-Broadcast-
With Senior Pink's lifeless body sprawled across the factory floor, a tense silence settled over all who witnessed the grim spectacle. Around the world, viewers held their breath as they waited for the ultimate revelation—was Brook's connection to the underworld genuine divine power, or merely an elaborate psychological manipulation designed to drive a Donquixote Family executive to self-destruction?
"Though you were a villain who dressed absurdly, you proved yourself a true man in the end," Brook declared, his skeletal frame radiating otherworldly authority. "I shall honor my word."
The Soul King ceased restraining the hellish portal behind him. The massive gates groaned open wider, revealing an abyss that seemed to stretch into infinity. From the depths emerged countless silver chains, each link inscribed with symbols of judgment and punishment. The supernatural bindings slithered through the air like living serpents, converging on Senior's corpse.
When the chains made contact, they bypassed flesh entirely and seized something far more precious—the man's eternal soul. Senior's spirit materialized in translucent form, no longer wearing his ridiculous baby outfit but instead draped in simple white robes that matched Russian's ethereal garments. His features remained unchanged from the moment of death, preserving both his dignity and his pain for eternity.
The soul-binding chains wrapped around Senior's ghostly form with inexorable purpose, preparing to drag him into the eighteen levels of hell. For someone who had spilled so much innocent blood, there would be no trial, no chance for last-minute redemption—only immediate condemnation to the deepest pits of torment.
"Russian..." Senior whispered as the chains tightened. "I can finally be with you. Thank God this is all real."
Despite his bindings, despite the horror of their destination, the condemned man's face showed only relief. His beloved wife's spirit drifted closer and embraced him gently, their ethereal forms managing the contact that had been denied them moments before.
"Pink," Russian murmured, her voice soft with forgiveness that had been impossible during her centuries of suffering. "I forgive you. I pray our child will be reborn into a loving family in his next life—one that has nothing to do with pirates or violence."
Tears of spectral light streamed down her face as she clung to her husband. If only he had remained the simple bank clerk she'd fallen in love with, perhaps their story would have ended with gray hair and grandchildren instead of eternal damnation. Even a modest, struggling life would have been paradise compared to this cosmic tragedy.
As the hellish chains began their relentless pull toward the abyss, Brook's skeletal hand shot out and grasped the bindings. The supernatural links halted instantly, responding to the Soul King's will.
"Senior, I respect your final choice as a man," Brook said, his empty eye sockets somehow conveying genuine compassion. "While I cannot reduce your sentence—that authority belongs to higher powers—I can arrange for Russian to serve her punishment at your side. You'll face your torments together, though she will witness every moment of your suffering."
The musician's offer was both mercy and additional cruelty. In hell's hierarchy, Russian would become a ghost-realm overseer, tasked with watching over condemned spirits while facing her own trials. She would encounter the deepest horrors that hell could devise, but at least the lovers wouldn't be separated by the abyss's vastness.
"Thank you, my lord," Senior said, his voice heavy with gratitude and resignation. "We will never forget this kindness."
The hellgate's chains resumed their inexorable pull, dragging both spirits into the yawning darkness. Their forms grew smaller and smaller until they vanished entirely, leaving only the echo of cosmic justice behind.
-Real World-
In the present timeline, Senior Pink watched his future fate with tears streaming down his weathered face. The sight of Russian's forgiveness, of their reunion even in damnation, filled him with bittersweet relief. If hell meant being with his family again...
"Russian, I'm coming to join you now!" he declared, struggling against his subordinates' restraining hands. "I'll redeem my sins myself!"
Before he could break free, Derringer burst through the crowd and slapped seastone handcuffs around Senior's wrists, pinning him to the ground with surprising strength for someone so young.
"Wake up, you fool!" the half-fishman snarled. "You think killing yourself now will let you see her without Brook's intervention? Dressrosa needs every capable hand—you can find that skeleton later and make your bargain then! But right now, the Young Master needs your loyalty more than ever!"
The intervention was harsh but necessary. Doflamingo's massacre during the Rumbling had turned the entire population against the Donquixote Family. Citizens who had once grudgingly accepted their rule now spoke openly of revolution, comparing their king unfavorably to the likes of the tyrannical Wapol. Only the remaining executives' brutal suppression prevented full-scale uprising while they awaited their master's return from his summons to Mary Geoise.
-Broadcast-
Back in the factory, Machvise and Gladius abandoned all pretense of normalcy. The two executives bit down on their fingers in unison, drawing blood for the ritual transformation that would grant them titan power.
Golden lightning crashed down from the ceiling as their bodies began to expand and reshape. Gladius's transformation was particularly impressive—his Colossal Titan form emerged without the typical explosive side effects, demonstrating a level of control that even Armin had never achieved. Meanwhile, Machvise became a massive, golden-furred gorilla, his Beast Titan form built for devastating close-quarters combat.
"Can all the Donquixote Family executives become giants now?" Brook mused, studying his titanic opponents with professional interest. "Eren's influence truly is convenient. But I must say—I'm least afraid of group battles."
The tragic manipulation that had worked on Senior Pink would be useless against these two. Machvise and Gladius were pure sociopaths who cared nothing for family bonds or karmic consequences. They lived entirely in the present, viewing any concern for the afterlife as weakness to be exploited.
"I'm rather pressed for time today," Brook announced, his cane sword gleaming in the factory's harsh lighting. "Allow me to call upon more appropriate opponents for titans of your caliber."
The Soul King turned his attention to the hellgate behind him, which had closed to barely a crack after swallowing the star-crossed lovers. Under his deliberate influence, the portal began expanding once again, growing wider and wider until truly powerful spirits could pass through its threshold.
An arctic wind poured from the abyss, carrying the chill of absolute zero and the screams of ten million tormented souls. Both titan executives felt their very essence recoil from the supernatural cold, their minds struggling to process the cosmic horror being unleashed.
Two spirits in black robes emerged from the hellgate's depths, floating respectfully to Brook's left and right sides. Their faces were hidden behind traditional oni masks—demonic visages that seemed to writhe and shift when viewed directly.
"How long has it been since I breathed the air of the living world?" the shorter spirit mused, reaching up to remove his mask. The face revealed beneath was one that every pirate on the Grand Line would recognize instantly.
Character designation: Demon Path—Gol D. Roger
"Fortune smiles upon me," the taller, more powerfully built spirit rumbled as he also discarded his mask. "To be summoned back to the world of the living alongside my greatest rival. Hell grows lonely when you're trapped there alone."
Character designation: Demon Path—Edward Newgate
The simultaneous appearance of the Pirate King and the World's Strongest Man sent shockwaves through every soul present. Even as condemned spirits serving their sentences in hell, their legendary presence commanded absolute respect and terror.
"Impossible!" Machvise roared from within his Beast Titan form, the massive gorilla taking several stumbling steps backward. "This has to be an illusion! Some kind of trick! You can't just summon the Pirate King and Whitebeard!"
Gladius proved more analytical, his Colossal Titan head turning to assess the supernatural threat with calculated precision. "Don't panic, Machvise. Remember—Senior's woman also emerged from that same gate as a spirit. Ghosts can't interact with the physical world. They've been dead for years; what harm can they really do to us?"
But even as he spoke, the massive executive couldn't suppress the primal terror that gripped his titan heart. These weren't ordinary spirits—they were legends whose very names had shaped the modern age of piracy. Whether corporeal or not, their presence alone was enough to shatter lesser men's sanity.
Around the world, viewers of the Sky Screen felt the same existential dread. The sight of Roger and Whitebeard standing together—even in death—reminded everyone that some forces transcended even the grave itself.
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