.
Back at the base we started strategizing and trying to figure out why the abyss pirates are moving our way.
Sir," Sora said, stepping into the command room. "It's time."
I nodded and followed her in. The war table was already set—maps spread, pins jammed into ports and coastlines, ink stains where my nerves had gotten the better of me last night.
The others filed in: Lotte with her boots still muddy from patrol, Burke chewing a toothpick like it owed him money, Juno with a notebook thicker than my patience, and Toma... well, Toma tried to carry in three chairs at once and tripped over a mop bucket.
"We good?" I asked, once everyone was seated and Toma stopped apologizing to the bucket.
The room fell quiet.
Sora leaned over a half-burned table, tracing her finger along the scuffed edge of a hand-drawn map. "We've pieced together everything we can," she said. "The Abyss Pirates aren't just another crew—they're a syndicate. Sabotage, black market deals, slave raids. Their reach stretches across the North Blue like rot through wood. And their leader, Kael…" She paused, her voice tight. "He's not strong in the usual way. But the way he uses his Devil Fruit—"
"—he makes it feel like he is," I finished for her.
Juno flipped a page. "Leader's name is Kael. Title: Dread Admiral. Current bounty: 40 million Berries."
The Noro Noro no Mi. The Slow-Slow Fruit. I remember it from the canon timeline. Unfortunately for us Kael is not as incompetent as Foxy.
Burke cracked his knuckles. "So what? We keep our distance. Hit him hard, hit him fast."
"Distance means nothing if you can't move ," muttered Lotte, checking the sights on her rifle.
"Still," I said, looking at the ruined walls around us. "This base has one last stand in it. So do we."
"This base was meant to watch smugglers and provide assistance to nearby towns. We weren't built to fight an organized force, let alone one that's erased towns. He knows that, the reason he is targeting us is probably because he dosen't want any interference while taking over the nearby smuggling routes"
We had less than a day.
As night crept in, I slipped into the comms chamber and used the den den mushi to send an emergency call to Command.
Captain Xavier of Marine Base 107 . Pirate activity confirmed. Hostile force: the Abyss Pirates . Requesting reinforcements. Urgent. Repeat: urgent
After waiting for a while and getting no response all I could hope for was that they heard us.
We planned for hours.
Lotte handled land barricades and arranged the riflemen and crossbow users. Burke prepared sea mines using fishing barrels and leftover gunpowder. Sora restructured patrol rotations, cutting downtime in half.
Even Toma had a role—he volunteered for signal duty, relaying alerts between watchtowers. "Not glorious," he'd said, "but important."
The boy was learning.
Juno strung fuses along the northern bluff where we'd set explosive barrels—our last wild card.
Toma stayed near the cliffs with a signal mirror, scanning the horizon. "I'll flash when I see 'em," he called out. His voice trembled. I didn't blame him.
I turned to the crew. "Remember, we don't have to win.... All we have to do is survive and persist till reinforcements arrive."
Then, the sun caught on black sails in the distance.
Toma flashed the signal.
They were here.
—
The pirate flag appeared first, gliding through the fog like a blade parting flesh. Three ships crested the waves—lean, fast, crawling with pirates. And at the center of the lead vessel stood Kael, a slender figure in a dark coat, a silver spear in one hand, the other raised in silent command. The air shimmered faintly around him.
I raised my axe. "Now!"
The first volley of bolts and bullets cut through the air. Several pirates dropped before they even touched land. Cannon fire roared from Juno's side of the base, sending splinters of ship hull into the water. We bought seconds. That's all we'd ever get. One two of the ships were caught by the sea mines and heavily damaged.
Kael didn't flinch. He extended his fingers, and a pale, ghostly purple beam of light pulsed from his palm.
Everything stopped.
A cannonball froze mid-air before falling harmlessly. A marine's strike stretched into a clumsy arc. My own heartbeat felt like it was dragging against time itself.
That was Kael's real strength. Not power. Not brutality.
Control.
Even time answered to him.
—
The eastern wall was chaos.
Lotte was already moving between firing points, launching bolts with machine precision. "Keep the gaps closed!" she barked.
I charged into the melee, cleaving down a pirate whose blade was caught mid-swing. Every step felt heavier. Even my lungs resisted me.
Sora ran beside me, slashing with her twin blades in tight arcs. "We have to keep Kael in sight," she said between breaths. "His line-of-sight controls the effectiveness of this devil fruit. We blind him and he can't control who the beam of light hits,we buy a chance."
Burke slammed into the enemy's flank like a wrecking ball. His hammer cracked bone, shattered shields, and bought us breathing room.
That's when the second wave hit.
Pirates poured in. Juno triggered the powder charge. A ball of fire swallowed half of them and collapsed the barricade. Screams rang out. Debris rained down.
But Kael kept walking.
He stepped onto the battlefield like he owned it, spear sweeping aside the smoke. His eyes locked onto mine, calm and cold.
"Xavier, is it ?" he asked, voice barely above a whisper. "Your defiance is… surprising considering your previous behaviour. It's quite amusing to see you struggle. "
Then he raised his spear and slammed it back down .
A wave of purple light covered the battle field.The first marine hit dropped his weapon, frozen in motion. Another was stuck mid-scream, unmoving as the tide surged around him.
I raised my axe and lunged—
—but he caught me mid-charge.
"Too slow," Kael said, and the beam struck my chest.
I felt it instantly. My body staggered into slow motion. My swing became a drag through tar. The world sped ahead of me while I was left behind, barely able to blink.
Kael raised his spear again. "This is the justice of the strong. The cleansing of weakness."
"Not today," a voice shouted from behind me.
Toma.
He threw himself into Kael's path with wild desperation, blade in hand. He didn't aim for the heart—he went for Kael's eyes.
A flash of steel. Kael ducked, but Toma threw a vial—bright and smoking.
It shattered against Kael's coat.
Blinding light erupted. Even Kael staggered back, a snarl on his face. "You—"
Toma tackled me out of the path of the next beam. "Captain! Move!"
I gasped in air. My limbs twitched, still sluggish. But I could move.
"Toma… you just saved my life."
He grinned. "Well, I figured it was my turn to contribute."
But Kael recovered too quickly. He turned, spear spinning. Another wide wave of Slow-Slow energy blasted across the courtyard. One by one, my crew fell still—stuck mid-motion like marionettes with cut strings. In this rage of his,he even froze his own subordinates.
Only Toma and I remained.
Kael stepped forward, slow and deliberate. "Enough play."
I stood up, axe gripped tight, but my body screamed against the weight. "You'll have to finish this the hard way."
"Oh, I intend to," Kael said.
He moved fast . His spear clanged against my axe in a blur, and tthe impact left my arms aching. He continued to stab at every single opening of me, I could only deflect a few. Soon my body was riddled in stab marks. He didn't use his fruit or kill me directly , probably to make me an example and instill terror in his subordinates show them that he is still strong without the devil fruit.'Damn it Lotte you said he's weak without the fruit.'
I stumbled.
He swept his hand forward. The slow beam hit me square in the chest.
My body froze.
I saw him raise his spear
I saw Toma scream my name.
I saw Kael's smile.
And then—
Everything changed
—
Authors Note sorry to leave yall at a cliffhanger but an announcement I am going to a area with little to no net for the next week so I am gonna schedule some chapters hopefully it works , I mean if you are reading this it should I think this will release on Monday with another dropping on Wednesday and Friday
As always if you like the novel please add this to your liabrary and throw some stones at me and if you don't do tell me where and how I can improve.