After retreating roughly two hundred meters, shielded behind a curtain of trees, I dropped to one knee, gasping, breath ragged. I cast an emergency healing spell, my trembling hands glowing with a soft, green light. My ribs slowly shifted back into place with a painful crack, as my muscles knit themselves under the benevolent magic. The ground was still warm from our battle, and even dulled by pain, my senses remained alert.
In the distance, Usopp's sharp magical arrows continued to rain down on Zachary, forcing him to maintain his Haki. Each arrow traced a golden line through the air, exploding on impact in a burst of sparks—strong enough to disrupt him, but not yet enough to truly injure him.
Then, a figure launched from the Vogue Merry in a perfect arc, propelled by the Gum-Gum Rocket. It was Luffy, face grim and focused, his arms flinging him like a cannonball toward the beach. A shield appeared in his left hand in a flash of light, and he braced mid-flight, gritting his teeth before diving at Zachary.
The impact was massive.
The shield slammed into the top of the transformed monster's skull with a dull thud that made the nearby trees shake. A shockwave rippled through the air, reaching me… but Zachary stood still.
He slowly raised his head, a sinister grin on his face. His body, covered in onyx-black scales, shimmered under the setting sun, and his Armament Haki coated him like a divine carapace.
"The one with 80 million berries couldn't beat me…" he sneered at Luffy. "And some brat with 30 million won't do better."
He raised his clawed hand and brought it down like a celestial hammer on Luffy—but Luffy raised his shield just in time, positioning it perfectly. The impact was brutal… but completely absorbed. A light shimmered across the shield, dissipating the force.
"You're going to regret messing with my crew!" Luffy shouted, his face twisted in rage. His eyes burned with a fierce glow, his instincts screaming that Zachary was no ordinary enemy. This wasn't the time for jokes—not now.
Zachary took a step back, then let out a cold, wicked laugh.
"You're all the same… arrogant, naive. You think you can face the abyss with your childish hearts?! I've devoured over 200 souls, including a sliver of the Pirate King's own. I'm more than a man… I'm the judgment of the weak."
Dark energy ignited along his claws, and he unleashed a flurry of savage strikes, each movement generating violent gusts. Luffy blocked the first few, but was quickly overwhelmed. One strike hit his shoulder, another slammed into his side, and a powerful blow sent him flying through the trees like a ragdoll.
He crashed heavily into a thicket near me, leaves and dirt exploding around him. I rushed over, struggling to stand, placing a hand on him.
"You okay?" I whispered, worried.
He winced but clenched his fists. "I'll hold on…"
But Zachary wasn't finished. Enraged by Luffy's resistance and Usopp's unrelenting arrows, he turned furiously toward the sea.
"Enough!" he roared, his voice monstrous.
He reached toward a massive boulder, half-buried in the sand, and lifted it with one arm. The stone easily weighed over 200 kilos, cracked under the pressure of his grip.
With a furious roar, Zachary hurled the rock straight at the Vogue Merry like a catapult projectile.
The boulder cut through the air with deadly speed, casting an enormous shadow over the ocean.
"He's gonna hit it!" Luffy shouted as he struggled up.
Too far.
Far too far to intervene.
All I could do was watch, helpless, as the colossal stone flew straight for the Vogue Merry with a lethal whistle, its shadow growing larger with every second. My heart clenched. Would they even have time to react?
But what I saw next proved our days of training hadn't been in vain.
Usopp was the first to act. With a precise motion, he fired a magical arrow that struck the rock dead center, slightly slowing its flight. Without missing a beat, he sheathed his bow and drew Clayton's shotgun. A thunderous bang rang out—a perfectly placed shot that chipped the rock's surface, slowing it further.
Nami didn't wait either. Focused, a blue glow in her eyes, she summoned a volley of ice spikes, launching them with rhythm and control, creating a crystalline barrier in the projectile's path. Each impact chipped away more of the boulder's momentum.
Ten meters from the ship, the rock still seemed unstoppable.
But Koby suddenly burst from the deck with the four Heartless soldiers assisting with navigation. They leapt forward with explosive speed. Koby struck the center with his dagger while the soldiers delivered synchronized kicks on either side, the impact ringing out like a deafening explosion.
The massive stone halted mid-air, suspended for a breath, giving Koby just enough time to leap back onto the ship before the projectile splashed into the sea with a massive spray. The four Heartless swam back aboard.
And the whole thing… had lasted barely twenty seconds.
My throat tightened, but a smile curled my lips. They'd grown stronger… all of them.
I placed a Green Requiem on Luffy, transferring a healing bubble, then looked up to the sky, resolute.
"It's time."
I stepped forward, activated my pendant, and shifted into Sora's form. I gave Luffy a subtle signal—stay hidden—and rose into the air.
As I ascended, two hundred Red Nocturnes and two hundred Yellow Operas burst from my shadow and took formation, encircling Zachary in a flawless aerial pattern.
From the ground, he looked up with a mocking smirk.
"What now… a flying circus?"
But when he saw my glowing golden figure hovering at the center, recognition dawned.
Then he understood.
"I don't know how you're doing it, but I know it's you—Heartless D. Jordan!"
I said nothing, my gaze cold and merciless. I had made a mistake by using the Heartless without changing my appearance first… and now, I was going to fix that with lightning and fire.
"You're going to die, demon."
My voice was cold—almost terrifying in this form.
And then hell broke loose.
The sky lit up like during a celestial storm. Bolts of lightning rained down, followed by swirling columns of fire launched by the Nocturnes. Each impact shook the ground, carving smoking craters around Zachary. The lightning crackled with furious intensity, the flames roared like wild beasts.
Zachary, cornered, had no choice but to unleash his full Armament Haki, cloaking his entire body in a glossy black glow to resist the magical storm. But there was a cost.
