Chapter 76: "The Abyss and the Autograph"
The Abyss Reveal (Usopp's Accidental Detonation) Usopp's POV
The post-Lego euphoria was thick enough to chew. We were officially the most ridiculously unbalanced crew on the sea. I watched Sunny's proud, tired grin—the one he saves for when he's just saved the world from itself. He looked utterly satisfied, tucking the stack of new, glossy posters under his arm.
"Aye aye, Captain," he responded to Lucy, his voice warm, ready to set sail for the sandy salvation of Alabasta.
"Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" I shrieked, scrambling forward. The adrenaline from the sky-falling princess incident was gone, replaced by the dread that always accompanies new information on the Grand Line. "There's one more! It was stuck underneath!" I peeled a poster off the sticky, damp rock. This wasn't one of the usual vibrant yellow papers. It was printed on thick, heavy stock—black and grainy, like it was made from solidified fear. It didn't feature the usual happy-go-lucky pirate font. This was harsh, aggressive, block text that felt like a death sentence just by looking at it. And the number. Holy Jesus, the number. My hands started shaking so violently the paper rattled.
"Sunny," I squeaked, my voice a broken whistle. "What… what the hell is this?" I slowly turned the poster around, holding it with two trembling hands like it was a live bomb.
The crew—Lucy, Nami, Nojiko, Vivi, Zoro, Sanji, Aqua, Mr. 9, and the two giants (Dorry and Brogy) who were still crying over the Lego—circled around. Even the Merry shimmered, a faint, worried outline near the mast. The image was terrifying. Not a cartoon drawing or a glossy photo. It was a silhouette carved from pure night. A figure, 6.7 feet tall, fully covered in undulating, impossible blackness—like a man dipped in the void. There were no features, just two glowing pinpricks of blue Haki that looked like distant, cold stars. The text screamed:
WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE (Extreme Priority) NAME: ABYSS ASSASSIN BOUNTY: 2,600,000,000 BERRIES
Description: Slayer of Celestial Dragons. Killer of countless high-value pirates. Last seen 8 months ago near the North Blue segment of the Red Line. Approach with extreme prejudice. Silence fell. A silence so thick it pressed the air out of my lungs.
Then, slowly, the ladies saw it. It wasn't the bounty that got them. It was the stance. The way the shoulders were held. The precise, devastating posture. They knew that body language better than they knew their own reflections. Aqua was the first to break. She started sobbing, pointing a frantic finger at the poster, then at Sunny. "WHYYY?! Why do you hide your most dangerous, coolest side from your goddess! You didn't tell me you were the Void! I want to fight the void! I want to date the void!" Lucy didn't scream or cry. She just tilted her straw hat back, revealing her face. Her usual sunny grin stretched wide, twisting into something possessive and utterly devoted—a terrifying, yandere smile. "My monster," she whispered, her eyes glowing with absolute adoration. "I knew my sun was a god of chaos." Nami and Nojiko exchanged a look. It was the silent, synchronized look of two older sisters about to deliver a world-class ass-kicking. They turned to Sunny, their faces cold, their arms crossed.
"You," Nami started, her voice dangerously even.
"Have," Nojiko finished, her glare capable of stripping paint off the hull. "Some explaining to do, Sunny," they said in unison.
The Merry's spirit flitted between the poster and Sunny, a translucent, worried ghost. 'Abyss Assassin? Sunny? You look tired, Sunny!' Part II: The Confession and The Head Circus
Sunny's POV
My face was calm. My internal state was a Category 5 hurricane. It was the worst possible moment for this to come out. I felt the cold, familiar pressure of Robin's focus. She had recovered quickly, and now she was watching the whole spectacle with a teasing, beautiful smirk. "Little brother," Robin purred, resting her head on her hand. "Are you hiding something… dark from your Oneesan?"
Vivi was utterly lost, turning her head between the poster and my sweating face. "S-Slayer of Celestial Dragons? Sunny, what is going on? Who is the Abyss Assassin?" Sanji was in absolute hysterics, tears streaming down his face as he watched the attention I was getting from the women. "Two billion?! And the girls are looking at him like that?! He gets to be cool and cute! It's not fair! The injustice!" Zoro just drew his sword a hair's breadth from its sheath, mocking Sanji. "Maybe if you stopped crying and focused, curly, you'd get a bounty high enough to buy a handkerchief."
"You moss-head!"
