Dark Choice

Time slipped quietly by, and before long, it was the middle of the night.

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

Immediately afterward, shrill screams, frantic footsteps, arrogant laughter, and furious roars erupted from the deck outside.

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 utter chaos.

A pirate ship flying a vicious skull flag had already pulled alongside the passenger vessel. Countless savage pirates surged over from the other ship like sharks smelling blood.

Waving swords, blades, and firearms, they spat filthy curses as they clashed fiercely with the hastily assembled guards of the passenger ship.

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

The passengers huddled in the corners in terror, trembling with despair written all over their faces. Some crew members tried to maintain order, but their voices shook uncontrollably.

"...It's Blood Fist Dark! 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.

In the center of the battlefield, a hulking man wearing metal knuckle dusters was laughing wildly as he chased down the captain of the guards.

The guard captain wielded a longsword. His swordsmanship seemed practiced, but he was completely unable to withstand the savage barrage of punches that tore through the air. He was forced back again and again, teetering on the brink of death.

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

The crew member's voice was nearly a sob. Upon hearing that, the surrounding passengers turned deathly pale.

Bang!

Blood Fist Dark smashed aside the guard captain's blocking sword with a single punch, leaving him wide open. Dark's other fist, clad in knuckle dusters, shot out like a striking viper and slammed viciously into the captain's abdomen!

The guard captain spat out a mouthful of blood, his body folding over as he teetered on the verge of dying on the spot.

Dawn sighed inwardly. He was preparing to act. He did not know how to sail; otherwise, he would not have chosen to travel on a passenger ship.

On this vast sea, if all the crew were killed or wounded, this ship would become a coffin, and his chances of survival would drop drastically.

Without thinking for long, Dawn's tall figure shot into the chaotic battle like a bolt of golden lightning.

Any pirate who stood in his path had their weapons effortlessly shattered. The sounds of breaking bones rang clearly through the air as they screamed and flew to either side. Several were even sent directly into the black sea.

In the blink of an eye, a path had been forcibly cleared through the crowd.

Dawn appeared directly before the triumphant Dark and threw a punch without a word.

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

A cruel smile curled across his lips, as though he could already see the other man's fist being crushed. He had absolute confidence in the fist that had smashed countless enemies to death.

However, in the next instant, the savage grin on Dark's face froze, replaced by utter horror and agony.

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

"Impossible..."

Before his desperate howl 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. Dark's body jerked to a halt, his eyes bulging wildly as though they were about to burst from their sockets. His mouth opened to its limit, but no sound came out.

The clothes on his back exploded outward in a ring of air. The skin and muscles there bulged grotesquely, outlining the horrifying shape of his spine.

Then his body crumpled limply to the deck like a heap of boneless mud. He died on the spot.

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

Whether they were passengers who had narrowly escaped death, surviving pirates, or fortunate crew members, all of them stood as if frozen, staring wide-eyed 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 thirty-million-Beli bounty... had been instantly killed by one punch?!

Unbelievable shock overturned everyone's understanding.

Yet Dawn acted as though he had done something insignificant. His cold gaze swept over the remaining pirates, and they nearly lost their souls in terror, tossing aside their weapons and dropping to their knees to beg 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 calmly, 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 jolted and abruptly came back to his senses. His face instantly filled with reverence and even fear as he hurriedly bowed.

"Y-yes? What are your orders?!"

Dawn pointed at the pirate ship alongside them.

"Everything on that ship—supplies and treasure—belongs to me. Any objections?"

"No! Absolutely not! Of course it does! 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 this ship to feed the fish.

Dawn looked around. Seeing that no one else dared object, he nodded in satisfaction. Thankfully, there was no ridiculous scene of someone trying to snatch the spoils afterward.

He said nothing more. Under countless gazes filled with fear, gratitude, and worship, he leaped lightly onto the now-empty pirate ship.

Only then did the captain breathe a sigh of relief. He hurriedly directed the surviving crew to clear the deck, calm the passengers, and bind the prisoners, keeping everyone frantically busy.

About half an hour later, as the cleanup was nearing its end, Dawn returned from the pirate ship, carrying a huge, bulging sack over his shoulder.

The sack was heavy and clearly packed full of things. Ignoring the looks around him, he headed straight back to his room.

Bang.

The cabin door closed, shutting out everything beyond it.

Dawn dumped the sack's contents onto the floor. Most of it was food—jerky, dried fish, rum, and some fruits and vegetables that still looked fairly fresh—along with a small bag of Beli and several pieces of gold and silver jewelry.

Then his gaze was drawn to an unusual fruit among the pile.

It was roughly the size and shape of a pineapple, but its entire surface was a deep purple.

Instead of ordinary bumps, its skin was covered in countless spiral patterns like whirlpools, twisting and coiling with an indescribable air of mystery and misfortune.

It lay quietly beside a pile of ordinary pineapples, yet it stood out like a pearl in the dark night.

Dawn's breathing hitched slightly.

He recognized it.

The Logia-type Yami Yami no Mi!

How had it ended up among the supplies of a pirate with a bounty of only thirty million Beli? Had Dark not yet recognized it or dealt with it?

Or was it because the David Clan had some 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 a user's abilities through touch, and its fatal drawbacks—it could not evade attacks through elementalization, and its user had 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 to exist specifically to offset this fruit's drawbacks!

"Sorry, Teach. You can't handle this fruit. Better let me have it."

Dawn put on a show of apologizing in his heart to his clansman aboard the Moby Dick, without caring whether Teach could hear him or not.

Then, without hesitation, he picked up the Yami Yami no Mi, opened his mouth, and took a savage bite.

To be continued.