The girl ran straight into him.
Teach had already noticed the chaos rippling through the Royal City but hadn't cared enough to interfere... until now.
A small figure darted toward him, pale legs flashing in the moonlight, her body moving on all fours like some wild creature. She was no older than eight or nine, clad in a thin black leotard, her short white hair damp with sweat, her red eyes wide with panic.
The strangeness of her movements struck him immediately.
She ran not like a human but like a cat, with a grace honed by years of practice. And yet, beneath that feral posture, there was something achingly fragile, something that tugged unexpectedly at Teach's chest.
She stumbled to him and pressed close, tugging at his coat.
When she glanced back, her tiny finger trembling as it pointed at the streets behind her, Teach caught the shimmer of desperate trust in her eyes.
She didn't speak, only clung to his waist, as though begging him to shield her.
Normally, Teach wasn't the kind of man to meddle. But this time, he didn't turn her away. Maybe it was curiosity, maybe instinct. Or maybe it was the strange tightness in his chest, the sense that this little wildcat was something more.
"Hold on," he muttered.
The girl vanished under his coat, her small body curling against him like a frightened kitten. An instant later, his figure blurred and disappeared into the shadows.
The pursuing guards reached the spot moments after, their hounds straining against leashes. The beasts circled, whined, then stopped, confused. Their prey's scent simply ended here.
"What? Vanished?" the captain barked, wiping sweat from his brow. "Impossible!"
"Keep searching! She's still in the city. Spread out!"
The men scattered into the night, their curses fading down the alleys.
Far away, Teach stood silently in the corner of a ruined district.
The girl still clung to him, her tiny hands locked around his waist. It was as if she believed nothing could touch her as long as she was pressed against him. And she was right. With a ripple of his Haki, Teach had erased her presence, hidden her scent and rendering the hounds useless.
"Where do you want to go?" he asked quietly.
For a long moment, she didn't answer. Then she peeked her head out of his coat and gave a soft sound, "Meow."
Teach's brow furrowed.
Strange!
She clearly understood him, but words seemed beyond her. Yet through her eyes, through her trembling, he understood her meaning. Home. She wanted to go home.
He studied her, then nodded once. "I'll take you. Do you know the way?"
Her eyes shut tight as though she were searching deep within herself. When they opened again, she pointed east.
They walked.
The eastern wilderness held an abandoned compound, half-hidden in weeds and dust. The girl leapt down from his side the moment they arrived, darting ahead with a strange mixture of joy and confusion.
Inside, everything was coated in years of neglect. Dust lay thick on the floors. Mats once used as bedding were blackened with age.
The girl found her corner at once, where a filthy cushion lay. She curled into it as though it were the softest bed in the world. Then she discovered a small furball toy, yellowed with age. Laughing silently, she rolled it, chased it, pounced on it, like the kitten she believed herself to be.
Teach watched in silence. His Haki stretched outward, combing through the ruin. Slowly, the truth revealed itself to him like blood blooming in water.
He saw flashes of the past, this girl brought here as an infant, caged with kittens, raised to eat and play like them. Men watched her, trained her, shaped her. Not as a soldier. Not even as a slave. But as a pet.
A human pet.
Something in Teach snapped. His teeth clenched, and for the first time in his life, his rage roared higher than his selfishness. Slavery he could endure, even exploit. But this? This was an abomination that should not exist. Children turned into pets. Humans stripped of humanity.
His Haki surged uncontrollably, spreading over the entire city. And everywhere he touched, he found more of them. Human pets locked in noble houses.
Children broken into beasts. And with each discovery, his fury blazed hotter.
The girl, Pitou, he decided, remembering the sound she had made, cuddled against his leg. She didn't understand what she was, nor the crime committed against her. All she knew was that for the first time in her short, broken life, someone was there to protect her.
Teach bent down and ruffled her hair. "From now on, you follow me."
Her eyes shone. She rubbed her face against his palm with a happy little sound. "Meow."
He gave her a name, a true one. "Pitou. Neferpitou."
She repeated it clumsily, then smiled like sunlight breaking through ash.
But Teach's mood darkened as his senses warned him. Troops were coming, hundreds of them. The city had been combed, and they knew she would return here.
"Stay hidden," he whispered. She nodded and burrowed back beneath his coat.
Teach straightened slowly. His claws flexed. The rage he had been holding back finally broke free.
The first rank of guards entered the clearing. Their hounds sniffed, barked, then whined, shrinking back in sudden terror. The captain sneered at his men. "She's here. Surround the base. Don't let her slip away again."
But his voice faltered as a shadow appeared in front of him.
"You picked the wrong night," Teach said softly.
The guard captain barely had time to widen his eyes before a claw punched through his chest. His body collapsed lifelessly, his blood spraying across the dirt.
The troops froze. Then panic exploded.
Teach vanished, reappearing among them. His claws swept once and blood streaked through the moonlight, dozens of men dropping at once, their throats torn open. Screams rose, cut short into gurgles.
The soldiers broke, fleeing in every direction. But Teach didn't let them. His fury would not permit mercy. His claws became crimson arcs, carving men into halves, shredding armor, rending flesh from bone. Hounds that tried to lunge at him fell with broken spines, their corpses twitching in silence.
He was death itself moving through their ranks, silent and unstoppable. Every breath, another life was ended. Every heartbeat, another stream of blood sprayed across the ground.
Two minutes. That was all it took.
The clearing became a graveyard, the earth soaked in rivers of red. Bodies lay twisted, faces frozen in terror, armor split like paper. The blood on Teach's claws dripped steadily, pooling at his feet.
He stood there beneath the pale moonlight, his chest heaving, his rage still burning. The air stank of death.
This place was hell, and he its reaper.