A cold wind blew across the destroyed deck of the ship, carrying with it the scent of blood and death. Seth stood, staring with red eyes full of hatred at the trembling Saint Marcellus, who had fallen to the ground and was crawling backward.
"You bastard... how dare you touch me?! You'll regret this... you'll truly regret it!"
Marcellus shouted in anger and fear, pointing a trembling finger at Seth.
Seth gave a mocking smile and approached him with slow steps, then stomped on his leg with all the strength he had.
Boom!!
"Aaaaaaah!...." Marcellus screamed in pain, writhing like a worm under Seth's feet.
He looked up with red eyes and tried to curse, "You damn commo... aaaaah!..."
"It seems you don't understand your current position..." Seth said as he delivered another kick to Marcellus's stomach.
"Look at me... now! I am the master, and you are the slave..."
He bent down and grabbed the Celestial Dragon's head, his face full of tears and snot, then began slamming it hard against the ship's deck.
"Why!!..."
Boom!!
"Why!!..."
Boom!!
"Why!!..."
Boom!!
With every word, he slammed Saint Marcellus's face against the rough surface of the ship.
"S-stop! Stop! I beg you! Don't do this!" Marcellus cried out, his face full of blood and swollen, weeping from the pain.
"Begging?"
Seth muttered with disdain, wiped his bloodied hand on the astronaut's clothes, stood up, and pressed his right foot on Marcellus's head, saying as he applied more pressure,
"Where was the slaves' begging? And where were Luke's pleas, whom you killed in cold blood?"
Craack!!
"Where was your mind when you attacked us!!"
Craack!!
Marcellus began crying as he screamed and begged for mercy, a scattered piece of wood piercing his bloody face, and with Seth's foot pressing on his head, the wooden shard pierced deeper and deeper. He heard the Celestial Dragon's pleas, but that only made him angrier.
"Mercy? Where was your mercy when you killed my father, where was your mercy when you tortured others..." he shouted in uncontrollable rage.
After a short while, he stopped pressing Marcellus's head when he felt the latter had lost consciousness.
"Tch! This pig is too weak..."
He grabbed him by the collar and began dragging him slowly toward the edge of the ruined ship that by then had begun to sink slowly.
Because of the Sea King's corpse that Seth had just killed, many different Sea Kings had appeared, swimming around the ship in circles as if performing a feeding ritual.
As if sensing his impending death, Marcellus regained consciousness and opened his eyes with difficulty.
"P-please... have mercy!" he tried to beg once again with a shaky voice, but Seth was no longer listening.
With cold, merciless eyes, he lifted him by the collar and threw him into the sea like garbage.
Boom!!!
A Sea King with a face resembling a cat burst from the sea's surface and devoured the saint in one bite before diving once again into the depths.
Seth, now soaked, stood staring at his trembling hands.
"I did it... I did it, father. I avenged you..." he laughed a mad laugh that gradually softened until he suddenly fell silent.
He looked at the dark sea and whispered,
"I did it... but... why don't I feel happy?"
Roar!!
The sound of the Sea Kings fighting over their prey pulled him out of his thoughts, he swallowed hard and glanced quickly around him.
The torn ship was still sinking slowly, and the water-soaked wood was descending into the depths with every wave.
He remembered that he was still stuck on a crumbling wreck, and the nearest Sea Kings were circling below like terrifying shadows.
He raised his wrist and looked at the strange watch that gave him the chance for revenge and survival, staring at the faint green indicator.
He tapped the watch and whispered,
"I don't know what you are! Or who you are, but thank you so much for giving me this chance..."
He paused for a moment as if showing gratitude before beginning to analyze the watch with focused and serious eyes.
Except for the small screen glowing with faint green light, there were no buttons or ports.
Seth gently pressed the screen with his finger out of curiosity, remembering that he had done the same when he transformed earlier.
The watch made a strange sound before flashing, then a green holographic disk appeared like a ring.
It had three images on it, Seth immediately recognized one of them—it was the same giant serpentine Sea King he had transformed into.
"Hmm! Earlier I pressed the Sea King image and transformed into it..." he looked at the remaining images and his eyes lit up.
"So! Does this mean I can transform into these creatures too!?"
Suddenly, his eyes widened.
"Wait!!! Is this the legendary Devil Fruit , that mother told me about ... but..."
