Black ash drifted over the ruins.
For the people watching, it was not just a death.
A Celestial Dragon had been killed.
Aiden stood among the broken stones and slowly closed his hand. Faint arcs of electricity still crackled between his fingers.
The system notification sounded in his mind.
[Criminal: Celestial Dragon Jaygarcia Brax]
[Comprehensive Level: ???]
[Status: Executed]
[Crime Index: 1,070,000]
[Execution Participation: 100%]
Aiden looked at the ??? rating and the seven-digit Crime Index.
Just as he thought.
Back then, Gol D. Roger had started the Great Pirate Era and thrown the world into chaos, but his crime points had only been around four hundred thousand.
Brax had been useless.
He had done nothing but eat, drink, sleep, and torture civilians. He could not even beat a normal soldier.
Yet because he was a Celestial Dragon, and because he lived off this rotten world order, his Crime Index had reached one million and seventy thousand.
It was absurd.
In the system's logic, that trash's existence had hurt the world more than two Pirate Kings.
It also proved Aiden's earlier guess right.
Catching pirates alone would never be enough to gather the ten million points needed to unlock the Transcendent skill.
The true evil on this sea was not only pirates.
It was the parasites entrenched at the top of the Red Line.
If he ever went to Mary Geoise and started hunting them, tens of millions of points would not be hard to gather.
Aiden glanced at the optional rewards list at the bottom of the system.
There were only three options.
He did not bother reading them closely and closed the interface.
The points were the main prize anyway.
He was one step closer to the Transcendent tier.
At least the points were worth it.
"Phew..."
Aiden exhaled slowly and pulled his attention away from the system.
The air around the ruins was still hot.
Sakazuki stood nearby, magma still dripping from his arm.
"Aiden..."
Cobra called his name.
Cobra, Pell, and Chaka had arrived nearby at some point.
The thunder and the burst of Haki from earlier had reached even the ships at the port.
Worried about Aiden's safety, Cobra had ignored all warnings and insisted on coming over.
When they arrived, they saw the pillar of lightning erase the Celestial Dragon.
Cobra stopped moving.
As the king of a World Government member nation, he knew exactly what this meant.
It was a capital offense.
It was enough for the World Government to order a Buster Call and wipe the entire island, along with everyone involved, off the map.
For a moment, no one knew what to do.
Then Cobra suddenly remembered Queen Lily's journal.
Aiden was likely the descendant of the man Queen Lily had loved in secret.
It was only Cobra's own guess, but in that moment, it was enough to push him forward.
He could not just stand there and watch Aiden die.
He knew the chance of saving him was small.
He also knew this might drag all of Alabasta into disaster.
But at that moment, the king made a decision that went against all political logic.
Cobra gritted his teeth and walked forward.
He stood between Sakazuki and Aiden himself.
"Stand down, Vice Admiral Sakazuki!"
Cobra raised his chin and spoke as king.
"Aiden is my guard! He is also Alabasta's important guest!"
"There must be circumstances we still do not understand! That Celestial Dragon... there must be another side to what happened here! I will appeal to the Five Elders as the king of a World Government member nation!"
"Please give me a chance!"
Behind him, Pell and Chaka froze when they heard this.
Was His Majesty crazy?
This was the crime of killing a World Noble. Why would he involve himself at a time like this?
The two moved closer and tried to stop him.
"Your Majesty! You cannot! This is a death sentence! Even Alabasta cannot bear these consequences! We will be dragged down with him!"
But Cobra ignored them.
He stood in front of Sakazuki and did not step back.
Aiden stood behind him and watched.
He knew nothing about the journal, and he knew nothing about any connection to Queen Lily.
To him, Cobra was just a good king he had met a few days ago.
But that man, someone he had only known for a few days, still dared to stand in front of Sakazuki in this situation.
Cobra's legs were shaking, but he still stood there.
Aiden did not speak, but he remembered it.
Cobra really was a good king.
If he ever ran into Crocodile in the future, he would do Alabasta a favor and kill that hidden threat.
That would count as repaying today's favor.
But right now, Cobra absolutely could not stay here.
Sakazuki did not strike Cobra.
He still respected the king of a World Government member nation enough to hold back.
But magma spread under his boots, burning into the broken ground.
"King Cobra, you are mistaken about one thing. This is no longer a normal case."
"This is a blow to justice and order. It is a direct declaration of war against the World Government's authority."
Sakazuki pulled down the brim of his cap.
"Aiden is not just your guard. He is now the scum of the Marines. There is no room to turn this around. Please step aside. Do not let Alabasta get dragged into this disaster."
