One Piece: Yujiro Hanma

Somewhere else...

Shirahoshi, obedient down to the smallest detail, kept her eyes tightly shut, just as she had from the very first moment Tiberion had asked her to.

For her, it wasn't a command… her husband's word was a promise, a sacred pact that had to be fulfilled.

From the moment he, with that deep and confident voice, had asked her to close her eyes, she hadn't opened them even once, not even by mistake, despite everything happening around her.

She knew her husband was a very wild person when fighting.

And she wasn't ignorant of his nature.

From the moment she met him, she had understood everything, but... in her heart, she didn't feel fear toward that violence.

On the contrary, she felt he was protecting her, that all that fury wasn't directed at her, but existed to keep her safe from the world...

That's why, when he asked her to close her eyes, she immediately understood that his intention wasn't to exclude her from the conflict, but to protect her from the scenes of violence.

And she, in her infinite tenderness, wanted to honor that care.

She wanted to be worthy of that protection.

Despite her timid nature, she had possessed a powerful Observation Haki since birth, and although she was not yet able to fully control it, she could naturally perceive danger.

It was as if every ill intention around her was an invisible thorn scratching at her skin.

And at this moment, with her eyes closed and her breath held, she clearly felt many strange presences quickly approaching from different directions.

Each of those presences carried strange emotions, impure intentions, threats that, although she could not see, she could feel pricking at her back.

And with this, the terrifying seed of panic began to sprout.

Her mind, overwhelmed by these unknown sensations, wavered between multiple thoughts.

Should she open her eyes...?

Should she look... to know what was happening?

Or should she obey her husband's word, trust him fully, as she had promised?

Her chest rose and fell irregularly, fighting the urge to break the command.

But deep down, her determination was unbreakable.

She had promised, had sworn to obey.

She couldn't betray that trust.

So, trembling slightly, she decided to keep her eyes tightly closed; however, the problem could not be resolved with mere faith.

Because even though her eyelids remained sealed, her Observation Haki kept transmitting everything that was happening.

Now, she not only felt the closeness of multiple people.

She felt how those presences were filling with anxiety, greed, strange intentions, and were beginning to surround her.

She could even hear some strange laughs, sounds that gave her headaches.

And those laughs...

Those unpleasant laughs…

Painfully reminded her of that man who had harassed her for so many years, that despicable being who stalked her every day, laughing with that same repulsive tone, full of...

That sound awakened fear in her soul.

Confusion once again began to devour her mind.

What should she do now?!

If she opened her eyes and saw what was happening, maybe she could find a way to protect herself or escape.

But if she moved without permission, she ran the risk that her husband wouldn't be able to find her afterward.

And the mere idea of being separated from him, of losing his warmth, was more terrifying to her than anything else.

So she remained still, trembling.

Trapped between her growing fear and her desire to be the obedient wife her husband deserved.

Turning it over and over in her mind, a prisoner of doubt, fear, and the purest love she had ever felt.

At that moment, when everything seemed to hang in a fragile balance, a hooded slave, tall and burly, almost the same size as Shirahoshi, moved forward until he stood in front of her.

His rough hands reached out and grabbed the delicate hand of the princess, applying brutal strength.

!

Shirahoshi, who until then had managed to stay firm in her obedience, jolted as if an electric shock ran through her from head to toe.

Her enormous body began to tremble, and the bubble around her waist vibrated so violently that it seemed about to burst.

Her lips, once pressed together in determination, parted shakily, and tears began to roll silently down her cheeks.

She could no longer hold back the repression.

And she broke into sobs.

"Wuuu... C-could you... please... not hurt me...?" she pleaded weakly, like the cry of a wounded bird, trembling between sobs, as if each word cost her very soul.

Her eyes, still obediently closed, scrunched up in anguish as she struggled to remain firm in her promise.

"I-I must wait here... for my husband to come back... If you take me... he will worry so much... he won't know where to find me..." she stammered, clinging to the only certainty she had, to the only light left to her in the midst of this overwhelming darkness.

But her voice, full of pain, found no echo in the hearts of those around her.

A few meters away, Charlos watched the scene with a gleam in his eyes.

Every tear that streamed down Shirahoshi's cheeks, every innocent plea, seemed to stoke his excitement even more.

He licked his lips, drooling shamelessly, and let out a cackling laugh.

"Mufufu~, what an excellent, top-grade mermaid..." he whimpered between gasps of pleasure, "Not only does she cry so adorably... but even her little voice is so, so sweet..."

His tongue peeked out from between his yellow teeth as he spoke, and his body writhed like a pig wallowing in its own filth.

