Cover Serial: Heart Pirates, Part 10 - "Taking advantage of someone's weakness is no different from stabbing a knife into their wound. Have you no shame?"
Buffalo was still trying to persuade Baby 5 when a familiar, icy voice spoke from behind him. He jerked his head up and saw Corazon and Law coming ashore.
Corazon walked over, grabbed Buffalo by the head, and delivered the rebuke with a blank expression. Baby 5, her eyes swollen red from crying, turned toward them with a sniffle...
…
On Aqua Laguna's broad main avenue, the Kano Kingdom's yellow-armored imperial guards escorted the Warlord of the Sea and his companions toward the Happo Navy. They carried an imperial decree ordering the Pillar of the State, Don Chinjao, to teach Giorno the Hasshoken.
However, the two people at the center of the procession, Giorno and Jolyne Cujoh, seemed distracted. Their minds were clearly elsewhere.
Robin quietly dismissed the "Flower Ears" she and Liam had left inside the palace to eavesdrop on the king's private conversation with his deputy minister.
"What do you make of it?" she asked softly.
"What is there to make of it?" Liam replied, surprised. "It couldn't have been more obvious."
"I'm asking what you intend to do."
"What do I intend to do...?"
A gentle breeze swept down the bustling street, scattering petals from the flowering trees on either side. They spun lazily through the air as Liam sighed.
"Once upon a time, an incredible woman lived here. Then someone had her killed."
Robin studied him.
Liam smiled. "Obviously, we can't just take a look at Hasshoken and then leave as if none of this concerns us."
"So..." Robin prompted.
"So, since neither of us can stay out of this anymore, we should start by uncovering the whole truth."
Liam turned and looked back at the imperial palace nestled among the distant mountains.
Robin followed his gaze.
...
Kano Kingdom - Imperial Palace
Sky Prison…
Carved deep into a sheer cliff, the prison was a winding maze of darkness, like a passage leading straight into the endless depths of hell.
A pair of black dragon-patterned boots entered the prison, and the jailers dropped to their knees like wheat flattened by the wind.
The diminutive king remained expressionless as he made his way to the deepest cell in Sky Prison.
Inside, a female prisoner had been tortured beyond recognition. Her disheveled hair hung over her face, while her wrists were suspended on either side by thick black iron chains. Heavy shackles bound her legs together, and her feet were crossed one over the other. A long, pointed iron spike had been driven through both insteps, pinning them to the floor in a bloody mess.
All ten of her toenails had been torn out. The flesh beneath was mangled, and the blood had already dried. Her breathing was barely audible. With her head hanging limply, she appeared dead.
The king stood outside the cell and observed the assassin for a moment.
"Open it."
The jailers trembled, but none dared offer a warning. The chief jailer hurriedly took the large ring of keys from his waist, selected one, and unlocked the door.
With his hands tucked inside his wide sleeves, the king entered the cell and stopped before the chained and impaled assassin.
"Has she revealed anything?"
The chief jailer shuddered.
"Your Majesty... not yet. This humble servant has used every interrogation method at his disposal, but I feared she might die if we continued, so I temporarily suspended the torture..."
The king nodded without another word.
In his heart, he had already sentenced the chief jailer to death.
"Such admirable resolve. Truly impressive!"
The king sneered and lifted the assassin's chin through her tangled hair, exposing her bloodstained face.
"Three hundred years ago, pirates invaded the Kano Kingdom in force. The emperor of that era had already lost the National Treasure and was powerless to stop those pirates from burning, killing, and pillaging throughout the country.
"If the Golden True Dragon had not descended and saved the kingdom from the brink of ruin, turning the tide and driving out every last pirate, the Kano Kingdom would have been reduced to a wasteland long ago! How else could it have enjoyed the peace and prosperity it has today?
"It has been three hundred years, yet you remnants of the Demon Alliance still cling to your ridiculous dreams! You tried to assassinate the True Dragon that has protected this nation for three centuries. What exactly are you hoping to accomplish? Do you want to throw the Kano Kingdom into chaos?
"You ungrateful swine!"
The jailers' faces went pale at his words. They hastily lowered their heads, wishing they had never heard any of it.
At last, the assassin, Sienna, showed a faint reaction. Her blood-caked eyelids opened into two narrow slits, revealing cloudy eyes that stared coldly at the king and the black dragon tattoo on his temple.
"More than three hundred years ago... weren't you the ones who 'lost' the National Treasure?"
Instead of growing angry, the king smiled. He stroked his long beard with his free hand.