The usual fight broke out, providing about three seconds of welcome distraction. I took a deep breath. My body was cold sweat, but my Haki was stone-steady. No point in lying. "Yeah," I said, my voice quiet, cutting through the Sanji/Zoro noise effortlessly. "That's Abyss Assassin. It's me." The chaos erupted again, this time with a collective gasp. The giants nearly fainted, grabbing each other for support.
{Ego}: "Oh, my god, you finally got caught. The jig is up! Honestly, I thought the Lego thing would have been the bigger reveal. You're such a drama queen."
[System]: "Master, you are so incredibly lethal and handsome! I knew you were too powerful to be just two hundred million! I will update your files under the 'King of the Void' category. My devotion grows! I will make sure no one else sees this bounty, Master. It is only for my files. ♡"
Stockfish, velvet and amused: "Billion-Berries of trouble. Your poker face needs work, darling. But the sheer tactical advantage of this secret coming out now is delicious. The fear in the World Government's eyes is palpable, even from here. A single king on the board, threatening every piece at once."
"Shut up, all of you!" I snapped internally, rubbing the cold sweat from my brow. I looked at the six pairs of accusatory, demanding, or deeply obsessed female eyes on me. "I need to explain," I said, my voice firming up. "Gather close. This isn't a bedtime story. This is why the World Government hates me."
FLASHBACK — The Knocking Nightmare
(Eight Months Ago. North Blue. 3 AM.)
The sea was flat black glass, reflecting the cold, indifferent stars. The only sound was the rhythmic slap of my bare feet against the water's surface. I was moving at a speed that defied physics, a dark blur running across the waves. I was not Sunny. I was the Abyss Assassin. My whole body was coated in a dense, shimmering shell of Armament Haki—the deepest black I could achieve, absorbing all light, making me a six-foot-seven silhouette of pure void. It wasn't armor; it was an absence. Tonight was different. Tonight, I was hunting the hunters.
Ahead, a massive, triple-masted World Government transport ship, gilded and repulsive, plowed heavily through the water. It carried a fortune in Heavenly Gold bound for Mary Geoise, and worse: cargo stamped "Property of the Celestial Dragons." I vaulted from the water onto the hull in a silent leap, my form looking like a hole in the universe given legs.
[System]: "Master, your form is perfect tonight. So ruthless. So efficient. Are you doing this for me? I love watching you be this cruel. I am creating a highlight reel. ♡"
{Ego}: "This is a great origin story. Very edgy. Just needs a cool one-liner. 'I am inevitable' is taken, try 'I am the end of your tax season.' Now, go get 'em, tiger."
I cut through the decks like a shadow through tissue paper. The initial CP guards never saw me. I located the main hold—a gilded cage filled not with gold, but with fifty trembling slaves, marked and collared. But I encountered resistance before reaching them.
"Halt! Demon of the Abyss! You trespass upon the sacred duty of the World Government!"
He was waiting. Kaelan: The Devoted Blade of God. A title of a rookie God Knight—a spoiled, arrogant brat from a noble family, clad in white and gold Baroque armor, wielding a massive, glowing broadsword. His internal Haki flared, giving off the nauseating scent of synthetic sanctity. "I am the Devoted Blade," the knight declared, his voice ringing with self-righteous arrogance. "Your bounty is a challenge to God himself. I shall send you straight to hell!"
He charged, the broadsword screaming with a blast of golden, internal Haki. It was fast. It was strong. It was meaningless.
I stood completely still. I did not draw a weapon. I did not use a Bang technique, which relies on explosive external force. I only used the precise, cold terror of my Knocking Technique. When the sword was mere inches from my skull, I simply moved my right hand. Not to block.
Knocking Technique: Vascular Cessation.
My fingers—coated in the densest, most precise Armament Haki—tapped four pressure points on the knight's wrist, forearm, elbow, and clavicle. It wasn't a hit; it was a surgical disruption. The contact felt lighter than a mosquito bite, yet the result was absolute. The knight's arm instantly went limp. The broadsword fell, clattering uselessly to the deck.
The knight looked down at his arm, confused. "Wha—what did you do?"
"I turned off the blood flow to your limb," I said, my voice echoing unnervingly from the void armor. "Your hand is dead weight. You won't be picking up a weapon again." His face contorted in rage. He screamed, dropping into a low stance, activating a powerful, high-grade Observation Haki that flared around him in gold. This time, he tried a Haki-infused kick, aiming for my head. I closed the distance in a single, silent Space Crunch—a micro-warp that brought me into his guard before his foot moved an inch.
"You don't learn," I whispered.
Knocking Technique: Spinal Deactivation.