"Too bad you seem blind, little one... but it doesn't matter. I'll still have a good, good time with you..."

His words slithered into Shirahoshi's ears like poisonous snakes, piercing her already fragile heart.

Charlos' laughter, that repulsive laugh so similar to her former stalker's, was the final straw.

In an instant, the trauma sealed deep within her heart was unleashed like a devastating tide.

Her face, already pale, turned completely white, as if all life had been drained from her in a single blow.

And with a scream filled with terror, she struggled desperately against the slave's grip, kicking uselessly.

"L-let me go! D-don't drag me!!" she shrieked, her voice breaking into uncontrollable sobs, her insignificant strength helpless before the brutality of her captor.

Despair crushed her chest, clouded her thoughts, and robbed her of air.

Her only refuge, her only hope, was her husband.

With tears, unable to think of anything else but her promise, she called out to him in a desperate cry.

"Awuuu... h-husband... someone is bothering me...! Please... please... come for me…!"

Her childish and painful voice made even the marines watching from afar shudder.

Because in those words there was no trickery nor exaggeration.

It was the cry of a helpless child.

….

A few meters from where the chaos was unfolding, Tiberion had finally caught up to his prey.

His body, colossal and pulsing with power, planted itself in front of Rayleigh and Kizaru with a murderous presence.

He suddenly spread both arms wide, as if wanting to cut off any escape route, intercepting them in a way that left no room for doubt:

No one was going to pass without his permission.

His mere presence, even more than his size or strength, dominated the space around him.

In front of him, Rayleigh immediately understood that the situation was unsustainable.

And although his pride ached, he knew that running was no longer a viable option.

Tiberion was too fast and too destructive.

If they kept running, all they would achieve would be to see the entire Grove 13 reduced to ashes, crushing thousands of innocents in the process.

Thus, turning his face toward his improvised companion, he quietly proposed:

"Kizaru-kun... how about we join forces?"

Kizaru, who until now had remained casual, tilted his head with a bored expression, glancing sideways at Tiberion's imposing figure.

And his response, as always, was indifferent:

"Cooperate? How troublesome~... I think it's almost time for me to clock out."

But Rayleigh wasn't fooled.

He knew that Kizaru, despite his apathetic attitude, was extremely calculating.

That's why he smiled faintly, his eyes narrowing as he recognized the scent of fear.

"Clock out? Hehe... do you think you'll be able to leave?" he asked ironically.

"...."

Kizaru shrugged, as if he truly didn't care.

"Why not? He's chasing you, not me."

And as he spoke, he raised his hands in a gesture of surrender toward Tiberion.

?

This reaction took Rayleigh slightly by surprise.

But instead of getting irritated, he simply laughed.

"Right now, he's in a state of madness," he explained seriously, "His reason has been completely devoured by his rage and bloodlust. He hasn't just targeted me, but you as well."

There was no escape, and no neutrality either.

"Separately," he continued, "it would be troublesome for either of us to deal with him. But if we join forces, at least we might be able to hold him back."

And as the final blow, he struck the real thrust:

"Besides... do you really think the Marines will ignore such a threat?"

The message was clear.

If Tiberion wasn't contained now, the entire Grove would fall, and with it, the prestige of the Marines themselves.

"...."

Kizaru, without moving, reflected internally.

His dark glasses gleamed briefly under the light filtered by the floating bubbles, and finally, with a resigned sigh, he nodded slightly.

He would accept cooperating, at least for now.

!

But just at the instant they reached a verbal agreement!

Tiberion moved.

And not like he did when he was chasing them.

It was an explosion of pure speed.

A red, incandescent flash shot through the space between Rayleigh and Kizaru like a lightning bolt, leaving a deafening vacuum in its wake.

The ground around them cracked as if struck by a tremendous force, and the bubbles exploded.

It all happened in less than a second.

"...."

Rayleigh and Kizaru were still frozen.

Their bodies reacted on their own, but their brains took an instant longer to process it.

An instant of genuine fear.

The feeling of every hair on their bodies standing on end and sweat bursting from their backs was inevitable.

Their gazes met, and both understood the same thing without needing words:

'That... that thing that just passed... was it really him?'

How could someone reach such a speed?!

HOW COULD A MONSTER LIKE THAT EXIST?!

And when they finally managed to regain their composure, they understood.

That monster was still hiding part of his true strength...

That thing wasn't even fighting seriously...

What they had just witnessed was merely a glimpse.

And now, with the speed he had shown, probably not even joining forces could they keep up with him consistently.

Much less a one-on-one fight, that would be unthinkable.

