"Three Sword Style: Oni Giri!"
Zoro charged forward.
All three swords struck at once, forming a web of blades that was almost impossible to avoid in the narrow hallway, cutting off every possible escape route for Kuro.
The attack was fast, the angles tricky. Even a well-trained fighter would struggle to deal with it calmly in such a confined space.
"Slow. Too slow."
Kuro barely moved. A mocking smile sat on the corner of his mouth as Armament Haki quietly coated his foot, turning it black as ink.
The next second, he swept out a kick, passing through the three incoming blades and landing squarely on Zoro's chest.
BANG!
Zoro was sent flying through the air and slammed into the wall at the other end of the hallway, leaving a clear dent behind.
Within three seconds, both Zoro and Nami were down.
The hallway fell silent for a moment.
"AAAAAH! I'M GONNA SMASH YOU!"
Luffy was fully awake.
The last traces of sleep vanished the instant he saw two of his companions knocked down, replaced by pure anger.
"Gum-Gum!"
His right arm shot upward. His skin rapidly swelled as the power of the Gum-Gum Fruit surged through his veins.
The oversized giant fist filled almost the entire hallway as it roared toward Kuro.
Kuro glanced out the window.
The Red Hair Pirates still hadn't moved.
The smile on his lips grew wider, like a beast that had finally found its chance after waiting for a long time.
With a flick of his hand, steel claws silently sprang out, shining with a cold silver light beneath the moon.
Armament Haki quickly covered them. At that moment, killing intent burst out without the slightest attempt to hide it.
If he had the chance, he wouldn't mind killing Luffy.
Even though he knew very well that Luffy was the main character of this play.
But as someone inside the play, playing his own role well mattered more to him than simply pleasing His Majesty.
Kuro was willing to gamble.
In the distance, every member of the Red Hair Pirates changed expression.
Shanks and Yasopp moved almost at the same time.
"Die!"
Grinning, Kuro crossed the distance in an instant. His Armament-coated steel claws crashed toward Luffy's enlarged rubber fist with unstoppable force.
If that attack landed, even a Gum-Gum Fruit user would lose the use of that arm.
Clang!
A gunshot exploded through the air.
The bullet came later but arrived first, striking Kuro's steel claws with perfect accuracy and knocking them several inches off course.
Right after that, Shanks appeared in front of Kuro. He didn't draw his sword. Instead, he struck with his palm, sending out a powerful gust.
Kuro's pupils narrowed. He instantly used Silent Step, retreating like smoke until he was over ten meters away. When he landed, even his clothes hadn't shifted.
"Shanks!"
Luffy turned around and recognized him immediately. The anger on his face was instantly replaced by delight, and he even forgot they had been fighting.
"Why are you here?"
Just then, Usopp's voice rang out from behind.
"Yasopp! It was you! You're the one who killed Kaya!"
The hatred in that accusation rang through the hallway.
"I didn't kill your wife."
Yasopp walked out from the edge of the group, lightly tapping the butt of his gun against the floor. His voice carried a careless sneer.
"I told you, you're just a kid who never grew up. You can't even tell who your real enemy is."
"Then tell me! Who was it?"
Usopp stepped forward. Before he could finish, on the other side, Kuro spoke leisurely with an easy smile.
"Yasopp, this isn't what we agreed on."
His tone remained casual.
"Weren't you supposed to let me kill these three pirates first, then blame everything on them?"
The hallway became completely silent.
"Yasopp? Kuro?"
Usopp's eyes shifted back and forth between the two of them, full of doubt.
"Kuro of a Hundred Plans, shut your mouth!"
Yasopp snapped, panic showing in his voice for once.
"I've never had anything to do with you! I'm only here to protect Luffy, the Child of Destiny!"
Beside him, Shanks closed his eyes.
He took a deep breath, then another, trying hard to hold back the speechlessness bubbled inside him.
'Aren't you basically admitting it?'
If he didn't already know the other man was Kuro of a Hundred Plans, how could he have called him by name so naturally?
For the first time, Shanks truly felt that sometimes his crewmates were unbelievably stupid.
And Yasopp had just blurted out that Luffy was the Child of Destiny.
