This Blue Sea man is even stronger than God Enel.
When Wyper had faced Enel before, he had felt a powerful opponent, yet he still retained command of his body. Now, under one look from this Blue Sea stranger, Wyper lost all control. Even breathing became a struggle.
Would the history of the Shandia Tribe end here?
Wyper's chest tightened. A single thought clawed through his fogged mind: run, run, run. He wanted to shout to those still outside, to scream for them to flee until they were beyond the island, but opening his mouth felt like trying to move a mountain.
Thoughts looped in his head, a single desperate command—run, run, run—but his body refused to obey. The warrior known as the "Battle Ghost" was not a coward who fled at the first sign of danger, and yet in front of Shirogai he felt every fiber of resistance ebb away. The Shandia were brave and battle-hardened, but this presence — this smiling inhumanity — was beyond their scale. Even a dozen times their number would not save them from a single gesture of this man.
"Not bad," Shirogai said suddenly, interrupting the whirl of panic in Wyper's mind.
He regarded Wyper — who remained upright, not fainting despite the intimidation — with a measured approval. "Your physique is far stronger than I expected."
If an ordinary person had met Shirogai's pressure, the sheer force of his Conqueror's Haki would have knocked them unconscious on the spot. Prolonged exposure could make one lose bladder and bowel control without ever regaining composure. Only those hardened enough, those near the level of a Vice Admiral with Armament Haki, could approach Wyper's steadiness. The mind might still think, but the body had already betrayed the brain; they would stand frozen, lambs before a slaughterer.
"Do you think Wyper has the potential to learn from you?" the Great Chief asked, seeming oblivious to the violent trembling that had consumed Wyper.
He spoke in a tone threaded with hope. "He descends from Great Warrior Kalgara, the strongest of our Shandia for four hundred years. His physique is no less than his ancestor's."
Wyper blinked, dazed. The Chief was being held hostage, yet he spoke to this intruder with respect. What was happening here? Hadn't Wyper come to free the Chief? Why did the Chief speak as if this stranger were an ally?
Suddenly Wyper's stiff legs gave way and he collapsed to the ground. The crushing aura vanished as quickly as it had come.
The pressure that had made him feel as if his world had been erased was gone. Relief washed through Wyper so keenly he felt as if he were floating. He wanted, more than anything, to get his people away from the island. This smiling stranger could, with a gesture, annihilate every Shandia soul.
Wyper scrambled to his feet, throat raw with urgency. He opened his mouth to roar for retreat — and no sound came out. He had become mute, his voice stolen.
"In front of me, even shouting is a luxury for you," Shirogai observed with a slight smile as Wyper pantomimed noise and motion without producing sound.
Wyper's eyes burned with a rage made hollow by the loss of his voice. He looked between the intruder and his people, fury concentrated and useless. Are you mocking us, monster? he wanted to shout. Instead, he could only stare.
Shirogai toyed with his fingers, amused at the display. He spoke slowly, deliberately. "Calm yourself and think, Wyper. If I bore ill will toward your Shandia Tribe, would you still be breathing now?"
A coldness slid through Wyper as Shirogai's lips curved. "If I wanted to kill you, it would take but an instant to send you all to your ancestors."
The threat chilled Wyper to his marrow, and paradoxically it calmed him. This ability, this impossible pressure, was beyond ordinary comprehension. Resistance without understanding was meaningless; to survive they needed leverage, not a headlong charge.
Wyper stowed the dagger at his side and drew several rasping breaths to steady his chest. He forced his voice into words, careful now not to waste the few sounds he could make. "So… what do you want here, Blue Sea man?"
The word Blue Sea slipped from him and landed oddly in the air; it felt like saying the name of a continent he'd never truly known.
Shirogai stroked his chin and smiled, not harshly but with an unsettling calm. "I have one purpose."
He leaned back and considered the Shandia around him. "I have taken a liking to your people. Make me an offer, name a price, sell your entire Shandia Tribe to me."
Wyper's face flamed with indignation. Rage swelled, desperate to break free. Their honor forbade submission; the Shandia had never bowed. Even if a god had stood before them, their blood demanded defiance.
"This is impossible!" Wyper snapped, teeth bared, though his voice carried less force than his fury demanded.
Shirogai's expression changed only the smallest degree; then he presented a counter that snagged at Wyper's heart: "Even if it means killing Enel and returning Apaya Island, your ancestral land, to your control, would that not suffice? Could that not fulfill Great Warrior Kalgara's dying wish to relight Shandora's lamp?"
Wyper's eyes flickered. After that first oppressive encounter, he had no doubt Shirogai could kill Enel. Yet could the tribe's elders justify selling themselves to achieve that victory? To fulfill a sacred vow by becoming bondage to another was a bitter calculus.
The tales of Kalgara's dying wish gnawed at him, but the price Shirogai set felt obscene.
Wyper set his jaw. He would rather die than see his tribe shackled for any promise, however noble. "No! I refuse!" he declared, voice steady with newfound resolve. He met Shirogai's gaze without flinching and added, with the last of his breath as though to make it a vow, "If the Shandia must be enslaved so one wish can be fulfilled, then that wish will be forgotten. The Shandia Tribe will never be slaves."
Around them the hut held its breath. Klenya trembled as he listened. The villagers watched, torn between hope and horror. Shirogai's smile did not vanish, but it sharpened into something almost respectful.
He inclined his head in acknowledgment, as though Wyper had offered him something of value, and then sat in silence. The moment remained suspended, a threat balanced against a refusal.
Outside, the day progressed. Children still moved between huts, unaware of the calculus being debated within, and the ordinary sounds of island life continued. Inside the circle of the hut, however, a new truth had settled. Shirogai was no ordinary Blue Sea intruder; he was a force that had arrived and would not be easily bargained down. Whatever fate awaited the Shandia, it had begun with this impossible bargain, and the echoes of Wyper's defiance would not be easily forgotten.
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