"Ah…"
The Fat Pirate's eyes bulged in disbelief as the bullets he had fired were seized midair. The blood red aura radiating from the crimson figure twisted around them, halting their momentum completely. They spun uselessly before dropping to the deck with a crisp series of metallic clinks.
"The bullets cannot even pierce him. He can withstand gunfire!"
Black Gun Heck let out a cold snort, his grin sharpening.
"Hmph. So you can block bullets? Looks like you are another pirate who crawled back to Paradise from the New World."
He lunged forward, sweeping his massive scimitar toward the red figure's waist. The blade was caught effortlessly in a clawed hand. No matter how Heck pushed or pulled, the weapon refused to budge.
His expression shifted.
I cannot match his strength. This monster is far too strong.
"You want the blade? Then keep it."
Without hesitation, Heck released the hilt and dashed toward a rack of long guns secured on the deck.
Crack.
The crimson figure flung the captured scimitar in a single, brutal motion toward the Fat Pirate, who was still frantically pulling the trigger of his pistol.
Puff.
The blade sliced cleanly through the Fat Pirate's neck. His head lifted into the air before his body even realized what had happened.
Thud.
His corpse collapsed heavily onto the deck, thick blood spreading across the planks.
"Damn you, monster. I will make you pay!"
Fury overtook Heck as he grabbed three long guns from the rack. He coated them in Armament Haki and hurled them in rapid succession.
Whoosh.
The steel weapons gleamed with a black sheen as they shot forward like streaks of lightning. This was the origin of his epithet, Black Gun.
The crimson figure shifted his body with fluid precision, narrowly evading the first volley.
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
Eight more long guns followed almost at the same time, sealing every possible escape route. Heck had no intention of holding back. He emptied the entire rack without pause.
The red figure twisted and pivoted, but two of the long guns finally found their mark.
Puff.
One pierced through his arm.
Another drove into his leg and embedded itself deep into the deck, pinning him in place.
A raw roar tore from his throat as pain surged through him. Yet without hesitation, he grasped the weapon impaling his leg and ripped it free, tearing through wood and flesh alike. Blood poured down his limb, staining the deck beneath him.
His blood red eyes locked onto Black Gun Heck, who had already sprinted toward another rack of weapons.
With a guttural growl, the crimson warrior hurled the long gun he had just pulled out. A strange red aura coiled around it as it flew.
Boom.
Heck abandoned the weapon in front of him and rolled across the deck in a frantic scramble, barely avoiding the incoming strike.
The pirates nearby were not so fortunate.
The long gun struck the deck and detonated in a violent explosion. A crimson shockwave rippled outward.
In its wake, something unnatural spread among the crew.
Their breathing grew erratic. Their eyes darkened. An uncontrollable hatred surged within them, as though the men beside them had always been mortal enemies.
"You bastard, I have hated you for years!"
"You filthy pig, your stench makes me sick!"
Without hesitation, they turned on one another.
Bang. Bang.
Gunfire erupted across the deck. Crimson bursts blossomed from chests and shoulders as pirates fell.
Steel flashed.
A blade plunged in white and emerged red.
"Are you insane? Stop it! You are killing your own men!"
Heck stared in horror as his crew slaughtered each other with savage brutality. None of them heeded his command.
His gaze slowly returned to the bleeding crimson figure standing amid the chaos, silent and unmoved.
"You did this, did you not? What have you done, monster?"
For the first time, genuine fear seeped into his voice.
From this figure, whose nature he could not comprehend, Heck felt the same suffocating terror he had once experienced in the New World.
Monsters.
That was a realm far beyond his reach.
It was the very reason he had abandoned his ambitions and retreated to Paradise.
In the New World, there were countless beings who treated his Black Guns as nothing more than a mild annoyance. A single counterattack from them could erase his fleet in an instant.
He had once encountered one of the former Seven Warlords of the Sea, crocodile, and witnessed the overwhelming despair of his sand based power.
With a single attack unleashed from afar across the sea, crocodile had annihilated more than half of the dozens of ships Heck had spent half his life gathering.
The long guns he threw were swallowed by raging sandstorms before they could even approach their target.
"Heh, weak."
That single dismissive word had shattered his dreams of competing for the Pirate King's throne.
Afterward, Heck had forced his remaining ships across the Calm Belt. More than half were lost to Sea Kings before he finally returned in disgrace from the New World to Paradise.
He gave up his foolish ambitions and sought protection instead.
Through calculated effort, he established ties with the Celestial Dragons.
From then on, he devoted himself to hunting white whale pods for them, capturing the creatures and delivering them as tribute.
The Celestial Dragons adored white whale hearts. Their pure white flesh could be sliced thin and eaten raw, a delicacy prized above all else.
The rest of the whale's body was discarded without a second glance, tossed into the sea to rot. Not even slaves were granted the scraps.
With the backing of the Celestial Dragons, Black Gun Heck plundered freely. Marines patrolling these waters knew of his connections to the World Nobles and chose to ignore his crimes.
Life had been comfortable.
Until today.
Now, as his crew tore itself apart and the crimson figure stood before him like an omen of judgment, everything he had built crumbled into ruin.