At the very top of the five-story assembly hall.
In front of the huge floor-to-ceiling windows stood a man in a black suit and cloak, a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth, his blue wavy hair framing a cold expression as he watched the two figures leave.
"Have people keep a close eye on those two."
"Understood. I've already sent someone after them."
"How are the preparations going?"
"No problems. Tonight, one big fire will settle everything."
"That's great news. Once this mission is finished, I wonder what kind of reward we'll get."
The man's eyes gleamed with excitement, then a trace of irritation crept into his voice.
"Damn it. That bastard Spandine ran off early to claim the credit again. He's definitely going to take the biggest share this time too... Damn it..."
...
After the man named Fes and the girl named Aming left, the people standing nearby fell back into despair.
Aming moved quickly, and she was extremely agile. The moment Fes turned away and left the crowd, she was already nowhere to be seen.
He did not panic, however, and simply headed in a certain direction.
Before long, a beautiful stretch of coastline came into view. There on the shore, Aming, her face full of fury, was swinging the iron pipe in her hand like a swordsman and smashing it viciously against a huge boulder.
"Duang, duang, duang..."
Heavy impacts rang out one after another, sparks flying from the iron pipe.
Fes walked over and said softly,
"Doing that won't help at all..."
Aming did not even turn around as she shouted back,
"Then what am I supposed to do? Stand there and do nothing like you? Do you know how many women and children have already died?"
Fes showed no anger at her outburst. He calmly walked over, looked at the marks she had hammered into the stone, and said,
"It's cruel, but that's reality. What you did just now had no meaning other than getting yourself killed. Maybe... this is their fate."
"Fate!!!"
Those two words made the girl erupt with rage. She could not believe the man in front of her had said something so cold.
The veins on her forehead bulged visibly, her eyes were bloodshot, and she gripped the iron pipe so tightly her hands trembled.
"You call this fate? The ones who died were pregnant women and babies! What did they do wrong? Why should their lives be ended before they even began just because of the Pirate King's bloodline? And you clearly have that kind of power. You could have stopped this. You could have saved them all..."
Fes answered her accusation with only one sentence.
"And then...?"
Aming froze for a moment, then heard him continue.
"I save them, and then what? Nothing changes. If anything, it only makes the situation worse. At that point, the World Government might really become convinced that the Pirate King's bloodline is on Baterilla Island. And when that happens, even more people will die. And..."
As he spoke, Fes drew the short rod at his waist, something like a balance scale. With a flick, a long, needle-thin blade shot out from within it. His gaze sharpened, and he slashed at the massive boulder in front of him.
A flash of light passed.
The boulder split cleanly in two and collapsed to either side with a rumbling crash.
It was not the first time Aming had seen this, but now that she only possessed raw physical strength, the sight still left her stunned.
Only after that did Fes retract the blade again and look at the boulder he had cut apart.
"You think I'm strong only because you haven't seen the wider world. This is the power known as cutting steel. I trained hard until I was thirty before I barely managed to touch this level. But in the outside world, especially on the Grand Line, this kind of power is only the foundation for a swordsman."
"The foundation? You've got to be kidding!!!"
To Aming, that kind of power already felt like a miracle.
Fes only gave a bitter smile.
"I wish it were a joke. Unfortunately, this is the truth of the world. Power is everything, and weakness is a sin. Compared to those who are truly strong, we're just ordinary people. Protecting this island is already the limit of my strength. If one day you really want to resist this fate, then at the very least, you'll have to surpass me. Otherwise, I won't let you throw your life away. After all, before your father died, this was the only thing he asked of me."
After hearing Fes's words, Aming gripped her weapon tightly and stayed silent for a long time.
Only then did Fes try to comfort her.
"All right. Try to think of it this way. Maybe it won't be long before they fail to find the Pirate King's bloodline and leave. When that happens, everything will go back to how it was before..."
Aming clenched her fists unwillingly.
She wanted to ask whether the women and children who had died had simply died for nothing.
But the answer was obvious.
"So this is the truth of the world? What do they take life for? The World Government, the Pirate King... damn it!"
Aming shouted in anger, but she knew no one would ever give her an answer.
Fes only looked at her quietly.
The truth of this world was too cruel. Maybe only after experiencing enough pain could someone truly understand it, then make peace with the world.
Just as he once had.
But at that moment, Fes suddenly felt a chill of danger.
"No..."
He spun around abruptly. The sudden movement startled Aming, and she instinctively turned as well.
In the next instant, both of them were shocked.
At some point, less than ten meters away, practically right beside them, a red-haired boy was standing there.
Before Fes could make sense of it, a terrifying killing intent poured from the boy as he said coldly,
"Words like resisting the World Government aren't something I can pretend not to hear. Just to be safe, I'll kill both of you right here."
That terrifying killing intent pressed straight down on them.
Fes understood at once.
"This is bad. We were followed?"
In that instant, he made his decision. Drawing his sword, he flashed forward and struck at the boy without hesitation.
"Oh, smart. Quick to react too. Trying to silence me? Too bad..."
Then, under the disbelieving eyes of both Fes and Aming, the boy merely raised two fingers and lightly pinched the thin blade between them.
No matter how hard Fes pushed, he could not advance even half an inch.
"How is that possible..."
For the first time, Fes lost his usual composure. His face turned pale.
Aming, standing to the side, was just as stunned.
"This..."
At that moment, she finally understood what Fes had meant earlier.
The strike she had viewed as a miracle had been stopped this casually.
"You've got to be kidding... How is that possible..."
While she was still frozen in shock, Fes, drenched in cold sweat, made a split-second decision.
"Aming, run! Escape by sea! You're a strong swimmer. They won't be able to find you there... I'll hold him back for you... Hurry..."
Fes's roar snapped Aming out of her daze.
At that moment, she really should have run. With a gap in strength like this, there was no chance of winning at all.
Maybe, just as Fes had said, this too was her fate.
But she did not want to run.
Even knowing full well she could not win, she still did not want to run.
So, drawing on courage and strength from somewhere deep inside her, Aming let out a shout and swung the iron pipe in her hand at the terrifying boy in front of her.
"Rather than live on like this, I'd rather die with you!"
Her attack was, of course, blocked with ease.
But death did not come.
Instead, the boy spoke in a voice utterly devoid of killing intent.
"Not bad. It's true that in this world, strength can mean a great deal. But compared to strength, there's something even more important. The will to protect others..."