"I see... No matter how many of you Demon Alliance remnants we kill, more always appear. It seems you really do know something..."
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Several jailers collapsed one after another, trembling violently as they sprawled across the floor.
After hearing something like that, none of them were likely to leave this place alive.
Even the chief jailer's legs went weak. He had to grip the iron bars to keep from collapsing to his knees.
'I knew it. After working in Sky Prison for decades, my sins were bound to catch up with me sooner or later...'
"Even if you know the truth, you should also know that trying to assassinate me is like an ant trying to topple a mighty tree!"
The king sneered. "What a ridiculous fantasy. You clearly have no idea how weak you are! Since you walked straight into our trap, don't expect this matter to end easily. We have plenty of ways to make you tell us everything…"
Sienna spat a mouthful of bloody saliva into his face.
A murderous glint flashed through the king's eyes. His hand was just beginning to transform into a dragon's claw when the deputy minister's terrified scream echoed from the entrance to Sky Prison.
"Master! Something terrible has happened!"
Drenched in sweat, the deputy minister came sprinting down the passage, clutching the hem of his robes in one hand. When he looked up, he saw the humanoid Black Dragon holding the female assassin by the head, suddenly turning toward him.
Those dark golden dragon eyes stared at him coldly, sending a chill straight down his spine.
"What happened?" the humanoid Black Dragon asked flatly. "Speak."
The deputy minister bit the tip of his tongue, barely managing to catch his breath beneath the dragon's terrifying presence.
"Th-The... Winterbloom Garden has suddenly caught fire!"
"What did you say?!"
The humanoid Black Dragon's dark golden eyes instantly turned bloodshot.
"Could it be...?"
The deputy minister trembled so violently that even his voice became distorted.
"Master... someone, someone set the Sacred Fruit Tree on fire!"
The humanoid Black Dragon flew into a rage. His claw involuntarily tightened around Sienna's skull until it began to creak.
Fresh blood trickled down her temple. Trapped within his scaled grip, Sienna forced out a strained laugh.
"Demon Dragon... you're finished... Heh... hehehe..."
"You bastards! So this was your true objective?!"
The humanoid Black Dragon roared in Sienna's face as a sphere of light began gathering inside his jaws. But Sienna was already barely breathing and had long since cast aside any fear of death. The more furious and unhinged he became, the calmer she looked.
Boom!
With a sweep of his tail, the humanoid Black Dragon smashed apart the cell entrance. The collapsing ironwork and stone crushed several of the jailers standing outside.
Roaring furiously, he transformed into an enormous black dragon and charged through Sky Prison's long, twisting corridors, his four claws tearing into the walls as he raced forward. Moments later, the Black Dragon burst from the cavern entrance and soared into the sky with a thunderous roar, heading straight for the Winterbloom Garden within the mountain palace.
"So the assassination was only a diversion... I see."
Clawing through the clouds, the Black Dragon could already see towering flames rising from the direction of Winterbloom Garden.
His eyes were completely bloodshot.
"Damn you all!"
...
The Black Dragon's rampage had wrecked much of Sky Prison's interior. Many jailers along the passage had been injured and knocked unconscious, but they were fortunate simply to have survived.
The deputy minister repeatedly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He was too shaken even to check on the female assassin, who had once again fallen unconscious from her injuries.
"What a vicious plan. They went straight for the very foundation..."
The deputy minister trembled at the thought of the Sacred Fruit Tree burning in Winterbloom Garden.
"But how did those Demon Alliance remnants discover its location? Could there be a traitor inside the palace?!"
...
The cell entrance lay in ruins. The female prisoner was unconscious inside, while jailers lay scattered across the floor outside. The chief jailer was among them.
A long while later, the chief jailer cautiously opened one eye. Watching the deputy minister hurry away, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Maybe it's time I ran away to sea..."
He slowly climbed to his feet and rubbed his head with a weary sigh.
"If worse comes to worst, I'll raise a pirate flag and try my luck on the Grand Line..."
As he considered the idea, he suddenly looked up and saw something bizarre approaching him.
It was a muscular man without a head.
The creature's exposed upper body was covered in sharply defined muscles, as though cast from bronze and forged from iron. Yet it wasn't excessively bulky, possessing an uncanny balance of strength and beauty.
There was nothing above its neck. Instead, two beautiful, feminine eyes had grown on its bulging pectoral muscles.
The Headless Monster strode deeper into Sky Prison. As if sensing the chief jailer's stare, the pair of beautiful eyes on its chest turned toward him.
(End of Chapter)
You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/marvel6395