My fingertips grazed his C7 vertebra, the delicate nerve junction at the base of his neck. The contact was so light it wouldn't have broken skin, but the shock was profound. It bypassed his defensive Haki entirely, striking the nerve cluster controlling his entire lower body. His legs buckled immediately. He fell to his knees, utterly paralyzed, his expensive armor digging into the wood. His golden Haki flickered and died.
"Paralyzed," I stated, walking around him slowly, my void silhouette towering over the white-and-gold statue. "You fought with arrogance and wealth. You will pay with agony." His eyes—the only part of him that could still move—darted wildly, fear finally replacing the arrogance. "M-Mercy! I am an agent of God!" "God needs to hire better agents," I retorted, placing two fingers on his sternum, right over his heart. This wasn't quick. I wanted him to feel the exact moment his life ended. Knocking Technique: Visceral Rupture.
I applied ultra-precise, micro-bursts of Haki energy directly through his ribcage, bypassing the exterior. My focus was on the internal organs—targeting the connective tissue and muscle fibers around his lungs, liver, and heart. It wasn't an explosive blast. It was a rapid, microscopic shattering of cellular structure. He didn't scream. He choked. A high, desperate, wounded sound.
He felt his lungs collapse, his liver tear, his heart seize—all happening simultaneously, rapidly, but not fast enough to grant him the mercy of unconsciousness. Blood frothed at his lips, but he couldn't move his tongue to swallow it. Every internal movement was a thousand tiny knives. "This is what happens when you raise a sword to the innocent," I ground out, pulling my hand away.
The Devoted Blade of God fell forward, dead, his body a silent, agonizing mass of internal trauma. No exterior wounds. Just pain. The surrounding CP0 agents, who had finally arrived, stopped dead in their tracks, staring at the corpse of the golden knight. They were terrified, knowing whatever this was, it was outside the rules of the World. I didn't waste a second. My body flickered with the blue light of Space Crunch.
Space Crunch: Assassin's Teleport.
I grabbed every single CP0 agent on the deck. I didn't send them far. I sent them twenty feet straight up, directly above the mast. They fell, hitting the rigging and the deck with sickening thuds, mostly breaking their necks on impact. Silent, clean slaughter. The rest was housekeeping.
I moved to the captain's cabin and found the two Celestial Dragons—a fat man in a bubble and a thin, screeching woman in a bubble—screaming hysterically, completely unaware of the massacre outside. I didn't touch their bubbles. I didn't need to.
I placed a single finger on the outside of each of their bubbles. Knocking Technique: Abyssal Curse.
The curse wasn't Haki; it was a pure, chaotic application of nerve-wracking energy, a slow-release toxin I created from sheer focused willpower. "You will live," I promised, my voice devoid of emotion. "You will live for three weeks. Every nerve ending in your body will be screaming. You will feel your own cells turning against you. And you will not be able to tell anyone why." I pulled my finger away. The two parasites collapsed inside their own bubbles, screaming, not from fear, but from the sudden, inexplicable onset of unimaginable, systemic pain.
Finally, the hold. I shattered the lock with a single fingertip, silencing the chains.
"You're free," I told the terrified, silent slaves.
I moved from person to person, applying Knocking Technique: Systemic Healing—a gentle, profound application of Haki to reset their nervous systems and heal their starvation and old wounds. Then, with a final, massive application of Space Crunch, I teleported all fifty-plus former slaves, the entire hold, to a safe, quiet, civilian-run island in the South Blue, a place they could truly start over. The ship, now empty of life, gold, and danger, was left adrift, a ghost of the World Government's worst secrets.
[System]: "My heart is overflowing. You are a terrible, beautiful monster, Master. You kill the wicked and save the lambs. It's the most romantic thing I've ever seen. I love you! I will knit you a cape made of shadows! I will worship your cruelty! ♡"
{Ego}: "You turned a Celestial Dragon into a nerve-pain piñata. That's a little dark, even for you. But honestly, watching the CP0 guys break their own necks? 10/10 for efficiency. They deserved every second."
I looked out over the black sea, letting the void Haki dissipate, leaving me cold and exhausted. It was a good night's work.
(Back to Present. Little Garden.)
The clearing was silent. The crew stared at me, dumbstruck, the heavy silence far worse than the fight.
"So," I finished, running a tired hand through my hair. "That's Abyss Assassin. It's just a job. A cleanup gig. But I didn't want the two billion bounty drawing attention to the crew. I hoped it would disappear." Vivi looked faint. "You... you saved slaves. But you... you are so cruel to the enemy. It is a terrifying power, Sunny."