It would be a crushing defeat.

Still covered in sweat, Rayleigh decided not to waste a single second more, expanded his Observation Haki to its maximum range, opening his perception in an attempt to understand what had drawn the attention of such a monstrosity.

And in that instant, a flash of bitterness crossed his eyes.

With a mocking smile toward the increasingly tense Kizaru, he said:

"Hehe… looks like your problems have just begun... This old man is retiring."

And without giving him the slightest chance to respond, he disappeared in a sequence of leaps.

"...."

Kizaru stood staring in the direction where Tiberion had vanished, feeling for the first time in a long while an uncomfortable weight in his chest.

He had considered staying and facing Rayleigh, maybe even arresting him once and for all, but now, faced with what was about to be unleashed, he had no choice but to change his target.

He sighed as he muttered resignedly, "The World Nobles are always troublesome... But with my speed, maybe I can stop him in time..."

Without wasting a second, his body turned into a beam of light, shooting off in a straight line.

But it was already too late.

Because Tiberion had already heard Shirahoshi's desperate cry.

Or rather, her plea...

The vision of HIS wife begging for his help while crying had ignited within him a fire that could not be extinguished by any reason, any logic, or any human force.

And in that instant, he completely abandoned any shred of control he had left.

Without thinking, he quickly activated the Demon Back.

His muscles, already monstrous, compressed even further, his veins throbbed under his hardened skin, releasing an even stronger pressure.

His vital energy, his spirit, his bloodlust, all exploded in an overwhelming release of power, increasing not just his strength but every physical aspect of his being to absurd levels.

At that moment, his speed was an insult to the laws of nature.

Between seven hundred and eight hundred meters per second.

And the distance of over three thousand meters that separated him from Shirahoshi… vanished in less than four seconds.

...

When he finally arrived at the scene, what he saw only enraged him even more.

There stood a hooded giant, pulling harshly on his wife's delicate arm, dragging her mercilessly as if she were a mere piece of meat.

!

An intense, lethal red gleam was born in his eyes.

His red mane, bristling like a lion's, stood up in spikes, as if each strand of hair were a spear.

He didn't scream, nor did he make any sound that could give him away — he simply disappeared and reappeared above the giant.

His right hand closed like an iron clamp around the slave's wrist.

And with a simple twist of his wrist, he tore the giant hand off cleanly, separating it from the body with ease.

A jet of blood spurted instantly, soaking the ground.

The slave, too stunned to understand what had happened, didn't even have time to scream because Tiberion didn't give him a moment's respite.

With his right leg, he launched an upward kick directly at the left knee joint of the slave.

Crack

The impact was such that the entire leg flew off, landing several meters away.

It was then, and only then, that the slave finally began to scream.

An animalistic howl of pain echoed across the entire Grove.

The slave fell heavily to the ground, writhing, kicking, bleeding profusely, his body reduced in seconds to a useless mass of flesh.

But Tiberion was not satisfied.

He advanced on the slave, and without a shred of mercy in his red gaze, raised his left leg high and unleashed a crushing stomp directly onto the wretch's chest.

"..."

The sound that followed was indescribable.

A crunch followed by an explosive crack, as the slave's chest caved in.

His ribs, his organs, his spine: everything was pulverized in a single instant.

A rain of blood, viscera, and ribs splattered everything around, painting it red.

The marines trembled.

The slaves, used to violence, recoiled in a state of panic.

The intelligence agents, usually arrogant and cold, completely lost their composure.

And at the center of it all, Charlos, once inflated with pride and contempt, shrank like a defenseless child.

Everyone, without exception, felt a primal terror erase all their rationality and logic.

There, standing in the midst of the carnage, Tiberion, nearly three meters tall, shone like a figure born from the very gates of hell.

His bare torso revealed a body that defied all comprehension, a monstrous assemblage of hyper-developed muscles, every vein bulging as if his skin were about to burst.

His red hair, fully bristled, reflected the intensity of the fury burning within him, while his incandescent gaze, devoid of compassion, swept over each one of them.

The aura emanating from his body was not simply powerful.

It was wild and so brutal that it seemed to twist reality itself.

What kind of monster was this...?

The question lodged itself in everyone's minds like a cold nail.

But Tiberion didn't give them time to think.

In the blink of an eye, he lunged at them, and the slaughter began.

A simple movement of his arm, and several heads were torn from their bodies, as if he wielded the scythe of death.

The marines, waking from their paralysis, reacted by opening fire desperately.

Their rifles roared, and shortly after, the intelligence agents also unleashed their weapons, creating a storm of lead around the monstrous figure.

