"..."
A suffocating silence spread as King emerged from the crater, flames still crackling faintly behind him.
The Beast Pirates watched with tense expressions. Many expected him to charge back into battle, to reignite the chaos—but instead, King stood still. He didn't attack. He just stared at the man who had crushed him: Ragnar.
"Flame?"
Ragnar's third eye, the vertical slit between his brows, focused calmly on King's fire-wreathed form. There was no surprise in his expression.
Even without the prophetic edge granted by his time-travel, Ragnar's third eye had already unraveled the mystery of King's abilities.
To see through all illusions, to understand the essence of a Devil Fruit's power—this was just one of the supernatural insights granted by his Mythical Zoan: Human-Human Fruit, Model: Erlang Shen.
"There's only one left who hasn't answered."
Ragnar's voice was calm, almost gentle. But in the midst of Onigashima's broken battlefield, it rang louder than a war drum.
"Then... express your stance, Fire Calamity."
King was silent for a long moment. The heat behind him seemed to pulse with his hesitation.
"…And if I refuse?"
He barely got the words out before his vision flooded with golden light.
Too fast.
A palm was already closing around his throat like a noose of divine punishment. He hadn't even seen him move.
"How many abilities does this guy's Mythical Zoan have?!"
King's thoughts raced as he choked slightly, legs dangling mid-air. He had suspected Ragnar's fruit was akin to Kaido's—one of the apex Zoans—but now, experiencing it firsthand, he realized it might be even more terrifying.
- Indestructible body that ignored both flames and blades.
- Shapeshifting at will, with divine control over his form.
- The third eye that saw beyond the physical.
- The golden flames that had burned even Lunarian fire.
- The heaven-splitting thunderbolts that shattered the sky.
- Now, light-speed movement, too fast to be sensed even with Kenbunshoku Haki.
Ragnar had shown six distinct abilities, each one a natural disaster in its own right.
"You were once my old man's blade… but you are not mine."
Ragnar's tone didn't change. It was as if King's life and death were completely detached from his emotions.
"There is a seat for you in the Heavenly Palace. But I don't need you specifically."
"This sea is vast. It won't take long to find another 'fire disaster'."
He held King aloft effortlessly, though King's height towered over him. The Erlang Shen Form allowed Ragnar to shift his physicality freely—this deity could humble giants with a look.
"…Heavenly Palace?" King muttered, eyes narrowing.
"Is that your goal? To surpass Kaido? Even the Pirate King?"
His tone was defiant, but his heart beat like a war drum.
"I told you…" Ragnar's voice was quiet.
"You don't need to know all of it. Not yet."
"…But listen well. I'll be watching you."
"If you fail to rise above Kaido… if you lead the Beasts into stagnation or disgrace…"
"I will kill you. No matter the cost. Even if you are Kaido's favored general."
King took a long breath. The fire around him dimmed slightly, as if his spirit bowed.
"…I agree."
He dropped to the ground, reaching for the samurai blade that lay nearby. But—
Crack.
The porcelain mask on his face split, as though in rejection of his submission.
As he lifted the blade, the broken pieces clattered to the stone. The blazing sun, long absent from his face, kissed his skin again.
But the warmth did not comfort him.
He felt only cold.
"White hair…"
"Brown skin… black wings…"
"A tattoo around the left eye…"
The whispers began to ripple through the watching Beast Pirates.
"…The Lunaria tribe!?"
"Didn't the World Government offer a hundred million berries just for info on one!?"
"He's a Lunarian!?"
Greed instantly replaced loyalty.
The Beast Pirates, much like the Rocks Pirates before them, were never built on camaraderie or loyalty.
Their bond was forged in ambition, opportunism, and the pursuit of overwhelming strength. Trust among them was as fragile as a sake cup at a banquet—easily shattered.
Especially now.
Those lower-ranking members who had been overwhelmed earlier by Ragnar's sheer Haoshoku Haki had begun to stir. Their minds cleared, but what replaced the awe was something far more dangerous—greed.
When they looked at King, formerly known as King the Wildfire, their gazes burned not with respect, but avarice.
The World Government had long sought the heads of Kaido's top officers, and now King's identity had been fully exposed.
The new bounty hanging over him—a staggering 100 million berries for information alone—was more than most of them could ever dream of. With that kind of money, a common pirate could buy a low-grade Devil Fruit in the New World black markets, or bribe their way into one of the less-guarded underworld circles.
For many, this was not betrayal. It was business.
"Looking for death..." King's voice dropped, his tone dark as obsidian.
His sharp senses, honed through battle and his Lunarian heritage, caught the wave of malicious intent encroaching from all sides. Their gazes were no longer those of comrades-in-arms but of jackals circling an injured beast.
A flicker of hesitation crossed King's otherwise murderous expression.
Ordinarily, he would have slain anyone who glimpsed his true face—whether pirate, marine, or ally. He had done it before, ruthlessly.
But now?
Now, his mask had been shattered before a crowd of thousands. If he were to uphold that same creed—kill all who knew—it would mean a massacre. A purge of the Beast Pirates' core force.
The consequences would be irreversible.
The Beasts Pirates would be gutted from within.
He gritted his teeth, fury simmering.
"Tch…"
A deep rumble cracked through the air.
Towering above them all, Kaido stirred.
The Azure Dragon, silent and unmoved throughout Ragnar's rise, suddenly lifted his massive form. His coiled body rose like a mountain, his twin horns gleaming under the moonlight. His golden eyes swept across the mob of would-be traitors.
He didn't need words.
Just one glare from Kaido was enough to make dozens drop to their knees, faces drenched in sweat.
Kaido wasn't one to entertain notions of mercy or hesitation—not even toward his own subordinates.
He wasn't thinking if someone should die.
He was thinking who to kill first.
Compared to King's moral dilemma, Kaido would not blink at slaughtering half the pirates present—if it meant preserving dominance.
This was the Beast Pirates.
Only the strong survived.
And Ragnar… was still watching.