"Otherwise, I have the right to assume Alabasta intends to rebel, and I will wipe you out along with him."
The magma spread farther.
This was his final warning.
Aiden knew he could not delay any longer.
If this dragged on, Sakazuki might drag Cobra into this too.
He did not need anyone to share the consequences for him.
He was the one who killed Brax.
He was the one who made this choice.
Naturally, he would bear the consequences alone.
"That is enough, King Cobra."
Aiden interrupted him before he could speak again.
"You do not need to worry about this."
"I killed him, and I caused this mess. It has nothing to do with Alabasta."
As soon as he spoke.
Bzzzt—
Lightning flashed across Aiden's body. A bright streak of lightning struck the ground right in front of Cobra's feet, drawing a clear line between them.
Aiden turned his head and looked past Cobra toward Pell and Chaka.
"What are you standing around for?"
"Take him and leave. The upcoming battle will cover a large area. If you don't want to die, stay far away."
Pell and Chaka trembled.
They understood what Aiden meant.
"Your Majesty! Let's go!"
Chaka gritted his teeth and half-forced the unwilling Cobra up.
"Do not let Rear Admiral Aiden's efforts go to waste! If we stay here, we will only be a burden to him!"
"But..."
Cobra still tried to struggle, but he could not resist the strength of two Zoan Devil Fruit users.
He was forcibly dragged back toward the port.
Right before disappearing around the corner of the ruins, Cobra looked back once.
Aiden stood alone in the ruins.
"Aiden..."
Cobra clenched his fists and prayed silently.
With the people in the way gone, the ruins of Blackstone Town finally became quiet.
Only Aiden and Sakazuki remained.
And the CP0 Captain, who was sitting in the corner of the ruins, unable to get up.
As a Door-Door Fruit user, he should have been the easiest to escape.
But right now, he was slumped on the ground.
A Celestial Dragon was dead.
He had been killed right under his protection.
It was over.
Even if he managed to return alive, a punishment worse than death awaited him.
"Ahhhhh! Madman! You madman!"
The CP0 Captain screamed. His trembling hand pulled a Golden Transponder Snail from his coat.
The golden shell stood out against the gray ruins.
"Since Brax is dead, then let everyone die with him!"
"I will destroy this country! I will destroy everything here!"
His finger shook as he slammed it onto the red button.
Aiden watched him press the button.
He did not stop him.
This was inevitable.
Since he had killed a Celestial Dragon, the World Government would never let this go.
Even if he stopped the CP0 Captain now, stronger forces would come to surround and destroy this place.
It was better to settle everything right here.
Bloop.
The signal sound of the Transponder Snail connecting rang out clearly in the quiet ruins.
The distress signal had been sent.
At that exact moment.
Aiden appeared beside the CP0 Captain.
"Your mission is complete."
Bzzzt—
Lightning flashed.
The arm holding the Transponder Snail, along with half his head, flew off.
Blood sprayed.
The CP0 Captain's body swayed and fell to the ground with a thud.
The Golden Transponder Snail rolled to the side, still flashing red.
Watching Aiden kill again right in front of him, Sakazuki stopped holding back.
Magma surged from his arm.
"Stubborn fool."
Sakazuki's right arm expanded into a huge mass of magma. The molten fist shot forward, dragging heat and black smoke behind it as it tore across the broken ground toward Aiden.
Aiden raised Oto.
Boom—!!!
The magma fist slammed hard against the blade.
Magma and lightning clashed, exploding into bursts of light between the two men.
The ground collapsed, and cracks spread in all directions.
Sakazuki's left fist turned into another heavy mass of magma and blasted toward Aiden's face, carrying the thick smell of sulfur.
Aiden tilted his head slightly.
His Observation Haki had already predicted the path of the strike.
The boiling magma flew past his cheek and smashed into a house behind him. The bricks and stones melted under the heat.
Bzzzt.
Aiden's body turned into blue-white lightning and appeared behind Sakazuki.
Oto, coated in Armament Haki, cut straight toward the back of Sakazuki's neck.
Clang!!!
Sakazuki jerked his magma left arm back. Armament Haki covered it just in time, and he caught the strike at the last second.
The impact shook the ruins.
The broken walls around them cracked further, and dust sprayed in all directions.
Sakazuki drove his other fist forward at close range. His arm swelled into a giant fist of boiling magma, trying to swallow Aiden whole with heat and stone-melting force.
But Aiden did not step back.
He let go with his left hand and shaped his fingers into a claw. Pitch-black Armament Haki instantly hardened over his hand.