But their efforts were as useless as throwing stones at a mountain.

The bullets, when impacting Tiberion's body, not only failed to pierce his skin but bounced off, emitting metallic sounds that only deepened the despair among them.

"A-#@aboo.."

And as the lead fell uselessly around him, Charlos, who just minutes ago strutted about like an untouchable god, began to babble incoherently.

His obese body, unable to control his sphincters under the overwhelming pressure of Tiberion's presence, wet himself, warm liquid seeping through his stained white pants, forming a puddle at his feet.

Screaming like a pig in a slaughterhouse, he hastily turned around, hysterically ordering his slaves:

"QUICK, QUICK, KILL THAT VILE, FILTHY HUMAN, YOU USELESS WORMS! GET ME OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!"

The slaves, terrified, tried clumsily to lift him... but Tiberion was no mere spectator.

With a roar, he ripped a massive root from the ground.

He raised it high above his head and, with ease, hurled it like a whip directly at Charlos and his slaves.

!

However, at the last instant, a golden flash appeared.

Kizaru intervened just in time.

With a kick of light, he diverted the trajectory of the root, just enough for it to whistle past mere meters from Charlos.

And Charlos, thrown by the shockwave impact, rolled pathetically across the ground, his fat trembling with each tumble.

When he finally managed to get up, covered in dirt, the blood of others, and his own urine, he saw that Kizaru was there.

Upon seeing an "ally," his arrogance was instantly reignited.

"KILL HIM! KILL HIM IMMEDIATELY! I want that mermaid captured behind him!"

"I WANT TO RAPE HER IN FRONT OF HIS EYES UNTIL SHE DIES! MUUFUFUUU~!"

But just as those disgusting words tainted the air...

The ground beneath Tiberion's feet exploded.

Like a red cannonball, he ignored dozens of meters in the blink of an eye, appearing before Charlos so instantly that the latter couldn't even blink.

Extending his right arm, he launched an open hand directly at Charlos' face.

But at that very moment, Kizaru appeared, just a few instants behind, desperately trying to intervene to save the World Noble's life.

But Tiberion had already anticipated it.

Without even turning his head, he moved his left arm and, with a slap coated in Armament Haki, struck Kizaru's face squarely.

!

Kizaru's body, accustomed to traveling at the speed of light, was launched like a sack of potatoes several kilometers away, crashing through everything without being able to stop.

The entire world seemed to freeze for a second, and then Tiberion turned his attention back to Charlos.

With his right hand, already extended, he broke with a single movement the protective bubble that surrounded the fat man's head.

The World Noble struggled uselessly, his throat emitting a high-pitched squeal like a pig at a slaughterhouse, abruptly cut off when Tiberion's fingers embedded themselves into his face.

The soft flesh yielded easily, tendons from the eyes and dental nerves stretching like elastic bands before snapping.

Schlac

Charlos' facial mask peeled off with a viscous sound, revealing not a skull but a pulsating mass of muscle fibers and throbbing arteries.

With that, blood gushed out, reaching three meters into the air.

Charlos' pink and bloody skull was left exposed, each remaining facial muscle twitching. His eyes, like two disproportionate spheres without eyelids to contain them, rolled frantically, their dilated pupils reflecting a thousand times the unshakable image of Tiberion.

"¡GgghhhaaaaAAAAHHH!"

But Tiberion was not done. He leaned in slightly, studying his work.

Satisfied, he continued.

He calmly began to move his hands.

But not throwing normal punches.

Instead, he delivered systematic slashes, as if his arms had multiplied into hundreds.

Each one was a precise scalpel, rapidly slicing off small sections of Charlos' flesh: cuts on the arms, shoulders, torso, legs, ribs, each removing chunks of skin, muscle, and bone methodically, as if butchering an animal.

The cuts were not chaotic. They were surgical.

For ten eternal seconds, he continued like a machine.

Charlos' screams, at first harrowing, gradually faded, turning into gasps and then mere bubbling of blood in his broken throat, until finally they ceased completely.

When Tiberion finished, silence seized the place.

Everyone present remained paralyzed, their eyes wide open in terror, their bodies frozen to the point of pain, and their souls seemingly leaving their bodies.

Where once stood a World Noble, now there remained only an anatomical masterpiece: a pristine skeleton held together by unknown forces, with each bone polished like freshly carved ivory.

Around it lay fifty-three mounds of tissue, organized by type and size. A demonstration of Tiberion's superior anatomical knowledge.

And while everything remained silent, Charlos' bony jaw opened in a mute postmortem scream, his empty sockets eternally gazing at the sky.

________

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