"Wahahaha! Hurry up! I can't wait to see a splendid execution!" Charlimako's shrill laughter pierced the silence.
The procession's destination was the high platform in the center of the square.
That was the place where the pirate king, Gol D. Roger, was executed and where he started the Great Pirate Era with a single sentence.
Now, this symbolic place was to be used to satisfy a fat pig's low tastes with the blood of innocent civilians.
Ryoma silently followed along the edge of the crowd, watching as Onigumo roughly threw the grandfather and grandson, along with the civilian being used as a 'pirate,' onto the execution platform.
He watched as Charlimako excitedly clapped his hands, urging the guards,
"Execute them! Execute them for me at once!"
Several guards acting as executioners raised their long sabers. The blades reflected a grim, cold light under the sun as they aimed at the three innocent people on the ground.
The little boy could no longer make a sound. He just held his grandfather tightly, using his small, thin body in a futile attempt to shield him.
That's enough!
A voice roared from the depths of Ryoma's heart.
He was not some champion of justice, nor could he change the twisted order of this world. But some things, once seen, cannot be ignored.
He thought of his comrades in Fairy Tail who would risk everything for their friends, and he remembered Makarov's words: Family is not something you choose.
Yet here, life was cheaper than an ant on the roadside.
"Stop."
A clear voice, not loud, rang out exceptionally abruptly in the deathly silent square.
Everyone's movements froze.
Charlimako's laughter came to an abrupt halt as he twisted his fat neck to find the source of the voice.
Onigumo's gaze locked onto the hooded figure with precision.
Under countless gazes—some terrified, some numb, some bewildered—Ryoma stepped out from the edge of the crowd, walking step by step toward the execution platform.
"Hey, you pariah over there!"
Charlimako looked at the man who was standing. Feeling his authority was being challenged, he was instantly displeased.
He pointed his fat finger at Ryoma and shrieked, "Don't you see this Saint here? Kneel before me at once! Then crawl over here obediently! I might consider taking you as my slave."
Seeing Ryoma remain unmoved, Charlimako was instantly infuriated.
"Are you deaf? Capture him for me! Nail him together with those insects!"
Onigumo didn't move, instead sizing Ryoma up with a scrutinizing gaze.
This man didn't have a shred of a powerful person's aura, looking like an ordinary passerby, but that composure was extremely unusual.
"Who are you?" Onigumo barked. "This is an area directly under the World Government's jurisdiction. Kneel immediately!"
Ryoma ignored him and simply continued walking forward, his gaze passing over Onigumo to land on the shivering little boy on the execution platform.
Ryoma slowly raised his hand and took off his hood, revealing a face that appeared excessively calm against the backdrop of the surrounding fear.
"This is a god?" He spoke.
His voice wasn't loud, but it spread clearly across the entire square, carrying a bone-chilling coldness.
"A piece of trash like you, who takes pleasure in slaughtering the weak, dares to call yourself a god?"
Everyone was stunned.
"He... what did he say?"
"Insane, this person is completely insane."
"He actually dared to insult a Celestial Dragon."
The kneeling civilians, the armed Marines, and even Onigumo on the platform all looked at Ryoma as if he were a dead man.
In their eyes, Ryoma was already dead. Insulting a Celestial Dragon was an absolute capital offense.
After a brief moment of shock, Charlimako's face instantly turned the color of pig liver, filled with extreme rage and humiliation.
He jumped up, pointing at Ryoma and roaring like a madman, "Capture him! I want him alive! I will personally cut him into a thousand pieces! I want him to wail for a hundred days before he dies! Go! Now!"
"As you command, Lord Saint Charlimako."
Two guards gave an angry shout and instantly vanished from their spots, reappearing on either side of Ryoma.
Soru!
Two long sabers flashing with cold light slashed toward Ryoma's arms in a cross.
However, just as the blades were about to touch his skin, a translucent ice flower flashed beneath Ryoma's feet, so fast it was almost impossible to catch with the naked eye and his figure abruptly vanished from the spot.
The two guards' blades slashed together fiercely, erupting in a shower of blinding sparks. Their strike missed, and astonishment appeared on both their faces simultaneously.
"Above you!" Onigumo's roar rang out.
The two of them snapped their heads up.
Unbeknownst to them, Ryoma had already appeared on the high execution platform, standing right between the three victims and the executioners, his back to everyone.
He gave a light wave of his hand, and a gust of cold wind swirled up. The three terrified executioners actually lost their footing and tumbled off the execution platform with screams.
The entire square fell into an eerie, deathly silence as everyone stared blankly at the mysterious man who had suddenly appeared.
"Oh, you have some skill." Charlimako's face was full of twisted excitement.
"Capture him for me! I'll take him as my newest slave!"
Onigumo pulled back his lips into a cruel smile. "Quite an... interesting fellow."
He no longer held anything back, slamming his right foot into the ground as he shot into the air. The muscles on his arms bulged, and pitch-black Armament Haki instantly coated his entire fist.
"Since you're looking for death, I'll grant it to you!"
Onigumo's figure instantly vanished, appearing before Ryoma in the blink of an eye, his fist smashing toward Ryoma's back.
At this moment, Ryoma finally turned around slowly.
He looked at the fist wrapped in Armament Haki rapidly enlarging in his vision.
He looked at the ugly face of that Celestial Dragon below.
He looked at the numb and condoning attitudes of the surrounding Marines.
He looked at the masses kneeling on the ground, not even daring to look up.
An indescribable rage erupted from the deepest part of his soul.
He could laugh off many things and choose to be a bystander to avoid trouble. But he could not tolerate someone treating the trampling of life and dignity as a matter-of-course celebration.
BOOOOOM!!!
An invisible, intangible, yet domineering airwave swept out in all directions with Ryoma as the center.
Onigumo, who was mid-air, suddenly jerked to a halt.
The Marines who were preparing to rush onto the platform felt their bodies go limp, foaming at the mouth as they collapsed to the ground in droves.
In the square, those kneeling civilians, those soldiers who were angry but dared not speak, and those residents peering from behind windows—the moment they came into contact with this shockwave, their minds went blank. Their consciousness was instantly stripped away, and they fell row by row, circle by circle, collapsing silently.
Tens of thousands of people in the entire Loguetown square fainted in this single instant.
The only person still awake was one.
The personal guards beside Charlimako struggled for a moment before their eyes rolled back and they fell unconscious.
Charlimako himself had long since shuddered, his eyes rolling up as he fell straight off the slave's back. His obese body hit the ground with a dull thud, and his bubble helmet rolled away.
Thump!
Onigumo fell from the air, his feet landing heavily on the ground. He hadn't fainted, but his face was filled with unprecedented shock and horror.
He stared fixedly at Ryoma, his body trembling uncontrollably from the massive shock.
Only the sound of the wind remained in the empty square.
Onigumo's lips trembled, each word seemingly taking all his strength.
"Con...queror's... Haki?!"
Onigumo looked at the young, cold face before him, feeling that kingly disposition that made even him shudder, with only one thought left in his mind.
What terrifying Conquerors Haki!