Dark Choice

Time quietly passed, and before long, it was the early hours of the morning.

Just as Dawn was drifting between sleep and wakefulness, the entire ship suddenly shook—not the natural rocking caused by waves, but some violent impact.

Immediately afterward came piercing screams from the deck outside, frantic footsteps, and arrogant laughter and roars.

Dawn frowned. His eyes opened in the darkness, a sharp glint flashing through them. He quickly got up, pushed open the cabin door, and strode down the passage toward the deck.

The sight before him was complete chaos.

A pirate ship flying a vicious skull flag had already come alongside the passenger ship. Countless ferocious pirates swarmed over from the other vessel like sharks that had scented blood.

Waving swords, guns, and blades, they spewed obscenities as they fiercely clashed with the hastily assembled guards aboard the passenger ship.

Several bodies had already fallen on the deck—some guards, some unlucky passengers.

The passengers cowered in corners, trembling as despair filled their faces. Some of the crew tried to maintain order, but their voices shook uncontrollably.

"...It's Blood Fist Dack! A notorious pirate with a bounty of thirty million Beli!"

A well-informed crew member recognized the pirate leader and let out a despairing cry.

Dawn followed his gaze.

At the center of the battlefield, an unusually burly man wearing metal knuckle dusters was laughing wildly as he pursued and attacked the passenger ship's captain of the guard.

The captain of the guard wielded a longsword, and his swordsmanship seemed skillful enough, but he was utterly unable to withstand the savage assault of punches that tore through the air. He retreated again and again, narrowly avoiding disaster.

"It's over... The captain is no match for him."

The crew member's voice was nearly tearful. The surrounding passengers turned ashen at his words.

Bang!

The longsword the captain of the guard had raised to block was smashed aside by Blood Fist Dack's punch, leaving him wide open. Dack's other fist, clad in knuckle dusters, shot out like a venomous snake and viciously drove into the captain's abdomen!

The captain of the guard spat out a mouthful of blood, his body folding over as he was about to die on the spot.

Dawn sighed inwardly. He prepared to act. He didn't know how to sail; otherwise, he would not have chosen to travel on a passenger ship.

Out on this vast sea, if all the crew were killed or injured, this ship would become a coffin, and his chances of survival would plummet.

Without thinking for long, Dawn's tall figure flashed into the chaotic melee like golden lightning.

Any pirate who stood in his path, no matter who it was, had their weapon easily shattered. The crisp sounds of bones breaking rang out as they screamed and flew off to either side, with several even falling straight into the pitch-black sea.

In the blink of an eye, a path had been cleared through sheer brute force.

Dawn appeared directly before the smug Dack. Without exchanging a word, he threw a punch.

Dack sensed the threat. The instinct for danger honed through years of plundering made him instinctively swing his bloodstained, knuckle-duster-clad right fist to meet the attack with all his strength.

A cruel grin curved across his lips, as though he could already see his opponent's fist being crushed. He had absolute confidence in the fists that had beaten countless enemies to death.

However, in the next instant, the vicious grin on Dack's face froze, turning into utter terror and pain.

His right fist, wrist, and even the bones of his forearm shattered piece by piece like fragile glass the moment they collided with Dawn's fist.

"Impossible..."

Before his desperate roar could leave his mouth, Dawn's other fist struck like a lurking venomous dragon, slamming into his unguarded abdomen with even greater speed and force.

Bang!

The air exploded with a piercing boom. Dack's body jolted violently, his eyes bulging wildly as though they were about to pop from their sockets. His mouth stretched open to its limit, yet no sound came out.

The clothes on his back suddenly burst apart in a circular shockwave. The skin and muscles on his back bulged grotesquely, outlining the horrifying shape of his spine.

Then his body went limp and collapsed like boneless mud. He died on the spot!

The entire deck fell into dead silence. Even the sea wind seemed to stop howling.

Whether they were passengers who had narrowly escaped disaster, surviving pirates, or the fortunate crew members, all of them stood frozen as though under a spell, staring dumbfoundedly at the blond youth standing before the pirate captain's corpse as he slowly withdrew his fist.

An instant kill?!

A vicious pirate with a bounty of thirty million Beli... was killed in one punch?!

Unbelievable shock overturned everyone's understanding.

Yet Dawn acted as though he had done something insignificant. His cold gaze swept across the remaining pirates, who were so terrified that they threw down their weapons and fell to their knees, begging for mercy.

He ignored them and turned toward the middle-aged man in the captain's uniform among the crew, who was staring at him blankly.

"Hey, Captain."

Dawn spoke in a calm, even voice, breaking the silence. He had not paid attention to the man's name, so that was all he could call him.

The passenger ship's captain shuddered and abruptly came to his senses. His face instantly filled with reverence and even fear as he hurriedly bowed.

"W-What are your orders?!"

Dawn pointed at the pirate ship moored alongside them.

"All the supplies and treasure on that ship belong to me. Any objections?"

"No! Absolutely not! It's only right! They're all your spoils of war!"

The captain shook his head like a rattle drum, his tone respectful to the extreme. He had no doubt that if he dared say even half a word of refusal, the youth before him could easily send everyone on the ship to feed the fish.

Dawn looked around. Seeing that no one else voiced any objection, he nodded in satisfaction. Fortunately, there was no ridiculous attempt to steal his spoils.

He said no more. Under countless gazes mixed with fear, gratitude, and admiration, he leaped into the air and easily landed aboard the now-empty pirate ship.

Only then did the captain let out a breath of relief. He hurriedly directed the surviving crew to clear the deck, calm the passengers, and bind the captives, leaving everyone frantically busy.

About half an hour later, as the cleanup was nearing its end, Dawn jumped back onto the passenger ship's deck from the pirate ship, carrying an enormous bulging sack over his shoulder.

The sack was heavy, clearly filled with things. Ignoring the gazes around him, he returned directly to his room.

Bang.

The cabin door closed, shutting out everything outside.

Dawn emptied the sack's contents onto the floor. There was mainly a large amount of food—jerky, dried fish, rum, and some fairly fresh fruits and vegetables—along with a small bag of Beli and several gold and silver accessories.

His gaze was drawn to a strange fruit among the pile.

It was similar in size and shape to a pineapple, but its entire surface was a deep purple.

Its skin was not covered in ordinary bumps, but countless spiral patterns like whirlpools, twisted and coiled together, giving off an indescribably mysterious and ominous aura.

It lay quietly beside a pile of ordinary pineapples, yet it was like a pearl in the night, so utterly different.

Dawn's breathing caught slightly.

He recognized it.

A Logia-type Dark-Dark Fruit!

It had actually appeared among the supplies of a pirate with a bounty of only thirty million Beli? Had Dack not yet recognized it or dealt with it?

Or was it because the David Family had a natural attraction to this fruit?

Dawn stared at the ominous fruit as all sorts of information about it flashed rapidly through his mind:

Black hole-like Gravity, the ability to draw Devil Fruit users in from afar, the power to nullify an ability user's powers through contact, and its fatal drawback—it could not evade attacks through elementalization and required its user to endure double the pain.

For an ordinary person, this might have been a choice requiring careful consideration. But for Dawn...

His superhumanly powerful physique, astonishing recovery ability, and tolerance for pain seemed made to offset this fruit's drawbacks!

"Sorry for the trouble, Teach. You can't handle this fruit. Let me take it instead."

Dawn put on a show of apologizing inwardly to that fellow clansman aboard the Moby Dick, without caring whether the other man could hear him or not.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, he picked up the Dark-Dark Fruit, opened his mouth, and bit down hard.

TO BE CONTINUED