CHAPTER 12
The flames and heat of Level 4 distorted the air like liquid glass.
Lava rivers glowed beneath the bridges. Metal boots clanged, and shouts echoed through the inferno.
Kris rolled his shoulders, cracked his neck, and checked his pistols, rotating each barrel with one smooth flick of his thumbs.
"All this heat… and yet I feel cold," he muttered, eyes narrowing.
Sadi stepped forward slowly, her whip dragging behind her like a serpent.
"Don't be shy now~ You can still surrender, little pirate."
Behind her, Hannyabal pointed furiously, his face red with anger.
"STOP ACTING COOL! YOU'RE CORNERED!!"
The Marines raised their rifles.
Kris didn't move.
For a heartbeat, everything was still.
---
BANG.
Kris fired the first shot.
The closest Marine dropped instantly.
The fight exploded.
Marines rushed from both sides of the bridge, firing and shouting.
Kris weaved through bullets like a shadow, his body moving with effortless rhythm, like someone dancing across falling leaves.
Every shot he fired was a hit,kill or disarm. No wasted bullets. No wasted motion.
Sadi snapped her whip.
CRACK!
The whip blurred toward his face.
Kris didn't step back.
He leaned forward.
The tip of the whip passed barely two centimeters from his eye, the heat of its friction brushing his skin.
Sadi gasped.
Hannyabal froze mid-yell.
Kris spoke quietly.
"…Too slow."
He raised his gun, not at Sadi, but at the whip itself.
BANG.
The bullet struck the whip's tension point, snapping its path mid-swing.
The leather curled back violently, like a ricocheting steel cable.
SWISSSH… RIPPP!
The redirected whip tore across Hannyabal's chest, shredding his uniform and sending him stumbling backward with a scream.
"GAHHHHHH!!! MY DIGNITY!! MY BEAUTIFUL BODY!!"
Sadi stared, eyes wide, shock mixing with something like admiration.
Kris calmly ejected both magazines.
Click. Click.
Two new ones slid in with the same smooth, practiced motion.
He didn't even look at her.
He was already counting footsteps behind him.
"…Seven Marines left."
They rushed him from both sides.
Kris spun his pistols backward and fired without turning.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
Every Marine fell, clean shots.
Forehead. Throat. Heart.
Precise. Cold. Efficient.
The empty magazines dropped to the bridge with a metallic clatter.
Kris didn't look at the bodies.
He finally met Sadi's eyes.
"Don't bring a whip…"
He flicked a new magazine into place with the back of his hand, the click echoing softly as he raised the gun.
"…to a gunfight."
Sadi's smile twisted, bloodlust gleaming.
"Ohhh… I like you."
Kris sighed.
"Why do I always attract the crazy ones?"
---
Meanwhile…
"Welcome, Admiral Kizaru," all the guards saluted.
"Ooh~ you look pretty damaged," Kizaru said lazily, glancing at Magellan.
"Welcome, Kizaru. The criminal has been handled already. But thank you for coming," Magellan replied, struggling to stand.
"Ooh~ so I wasted my time, huh? I could've been taking my afternoon nap," Kizaru complained in his slow, drawling tone.
He started walking toward the elevator but suddenly stopped, turning his gaze toward the ground.
"Ooh… so he's still alive and kicking. Well, well. I guess I don't have to stress myself… since he's coming here anyway," Kizaru murmured, lying down on a guard's seat casually.
"Huh?! What do you mean, Kizaru?" Magellan demanded.
Everyone else, except the Vice-Admiral—looked puzzled, exchanging confused glances.
---
[ The backup prison]
"Do you accept, or are you shy?" Ross teased.
"Get over with the talk and start the duel. What's in it for me if I fight you?" Ren asked, picking his ear lazily.
"If I win, you give me your naginata. But if you win, which is unlikely, I'll accept one of your requests."
"Fine. I accept." Ren readied himself.
"Ah, wait, sorry, I forgot I don't have a sword," Ross said sheepishly.
"Raha Raha Raha Raha Raha!" the giant beside them laughed.
"So you don't have a weapon, and you challenged him?"
Shaking his head, Ren tossed him a sword.
"Here. Don't say I didn't warn you."
"Are you ready?"
"Bring it on!"
Suddenly Ross's aura shifted—his eyes sharpening like blades.
"All my sweat and hard work… have been put into this strike! VOID MANEUVER!"
"Don't underestimate the boy," Brocky commented. "He's been phantom swordplaying ever since he was locked up! Raha rahahahaha!"
BOOM!!!
Ross's sword clashed against Ren's naginata with immense force.
"Wow," Ren muttered, coating his weapon in Haki—still testing the waters.
---
[Four years ago — Impel Down]
"Vice-Warden, we have a problem, sir! The prison cells are full. Where do we put the two new boys?" a guard asked.
"Put them in the backup cells first. I'll speak to the Warden about it," Magellan, then Vice-Warden, answered.
"Understood, sir."
The guards pushed the two silent prisoners down the corridor and locked them inside the backup prison.
---
"Hey, what's your name?" a young Ross asked.
"Me? I'm Brocky," the giant replied.
"Why did you attack them too?"
"They took my parents for some experiments," Brocky said quietly.
Ross frowned. "My condolences… I knew that weird spider was crazy. I wanted to be stronger than Whitebeard, how could someone aiming to be the strongest be tricked by that old man's flimsy trick?" He clenched his fists.
"Huh?"
"I know what I'll do," Ross declared. "I'll train,even in prison,until I'm strong enough to get out of here!"
The giant looked at him, expecting the boy to give up after the anger faded.
But he didn't.
The first week, Ross kept swinging.
The second week, he added the chains binding him.
The third, he trained with handstands.
The fourth, finger training until they bled.
With his abnormal physique, his wounds healed in days. Every morning, he woke up filled with new energy.
And he kept swinging.