A raw, guttural scream, torn from the depths of his being, echoed across the desolate shipyard, lost amidst the mournful howl of the dying storm.
"AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!"
The sound, though distant, ripped through the bruised sky of Loguetown's central plaza, cutting through the silence that followed Reina's devastating display. It was a cry of profound pain, a scream of anguish and powerlessness that Nami recognized instantly. It was Luffy's voice.
Her blood ran cold. Luffy. That Seastone. He was being crushed. He was in agony.
The last vestiges of Umarekwa's divine augmentation flickered, dying. Nami felt the agonizing reality of her shattered body return, a brutal, overwhelming tide of pain that threatened to drag her under. Her vision blurred, her limbs screamed.
No… no, no, no! Luffy! Damn it! Is this where our journey ends?!
She tried to move, to crawl, to do anything, but her muscles, drained and damaged, would not obey. Despair, colder and sharper than Reina's presence, stabbed at her. She had been given power, a chance to be strong, and it had failed. It had been glorious for a moment, but ultimately useless.
Reina, her face still etched with the fury of a slighted goddess, watched Nami with cold, assessing eyes. "Your borrowed time is truly at an end, little spark. The energy fades. The weakness returns." She took a slow, deliberate step towards Nami, her hand once more rising to deliver the finishing blow.
But then, Nami's eyes, glazed with pain and tears, snapped to Reina's face. She didn't see the Supreme Justice, the Heaven's Iron, the unquantifiable threat. She saw the woman who had hurt her friends, who was hunting her captain, who was about to deliver a deathblow while speaking of "justice."
A surge of defiant fury, raw and untamed, flared within Nami, overriding the pain, overriding the despair, even overriding her physical paralysis. It wasn't borrowed power. It was pure, unadulterated, stubborn Nami.
Damn it! I have no time for you, Supreme Justice, or whatever! My captain is in danger! My friends are broken!
With a guttural roar, more animalistic than human, Nami somehow, impossibly, forced herself forward. Her right arm, a mangled ruin, hung uselessly. Her left wrist screamed with agony. But the primal instinct to protect, to fight, surged through her like a last, desperate electric shock. It was a lunge, uncoordinated, a desperate, flailing assault fueled by nothing but sheer will and the distant echo of Luffy's scream.
"Get out of my way! YOU WON'T TOUCH HIM!"
Reina paused, her hand hovering, her eyes widening almost imperceptibly at Nami's impossible, agonizing defiance. "Still fighting?" she murmured, a trace of something like incredulity in her voice. "Such… persistence."
Reina didn't bother with a technique. She simply let out a sharp sigh, a faint ripple of force emanating from her. Her left hand, moving with impossible speed and utterly effortless grace, intercepted Nami's wild, desperate lunge. Her fingers closed around Nami's head, not to crush, but to simply stop her.
Nami's momentum, her desperate rage, evaporated instantly. She was held, utterly helpless, her feet dangling inches from the ground. Her wild, defiant scream died in her throat, replaced by a choked gasp.
Reina's eyes, cold as glaciers, bored into Nami's own. "You are merely delaying the inevitable, child. Your captain will be brought to justice. Your defiance is a waste of effort. Now, rest."
With a single, decisive punch, Reina's free right fist slammed into Nami's solar plexus. It wasn't a powerful, bone-shattering blow like the one that had broken her arms, but a focused, precise strike. It simply… extinguished her.
Nami's eyes rolled back in her head. The furious light that had burned in them winked out. Her body went limp, a sudden, heavy deadweight.
"I'm sorry, Luffy," she whispered, a silent, heartbroken thought as darkness consumed her. "We… we weren't strong enough."
Reina released her. Nami crumpled to the ground, falling into the mud and debris beside the shattered remnants of the execution platform, utterly still.
A profound silence descended upon the plaza once more, broken only by the soft patter of the rain. The remaining Marines, those who had resisted Reina's Haoshoku Haki and remained conscious, watched in stunned awe and chilling realization. The young woman who had just moments ago fought with a desperate, impossible fury was now utterly defeated.
Reina surveyed the scene. Zoro, Sanji, Usopp.
Zoro, on the ground, still conscious, but his legs useless, his face a mask of furious frustration, his swords clutched in trembling hands. He glared at Reina with unyielding hatred.
Sanji, propped against the ruined shop, his ankle a grotesque ruin, trying to fight past the excruciating pain, his body screaming for him to fall.
Usopp, whimpering softly, covered in dust and splinters, his eyes wide with fear, staring at Nami's limp form.
Reina sighed, a sound that seemed to carry the weight of a thousand judgments. "Still clinging to defiance? Even in the face of oblivion."
She didn't need to repeat the Conqueror's Haki. The message had been delivered. She simply fixed her gaze on each of them in turn, a silent, invisible pressure building, a final, unyielding force of will.
Zoro let out a strangled roar, his muscles seizing, his grip on his swords loosening. His head snapped back, a silent scream of agony tearing through him as his consciousness finally buckled under the impossible pressure. He fell, his head hitting the muddy ground with a dull thud, his swords clattering from his limp hands.
Sanji, his eyes fixed on Nami's unconscious form, a final, desperate plea for her safety in his gaze, felt the last vestiges of his strength, his will, abandon him. He slumped forward, his face landing in the mud, utterly unconscious.
