The Sea's Cruelty
A huge red cannonball flew toward Kuina.
At that moment, the whole world seemed to freeze. Then a crushing mental pressure swept across the Dreadnought Saber.
Krieg, who had been about to turn and run, stared in shock. His cannonball hung motionless behind Kuina instead of exploding as he had expected.
Pressure closed in on him from every side, pinning him in place.
He struggled wildly and even tried to beg for mercy, but it was no use. He could not open his mouth.
The Ahua Trio, who had been fighting the pirates, suddenly stopped.
Around them, the pirates rolled their eyes back and collapsed one after another.
The pressure vanished as quickly as it had come.
All three let out a breath and slumped to the deck.
They felt that if the mental pressure had lasted a few seconds longer, they would have fallen too.
They had no idea what it was.
But they were certain it was another of Kuta's abilities.
They looked toward him.
Kuta stared expressionlessly at Krieg. Behind Kuina, who stood in front of him, a red cannonball hung in midair.
Clearly, that bastard Krieg had launched a sneak attack on Kuina and made Kuta angry.
Kuta had used that astonishing power to knock out every pirate aboard the ship at once.
The three of them silently mourned for Krieg.
The man had a death wish. Kuina was the one person Kuta would never forgive anyone for hurting.
Kuta hooked the Wine Gourd back onto his belt and jumped down from the railing.
He walked to Kuina's side, pressed his right thumb against his middle finger, and gently flicked the cannonball behind her.
Whoosh!
The cannonball shot into the distance at tremendous speed.
Then it exploded over the sea with a bang, releasing a cloud of pink poisonous smoke.
"Can't let that thing explode here."
He did not care about the pirates, but he would not let it hurt Kuina and the others.
Kuina looked at Kuta and smiled.
With Kuta there, she was not worried about sneak attacks at all.
Normally, she would have dodged the cannonball. She had simply relaxed a little once she reached his side.
"Kuta, I'm fine."
She turned, took his hand, and looked toward Krieg.
Kuta turned to Kuina, reached out to brush her nose with a finger, and said,
"You didn't even try to dodge. Do you trust me that much?"
"Of course
I do. I know you'd never let me get hurt."
Kuina smiled, her eyes curving into crescents.
"Oh, right. What do you want to do with him?"
"Whatever you like!" Kuina shrugged.
"Hmm... All right. I wasn't planning to let him live anyway."
Kuta looked at Krieg and suddenly increased the pressure within his domain.
"Then die!"
Pinned in place, Krieg began struggling even more violently. A far greater pressure closed in from every side, crushing him toward the center.
Blood poured from his mouth, eyes, and ears.
His bones creaked under the pressure.
After a while, he stopped moving.
All that remained was a huge ball of blood encased in a sphere of metal.
"If he loves armor so much, he can have it for a coffin!"
Bang!
With a thought, Kuta drove the bloody sphere down through the deck.
He had no intention of touching the disgusting thing.
It shot through the deck, the cabins, and the bottom of the ship before vanishing into the sea.
Kuta raised his head, a red gleam flashing in his eyes. His Observation Haki swept across the Dreadnought Saber. Apart from his own group, not a single pirate remained standing.
He could not help thinking that Conqueror's Haki truly lived up to its reputation as a spectacular way to show off—and a perfect weapon for clearing out weaklings.
He had awakened it naturally two years ago, when his mental power had broken through.
It probably had something to do with his altered mind. His confidence might have played a part too.
After all, no one in this world should be able to kill him.
Unless there was some miraculous power he knew nothing about.
"Hey, can you three still move?"
Kuta called to the three sitting amid the fallen pirates.
"Don't worry! I can take ten more!"
Ahua sprang up and shouted with both hands raised.
"You? Who was it that nearly got slashed just now?"
A-Luo stood, brushed the dust off his backside, and threw Ahua a mocking look.
"You little..."
A pirate really had nearly caught Ahua by surprise. He had escaped injury only because A-Luo helped him.
Beside them, A-Tao gave the pair a helpless look, took out a cigarette, and lit it.
They had been fighting shoulder to shoulder moments ago, and now they were arguing again.
"All right, all right. Come on, let's see what we've won!"
With that, Kuta turned toward the captain's quarters on the second level of the cabins.
Creak.
He pushed open the old wooden door. Treasure lay scattered around the room, alongside mountains of Beli.
This must have been what the Krieg Pirates had stolen on this voyage.
They apparently had not had time to sort it. Dark red bloodstains, barely dry, still marked some of the Beli.
Kuta glanced around the room. Finding nothing special, he promptly lost interest.
"Sort this out and bring it back."
He said this to Ahua and the others, then took Kuina's hand and returned to the Fake Merry.
The Sea's Cruelty
Kuta stared at the Dreadnought Saber blocking their way.
He drew his sword and swung it casually. A massive, crescent-shaped silver-gray Slash raced through the Dreadnought Saber.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Dreadnought Saber split down the middle. Seawater surged through the breach into the cabins, and the huge ship slowly began to sink.
A wave rolled in, pushing the two halves of the Dreadnought Saber apart.
A passage opened before the Fake Merry.
Kuta sheathed his sword and settled back into his deck chair. He picked up the juice from the small table beside him, swirled it gently, and took a sip.
Then he raised his right hand and called out, "All right, everyone! Raise the sails and set off!"
Beneath the mast, the Ahua Trio sprang into action.
A-Luo climbed the mast and hauled the sail open. Wind filled it at once, and the Fake Merry accelerated through the gap between the two halves of the Dreadnought Saber.
Kuta cast an indifferent glance at the pirates aboard the broken ship and paid them no further attention.
If those pirates were lucky enough to wake up in time,
and lucky enough to survive on the Sea without a ship or food,
then they truly had fate on their side.
Not everyone was a protagonist like King Luffy.
A Devil Fruit User had actually dared to put to sea hiding inside a wine barrel—and had survived.
Now that was the luck of a true protagonist.
Aboard the Fake Merry.
On the forward deck, Kuta lay in a deck chair under a small blanket, reading that day's newspaper.
Apart from a few trivial stories, it was filled with news of pirate raids.
Ever since the Great Pirate Era began, stories like these had appeared every day. He was tired of reading them.
More than a decade had passed since the Great Pirate Era began, yet more and more pirates had recently been setting out to sea.
They were probably the younger generation who had grown up hearing stories about the Pirate King.
They all dreamed of finding the One Piece. Did they really think they could find it?
In two years, this world's protagonists would set sail, and the One Piece was waiting for them.
As he turned the pages, he suddenly paused. A headline leaped out at him: [Another island falls from the sky, destroying a town below.]
Beneath the headline were an article and a photograph.
The article said:
The night before last, an island had suddenly fallen from the sky and struck Corgi Island, destroying the entire town there.
The impact had been felt on other nearby islands.
Fortunately, it had not caused a tsunami.
Below the report was a photograph that filled half the page.
It showed an island shaped like a corgi, covered in ruins. A smaller island was embedded in its center.
The ruined buildings around it showed that a town had once stood there.
Now, most of that town lay buried deep beneath the smaller island.
"What rotten luck. Buried by an island."
That was how unbelievable this world was. Anything could happen.
Kuta shook his head.