__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It didn't take long for Blackbeard to wake up first.
"Pffft—!"
He coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with chunks of flesh, his chest heaving in agony. The charred, hideous scar left by Amaterasu burned across his torso, and the spot where Dan's final kick landed looked like his whole chest had caved in. His ribs—who knew how many were still intact?
Every breath was torture, every cough like knives tearing through his lungs.
And yet—he was alive. Barely.
Anyone else would have been long dead.
"C-Captain! Are… are you okay?!" Burgess stammered, his voice shaking. Fear was etched across his face. His one working arm still trembled from the aftershocks of Dan's overwhelming Conqueror's Haki.
Blackbeard forced his eyes open. Normally, those eyes gleamed with ambition and cunning. But now, all that was left was raw, bone-deep fear.
"That… that brat…"
"He's a monster. A real monster…"
He wanted to laugh it off, to drown his terror in that trademark "Zehahahaha," but even the act of curling his lips into a grin was impossible.
Pain.
Everything hurt.
But worse than the pain was the dread coiled deep in his soul.
That baby.
That diaper-wearing baby.
Amaterasu.
Eight Inner Gates.
That world-shattering kick.
The images replayed again and again in his head, each one a nightmare he couldn't wake from.
"My Dark-Dark Fruit… it didn't even work on him…" he muttered, disbelief clouding his eyes.
His greatest pride—the ability to nullify other Devil Fruit powers—meant nothing against that child. A complete joke.
"What… what even is he…?"
Burgess looked just as shaken, glancing down at his ruined arm with a shudder.
"Captain, what do we do now…?"
Blackbeard fell silent.
What now?
Was he still planning to dominate the New World?
Still dreaming of becoming Pirate King?
The memory of Dan's terrifying power crushed all those ambitions, leaving behind only one desperate thought: survive.
"The New World… it's too dangerous…" he said hoarsely.
"Kaido's son… to think he's that terrifying…"
"We're going back to Paradise. We need more allies—more power. Until we're absolutely sure, we don't touch that little monster again."
He was afraid. Truly afraid.
That kid's eyes were too cold. So cold they felt utterly devoid of life.
Just then, Rockstar stirred and woke.
The moment his eyes opened, he froze at the sight of Blackbeard's wrecked body and Burgess's destroyed arm.
"You… you guys…"
Then the memories came rushing back—the eerie eyes, the overwhelming Haki, that tiny, terrifying figure.
"The letter! My letter!" he shouted, fumbling at his chest.
Empty.
"No…" Rockstar's face went pale as death.
The letter Captain Shanks had entrusted him with—stolen. And stolen by a toddler.
Worse still, even Blackbeard, someone of his caliber, had been beaten half to death.
"I… I have to report back to the captain right away!" Rockstar staggered to his feet, ignoring the others, and stumbled toward the island's interior. He had to find a ship, send a signal—something.
Blackbeard watched him go without a word. He had no strength left to spare.
"Kaido… Dan…" Blackbeard growled under his breath, branding the names deep into his heart.
This debt would be settled.
But not now.
The next day, aboard the Red Force.
"What?! Rockstar, you're telling me you got beaten by a baby?!"
Lucky Roo nearly choked on his chicken leg, sending bones flying.
"And you lost the letter too?!"
Yasopp whistled, eyes wide. "Oi, Rockstar, don't tell me you've been slacking off in training. Can't even handle a little brat?"
Rockstar's face burned red with shame. Bandages wrapped half his body, and he looked like a wreck.
"Not just any brat!" he snapped desperately. "It was that demon child—Dan! Kaido's son! The one with a billion-berry bounty!"
"The Demon Child, Dan?"
"Kaido's son?"
The mood on deck shifted instantly.
Shanks, lounging at the rail with a drink in hand, let his smile fade. His hand froze halfway to his lips.
Beside him, Benn Beckman's brows drew together around his cigar. "Kaido's son… What would he want with your letter?"
"I-I don't know!" Rockstar groaned. "He showed up and demanded it by name. When I refused, he attacked! His Conqueror's Haki was… terrifying. I didn't even have time to react before I was crushed under it…"
His body shook involuntarily at the memory of that suffocating aura.
"Conqueror's Haki?" Shanks's eyes narrowed slightly.
For someone like Rockstar to be so utterly helpless—that wasn't ordinary Haki.
"And that's not all," Rockstar continued, his face paling further. "There were two other strong fighters nearby… They saved my life. But when I came to, they were even worse off than me. Coughing blood, on death's door…"
Benn Beckman leaned forward. "Wait. Who were they?"
Rockstar swallowed, then laid out everything that had happened.
Shanks's eyes sharpened as he listened.
"You mean… one of them was a man with a mouth full of missing teeth? Called himself Blackbeard?"
"Yes, Captain!" Rockstar nodded vigorously.
"Blackbeard…"
Shanks's face darkened. His fingers brushed the scar across his eye. "No doubt about it—it was him."
"But to think even he was crushed by Dan…"
The senior officers of the Red-Hair Pirates exchanged uneasy looks.
They knew Blackbeard's strength better than anyone.
The man who scarred Shanks.
The man who killed a division commander of Whitebeard's.
The man who slipped through Whitebeard's grasp.
And even he had fallen.
"That kid Dan… you're saying he's only a year or two old?" Yasopp muttered, his worldview tilting on its head.
"I swear it's true! He was even wearing a split-crotch toddler's outfit!" Rockstar insisted desperately.
Benn took a long drag of his cigar, exhaling smoke with a grim expression.
"Kaido's son… the Demon Child Dan. Looks like we've all underestimated how dangerous he is."
"To nearly kill Blackbeard… that's not potential. That's raw, terrifying power."
Silence fell over the deck.
Every pirate there felt the weight of it—an infant with such monstrous strength? It defied reason.
After a long pause, Shanks downed the rest of his drink in one gulp.
"Seems the New World's about to get a lot more turbulent," he said quietly.
"Rockstar, get some rest."
"Yes, Captain." Rockstar bowed his head and all but fled.
"Captain, about that letter…" Benn glanced at Shanks.
Shanks shook his head. "It's gone. No use chasing it now. And with Dan being Kaido's son, I doubt he's the kind you can reason with."
He turned his gaze toward the horizon, his voice steady but grave.
"For now, we head to Whitebeard. Blackbeard's moves can't wait. Ace needs to be recalled before this spirals out of control."
"..."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________