Twenty-six years ago, an event occurred that shook the world yet remained largely unknown.
The location was God Valley, a non-magnetic island in the West Sea, where the incident lasted for twenty-one full days.
The Celestial Dragons held a bloody Human Hunting Game at God Valley, offering treasures seized from Hachinosu including Devil Fruits as rewards for top-ranking Celestial Dragons.
Among the captives was Shakky, the former empress of Amazon Lily two generations prior and original captain of the Kuja Pirates.
This incident triggered massive conflicts among various factions.
The strongest maritime heroes of that era gathered to confront the World Government head-on.
Though details remain untraceable, the outcome was Roger and Garp joining forces to defeat the then-strongest Rocks Pirate Crew, declaring victory.
After the incident concluded, God Valley disappeared, and the truth about the event was covered up by the World Government.
...
At that time, Kuma was only 9 years old, one of those marked for slaughter in this cruel game.
Amid the chaos when the Rocks Pirate Crew stormed God Valley, he ate the Paw-Paw Fruit, one of the prize Devil Fruits, and used its ability to rescue over 500 people including Ivankov and Ginny.
Over 500 people...
Kuma looked at Chrysanthemum Face's features, reminiscing.
He remembered.
Chrysanthemum Face stood over five meters tall, already beyond normal human proportions. Though the face lacked distinctive features, Kuma finally recalled.
While waiting in the cage for slaughter, there was another child like him whose size exceeded ordinary people.
"You're... Barladi!"
Barladi, like him, was a mixed-blood descendant of the Buccaneer Tribe!!
...
...
Chrysanthemum Face... Barladi lowered his head, his expression unclear.
"Heh... After all this time, you're the only one who remembers my name..."
He raised his head, a cryptic smile tugging at his lips.
"You really remember me! Kuma!"
"It's been so long!!"
...
...
"Why..."
Kuma spoke with difficulty, filled with countless questions.
They had struggled so hard to escape—why become lackeys for the Celestial Dragons?
"Why?"
Barladi repeated the word coldly.
"Why ask why?"
"The Buccaneer Tribe possesses giant bloodline, granting us natural strength far exceeding ordinary humans."
"Our ancestors committed grave sins against the World Government. Serving the Celestial Dragons is our only path to redemption."
"This is the fate we must bear!"
...
"That's not true! No one is born destined to be slaves! That's not how it is!!"
Kuma recalled his father's dying words, tears welling in his eyes: "Nothing like that exists! My father never told me that!! Do you remember Nika—"
"No."
Barladi cut off Kuma: "Dying for the Celestial Dragons—that's what my father told me."
"Actually..."
"Kuma, there was a moment when I too doubted my father."
"That moment when you sent me flying, when I felt that sensation of flight..."
...
He spread his hands and gently shook his head: "Do you know, Kuma, how many of those you sent flying were eventually captured and brought back?"
Kuma's heart clenched violently, terrified to hear the answer.
Against his wishes.
Barladi smiled, holding up three fingers.
"Three - that's not the number who were captured, but the number who weren't!"
"You, Ivankov, and Ginny - only you three!"
...
...
Dead silence.
Only Barladi's voice continued.
"Watching them being executed one after another, feeling the immense pain in my body, I came to understand..."
He revealed an expression like a pilgrim beholding a deity, his voice filled with reverence.
"Kuma!!"
"Being enslaved by the Celestial Dragons is our destiny! It's the only way for us to survive!"
"Once I understood this, these past twenty-plus years have been filled with incomparable happiness and satisfaction!"
"Being able to serve the World Nobles as part of the Baccania tribe is truly wonderful!!"
Kuma's pupils trembled, completely unable to believe Barladi would say such things.
At the same time...
He felt heartache for those companions who ultimately failed to escape.
...
However...
What came next shattered him completely.
"So that you too could experience this happiness..."
Barladi spoke word by word.
"It was I who brought Ginny back."
!!!!
!!!!!!
Barladi extended his hand, smiling: "It's truly wonderful that Ginny could use her life to please Saint Luo."
"I believe you can understand."
"Kuma, come with me, follow our ancestors' fate. You know very well we must atone for our sins, don't you?"
...
...
...
The world always strikes the gentlest souls in the cruelest ways.
Kuma's mouth hung open, unable to make a sound, his eyes rolling back.
He broke down.
He couldn't even maintain control of his abilities, involuntarily falling toward the sea.
Why...
Why...
Why did it have to be like this...
...
Barladi smiled as he watched Kuma fall. He had no intention of attacking Kuma - just as he said...
He genuinely hoped the three lost souls would return.
He genuinely believed serving the Celestial Dragons was the greatest honor.
Whatever he might have thought before no longer mattered.
...
...
Just as Kuma was about to hit the sea.
Crackle—
The churning waters suddenly froze, and a giant hand made of ice crystals caught his massive body.
...
"Have you forgotten that Bonney is waiting for you to return?"
"Forgotten that comrades are waiting for you, forgotten your parents' dying wishes?"
"Are you going to stop running, Kuma?"
A tall, slender figure stood upon the sea, his bloodstained white coat flapping loudly in the wind.
Uchiha Griffin had arrived.
...
The pale pupils gradually regained their light, images and smiling faces flashing through Kuma's mind.
I...
I can't fall here...
I still have Bonney... For my father, for my mother, for... Ginny...
Ivankov... Dragon...
I must live on, live happily...
There are still many people who need me, I can't fall here!
For freedom, I cannot stop yet!!
...
...
Though physically unharmed, but with a heart already riddled with wounds...
Kuma supported himself and stood up.
Bearing pain heavier than a mountain, he still rose to his feet.
Barladi's expression abruptly changed, his gaze fixed fiercely on Griffin, looking utterly grim.
"Griffin... you bastard, why..."
"How is Saint Luo doing?!"
...
Griffin slowly lifted his head, his Sharingan glowing with a dark red light in the fading sunset, like two pools of congealed
blood.
"Luo, you mean..."
Tilting his head slightly, his tone carried no emotion—not even scorn or mockery.
"I suppose he's not exactly unscathed."
——
——
——
"You bastard!!!!!!!!"
Armament Haki enveloped Barladi's fist. Even with his body battered and broken, his strength nearly depleted...
This punch could tear through wind and sunder seas!