'What an idiot!'
"Huh? Luffy is the Child of Destiny?"
Nami pushed herself up against the wall, deliberately widening her eyes as she spoke with just the right amount of surprise.
"Child of Destiny?"
Kuro repeated the words before throwing his head back and bursting into laughter.
"The one the World Government put a one billion bounty on? Then I've made quite a haul today."
Something quietly burned inside his eyes.
He was never supposed to have this many scenes.
Or rather, his role was only meant to be an extra who fell at the very beginning.
But now, he was rewriting the script with his own hands.
Maybe today wouldn't be the day his role ended after all.
"Damn it!"
Yasopp's eyes nearly split apart as he realized he had said the wrong thing.
Shanks looked around with a grim expression.
Very few people in the entire world knew that Luffy was the Child of Destiny.
If that information got out... he couldn't even finish the thought.
Yasopp had clearly realized he had made a huge mistake as well.
His eyes slowly hardened. Killing intent rose like a tide as he slowly raised the gun in his hand.
Then everyone saw where it was aimed.
The muzzle pointed at Usopp.
"Wait."
Zoro frowned. For the first time in a situation like this, confusion showed on his face.
"Why are you aiming at Usopp?"
Nami opened her mouth but couldn't say anything.
'If someone has to be silenced, shouldn't Kuro be dealt with first?'
Even taking care of them would make more sense than targeting Usopp.
None of them could understand Yasopp's actions.
"Captain, I'll fix my mistake," Yasopp's voice was low and firm, "As long as no one tells anyone what happened today, everything will be fine."
He gritted his teeth.
Before everyone's stunned eyes, he pulled the trigger.
An Armament Haki bullet shot out of the barrel, cutting through the air straight toward Usopp.
Clang!
Kuro stepped in front of him and knocked the bullet away. His arm trembled.
The strength of Yasopp's Armament Haki was far beyond what he had expected, but he still blocked it without moving.
Kuro's face looked terrible.
He truly hadn't expected Yasopp to be this stupid.
In tonight's script, Usopp had to live. He had to join the Straw Hat Pirates. That was today's main storyline.
Yet Yasopp had aimed at the one person who absolutely couldn't die.
If Usopp failed to board the Straw Hats' ship because of this tonight... Kuro didn't continue the thought. He only tightened his grip with his trembling arm.
"Yasopp! What are you doing? Why are you trying to hurt Mr. Usopp?"
The first person to step forward wasn't Usopp, Nami, or even Shanks.
It was Luffy.
He rushed in front of Yasopp, planting his feet apart. The night breeze lifted the brim of his straw hat slightly, and clear, direct anger burned in his eyes.
"I'm doing what I believe is right."
Yasopp's voice didn't waver. It even carried a sense of determination.
"Luffy, don't stop me. As long as they're all dead, your secret won't get out."
"Usopp, don't blame me. You're my son. For the sake of this world, your sacrifice is worth it!"
The hallway fell silent for a full three seconds.
During those three seconds, Nami and Zoro realized the same thing.
This man had no heart.
No one believed they were right more than Yasopp did.
The certainty on his face sent a chill through them.
Far away in the Holy Land, even Sora, who was usually calm, couldn't help turning her eyes from the scene to Banchina.
Looking at the woman who had already broken down in tears, the pity in Sora's eyes deepened.
Having a husband like this, Banchina's bad luck was no less than Rouge meeting Roger. It was far worse than her own marriage to Judge.
"That's enough, Yasopp."
Shanks stepped forward, his voice calm, "Don't do anything foolish. We just need to kill Kuro."
He couldn't even be bothered explaining further.
To be honest, for a brief moment, he had a thought that didn't suit a captain.
He had almost wanted to kill Yasopp.
With that brain and that personality, he was bound to cause a disaster someday.
But there was no helping it.
He was the companion Shanks had chosen himself. Even if he regretted it, they had to keep going together.
He drew Griffin from his waist. The blade reflected a cold light beneath the moon.
Taking one step forward, he closed in on Kuro.
With Shanks' strength, killing Kuro would only take one move.
But Kuro had already expected this.
