Chapter 1: The Last Pirate Lord
The year was 1519 by the sea calendar.
On Glass Bead Island, in the East Blue, the usual noise from a bustling tavern was shattered in an instant.
BANG!
The tavern door slammed open, followed by a pained groan. A massive man, drenched in blood and breathing heavily, staggered inside. His face was a mess of ugly scars, and the once-opulent golden armor he wore was now little more than scrap metal hanging from his shoulders.
"Shut up, all of you!" the man roared, his voice cracking with panic and fury. "Get down! Get into the corner, now!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
He raised his arm, firing a volley of shots from the double-barreled mechanism built into his wrist. The bullets tore into the wooden ceiling, raining down splinters. The terrified patrons scrambled over one another, huddling together in the far corner with their hands over their heads.
"Krieg," a calm, teasing voice called from the doorway. "How long do you plan to keep running? This game of hide-and-seek is growing tiresome."
The armored man, Krieg, flinched at the sound. A vein throbbed on his forehead. In a flash of desperation, he lunged into the huddled crowd and dragged a young woman out, locking an arm around her neck.
"Ian! Don't come any closer!" he screamed towards the door, his eyes wide with terror. The hand holding the gun to the woman's head trembled uncontrollably. "Take your Marines and get off my island right now! If you take one more step, I'll… I'll kill every last one of them!"
This was "Admiral" Krieg, a pirate from the East Blue with a bounty of 17,000,000 Berries. He was a man who commanded fifty ships and five thousand pirates. He wasn't used to feeling this cornered, this desperate.
But everything had changed since Jock Ian rose to power in the East Blue.
At just eighteen, Ian had been appointed Commander of Naval Branch 16 due to his staggering military achievements. In the six months that followed, he had swept across the entire sea, dismantling pirate crew after pirate crew. Now, even the most powerful and cunning of them all, "Admiral" Krieg, had been driven to the brink.
The tavern door creaked open.
A figure cloaked in a white naval officer's jacket stepped calmly into the room. The uniform, the so-called "Mantle of Justice," did little to contain the wild, unruly aura he carried. His black hair was slightly messy, falling freely across his forehead. He had a strong nose, deep-set eyes, and the corner of his mouth was quirked in a hint of a sarcastic smile.
A wave of hushed whispers spread through the hostages.
"A Marine? Ian? Could it be that Captain? The 'Adjudicator of the Sea'!"
"We're saved! Lord Ian never fails!"
"Please, Lord Ian, save us!"
"I said SHUT UP!" Krieg bellowed, losing control. BOOM! Another shot blasted into the ceiling, silencing the crowd and filling the air with thick tension.
Ian seemed utterly unperturbed. He walked calmly to an empty table and sat down. He reached for a bottle of rum, pulled the cork with his teeth, and poured a generous amount into a wooden tankard.
"Hah… Just as I thought," Ian mused, his voice a low rumble. "The rum from Glass Bead Island is still the strongest and most satisfying in the whole East Blue."
THUD!
He slammed the heavy tankard down on the table. The sound was like a gunshot, making Krieg jump and stumble two steps backward.
"Ian! You bastard! Are you deaf?" Krieg shrieked, his voice reaching a fever pitch. "Get your Marines and leave! Now! Or I swear I'll paint these walls with their blood!"
Glug, glug, glug…
Ian remained unmoved, casually pouring himself another drink. "So, kill them then. You've been threatening to do it for a while now. Are you going to talk them to death?"
Krieg was left speechless, his whole body trembling with rage and fear. The double-barreled gun in his hand shook violently. "You think I'm bluffing? I'll kill two of them right now! Just to show you I mean business! According to your precious Navy regulations, if hostages die on your watch, you'll be held responsible! You'll be disgraced and punished alongside me! You've worked hard to get to your position, Captain! Don't throw it all away!"
Krieg clung to this logic, this lifeline. The hostages were his only bargaining chip, his only hope for escape.
And then, Ian laughed.
It wasn't a chuckle, but a full, hearty burst of laughter that echoed in the tense silence. "Pfft… Hahahaha!"
"What… what are you laughing at?!" Krieg screamed, his frustration boiling over.
"Sorry, sorry," Ian said, wiping a mock tear from his eye. "I just couldn't help it. That's where you're wrong. Our Navy… doesn't have a regulation like that."
His words struck the room like a physical blow. Krieg stared, dumbfounded. The hostages behind him were equally stunned. This was not the behavior they expected from the legendary hero of the East Blue, the fabled Adjudicator of the Sea.
"You're lying! You're trying to trick me!" Krieg yelled, his sanity fraying. "You arrogant fool, I'll show you!"
There were so many hostages. Killing one would still leave him with plenty of leverage. He would teach this cocky Marine a lesson and remind him why he was called the "Overlord of the East Blue"!
"No! Please, I don't want to die! Lord Ian, save me!" the woman in his grasp wept, pure terror in her eyes.
Krieg pointed the gun at her head. The firing mechanism was right under his index finger. All he had to do was apply the slightest pressure. He would execute her and force Ian to take him seriously.
Just pull the trigger.
His index finger tensed.
Activate the mechanism.
He tried to squeeze.
Pull… the… trigger…
…Buckle…
What? What's happening?
Confusion and a new, deeper fear bloomed in his chest. His right hand was completely paralyzed. It wasn't just his gun hand, either. The left arm he had locked around the woman's neck had gone numb, as if he were holding nothing but empty air.
His eyes, wide with dawning horror, flicked back to Ian. The moment their gazes met, the world around Krieg began to blur and swim.
A Devil Fruit user? What kind of power is this? How can this be… Guh… gurgle…
The rest of his words died in his throat. His sight, his hearing, his sense of touch—even the internal sensation of his own bones—vanished completely.
The woman, who had been sobbing in his grasp a second before, suddenly felt the iron grip around her neck go slack.
Ian looked past Krieg at the frightened faces of the crowd and raised his palm in a gentle, shooing motion.
"What are you all waiting for?" he asked, his voice returning to its normal, calm tone. "Run."
The spell was broken. The patrons didn't need to be told twice. They scrambled to their feet and stampeded out of the tavern, the sound of their fleeing footsteps quickly fading.
Once the room was clear, Ian stood and walked leisurely toward Krieg. Thump. The massive pirate, now as limp and uncoordinated as a sack of meat, crumpled against the wall.
"What Devil Fruit ability?" Ian murmured to himself, stopping in front of the helpless man. "It's the Human-Human Fruit. It's a pity you can't hear me now."
He leaned in closer, reaching out and firmly grasping Krieg's head in one hand.
"There's a saying I've always liked," Ian said, his voice low and focused. His eyes seemed to sharpen, becoming deep and penetrating, as if they could see through flesh and bone. "Everything has a core. Find the core, and you solve the problem in the simplest way."
To Ian's enhanced perception, Krieg's complex brain anatomy unfolded before him—a tangled web of nerves and blood vessels. The weak points, the fatal junctions, all were laid bare.
"Sleep well, 'Overlord of the East Blue'," Ian whispered. "You are the last one. From today onward, there will be no more pirate lords in this sea."
A surge of powerful, destructive energy gathered in Ian's palm and shot inward.
In an instant, every critical neural pathway in Krieg's brain was severed.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host, on successfully defeating the 'Overlord of the East Blue,' Krieg!]
[Reward Gained: 80 Enhancement Points!]
[Current Accumulated Points: 1050 Points!]
[Friendly Reminder: Every 1000 points can be used to enhance your Devil Fruit abilities or overall physical quality. Initiate enhancement now?]