Night had fallen.
At the base of the Red Line cliffs, Fisher Tiger stood bare-chested, his massive body outlined in the pale moonlight. He looked up at the towering heights of Mary Geoise, lost somewhere above the clouds, and his eyes burned with unshakable resolve.
"Ritter, my brother," he rumbled, his deep voice echoing against the stone. "We follow the plan."
Ritter lounged lazily on a throne woven from swirling blood-mist, his crimson eyes faintly glowing. He tilted his head, smirking. "Old Tiger, you sure you don't need me to carry you up there? This cliff isn't just steep it's death itself. The guards don't watch it because no sane man would try it."
The scale of the Red Line was impossible to grasp until you stood before it. The sheer cliffs rose endlessly into the night, jagged and merciless. Ritter knew Tiger would make it, but making it didn't mean surviving unscathed. Climbing meant bleeding, breaking maybe burning out.
Tiger just grinned, flashing his sharp teeth. "The pride of the fishmen isn't just talk."
With that, his fingers dug into the cracks of the cliff, and he began his ascent. His body moved with shocking speed, muscles rippling like coiled steel, vanishing quickly into the night.
Ritter narrowed his eyes, watching the figure diminish until it was swallowed by shadow. "Stubborn as ever… just like in the manga." His voice was low, almost fond. Then, with a flick of his wrist, his body melted into blood-mist and was gone.
Hours later, Ritter leaned casually against a marble post at the Mary Geoise harbor. Fog curled around him, wrapping his presence in a cloak of obscurity, blending him into the night.
Then an explosion tore through the eastern district. Fire roared into the sky. Screams followed.
"Fire! An invasion! It's the fishmen! Call the Holy Knights, now!" Guards rushed in droves toward the inferno.
Ritter smirked. "Tiger, you never disappoint."
He drifted into the city like a phantom, mist rolling around him. The fog was faint, almost invisible, yet every den-den mushi surveillance feed froze, locked on an endless loop of empty hallways. He kept his presence quiet but undeniable, a predator slipping into the palace of gods.
"Rayleigh's intel really is terrifying," Ritter muttered, glancing at the worn map in his hand. "And Shakky's handiwork too… damn, those two are on another level. How do people like that just exist?"
His finger traced the path toward the western dungeons. "Boa Hancock and her sisters should be locked up around…"
"Help! Somebody help!"
The desperate cry of a child cut through the night. Ritter froze, his head snapping toward the sound.
Three children human children were chained to a wall in the corner of a courtyard. Their small wrists were rubbed raw from iron cuffs. A Celestial Dragon, clad in gaudy robes, sneered as he brandished a branding iron, pressing closer with malicious delight.
The fog roared.
"Hey, trash." Ritter's voice came from directly behind the noble.
The Celestial Dragon didn't even have time to turn before a massive hand of blood condensed and slammed him face-first into the wall. Stone cracked under the impact. Ritter's lip curled. "Didn't your parents teach you? Hurt a kid, and karma's the only thing waiting for you."
He spat to the side, disgust rolling off him. Every time every damn time he saw these so-called "gods," something inside him burned hotter. They were unrivaled in one field: making him sick to his stomach.
The children stared wide-eyed at him. In the fog, all they could make out was a pair of glowing red eyes. Chains rattled and fell to pieces. The iron had dissolved into fine dust.
"Follow the red mist," Ritter said simply. A strand of fog wrapped gently around their wrists like a guide. "It'll take you to the harbor."
But then
"…A wedding?" Ritter blinked, his Observation Haki brushing over the city.
His perception swept across gilded halls, past towers and mansions, until it snagged on something surreal: a grand, ostentatious ballroom. Laughter, clinking glasses, and… vows?
At the center, chained in silver, a woman knelt. Her blue hair spilled like a river across the floor, her wrists bound, her eyes hollow.
Ritter's chest tightened. "Ginny…?"
His memory burned with the story. In the canon timeline, Ginny had been captured in 1504, forced into marriage with a Celestial Dragon, and by 1506 she had already given birth to Bonney only to die soon after of Sapphire Scales.
But this was 1506. Something had shifted.
Ritter exhaled slowly, his voice bitter. "Not the first time the timeline's spat in my face…"
He extended his senses again. The scene sharpened: Ginny, kneeling at the feet of her captor. The Celestial Dragon yanked her chin upward with cruel fingers, treating her like a trinket. Around them, nobles laughed and cheered at the grotesque "wedding."
Then Ginny raised her head.
Her eyes found his.
No she couldn't see him. His mist cloaked him perfectly. And yet, somehow, her gaze cut through, hollow and unyielding. A plea written in silence.
Her lips moved soundlessly: Kill me.
A chill raced down Ritter's spine. "This damn sense of fate…"
"Kill me."
Her eyes didn't waver. They were sharp, desperate, begging for release.
The Celestial Dragon leaned close, sneering. "Filthy commoner. Becoming my wife is the greatest honor of your wretched life "
"Shut up."
Ritter vanished.
Blood-mist exploded across the hall like a storm. Blacktide, his greatsword, gleamed once, and the noble's head tumbled through the air. A heartbeat later, the hall erupted in screams.
"CP0! Where are you?! We're under attack!"
Ritter stepped forward, tearing Ginny's chains apart with a snap of his fingers. The blood-mist lifted her gently into the air, weightless.
"Can you walk?" His voice was flat, businesslike, but his eyes stayed locked on hers.
Ginny's chest heaved. She stared back, trembling, because she knew those eyes. She had seen them once before at God Valley.
But no time remained for recognition. CP0's presence surged, black suits streaking toward the hall.
Ritter clicked his tongue. The mist exploded outward, threads weaving into a colossal net that sealed the room.
"Listen," he said, hauling her upright. "Tiger's raising hell in the east. The fog will carry you south to the harbor. You'll find Rayleigh and Shakky there. They'll get you out."
Ginny's body shimmered as the fog bent light around her, cloaking her from sight. Not true invisibility just a trick of refraction.
Her lips trembled. "What about you?"
Ritter's grin sharpened. Blood boiled off Blacktide in writhing streams, coiling into nine snarling dragons that filled the hall with their roars.
"Me?" His face twisted into a demonic mask of mist and lightning. "You let me worry about CP0."
The first agent lunged, blades flashing. Ritter caught him by the throat with one hand. Blood surged down the man's face, flooding his mouth, his ears, his eyes. Three seconds later, the body collapsed into an empty suit.
"Monster…" one of the others whispered.
Ritter snapped his fingers. The mist swelled, his throne rising beneath him. He sat back lazily, one leg crossed over the other, scarlet eyes burning.
"Perfect infiltration," he said softly. "Even if you all die here."
The world fell silent as the blood-mist devoured the hall.
This was the legend Ritter would leave behind his flawless infiltration of Mary Geoise. A story the World Government would never dare write down, but one that would haunt their memories forever.
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