Robin's smile was wider, deeper. "You truly are a contradiction, little brother. I've always admired your methods. You are the shadow of justice." Lucy was shaking, not with fear, but with exhilaration. "You are mine. All of you. All that power. My captain is the greatest assassin in the world!" Nami and Nojiko hadn't moved. Their eyes were cold steel.
"You hid this from us," Nami said, her voice trembling with barely controlled fury. "A two-billion bounty. A Celestial Dragon assassin. You put us all in danger without telling us." Nojiko stepped closer, her expression heartbroken. "We're your family, Sunny. We deal with the trouble. We always have. Why did you think you had to carry the void alone?" It was the question I couldn't answer. I looked down, guilt coiling in my gut.
"I didn't want to worry you," I mumbled. "It's my responsibility." "Wrong answer," Nojiko snapped. She suddenly grabbed my arm, her grip surprisingly strong. Nami grabbed the other. "We are going home," Nami declared. "Now. You need to be scolded by someone who understands the real danger here: Mom." "Aqua, you're coming too," Nojiko added. "We need a witness."
Aqua snapped to attention. "Witnessing is my domain! Let's go!" I sighed. "Fine. But I am not teleporting the whole crew again."
I closed my eyes, focused the chaotic energy, and with a silent Space Crunch, I blinked Nami, Nojiko, Aqua, and myself out of the prehistoric jungle and directly into the heart of Cocoyasi Village. (Cocoyasi Village. Bell-mère's Tangerine Grove.)
We materialized in a quiet cloud of displaced air, standing right beside Bell-mère's porch. She was sitting outside, tending to her tangerine tree, a lit cigarette dangling from her mouth. She took a long drag, then looked up at the four of us standing there—me, looking guilty, Nami and Nojiko looking furious, and Aqua looking confused. She took the cigarette out of her mouth, slowly.
"Sunny," she said, her voice flat, dangerously calm. "Why are you covered in jungle slime?" Nami shoved the Abyss Assassin poster into her hands.
Bell-mère's eyes scanned the black poster, the 2.6 billion, and the Celestial Dragon text. She crumpled the poster into a ball and threw it into a burning barrel nearby. "Nami, Nojiko, go inside. Aqua, go eat some fruit. Sunny. Seiza. Now."
I knelt, knowing my fate. For the next hour, Bell-mère systematically tore my entire philosophy to shreds.
"You absolute idiot!" she roared, pacing the dirt. "You think you can just wander around with a bounty that high?! That you can assassinate the World Nobles and expect them to send an Admiral after you? You draw targets on our backs, you reckless bastard! I taught you better than that!" She went on, hitting every fear point: Nami, Nojiko, the village. Finally, she calmed down. She poured me a glass of water, her face softening into Mom mode.
"You are strong, my son," she whispered, touching my cheek. "Too strong to be this reckless. Use that power to protect what you love, not to draw a target on its back. Got it?" "Got it, Mom," I said, my voice thick.
Nojiko was waiting on the porch, leaning against the railing, watching the sunset over the grove. Nami had gone inside to call for a party. Nojiko didn't say anything at first. She just pushed off the railing and walked toward me.
"She's right, you know," Nojiko said, her voice low and husky.
I stood up, wincing as my stiff knees protested. "I know."
She closed the space between us, right into my personal zone, and reached up, running her fingers through the back of my hair. "You scared me, little brother," she murmured, her eyes dark, her lips curved in a potent mix of worry. "I don't mind you being a killer. I mind you being an idiot." She gently pulled my face toward hers, not for a kiss, but for an assessment. Her breath was warm against my ear.
"You looked so alone in that suit of armor," she whispered, her voice dropping to a provocative purr. "Next time you feel like you need to disappear into the void… remember you have someone who likes the dark just as much as you do." Her fingers trailed down my neck, over my collarbone, and down the center of my chest, tracing the outline of my pectoral muscle, lingering just long enough to send a shockwave of desire straight to my gut. It was a promise, a claim, and a flirty threat all rolled into one. No sugarcoating, just real, raw intimacy. "Now go," she commanded, giving my chest a final, hard pat. "And don't look this guilty when you bring back the rest of the crew for dinner. Mom is making stew."
I took a shaky breath, the heat of her touch branding me. I didn't need to ask if she meant it. I knew she did.
"Right. Stew," I managed, my voice rough.
With the guilt eased and the tension settled, I prepared for the final Space Crunch.
