"Mr. Loa, you flatter me. I only gained this ability after my Devil Fruit powers awakened. I can drain others' lives to restore my youth, and I can turn my body into a blood god form that ignores most attacks."
Ulysses glanced aside, then answered Loa with a polite smile.
"You're almost too polite." Loa narrowed his eyes, his thick fangs appearing and disappearing as though he might devour Ulysses at any moment.
"Or are you deliberately putting your refinement on display?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that."
At the flicker of gloom across Ulysses's face, Loa felt he had stumbled onto a secret.
"So that's it. Let me guess. You grew up at the bottom of society, didn't you? Day after day, you scraped by in alleys and garbage heaps, fighting stray dogs and petty thugs to survive. You longed to live like a noble above everyone else, so you forced yourself to imitate them..."
Ulysses's surprise gave way to a distant look. Loa smiled and continued.
"But back then, you were so small and insignificant, so lowly it disgusted people! All your imitation earned you was ridicule, humiliation, pain, and fear. So once you gained power, you cast off your old self, put on a mask, and became the noble Blood Earl..."
"Even now, facing me, you keep up that noble bearing because you don't dare let it slip. The moment you do, you stop being the Blood Earl and become that small, pitiful, lowly wretch you used to be."
"Am I right, Blood Earl Ulysses?"
No calm expression or controlled movement could conceal the turmoil of a soul. Loa could smell the pain radiating from Ulysses.
The scent grew stronger with every word, until Ulysses seemed shrouded in despair and grief, steeped in the stillness of