"Gokudō: Ichimonji!" Ryuuto roared, his body rocketing forward. He held Yukibashiri level with his chest before sweeping it in a direct horizontal slash.
With a sound that tore through the air, Yukibashiri, wreathed in crackling black lightning, sliced out!
Rekton had just landed, two lances formed from his reinforced blood crossed before his chest in a desperate attempt to block.
The slash arrived in an instant.
BOOM!
Ryuuto appeared behind Rekton, the air hissing and popping in the aftermath of his attack. As Ryuuto stood and sheathed his blade, a massive gash erupted across Rekton's body. The powerful strike had passed straight through him.
"Pfft!"
Vomiting a mouthful of blood, Rekton collapsed to the ground, motionless.
An instant kill.
"Well, that was a little too easy, wasn't it?" Ryuuto murmured to himself as he slid Yukibashiri back into its scabbard.
He figured it was because he'd spent all his time recently fighting powerhouses on the level of Garp or Blackbeard. Suddenly facing a bounty hunter who hadn't even awakened Haki, he had likely used far too much force.
And here I was hoping to train my Conqueror's Haki Coating. I was really getting ahead of myself.
After a moment of idle thought, Ryuuto walked over to Rekton's body and casually hoisted him up. Rekton was covered in blood and had fallen into a deep coma. Without his consciousness to sustain it, the reinforced blood that had formed his weapons had already pooled on the ground, creating a grizzly scene.
Thump!
Ryuuto tossed the unconscious Rekton at Blackbeard's feet.
A dead silence fell over the area.
"He's too strong!"
"He... he got one-shotted!"
"Just how powerful is that man?"
The surrounding pirates stared, their hearts pounding in their chests. After a few seconds of stunned silence, they scattered in an instant, vanishing from sight.
"Good. That was remarkably effective," Ryuuto said, nodding in satisfaction as he glanced around.
"Teach, he's all yours," Ryuuto said, clapping Blackbeard on the shoulder and giving him a meaningful look.
Blackbeard spread his hands helplessly. "I can't exactly do anything like this!" He then held up his cuffed hands, showing Ryuuto the Sea Prism Stone shackles.
Clink.
Without any fear of Blackbeard trying to escape, Ryuuto tossed him the key.
The sight made Lucci's eyes narrow.
He just gave him the key? So easily?
Blackbeard shot Lucci a contemptuous look, thinking, You must have been locked up so long your brain's gone soft. In your current state, you think you could escape from this monster? What difference would it make if he gave you the key?
Click.
With a crisp snap, the Sea Prism Stone cuffs fell from Blackbeard's wrists. He clenched and unclenched his fists as dark energy swirled around them. "Zehahahahaha! It feels so good to have my power back!"
"Hn? Get to work," Ryuuto warned, shooting him a sideways glance.
Nami, understanding Ryuuto's intent immediately, pulled a black cloth and an apple from her person and placed them beside Rekton.
"What is Captain Ryuuto planning to do?" Foxy asked Porche curiously.
"Maybe it's some kind of ritual?" Porche replied, her blue hair swaying as she spoke with uncertainty.
"Highly likely!" Buggy declared, stroking his chin with an air of confidence.
"I think so too!" Alvida nodded in agreement.
Hearing Ryuuto's reprimand, Blackbeard grabbed the apple, then forcefully yanked the black cloth open, draping it over himself and Rekton.
"What... What's he doing?" Buggy asked, growing suspicious of the scene.
Lucci also shifted uneasily, his gaze fixed on the black cloth as if trying to see through it to the movements within.
"What do you care? Just do what Boss Ryuuto says and you can't go wrong!" Foxy had fully transformed into a Ryuuto fanatic, never missing a chance to belittle Buggy, as if it would solidify his own position as Ryuuto's number one subordinate.
Buggy and the others fell silent, their eyes glued to the black cloth.
Beneath it, Blackbeard looked down at the blood-soaked, pitiful man. He pulled a dagger from his belt and plunged it straight into his chest.
"No..."
As excruciating pain jolted him awake, Rekton struggled to cry out in a final, desperate burst of life. But it was all in vain. The dagger was steadily draining what little remained of his life force.
When will this nightmare end? Blackbeard wondered internally. It wasn't that he couldn't stomach the death of another man; it was the fact that he was completely at Ryuuto's mercy, with no idea when his own life might be snuffed out.
Sigh. Might as well get this over with.
He let out a heavy mental sigh. As Rekton breathed his last, Blackbeard rubbed his hands together, conjuring two masses of dark energy, and pressed them against the man's chest.
Time passed, second by second.
Shhh.
The cloth was whipped away, revealing Blackbeard, drenched in sweat and holding a crimson Devil Fruit.
As expected, Blackbeard had not disappointed him.
The Devil Fruit was shaped like a lychee and was crimson all over. In addition to the standard spiral patterns, it was covered in a network of exposed, tube-like veins, making it look disconcertingly like a beating heart at first glance.
The person most shocked by this was Lucci.
What? A Devil Fruit just appeared! Was it... extracted from that corpse? As the terrifying possibility dawned on him, Lucci's face went pale. The usually stoic, emotionless leopard-man now wore a rare expression of pure horror.
Is this what's going to happen to me? Lucci couldn't help but wonder, and his composure completely shattered.
"What?! A Devil Fruit? It just appeared?" Buggy was so startled that his hat flew right off his head.
"Did he use some kind of power to recreate the Devil Fruit's ability?" Cabaji mused, stroking his chin.
"No, please no! Anything but that!" Buggy suddenly began to mutter frantically, as if a horrifying thought had just occurred to him.
"Whoa! That's so cool!" Foxy and Porche's eyes sparkled with adoration.
Alvida glanced at Buggy, then at Foxy, and made a decision. If necessary, she could pretend she didn't know Buggy. At that moment, she felt that following him was utterly pointless. If this kept up, her own Slip-Slip Fruit might be the next one to be "recreated" in such a manner.
"Mrow!" Richie the Lion let out a roar, simply providing a soundtrack for Foxy and Buggy's reactions.
"Ryuuto, here's the fruit!" Blackbeard wiped the sweat from his brow and tossed the Blood-Frenzy Fruit to Ryuuto.
Plop.
Ryuuto caught the fruit, weighed it in his hand for a moment, and then, as usual, handed it to Nami.
"So dull and boring. Another Devil Fruit, just like that," Ryuuto muttered. "And they say Paramecia fruits are bad? Paramecia fruits are the best!"
With those few words, Ryuuto's grand debut on the Sabaody Archipelago came to a perfect close.