

Zephyr clenched his fists. His nails dug into his palms until they bled, and the blood mixed with rainwater.

"I'm sorry..."

He slowly bent his knees, a gesture a Marine would never make lightly in his lifetime.

Not to atone, not to weep, but—

To face the collapse of his own beliefs.

Just as he was about to kneel, the old village chief's hand clamped onto his shoulder like iron pincers.

That withered hand possessed astonishing strength.

Lightning illuminated the elder's bloodshot eyes. His voice was hoarse, yet his roar shook the air painfully.

"Don't say you're sorry—!!!"

Zephyr jerked his head up.

The old village chief's eyes were bloodshot as he panted, every word sharp as a blade.

"Look at these children!!!"

"They're alive only because you snatched their lives back!!!"

Zephyr's throat tightened. "But I—"

The old man's furious roar cut him off. "Who are you sorry to?! The people you couldn't save???"

The old village chief shook his head violently, rain and tears merging together. "No! The one you've wronged—is yourself!!!"

Zephyr was stunned.

The old village chief's voice seemed to crack from his chest, yet it was exceptionally firm. "You value life more than anyone, and you value justice more than life itself."

"But do you know?"

"These beasts won't wait for you to slowly reform them."

"You cling to your ideals, but they use your mercy to keep committing evil!"

"Rumble!!!"

Lightning Roar seemed to join the elder's furious cry. At last, the children inside the shelter could no longer hold back their sobs. "We... we waited for the Marines for three years!!!"

"Why did you let him go!!!"

"Why could he still kill people!!!"

Those cries struck Zephyr's chest with agonizing force, as though the convictions he had upheld for so many years had suddenly come due and smashed into his heart.

Trembling, the old village chief took a bloodstained scrap of cloth from his chest. Dried fingerprints and scorch marks still remained on it.

"My daughter... before they dragged her away, she shouted to me, 'Father, the Marines will come!'"

Tears streamed down the old man's face, but he revealed a painfully twisted smile. "Guess what?"

"You really came."

"Maybe you were late. Maybe you couldn't save everyone... but you came in the end."

The old village chief forcefully stuffed the scrap of cloth into Zephyr's palm. Behind him, a teenage boy suddenly shouted hoarsely:

"Marine Uncle!! Next time... if you meet people like this again... can you keep them from laughing anymore?"

Zephyr's entire body shook, as though a sharp blade had split open his chest.

The old village chief's voice was hoarse and trembling, but no longer angry. "Your 'non-killing' was never wrong."

"What was wrong was this world. It does not deserve it."

"But if holding onto a pure ideal means more innocent people must bleed—"

He stared at Zephyr. "Then your ideal is an accomplice."

Thunder rolled in, as if awaiting Zephyr's answer.

At that moment, Zephyr finally looked up.

He saw the fire in the children's eyes, the expectation in the elder's gaze, and Rock's figure silently waiting in the distance.

Rain ran down his face, but this time, it was not only rain.

Zephyr clenched the bloodstained cloth, veins bulging across the back of his hand as he slowly spoke:

"I understand..."

His voice was shattered by the rain, yet it could not conceal that resolve.

A new era's "Zephyr" was born amid thunder, blood, and tears.