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3739 Words
Chapter 10: A Major Incident and a Little Courage
The Sabaody Archipelago was a breathtaking, unnatural marvel of the world—a sprawling island composed entirely of seventy-nine massive Yarukiman Mangrove trees. Their striped, colossal roots breached the ocean's surface to form a foundation strong enough to support entire cities, resorts, and lawless slums.
Having finally paid off my mountainous debt to Shakky through two solid years of unpaid labor, I had made the firm decision to leave the relative safety of Grove 13. It was time to set off on a new adventure across the sea to find the Huge Huge Fruit.
I was heading toward the bustling commercial district of Grove 41 to say a proper goodbye to Esune, the sweet rabbit-girl I had become such close friends with over the past year... but as I hopped across the massive roots, my pace gradually slowed.
Why is it so quiet...? Too quiet.
Grove 41 was usually a vibrant, chaotic place, packed with tourists buying souvenirs, merchants shouting their prices, and the constant, cheerful popping of the island's signature soap bubbles. But today, the atmosphere was suffocatingly heavy. It was strangely dark and completely, deathly silent. It felt almost like walking into a massive, open-air wake.
Walking forward while keeping to the shadows of the hedges, feeling a deep, primal suspicion gnawing at my gut, I peeked around a corner and instantly understood the horrifying meaning behind this silence.
"C-Celestial Dragon...!" I gasped, clapping a hand over my own mouth.
Standing in the center of the wide plaza was an authority figure I couldn't forget even if I tried—a man wearing an immaculate white suit, a clear resin bubble helmet over his head, and sporting a ridiculous hairstyle shaped exactly like a dick.
The incredibly cruel, blood-soaked treatment of the slaves I had witnessed up in Mary Geoise was still fresh in my memory. The nightmares still woke me up in cold sweats even two years later. And now, the source of those nightmares was right here. Occasionally, these World Nobles would come down from their holy land to this archipelago to buy fresh slaves or just to flaunt their absolute power.
"...Ooh... This is bad. My legs are shaking... I'm terrified..." I whispered, pressing my back flat against the bark of a tree.
Cold sweat instantly began pouring down my face, matting my fluffy tail against my legs.
If we were talking purely about raw, physical "combat strength," Shakky and Ray-san were undoubtedly much more terrifying monsters. But Celestial Dragons possessed a completely different kind of "terror" that made my soul tremble from the bottom of my heart.
I really, truly couldn't handle that psychopathic behavior of treating living, breathing people like disposable objects.
At that very moment, the Celestial Dragon was casually riding on the back of a battered, heavily scarred slave who was crawling on all fours across the cobblestones. The Noble was absentmindedly kicking his heavy boots into the side of the slave's bleeding head, using him as a piece of furniture while sipping a brightly colored juice through a twisted straw.
How could anyone do something like that to another human being and not feel a shred of guilt?
Celestial Dragons possessed a terrifying, empty malice that went far beyond human comprehension.
I-I'll just hide right here in the grass so I don't get found for now... just wait for him to pass.
Let sleeping dogs lie. The absolute best, most proven way to avoid getting dragged into deadly trouble in this world is to not get involved.
The hundreds of people around the plaza seemed to understand that unwritten rule perfectly as well. Every single civilian, merchant, and hardened bounty hunter was frantically making way for the Celestial Dragon, moving to the very edges of the path, and dropping to their knees with their heads bowed low against the dirt. No one dared to even breathe too loudly.
Yeah, yeah. Just keep your head down. I think that's a smart choice—
BANG!!
I flinched, my ears ringing from the sudden noise.
A deafening gunshot shattered the silence of the grove.
Wondering what in the world had just happened to warrant lethal force, I peeked out through the leaves and saw the Celestial Dragon casually lowering a smoking, golden flintlock pistol. He had just fired point-blank at an ordinary citizen who was kneeling properly by a fruit stand.
...Huh? Why? Why did he shoot him!? He didn't even do anything!
"The cheap clothes you're wearing have a ragged design I absolutely hate-eh," the Celestial Dragon whined, tossing his empty juice glass onto the ground. "Looking at it is infuriating to my noble eyes."
...Excuse me?