Boom!
Aiden's bare hand dug into the boiling magma. He twisted his waist, drove power through his shoulder, and crushed down with his fingers.
The magma fist, hot enough to melt steel, broke apart in his grip and exploded into a shower of fire.
Sakazuki pulled his arm back sharply.
Aiden's Haki was far harder than he expected.
Before Sakazuki could adjust, Aiden had already closed in.
Oto cut through the air in a sharp zigzag.
Swish, swish, swish!
Three cuts.
Sakazuki's elementalized magma body was sliced into four pieces. Violent electrical arcs flashed at the cuts, slowing the magma from reforming.
The rolling magma regrouped quickly.
Half of Sakazuki's body became a huge molten hound. Its jaws opened wide and snapped toward Aiden's throat.
The heat warped the air around it.
Aiden tapped his foot.
His body vanished by a hair's breadth and appeared above the molten hound's head the next second.
Aiden pressed his right hand onto the hound's head.
The current spread from his palm, formed the shape of a white tiger, and crashed into the molten hound with a burst of thunder.
Rumble!
Lightning and magma blasted apart once again.
Red magma and blue lightning crossed again and again in the ruins.
In only a few breaths, the two exchanged dozens of blows.
Each clash cracked the air and crushed the ground beneath them.
Aiden switched between sword, fist, and lightning without pause.
Sometimes Oto cut through magma with Haki.
Sometimes his fist drove through Sakazuki's guard.
Sometimes lightning struck from behind and forced Sakazuki to split his body apart.
Swordsmanship.
Physical combat.
Devil Fruit powers.
Aiden used all three together, changing between them so quickly that Sakazuki had no time to settle into one rhythm.
Sakazuki's guard kept getting pushed back.
He had thought Aiden had reached this level at his age only because of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
But he was wrong.
Dead wrong.
He could not find an obvious weakness.
The force coming through Oto was heavy enough to make his hands numb.
Even during their last few clashes, Sakazuki noticed that he was slightly losing ground.
How could this be possible?
He was Sakazuki.
He was one of the strongest fighters in Marine Headquarters.
And he was being pushed back in a head-on fight by a young man who was not even twenty.
Sakazuki made his decision.
He could not let Aiden live.
If Aiden kept improving, even the World Government might not be able to stop him.
Since he could not beat him cleanly in close combat, then he would burn the whole battlefield.
Sakazuki suddenly released a wave of magma to force Aiden back, then used the recoil to jump high into the air.
Above Blackstone Town, the gray clouds were dyed red by the heat.
Sakazuki raised both magma arms and punched into the sky again and again.
With each punch, a huge fist of molten rock shot upward, broke through the clouds, and came falling back toward the town.
Wrapped in black smoke and flame, they rained down over the crumbling streets like burning boulders.
Roofs and broken walls began to burn.
The heat pressed down on the fleeing crowd.
Under that dense rain of fire, even the civilians who had not managed to escape were inside the attack zone.
A blue-white bolt cut through the red sky.
Aiden's figure disappeared.
In his place, a massive grid woven from lightning spread across midair.
It flashed over the town and intercepted every deadly chunk of falling magma.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
Magma and lightning clashed in the air, exploding into countless bright sparks.
Rubble flew.
Heat waves rolled.
Aiden moved too fast to follow.
Only streaks of blue-white lightning could be seen darting through the falling fire.
The shattered magma exploded in the air.
Not a single piece slipped through.
But because Aiden was focused on the falling magma, Sakazuki caught the opening.
He appeared behind Aiden's right side.
His magma right arm had been charging for a long time. The heat made it glow almost white.
Sakazuki compressed the magma around his arm and shot it forward in a straight, brutal strike. The molten fist tore through the smoke and aimed for the center of Aiden's back.
Aiden had just destroyed a boulder that was about to fall on the crowd's heads using lightning. He had no time to turn around completely.
He could only swing his long sword backhanded, coat it in Armament Haki, and take the hit directly.
Boom—!!!
The impact exploded.
Aiden was sent flying by the force. Still wrapped in lingering lightning, he crashed into a pile of ruins.
Dust rose everywhere.
Half a city block collapsed from the impact.
On the ground.
The chaos did not stop just because Aiden had intercepted the attack.
Pieces of rubble and sparks rained down around the crowd.
"Hurry! Run to the port! Don't stop!"
The Guard Captain, his face covered in blood, waved his long sword and urged the townsfolk forward.
But no one moved.
The civilians were too scared to think clearly.