He quickly retreated, his steps surprisingly light, while grinning and calling out, "Shanks, you're a pirate known across the world. If the World Government finds out you're hiding the Child of Destiny, what do you think will happen?"
"Then we just have to make sure no one finds out."
Shanks suddenly appeared behind Kuro.
There was no warning. No wind. No sound.
He simply appeared, and Griffin had already pierced through Kuro's body.
Slash!
The sword passed through him, and blood spread into the night air.
That strike should have gone straight through his heart and killed him instantly.
Yet Kuro was still alive.
He didn't fall.
The sword had missed.
Only by an inch.
It pierced his chest instead of his heart.
It wasn't because Shanks had held back. A swordsman of his level didn't make mistakes like that.
It was simply... not Kuro's time to die.
It was simply because he had gained His Majesty's approval.
Kuro slowly lowered his head, looking at the section of blade sticking out through his chest, watching the bright red blood run down the sword before dripping onto the wooden floor with soft taps.
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
It was as if Kuro couldn't feel the pain. His laughter rang out louder than ever.
He slowly reached out with both hands and gripped the blade.
His laughter stopped.
Turning his head, he spoke in a voice filled with reverence.
"You are the King who rules the world!"
"You are the Lord of Order!"
"The sea flows for you, the sky shines because of you, and the earth stands firm because of you!"
"What's this?"
Zoro frowned.
For the first time in his life, he felt completely unable to keep up with what was happening.
"We were fighting. Why did he suddenly start praying?"
He didn't finish speaking, but his mind was already searching.
'Those words... that prayer...'
He vaguely remembered it.
'It is the World Government's prayer.'
Logically, the World Government had nothing to do with prayers.
But they really had done this.
This prayer referred to that man's holy name.
The one praised as a god, Lord Rosse.
"Damn it!"
Shanks' expression changed at once. The hand gripping Griffin began to shake.
He tried to move, but he couldn't.
Griffin seemed locked in place by an invisible force. It didn't move at all, like an iron spike hammered into solid rock.
This wasn't Kuro's power.
Kuro couldn't possibly do something like this.
He really had reached that person.
These divine prayers had existed in the world for ten years. He had always believed Rosse had created them simply to make himself seem like a god.
Back then, the Celestial Dragons had been praised the same way.
Almost everyone thought it was just a political trick.
But now...
'It is real?'
BOOM!
Without any warning, the sky suddenly lit up.
The light came from high above, piercing straight through the clouds and turning all of Syrup Village as bright as day.
No, brighter than daylight.
It was a holy light, as though a god had opened its eyes.
A giant deep-blue divine eye suddenly opened in the sky.
It covered hundreds of meters of the night sky. Its pupil was like an abyss as it silently looked down upon every living being below.
There was no sound.
Only that gaze.
It descended.
The villagers woke from their sleep, pushed open their windows, looked up, and saw the giant eye.
Without thinking, they fell to their knees and muttered, "A god... It's a miracle!"
Crying and shouting mixed together as all of Syrup Village fell into chaos, caught somewhere between joy and fear.
Inside the hallway, everyone felt that gaze.
They didn't see it.
They felt it.
That gaze rested on every person. It weighed heavily on them, as though some existence far beyond understanding had casually picked up their souls, weighed them for a moment, then set them back down.
"AAAAAH! What is this!"
Luffy's whole body shook. He tried to struggle, but his arms and legs felt as though they had been cast in lead. He couldn't move at all, and all he could do was let out helpless cries.
"How is this possible..."
Shanks stood frozen in place.
His thoughts suddenly became sluggish, as though submerged in thick syrup.
He was the focus of that gaze.
The pressure on him was greater than on anyone else.
For the first time, cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
It was only a glance.
The man himself was still in the Holy Land, thousands of miles away, yet, just a single glance was enough to leave him unable to breathe.
He couldn't understand it.
He couldn't make sense of it.
He tried to put together a reasonable explanation in his mind, but every piece only made the answer more unbearable.
'Has Rosse really become as powerful as a god?'
'Simply calling his name has this much power.'
'If we ever truly stand against him..'.
'How can we possibly resist?'