He hated the design of his clothes? D-Don't tell me he just shot a man in broad daylight for a reason as petty as that...?
As I looked at the middle-aged man who was shot, dark red blood was pouring out of a gaping wound in his shoulder, staining the dirt. He was clutching his arm, groaning, "Ugh... ugh..." through gritted teeth, desperately trying not to cry out loud and anger the Noble further. It looked agonizingly painful...
The people kneeling around the bleeding man were trembling violently, squeezing their eyes shut and stifling their own terrified whimpers. Honestly, hiding in the bushes, I was trembling too.
I seriously hate Celestial Dragons. It's like human common sense just completely fails to apply to them, or like they're fundamentally missing something essential—a soul, empathy—as human beings...
I stayed completely silent, shivering and trembling in the bushes.
Ah... no way... it's Esune...
Scanning the sea of kneeling, terrified people, my heart suddenly dropped into my stomach. I spotted Esune's small figure.
She was kneeling right beside her parents, who looked like they were on their way back from the market. And worse, she was right in the direct path of the Celestial Dragon's current stroll...
J-Just stay perfectly still like that... Esune. I know you're incredibly scared, but don't move a single muscle right now. Endure it. Let sleeping dogs lie... Yeah, just stay still... that's good... he'll walk right past you...
The Celestial Dragon, Saint Bomiol, was slowly passing by Esune, his slave panting heavily beneath his weight...
Or so I prayed, until that dreadful moment—
"Nnnh?"
The Celestial Dragon paused, his bubble helmet swiveling as he turned his arrogant face directly toward Esune's trembling form.
"Nn~..." he hummed, leaning down to get a closer look.
"..." Esune squeezed her eyes shut, a single tear escaping down her cheek.
"You have quite a pretty, exotic little face-eh," he observed, reaching out to poke her chin with his gun barrel.
"...Eh?" Esune gasped, her eyes flying open in sheer terror.
"Alright! I've decided! I'll take you back to the Holy Land and make you my 21st wife-eh! Someone grab a collar for this one!"
Let sleeping dogs lie... But what is a fragile human supposed to do when the rabid dog aggressively approaches them instead...?
"P-Please wait! Great Noble, I beg of you!"
Esune's father, who had been bowing his head right next to her, suddenly stood up, placing himself between the Celestial Dragon and his terrified daughter. His face was pale, but his eyes held the desperate resolve of a parent trying to protect their child. "My daughter has only just turned 12... she's too young...!"
"Hah? Know your filthy place, lowly commoner! Do not dare to stand up in front of me and block my view!" Bomiol sneered, his face twisting in ugly rage.
And in that split second—
BANG!!
—Her father was shot directly through the head. The bullet pierced his skull, spraying blood across the pavement. ...It was instant death. He collapsed backward like a broken puppet.
"Eh... D... Dad...?" Esune whispered, her voice completely hollow, unable to process the sudden spray of crimson.
"Kyaaaaah!! Honey!! No!!" her mother shrieked, breaking protocol and lunging forward to catch her falling husband, sobbing hysterically over his lifeless chest.
"...You're far too noisy-eh. It's giving me a headache."
BANG!!
Esune's mother, who clung to the corpse, was subsequently shot without a second's hesitation.
"...Ahhh!!? A-Aaaaaah...!!" she screamed.
"!? Mom... Mom!!" Esune cried, reaching out.
Esune's mother had been shot cleanly through the leg. Naturally, a single shot there wouldn't kill her instantly, and she writhed in absolute agony on the ground, clutching her shattered kneecap as blood pooled around her dress.
"I told you you're too noisy-eh."
Perhaps deeply displeased by the ugly sight of her writhing, or simply annoyed that she hadn't died quietly, the Celestial Dragon calmly reloaded and aimed his golden gun at Esune's mother once again.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
"...!! !! ... ...!"
Shot brutally through the hand, the stomach, the chest, and finally the head, Esune's mother twitched once and then stopped moving entirely.
Right in front of Esune's wide, disbelieving eyes, her loving parents' corpses lay side-by-side in a gruesome, blood-soaked state on the cold stone.
...What is this?