"I remember she said, Devil Fruits are strange fruits that give magical powers to those who eat them in exchange for losing the ability to swim but..."
He bent down and hesitantly placed his hand in the water, but aside from the cold water's feel, he didn't feel any weakness.
"Strange!..."
"No, this is completely different from the description of a Devil Fruit, forget it, better get out of here first before I become a Sea King's meal...!?"
"Come on, dear watch... get me out of here, I need to get out of this hell."
He stared at the watch then gently pressed the image of the familiar serpentine Sea King, unlike the other two unknowns.
The device emitted a short tone, then this time he felt no pain, his skin turned purple and took the form of hard metallic scales, his body swelled in the blink of an eye to almost 100 meters.
"Yeah !!"
Seth shouted with joy in his mind as he looked at the ship, now tiny in his eyes due to his immense size.
At this size, he was tens, no, hundreds of times stronger than his exhausted human body.
He wrapped his tail around a broken mast and used it as leverage, propelling himself into the air, then smoothly diving into the water.
He pushed through the water with his body, avoiding the other Sea Kings who moved away sensing the faint electric shock emanating from his scales.
He swam in a random direction as he had no way of knowing his current location, his knowledge of navigation was just like his knowledge of the origins of the watch on his wrist.
His idea was to swim until he found a random island or ship, then somehow return to his homeland.
He left behind the burning wreck slowly sinking, bit by bit until the wreck disappeared, swimming powerfully through the dark, silent, and cold sea, but at some point he felt his strength fading.
"Damn it! Even after all this, it seems I won't survive... sorry mom..."
Seth thought weakly, then with the last bit of his strength, He swam upward and felt himself revert from transformation and began returning to his human form before losing consciousness, he saw the shadow of a ship from the corner of his eye.
...
At the same moment, thousands of miles away.
Red Line – Mary Geoise
A dimly lit room, inside it five elderly men sat in total silence , the Five Elders, the supreme authority of the World Government.
Suddenly, a CP-0 member stormed into the room quickly and stood before them, bowing respectfully.
"What is it?" one of the Five Elders asked in a dry tone.
The CP-0 member took a short breath and said,
"Saint Marcellus's Vivre Card... completely burned a few minutes ago, sir..."
A long silence followed before the elderly man with the cane, known as Marcus Mars, placed his staff on the table and asked with a frown,
"Where did the incident occur?"
The CP-0 member responded nervously, sensing the gravity of the atmosphere filling the room.
"The East Blue, an explosion was detected, then all communication with the ship was lost..."
Ethanbaron muttered, intertwining his fingers,
"A Celestial Dragon killed in the East Blue... such audacity we haven't seen in ages..."
"Unforgivable!!"
Shepherd Ju Peter looked at the CP-0 member and said in a solemn tone,
"Send a team to investigate immediately. We want to know everything about the reason for his death, and who dared to lay a hand on a Celestial Dragon...."
The bald elder slowly closed a leather notebook, then raised his single good eye toward the agent,
"This will be interpreted as blatant insolence against the blood of the Twenty Kings..."
"We want the culprit's corpse or head before sunrise...."
"And summon the cleanup squad to erase any trace linking the incident to the Red Line. If there are survivors or witnesses..."
"Let them disappear with the wreck...."
The agent nodded firmly, "At your command!"
Then he stepped back two paces before quickly leaving to carry out the order.
The Five Elders exchanged deep glances.
"Shall we contact Sengoku!? To dispatch an Admiral there!?"
one of the Gorosei asked.
"Since the incident happened in the East Blue, it's better the navy doesn't interfere."
Jaygarcia Saturn stroked his chin and added,
"Do you think this was done by the Revolutionary Army!?"
Marcus Mars shook his head in rejection,
"No! Dragon isn't that reckless..."
"Most likely a slave rebellion or an attack by a pirate! Similar things have happened before..."
Ethanbaron raised his eyebrows with a frown,
"Pirates!? I don't think any pirate would dare attack a Celestial Dragon, especially not one from the weakest seas..."
Mars replied,
"Exactly!! Because it's the weakest sea, there are many ignorant fools in that place..."
Warcury nodded and said in a solemn tone,
"It doesn't matter who committed the crime, what matters is erasing this disaster before it spreads to the public. It's better to preserve the dignity of the Celestial Dragons, and also better to warn Morgans. That rebellious bastard's birds are everywhere..."
"Agree ... "
"You're right..."