I could see it—his breathing grew heavier, his movements less sharp. He had already spent a great deal of stamina against me, then Luffy and Usopp. He was beginning to tire, to crack under the pressure.
I kept channeling my magic to simultaneously wield the elements of the three Heartless types under my command. I blended ice, lightning, and fire together, creating a glowing white mass that looked like flame streaked with tiny arcs of electricity.
The aura of my own spell made me tremble. Instinctively, I knew—even with my absolute resistance to the three elements—I shouldn't touch this attack directly. It was something else entirely.
I simply dropped the flaming orb at the center of the elemental barrage. As it touched down, the small white sphere grew rapidly, becoming as large as the boulder Zachary had hurled earlier.
When the slow-moving attack reached him, he noticed—and fled without hesitation. The ground where it struck seemed to dissolve, and a crater nearly 50 meters deep formed once the white orb finally vanished.
Zachary—who had stood his ground against everything so far—froze.
And then, without a single word of bravado, he turned tail and ran, his instinct screaming that this attack was beyond him.
"That's a powerful one…" he muttered with a nervous sneer, glancing over his shoulder at me.
"…Too bad it's so slow!"
He leapt backward, breaking through trees, shattering stone, putting as much distance as he could between us.
I unleashed my Heartless after him, then emerged from a portal of darkness beside his ship, watching the hybrid creature race toward me. I released over a thousand Heartless against him. Shadows, Soldiers, and Large Bodies swarmed forward.
He roared and fought back, each swipe of his claws bursting my creatures into wisps of black smoke. But I hadn't sent just the weaklings. Despite Zachary's strength and the rapid destruction of the front ranks, he was once again surrounded—this time by my elemental Heartless.
I didn't transform Zachary with my Keyblade—I didn't want to absorb any part of his darkness, not even to enhance my own Armament Haki. I'd rather unlock it on my own terms.
And when at last Zachary's monstrous body was overwhelmed, crushed, and devoured by the swarm, a strange silence settled over everything. The wind stilled. The black ashes of his scales drifted away… and then, something unexpected emerged.
White lights burst from what remained of his form, like sparks of purified souls. Some soared straight into the sky, as if finally freed.
But others… mingled with the lingering darkness, spiraling together before merging into two distinct shapes.
The first—a twisted mass of shadow—condensed into a terrifying form: a giant Heartless resembling the mythic beast Ammit, with massive fangs, a chest plated in scales, and eyes glowing with ancient malice.
This new Heartless, born from a mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit, slowly rose and emitted an abyssal growl. I summoned a portal of darkness beneath its feet and, with a flick of my wrist, sent it to Heartless Island for future study.
But that wasn't all.
From the fusion of residual light and darkness, a man took shape.
His body seemed sculpted by contrast. His pale skin emitted a faint glow, and his aura shimmered with a subtle veil of light. His azure-blue hair floated gently in the night air, as if caught in an invisible breeze. He stood upright, bare in consciousness, looking lost—but not hostile.
His gaze—nearly translucent gray—locked onto mine with astonishing calm.
"You're… Zachary's Nobody?" I asked cautiously, my Keyblade still in hand, though lowered.
The blue-haired man raised his eyes to me. There was no hostility in his expression—only an eerie serenity, like a lake after a storm. His voice, when he spoke, was soft but deep with resonance.
"Not entirely."
He placed a hand on his bare chest, where a faint white glow pulsed like a slow heartbeat.
"I'm the fusion of hundreds of soul fragments Zachary consumed… all gathered in his fallen body. Part of him served as the base for my birth, but I am neither fully him… nor completely someone else. I am… an amalgam."
I stared at him, unsettled.
A Nobody… but unlike any other.
He stood upright, calm—almost too human. Nothing like Eisah, born from the void of a lost heart. Nor like Arlong, whose brutality had spawned a pure Heartless, or Kuro, whose transformation still eluded me. Every case seemed to defy any established rules.
The only constant so far was unpredictability.
"So, you're not bound to my orders by the nature of your birth?" I asked, my voice firmer.
He shook his head, almost with a faint smile.
"No. I am not enslaved like a Heartless, nor bound like some Nobodies. But I am unable to harm you. I am self-aware, and as long as your commands do not bring harm to the innocent… I will carry them out without hesitation."
I studied him more closely. His movements were measured, his voice assured. He had inherited Zachary's raw power, but also a kind of wisdom—an odd nobility.
"However…" he added, briefly glancing toward the horizon, "...I would like to ask for a bit of time. To adjust to this new existence. My mind is still sorting through the memories of those who helped shape me."
He turned back to me then, this time with genuine humility.
"May I withdraw for a while? To train, and to understand what I've become?"
I nodded slowly, respectfully.
"You've earned it. I'll open a portal to Heartless Island. There, you can grow accustomed to your new body, your power."
I summoned a shadowy rift beside him, pulsing gently like a silent passage to the unknown.
"Once you're ready, you'll join Xaheis. He runs our information and infiltration network. Given what you are… you might make an excellent informant. Maybe even something more."
He nodded calmly, then stepped toward the portal. Just before entering it, he turned to me one last time.
"May I have a name?" he asked.
Following principle, I chose to use a part of his former name—as I had done with the other Nobodies. In my mind's eye, an orange dragon appeared, and the name came to my lips without hesitation.
"Charyzax. I hope it suits you," I said.
He nodded once in acknowledgment, then walked through the portal, which I closed behind him—finally allowing myself to breathe for the first time in hours.
(Author's note: I know, my setup is rather long. If it's getting tedious, I could consider time skips—but that might hurt the clarity later on. If you're patient enough, I'll try to release a few extra chapters during my September vacation.)