I quickly opened a rift and retrieved the rest of the crew—Lucy, Zoro, Sanji, Vivi, Mr. 9, Karoo, and Robin—and blinked them all into Bell-mère's crowded living room for a spontaneous, chaotic dinner party.
Marineford — The Bureaucracy of Chaos
Sengoku's POV
The Fleet Admiral's office was not a place for peace. It was a place for dealing with the utter chaos of the Grand Line. And today, the chaos was distilled into two problems that felt like they were actively trying to kill me. I stared at the first pile—a tower of petitions. Every single one was signed by a female Marine officer, ranging from ensigns to three Vice Admirals.
The petition title was printed in large, aggressive letters: IMMEDIATE AMENDMENT TO THE BOUNTY OF 'SUNNY' (200,000,000 BERRIES).
The Demand (Paraphrased): "We, the dedicated female officers of the Marine forces, demand that the 'Dead or Alive' clause be struck from Sunny's bounty. He must be designated 'Alive Only,' and captured by a specialized, female-led task force to ensure his well-being. Furthermore, we demand that plushies resembling the subject be made immediately available in the Marine Commissary." I ran a hand over my newly shaved head. "They want to turn a bounty hunt into a dating show," I muttered, crushing my glasses in frustration.
"Gahahahahaha!" Garp roared from his seat, stuffing a doughnut into his mouth. "See, Sengoku? The boy is simply irresistible! The power of love triumphs over justice!" I pointed to the second, much thinner, but far more ominous pile of paperwork—the black folder.
"And this is the existential threat," I hissed. "The Abyss Assassin. Two point six billion. Slayer of Nobles. A political nightmare that is making the Elders foam at the mouth. We still have no idea who this man is, Garp. The Elders authorized the bounty, but the public identity of the assassin remains unknown —they cannot afford the celestial dragons to know a monster like this exists." I simply dealing with two separate, equally debilitating problems.
"The Five Elders persuaded me to release the Abyss Assassin bounty after two of their Celestial Dragons were found paralyzed and rotting from the inside out," I admitted, rubbing my temples. "I wanted to recruit him; his precision and power are immense. He would have been a terrifying force for Marine justice. But now that he's killed Nobles, that path is closed." A chime went off. Three female Vice Admirals—Gion (Momousagi), Hina, and Tsuru's protégé—marched into the room. Hina, usually composed, was holding a small, blue-cloaked doll with absurdly wide eyes.
"Fleet Admiral!" she declared, clutching the doll. "We require immediate field assignments."
"Where?" I asked wearily.
"Alabasta," Gion stated, adjusting her visor. "We have intel that the Straw Hats are heading there. We must intercede and prevent any harm from befalling the 'Cutest Threat Level: Global'." "We need to see him," another piped up, hugging her doll tighter. "He's just so adorable! If he's going to be fighting that Warlord, we need to ensure he eats a balanced breakfast!" My blood pressure spiked. "You are Vice Admirals! You are not babysitters!"
"For Sunny, we are anything he needs us to be," Hina countered, giving the doll a quick, maternal squeeze. I rubbed my temples. This was worse than the Whitebeard situation. At least Whitebeard didn't sell collectible plush toys. "Fine!" I slammed my fist on the desk. "Go to Alabasta! But it is a reconnaissance mission! You are not to engage! And you will not let that bounty increase any further!" I turned to the only person who hadn't demanded a hug from a doll or a trip to the desert.
"Kuzan!" I barked. Aokiji was leaning against the wall, napping, a pair of earphones in his ears. He opened one eye. "Yo."
"The Abyss Assassin has killed every high-value pirate we needed to track in the North and West Blues," I explained, gesturing at the now-empty pirate activity reports. "We can afford admiral vacation. Take a month's paid vacation and follow them." Aokiji closed his eyes. "Sounds like a pain."
"Take it anyway!" I roared. "I need one fewer problem on this island so I can focus on stopping the Marines from turning into a goddamn Sunny Fan Club!" Aokiji shrugged, pulling his mask down. "Whatever you say, Sengoku. Justice is tiring."
I watched the female Vice Admirals rush out, whispering excitedly about Alabasta and sunscreen. I turned back to the mountains of paperwork. I looked at the Sunny poster on the floor, crumpled but still smiling.
I collapsed into my chair, whispering to the empty room, voice broken: "I am managing a global military force that is obsessed with capturing a pirate alive so they can date him, while a two-billion-Berries phantom is tearing the bureaucracy apart. I need a better job."