They looked at the burning sky, then at the guards who had acted as the Celestial Dragon's accomplices only moments ago.
They backed away from the soldiers.
"Get lost! You liars!"
A middle-aged man hugging a bundle pushed away a soldier trying to help him and cried out.
"You guys were the ones who trapped us in town earlier! You forced us to be targets for the Celestial Dragon! Stop pretending to be good guys now!"
"You were the ones who brought the devil here!"
"We are not leaving! We're all going to die anyway! We'd rather die than go with you!"
Panic spread again.
The crowd was about to lose control.
"Everybody shut the hell up!"
The young soldier suddenly climbed onto a high rock and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"That Celestial Dragon is dead!"
"That devil was already killed by that Marine officer!"
This shout silenced the crowd.
The young soldier pointed at the blue lightning net still holding above them. His face was wet with tears.
"Right now, that Marine officer is still buying time for us!"
"If you don't want to die, start running! Don't distract our savior! Do you all want to stay here and die alongside that Celestial Dragon?!"
"Live! Live on for those who died!"
That made the crowd move.
"Go! Hurry!"
"Everyone run! Don't be a burden!"
The crowd finally started moving.
They helped each other up, dragged their families along, and rushed toward the port.
The Guard Captain watched this.
He turned his head and gave a deep military salute toward the figure buried in the ruins. Then he turned around and joined the escort team.
Above the ruins.
Sakazuki did not go after the fleeing civilians.
He remained above the town on a rising pillar of magma. Molten drops fell from under his feet, burning deep black holes into the ground.
Aiden pushed away the boulder on top of him and stood up from the rubble.
Sakazuki sneered.
"What's wrong, Aiden?"
"Distracted by those ants, to the point of taking my attack head-on?"
"That mercy is your biggest flaw."
Sakazuki gathered boiling magma again.
But that last exchange had shaken him.
He had not held back with that last strike.
If any Vice Admiral from Headquarters had taken that hit directly, they would be heavily injured, if not dead.
But Aiden caught it.
Not only did he catch it, his breathing was still steady.
How old was this brat this year?
Nineteen?
Or twenty?
Sakazuki remembered when he was twenty. He had still been sweating in the recruit camp, training day and night to master Armament Haki hardening.
Yet the Aiden before him was already this strong.
No matter which one Sakazuki tested, Aiden could answer it.
He could not find an obvious weakness.
Facing him felt like facing Whitebeard's raw force with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's speed.
Inside the ruins.
Aiden patted the dust off his shoulders.
Even though he had been knocked flying, he had no obvious injuries.
To others, it might have seemed like the famous Rear Admiral Aiden, the Reaper, was being suppressed by Akainu and could only take hits.
But Aiden knew exactly why he had taken that strike.
It was not because he was weak.
It was because he had chosen to protect the people below first.
Even while facing one of the strongest fighters in Marine Headquarters, even against someone at Sakazuki's level, Aiden was sure he had room to spare.
He was stronger than the Akainu in front of him.
He had the power to win whenever he wanted.
That was why he had dared to get distracted in a fight like this.
That was why he had fought while protecting the entire town.
It was not pointless mercy, nor was it a flaw.
He could protect them because he was strong enough to do it.
Aiden did not speak.
His Observation Haki covered the entire port area.
Only when the last group of civilians rushed out of the sea of fire, and the Guard Captain led the people out of sight, did he finally stop holding back.
Those distracting burdens were gone.
"Phew..."
Aiden let out a long breath mixed with electrical sparks.
He flipped his hand.
Another famous sword, Kogarashi, appeared out of nowhere in his left hand.
With two swords in hand, Aiden finally shifted from defense to attack.
The electricity around his body changed.
Loose arcs tightened into layered currents across his skin. The ground under his feet cracked. Small stones rose from the rubble and began circling around him.
The power he had been holding back climbed sharply.
The air filled with a sharp metallic smell.
A huge blue-white figure made of lightning rose behind him for a moment.
Its shape was rough and unstable, made from pure electricity, but it carried the outline of a warrior holding two blades.
The moment it appeared, the broken stones around Aiden rose higher and spun faster.
Then the lightning figure collapsed inward.
Countless streams of electricity rolled back into Aiden's body and wrapped around him like armor.
The light faded.
Aiden stood in the center of the floating rubble, holding Oto in one hand and Kogarashi in the other.
Electricity snapped across his shoulders, arms, and blades.
His black hair lifted slightly from the current around him.
He raised both swords.
"Sakazuki."
Electricity cracked around him.
"The warm-up is over."