One Piece: Reborn in God's Valley

Dressrosa, Southern Port.

By now, the sun had begun to peek over the horizon. The dark clouds in the sky gradually thinned, revealing the port more clearly.

The ground, every few paces, was soaked with sand clotted by blood. Scattered all around were either the corpses of pirates or severed limbs of all shapes and sizes.

Even the massive rocks that had stood for who knows how many years were shattered into rubble by countless attacks.

It was clear, this battle, which had raged on since the night before, was nothing short of a blood-soaked massacre.

Cough….

"The thing I feared most… still happened."

Jean, now the last commander standing, coughed up some blood. 

Using a cane to support himself, he barely managed to stay upright. His left rib cage had been shattered by Uges's spiked mace, and with each breath, he wheezed like a broken bellows.

The thing he referred to, was the worst-case scenario, the enemy's two captains had finally regrouped.

"Hahaha…. Looks like you lot won't last much longer?"

Begrin licked the blood from his hook, eyes fixed hungrily on the remaining members of the Helgrave Pirates. Only blood could soothe his bloodthirsty nature.

Begrin hadn't continued the attack, not because of mercy, but because he'd nearly exhausted himself fending off Parnell, Salles, and the later-arriving Jean. 

Had Uges not shown up in time to heavily wound Jean, he might have already fallen to the trio's coordinated assault.

"Pahaha…. Yeah, this is all you've got left? What are you even trying to hold on for? Just hand over the technical data and we'll leave."

Uges barked impatiently. Komilin still hadn't shown up, and Uges was starting to worry that the guy had already gotten his hands on the Dressrosa tech and taken off. That made him anxious.

What's more, the strength of the Helgrave Pirates was way beyond what he'd expected. Just a portion of their crew had managed to hold off two entire pirate crews for so long.

And Komilin's intel? Total garbage.

According to Komilin, the Helgrave Pirates were just a bunch of rookies who'd recently entered the New World. 

Their massive bounty wasn't due to strength, but because they'd pissed off the Celestial Dragons, prompting the World Government to slap a huge price on their heads.

As for that time they took down the Maelstrom Spider Pirates, it was supposedly just dumb luck, they'd caught the crew after a shipwreck and finished them off easily.

But now? They hadn't even gotten the data yet, and their own forces had been battered down to just a few dozen pirates groaning in the dirt.

Many had been scared witless, pretending to be dead just to avoid another fight.

Both sides were going all out now. Under Begrin's ruthless commands and Salles's ability-driven onslaught, the battlefield had become a bloody meat grinder. 

The fighting was to the death, no backing down, no surrender. Both sides had taken devastating losses.

Worst hit was the underground syndicate, only Jean was still breathing.

And even the Helgrave Pirates weren't faring well.

First, Abbas, he had gone all out to stop Uges and Begrin from regrouping, attacking recklessly.

But Uges's monstrous defense rendered his efforts futile.

Eventually, when Abbas's strength finally waned, Uges, now transformed into a giant snapping turtle, lunged and bit through Abbas's thigh in a flash, crippling him.

Salles had been skewered through the stomach by Begrin's hook. If not for Parnell blocking most of the strike, Salles would already be dead.

Of the ten regular crewmen, only four remained, and all were seriously injured.

"Salles... Looks like the captain's not coming back in time. You guys need to run. I'll hold them off."

Parnell, the only one still relatively intact, stood resolute in front of Begrin and Uges, ignoring the threat entirely.

"You can't hold them off alone, Parnell."

Salles stepped up beside him, standing shoulder to shoulder. Then he looked back and said, "Abbas, you can still fly, right? Take them and go.

And… tell Lafitte to listen to the captain more. He must complete the captain's dream.

If possible, tell him to fulfill my part of that dream too."

A faint smile tugged at Salles's lips as he thought of Lafitte. Of all things, he couldn't bear the thought of leaving his brother behind. 

But with the captain around, he believed Lafitte would become a true man.

"Done with your last words? Then go to hell."

Buzz!

While they were speaking, Begrin had recovered some strength. 

Seeing that negotiations were a dead end, he slashed his blade through the air, sending a sharp wave of sword energy hurtling toward Salles.

Shave!

Gritting through the pain, Salles used one of the Six Powers. He barely dodged a fatal hit, but the sword aura still sliced across his back.

Boom!

At the same time, Uges's spiked mace smashed against the asphalt wall Parnell had created, erupting in a deafening crash.

"Hey! Abbas! What're you still waiting for? Are you trying to let us die for nothing?"

Dodging another blast of sword energy, Salles glanced back and saw that Jean and the four surviving crew members were already on Abbas's back. 

But Abbas hadn't taken off, he just stood there, still.

"No need. The captain's already here."

Balancing on one leg like a golden rooster, Abbas's hawk-like eyes burned with fanatic excitement as he gazed into the sky.

Clang!

Just as Begrin was preparing to strike Salles down while he was distracted, a jet-black slash, dozens of meters long, plummeted from above like divine judgment.

"Aahhhhh!! My hand!!!!"

Begrin didn't even have time to react. The slash severed what was left of his already crippled left arm completely.

But losing an arm wasn't the real agony, he'd lost one before when Golden Lion cut it off, and it hadn't fazed him much.

This time was different.

This slash had severed something deeper, his very soul. The pain was unlike anything he'd ever experienced.

A figure landed softly. Begrin finally saw who had dismembered him.

A tall young man, wielding a long sword, was glaring at him with eyes that burned with fury.

"You… you're… Helgrave?"

Under Ashen's gaze, Begrin felt as if he were staring into the abyss itself, the heart of the underworld.

…

Begrin never got an answer. Not that he would've heard it, his head was already flying through the air, and the blood spurting from his neck froze instantly.

Begrin had never been weak. 

But after a night of intense fighting, and having just suffered a soul-shattering strike from the Nether Eye, he had no strength left to resist Ashen's wrathful blade.

Not far off, Uges witnessed it all.

Terrified, he blasted Parnell away with a punch and fled toward the sea with the remaining pirates, none of them pretending to be dead anymore.

"You okay, Salles?"

Ashen turned and caught Salles before he could collapse.

"Still standing… Captain. But why are you the only one back?"

"Who says I'm alone?"

Boom!

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