Usopp, who had already been on the brink, simply gave a soft whimper as he finally succumbed, his fear and the overwhelming pressure combining to drag him down into merciful oblivion.
The plaza was silent. Only the sounds of the distant storm, the dripping rain, and Reina's soft, even breathing remained.
REINA VERSUS MUGIWARA ICHIMI:
VICTOR: REINA
Reina looked down at the three unconscious figures, then at Nami's limp form. A faint, almost imperceptible nod. "Well done, children," she murmured, her voice soft, devoid of the harshness she had used moments before. "You displayed courage. A commendable, if ultimately pointless, stand."
She turned, her white coat billowing slightly as she began to walk towards the edge of the plaza, towards the shipyard district where Smoker was currently dealing with Luffy. Her priority had never truly wavered.
Fifteen kilometers away, in the desolate shipyard, the remnants of the strange, localized storm still lashed rain across the grimy ground. Smoke from earlier impacts mingled with the acrid scent of Smoker's cigars.
Luffy, his limbs heavy and useless, his strength utterly sapped by the Seastone, lay pinned beneath Smoker's Jitte, its tip pressed into his sternum, radiating that debilitating energy. His body spasmed. A raw, guttural scream had torn from the depths of his being, echoing across the desolate shipyard, lost amidst the mournful howl of the dying storm.
"AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!"
"No… you don't…" Luffy gasped, his voice choked with pain and weakness. He tried to raise a rubbery arm, to unleash a punch, any punch. "Gomu Gomu no… Pist—!"
The arm moved like a deflating balloon, slowly, sluggishly, before falling limp and uselessly to his side. His body shuddered with the effort.
"It's useless, Straw Hat," Smoker said, his voice grim, unyielding. He pressed down harder on the Jitte, a small, grim satisfaction in his eyes as Luffy writhed beneath him. "That's Seastone. It negates your Devil Fruit powers. You're nothing more than a limp piece of rubber now. Your journey ends here."
Luffy's eyes, wide with a desperate, raw anguish, stared up at the stormy sky. His own face, usually alight with an unshakeable confidence, was now contorted in agony and despair. His mind, battered and broken, filled with images of his crew. Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Usopp… They were out there. They were fighting. They were waiting. He had to get to them. He had to be their captain.
Zoro… Nami… Usopp… Sanji…! Damn it! I have to see them! I have to get out of this island!
But the pain was all-consuming, the weakness absolute. He couldn't move. He couldn't even struggle effectively. The Seastone was like a black hole, sucking away his very essence.
A faint, chilling wind, unnatural even for the dying storm, suddenly swept through the shipyard, rustling the piles of discarded lumber and lifting the very air.
Smoker frowned, glancing up. "What…?"
From the highest point of a derelict, rusting crane overlooking the shipyard, a figure appeared. He was tall, cloaked in black, his face mostly obscured by a hood, but a distinct, swirling tattoo on his face was visible even in the dim light. The wind seemed to obey his very presence, whipping around him, a silent, almost palpable power. He gazed down at the scene below – Luffy, pinned and broken, Smoker poised for the kill.
This was Monkey D. Dragon.
His hand, scarred and powerful, began to raise, and the storm above Loguetown, which had been dying, stirred with a renewed, ominous power, coalescing directly over the shipyard. The air grew heavy, crackling with static.
Smoker's eyes widened, a flicker of alarm crossing his face. "This aura… this wind… it's him!"
Just as Dragon's hand fully extended, and the winds around him coalesced into what promised to be a devastating, town-shaking force, a blur of white flashed through the air.
Reina.
She had arrived. Not with a leap, not with a dash. She was simply there, on the crane, a mere arm's length from Dragon, her white coat billowing, her ice-blue eyes fixed on him with a dangerous intensity.
Dragon, caught off guard by her impossible speed, his face momentarily dropping its stoic mask to reveal a flicker of surprise, barely had time to react.
Reina's hand, still bearing faint traces of Nami's blood, shot out. Not with a subtle pressure, not with a contained push. This was a direct, brutal punch, imbued with a fraction of her overwhelming power.
It connected with Dragon's temple with a sickening THWACK.
Dragon's eyes widened further. His head snapped to the side. The wind surrounding him dissipated instantly, the nascent storm above the shipyard faltering, dissolving. He stumbled, catching himself against the crane's rusted metal beam, a thin trickle of blood appearing from his temple.
"That's enough, Dragon," Reina said, her voice flat, devoid of emotion, yet carrying an undeniable command that cut through the dying storm's last gasps. She stood before him, poised and unyielding. "Are you trying to sink Loguetown? Your interference here is… untimely. And far too overt."
Dragon slowly turned his head, his single swirling tattoo seeming to writhe on his cheek. He looked at her, his usual calm composure having been brutally shattered by her sudden, unexpected appearance and attack. He then looked down at Luffy, who was still pinned beneath Smoker's Jitte, writhing in pain. A profound anguish, raw and naked, crossed Dragon's face.
"Reina… he is… our son," Dragon said, his voice low, urgent, laced with a plea.
Reina simply looked down at Luffy, then back at Dragon, her expression utterly unchanged. "Oh, Luffy? Don't worry about him. He's strong. I trained him." Her ice-blue eyes hardened slightly. "And besides, you can't let them see you right now. It's not time to make your move yet, right?"