What am I being forced to look at right now? Is this a bad dream? A nightmare? An illusion brought on by a Devil Fruit? This is far too cruel... far too unrealistic...
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! MOMMMM!! MO... DAAADDD...! Uwa... a... AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH...!!!!"
A guttural, mind-shattering scream unlike any sound she had ever made before erupted from Esune. It was the pure, unfiltered sound of a child's entire world violently tearing apart.
I covered my ears, tears welling up in my own eyes. This situation was just terrifying. Stop it... Someone, please, anyone, stop the Celestial Dragon... Help Esune... please... someone do something...
"I told you you're too noisy-eh! Do you want to be shot to death right next to this trash too!?" Bomiol aimed his smoking gun right at Esune's face.
"...!! Uwa... a, guh...!! ...hic..." Esune choked on her own sobs, desperately trying to swallow her wails as she stared down the black barrel of the gun.
"That's right. That's fine-eh. A quiet pet is a good pet," he smiled sadistically, lowering the weapon. "Now then, let's do lots of things that feel incredibly good once we return to Mary Geoise, muhuhu♡"
The Celestial Dragon stepped down from his exhausted human mount and walked right up to the paralyzed girl. He then firmly, violently grabbed Esune's thin arm, his rings digging into her skin.
"Now then, come to my place-eh."
"...Ah...! N-No! Stop it! Let go! No! NO!! Someone... somebody help meee...!! Uwaaahhh...!" Esune thrashed wildly, digging her heels into the dirt, desperately trying to pull away from the murderer.
"Hey! I said don't resist-eh! You're ruining my clothes!"
Stop it... Someone, someone please stop this monster... Help Esune... please...
I looked around the plaza from my hiding spot. Every single person—the strong bounty hunters with swords, the muscular merchants, the armed guards—had their eyes cast firmly down to the ground, holding their breath and staying completely still as a little girl was dragged away from her parents' corpses.
Let sleeping dogs lie. That's the correct way to survive in this twisted world... I know that. I know that, but still...!
"No! Nooooo..."
"I told you not to resist! Who the hell do you think... I am!"
Smack!
The Celestial Dragon raised his fist and brutally punched the face of the crying, screaming eleven-year-old girl.
Esune fell to the ground, blood dripping heavily from her nose onto her white shirt. Her tears wouldn't stop.
In that exact moment, something inside of me completely, irreversibly snapped.
"UWOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!" I roared, bursting from the bushes, my voice echoing across the silent plaza like a thunderclap.
"Eh...?" Bomiol blinked, looking down at the tiny blur racing toward him.
"RAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH!!!!"
"!!!"
BA-BOOOOOM!!!
By the time I consciously realized what my body was doing, I had already launched myself into the air and swung my tiny fist with all my Tontatta might directly into the center of the Celestial Dragon's face.
It was an explosive, high-velocity punch. The impact completely shattered the thick resin bubble helmet protecting his head like cheap glass. The sheer kinetic force of the blow lifted the massive man entirely off his feet and sent him flying backward through the air, crashing hard enough to literally cave into the brick wall of the building on the other side of the plaza.
A heavy cloud of dust billowed out from the crater.
The hundreds of people around the plaza stared in absolute, paralyzing shock, their jaws dropping and their eyes popping out of their skulls. A World Noble had just been struck.
"Esune! Are you okay!? You're not okay, are you...! I'm so sorry I was late!" I landed softly next to her, pulling her up by the shoulders.
"B-Big... brother...!!" she sobbed, throwing her arms around me. "...D-Dad, Mom... they're...! Ah, uu, uwaaah...!!"
"I know! I know! I'm sorry... hey... look at me. We need to run away from here right now!" I urged, wiping the blood from her nose.
As I struggled to pull up the weeping, traumatized girl, the sharp, metallic clacks of several rifles being cocked and aimed in our direction echoed through the plaza.
"You bastard, are you a dwarf? ...For a mere insect to raise a filthy hand against Saint Bomiol, you will pay for this unforgivable sin with your life!" the lead guard barked, his finger tightening on the trigger.
The Celestial Dragon's heavily armed bodyguards... there were four of them in total surrounding us. However, you slow, lumbering humans couldn't even follow my first strike! There's absolutely no way you have the skills to avoid my movements!
