Ohara was burning.
The Tree of Knowledge stood like a torch at the end of the world. Smoke and ash rose into the sky, staining the daylight with a hopeless yellow haze. The roar of cannon fire, the sound of collapsing buildings, the cries of civilians, and the shouts of soldiers all mixed together, forming a chaotic symphony of destruction.
In the middle of this hell, on the only road leading to the port, Aiden stood alone in silence.
The heat from the distant flames stretched his shadow long across the ground.
He calmly put on [Special Glasses].
In an instant, his entire presence changed subtly.
The sharpness he usually carried, like a blade drawn from its sheath, vanished completely. In its place was a gentle, harmless air, as if he were nothing more than a friendly neighbor.
"Clack... click... creak..."
A chill arrived.
This cold did not come from the weather of the West Blue. Even the nearby burning houses seemed to be suppressed by an invisible frost. Their flames no longer flickered as wildly.
Along with the grating sound of a bicycle, an absurdly tall figure approached from the distance.
The man was riding an old-fashioned bicycle. His long legs had nowhere to go, so he had to pedal awkwardly. He wore an expensive white three-piece suit over a navy blue shirt. A Marine cap covered his fluffy black curly hair, and a ridiculous green sleep mask had been pushed up onto his forehead.
In this burning slaughterhouse, a man riding a bicycle looked completely out of place. The sight was absurd to the extreme.
This was one of the future top military powers of Marine Headquarters, the monster Admiral known by the codename "Aokiji," Kuzan.
Kuzan clearly noticed the only person standing in the middle of the road.
He slowly squeezed the brakes. The old bicycle let out a loud creak and came to a stop right in front of Aiden.
His eyes looked half-awake, as if he had not fully woken up yet. He lazily looked Aiden over, lingering especially on the black-framed glasses that did not fit this hellish scene at all.
"Ara, ara..." Kuzan said in his usual lazy tone. "This... lad with the glasses. Sorry to bother you while you're enjoying the view."
"Tell me," his lazy gaze swept across the area, "did you happen to see a group of people who looked like professors? They were making quite a bit of noise while passing through here."
Aiden looked at him.
"These glasses really do work... even against a monster like Kuzan."
Aiden showed a friendly smile. He raised his hand and casually pointed toward a side road on his right.
"I... I saw them," Aiden said. "They ran off in that direction in a panic. They looked like they were in a huge hurry... if you don't move fast, you won't catch up with them."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Hearing this, Kuzan smiled as well. His expression looked as if he were saying, "What a helpful citizen."
"That really helps. Thanks for the directions, lad."
After saying that, his legs pushed hard against the ground. The bicycle gave a creak...
And continued straight in its original direction, heading right for the port.
He did not believe Aiden's lie at all.
However, before he could ride even two meters...
"Bang!!"
A heavy, sharp, and extremely piercing gunshot rang out!
A bullet wrapped in pitch-black Armament Haki shot forward like a flash and slammed into the road exactly half a meter in front of Kuzan's bicycle!
"Boom!!"
The hard stone road exploded. A half-meter-deep crater appeared instantly at the point of impact! Broken rocks and dust flew everywhere!
Kuzan's bicycle let out a harsh screech as it came to a stop. The front wheel was only a few centimeters away from the still-smoking crater.
He slowly turned his head. Tilting it slightly, he showed a trace of... confusion in his sleepy eyes.
He looked at Aiden, who was still holding up the gun, as if asking, "What exactly is the meaning of this?"
Aiden slowly lowered the strangely shaped pistol in his hand.
The friendly smile on his face widened even more.
He raised his hand again and pointed toward the side road on the right.
"Listen, horse-face lad."
Aiden's voice was still gentle.
"That's the way I pointed out. If you keep going the wrong way, I can't guarantee where the next bullet will land."
Kuzan: (ㅍ_ㅍ)
The moment the words "horse-face lad" were spoken.
The air seemed to freeze.
The sound of the wind, the fire, the cannons... everything seemed to disappear at that moment.
The sleepy expression on Kuzan's face slowly vanished.
A terrifying chill, cold enough to freeze the soul itself, suddenly erupted from him!
The temperature dropped instantly!
"Crack... crunch... snap..."
Kuzan slowly got off the bicycle.
The moment his feet touched the ground, frost began spreading across the hard stone road at a speed visible to the naked eye! This chill was even stronger than the heat of the exploding shells, and it rushed wildly toward Aiden!
The flames flickering through the surrounding ruins hissed and dimmed under the pressure of that freezing air!
"Ara, ara..."
Kuzan slowly pushed up the sleep mask on his forehead, revealing eyes that were now cold and sharp. There was no trace of laziness left in them.
"Greeting me with a bullet coated in Haki..." His voice had lost all of its lazy drawl and had become as cold as a Siberian winter. "In all my years of asking for directions, this is the first time I've seen something like that."
He stared at Aiden's glasses and asked word by word, "Who exactly are you? Why are you stopping the Marines from carrying out justice?"
"Justice?"
Aiden laughed at that.
He casually moved as if he were tucking the pistol behind his waist, but in reality, he stored it inside his ring.
The lenses of his glasses reflected the firelight in a pale white glow.
He pointed at the burning Tree of Knowledge behind Kuzan, then at the two words on Kuzan's cape, which looked painfully bright in the firelight.
"You call that 'justice'?" Aiden's smile carried a trace of mockery he did not bother hiding. "Well, maybe... I just happen to find your kind of justice unpleasant to look at."
"Is that so..."
Kuzan slowly removed his Marine cap and tossed it aside. His signature fluffy black curls danced wildly in the clash between heat and cold.
"It seems you aren't just some helpful passerby."
He let out a sigh, looking as though everything that was about to happen was a massive hassle.
"That truly is... a shame."