"Acceleration!!" I shouted, my legs kicking off the ground with explosive force.
"Wha!? He disap— Whoa!? My gun disappeared!?"
"My gun too! Where did it go!?"
"Mine too!"
"Mine as well! My holster is empty!"
This is the direct, ultimate Tontatta snatching technique. With my blinding speed, capable of stripping off even the pants someone is wearing in an instant, snatching heavy rifles pointed right in front of me before the triggers can be pulled is an embarrassingly easy victory.
"His belongings suddenly disappeared into thin air! That tiny blur... that's the 'Invisible Phantom Thief' people have been talking about in town...!" a merchant gasped from the sidelines.
"Ehhh!? That little dwarf was the true identity of the 'Invisible Phantom Thief'!?"
"Including the absolute fact that a Celestial Dragon just got punched flying into a wall, this is huge news! Kuwahahaha!" a pirate laughed, already running for his life.
...The gallery is being somewhat noisy and completely blowing my cover, but I'll ignore them. Right now, I need to deal with the guys in front of me before they draw their swords.
"Original Tontatta Combat... Jaw Tail!!" I spun in mid-air like a buzzsaw.
""""!!!""""
Smack-smack-smack-smack! I smashed a devastating tail strike directly into the jaws of the four bodyguards in rapid succession, rattling their brains and knocking them all out cold before they even hit the floor.
No, wait, it's not just the four bodyguards. More of them appeared from the alleys. A whole lot more. Men in black suits with swords are pouring out.
"Nuooooh! My nose! H-How dare you punch me...! I bleed!?" a furious, nasal voice shrieked from the rubble. "I'll catch you... I'll catch you, make you my personal slave, and slowly torture you to death while forcing you to mate with cockroaches...!"
The Celestial Dragon whom I had smashed into the brick wall had been dug out by his servants before I knew it. His face was bruised and bleeding, but he was standing. I had punched him pretty seriously with the intent to break bones. He didn't even lose consciousness...?
Surprisingly tough... maybe it's all the fat cushioning him. Wait, didn't he just say something incredibly horrifying and specific!? There's no way in hell I'm letting myself or Esune get caught by this freak!!
"Esune! Listen to me! I'll make as much time for you to cry later as you want! So just hold it in and be brave for now! If we don't escape from here, we'll be put through something far worse than death! Especially me!" I grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the exit.
"...O... kay!" she sniffled, rubbing her eyes and trying to be brave.
"Good girl!"
It wasn't just the black-suited bodyguards anymore; the local Marines had also started gathering at the edges of the grove, responding to the emergency alarm before I even realized it. If it were just me, I could easily slip through the tiny gaps in their blockade and escape, but it's physically impossible to drag a 150cm human girl through that. I have to do something drastic.
"Dwarf! Stop your futile resistance! You've assaulted a World Noble! Surrender quietly and face execution!" a Marine Captain yelled, drawing his katana.
"Like hell I'll surrender to you lapdogs! Original Tontatta Combat... Tail Crash!!" I roared, leaping high into the air.
"!!?"
I slammed my dense, muscular tail forcefully into the stone pavement, channeling all my kinetic energy. With a deafening, crackling sound, the earth shattered. Massive chunks of rubble, thick dust, and popped soap bubbles flew violently into the air, completely obscuring the area.
A temporary, blinding smokescreen. The opportunity to act was only for an instant.
"Now, Esune! Turn into a rabbit! Use the power!" I ordered under the cover of dust.
"Eh?"
"Hurry!! Do it now!"
"Y-Yes!"
With a soft whoosh, Esune focused her Zoan fruit power, and her human body rapidly shrank down, fully transforming into the form of a tiny, lynx-colored Netherland Dwarf rabbit barely 20 cm tall.
I scooped her up, carrying her securely on my back like a backpack. Covered in thick dust, I broke away from the front lines with a mad, invisible dash through the confusion.
"Hah, hah, hah! Escape from the plaza successful! Now, this way... is completely full of Marines. Then this way... is also heavily barricaded with Marines...!" I gritted my teeth, skidding to a halt behind a massive tree root.
I had initially planned to weave through the people and small gaps in a zigzag pattern so no one would find us, and somehow evacuate back to the safety of Shakky's store, but... There are way too many Marines. They've completely locked down the grove perimeters. It looks like it'll be impossible to slip through their legs while carrying Esune's extra weight. The Marines gathered way too fast...
I gently lowered Esune from my back onto the soft grass.
"Esune, listen closely. There's a store called Shakky's Rip-off Bar hidden deep in Grove 13. Head exactly there...!" I instructed, pointing toward the lawless zone.
"Eh? W-What about you, big brother...?" she twitched her long ears, her rabbit eyes wide with fear.
"I'm gonna stay behind and play with the Marines for a bit before I go. Draw their attention."
"Y-You're going to act as a decoy!? You can't do that! Absolutely not! Let's go together! Please, I'm begging you...! Stay with me...! Don't leave me all alone..."
Esune shifted half-back into her human form, clinging tightly to my arm and shedding large, desperate tears.
Her parents were just murdered in cold blood right in front of her, and right now, in this terrifying world, I'm the only one Esune has left...
It's no wonder she's acting like this... it breaks my heart. But if we stay together and I'm slowed down, they'll surround us, and we'll definitely go down together.
"It's so both you and I can live to see tomorrow!" I grabbed her shoulders firmly, looking her in the eyes. "It might be incredibly scary, but please go. No one out there saw the exact moment you turned into a rabbit, so if you run away through the bushes as a tiny rabbit, they'll just ignore you, and you'll definitely be able to escape! I promise I'll follow right behind you soon, so don't worry about me! I'm strong! For the sake of your parents too, survive!"
"...!! Y-Yes...!" she sobbed, nodding bravely as she shifted back into a rabbit.
"You're a really good girl!"
I gently tickled Esune's furry cheeks one last time to reassure her and smiled as brightly as I could manage.
Then, my expression hardening into determination, I turned my back on her, facing toward the direction the advancing Marines were coming from.
"It's Shakky's Rip-off Bar in Grove 13. Tell them Line sent you. Alright, go! Esune!"
"Yes!"
Transformed completely into a rabbit, Esune leaped out of the bushes and dashed frantically toward the safety of Grove 13, blending in perfectly with the island's wildlife.
Some of the Marines searching the perimeter saw the movement in the grass and reacted with a "Hm? A rabbit?" but I absolutely wouldn't let them go that way to investigate.
"Hey, you oversized targets!! Over here!!" I yelled, jumping onto a high wall. "Your opponent is me!"
"There he is! The dwarf! Get him!" the captain ordered, the entire squad turning their rifles toward me.
"Take this!! Original Tontatta Combat: Tail Vulcan!!" I roared, launching myself directly into the center of their formation like a cannonball.
Dadadadada! Moving at blinding speeds, I ricocheted between the soldiers, mowing down the Marines with rapid-fire strikes, intentionally running in the exact opposite direction of Esune's escape route to draw the entire blockade away.
"Hehehehe~!! Idiots! Idiots! It doesn't matter how many hundreds of you gang up on me! I'll teach you that you're absolutely no match for the great Line! Ora, ora, ora, ora!!"
I'll let you fully taste the brutal strength of the tail I've trained by beating up giant pirates for two years at the Rip-off Bar!
"Take this!! Tail Hammer!!"
"Gwaaaahhhh!! My ribs!!"
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Meanwhile, far away in the imposing, seagull-crested Marine Headquarters of Marineford...
Buru-ru-ru... Buru-ru-ru...
Buru-ru-ru... Clack.
The golden receiver of a highly classified Den Den Mushi was picked up from its cradle.
"Hm? What's this about a World Noble...?" a slow, incredibly drawling voice echoed in the opulent office. "A Celestial Dragon was punched and sent flying by a tiny dwarf...? Ooh... That's... quite a problem~..."
A tall man in a yellow striped suit lazily adjusted his tinted sunglasses, the Den Den Mushi mimicking his relaxed, slightly amused expression.
"Understood... I'll go sort it out... You can rest easy..." Marine Admiral Kizaru sighed, standing up from his desk.
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