As if to give that scene the perfect backdrop, Ozz lifted his head toward the sky.
Dark clouds rolled in, layer after layer, thunder rumbling low and heavy.
"A sudden gust this strong, huh."
He looked up, letting the wind whip across him. The ornate tails of his coat snapped and flared wildly in the gale.
"How abnormal," Mihawk said.
He could feel it too. Faced with nature's sheer force, he merely pressed a hand to the brim of his hat, cold eyes fixed ahead.
Because of the chaos at the execution square, civilians were fleeing in panic, screaming pirate names as they ran.
At the same time, Zoro, who had already beaten Tashigi, regrouped with Sanji and the others. They also sensed something was wrong.
Nami, who knew weather better than anyone, glanced at the dial in her hand.
"The air pressure's dropping way too fast. I've never seen it fall this weird before."
Sanji, carrying a fish over his shoulder, frowned as well.
"And this wind's strange too."
"A storm's coming. Right over this island."
Meanwhile, Smoker and the Marines, including Tashigi, received reports that pirates had seized the execution square.
"Pirates?"
"Yes. Straw Hat Luffy, Buggy the Clown, and Iron Mace Alvida, among others. Notorious pirates. They've occupied the square."
Smoker's expression turned icy. He immediately mobilized every available unit for a full sweep and capture.
But when they arrived, the farce in front of them left them stunned.
"What the hell is this supposed to be?!"
Seeing the man captured and about to be executed, Smoker couldn't help recalling the wanted poster Ozz had shown him.
He'd thought the kid might be different from other pirates.
After all, a man like Ozz had taken an interest in him. Smoker had been paying attention, just a little.
So this was all he amounted to…
Smoker felt an odd disappointment.
Still, he didn't mind watching pirates kill each other. He issued an order on the spot.
"Listen up. The moment Straw Hat's head hits the ground, we move in and surround them!"
The Marines braced themselves.
"Looks like it's going to be a really big storm. Heavy rain, violent wind," Ozz said with a light laugh.
Then he turned and quietly spoke to the Seagull King perched on his shoulder.
The beast spread its wings and shot upward, vanishing into the clouds.
"What are you doing?" Mihawk asked, curiosity slipping into his voice.
Not because he was nervous. This was such a low-level fight it barely qualified as entertainment.
He simply didn't understand what on this island could possibly be worth Ozz's attention.
"Just a little compensation," Ozz said easily. "For all that orange juice."
In the front of the crowd, Buggy's men were celebrating, whooping and roaring.
The bystanders didn't know whether they were fearless or just too addicted to spectacle, but they stayed put.
Then Luffy declared, loud and clear:
"I'm the man who's going to become the Pirate King!!!"
Faces twisted in shock.
"What… he said Pirate King?"
"And in this town of all places…"
"That's insane!!!"
Buggy's "tolerance," however, was far greater than the crowd's. Luffy's shocking words rolled right off him, like a true king's calm.
He planted his foot on that straw hat and raised his saber.
"Well then, rubber brat. Time to send you on your way."
At that moment, two shouts rang out and interrupted the execution.
A green-haired mosshead and a curly-browed man stormed onto the scene.
"What do you think you're doing? Jokes have limits!"
"And how can a show like this start without me?"
One slash, one kick, they surged forward to save Luffy.
But Buggy had too many men. Weak, yes, but still too many.
Only then did the onlookers seem to wake up. They hurriedly backed away to the sides.
Ozz and Mihawk, meanwhile, slipped into a shadowed corner without a sound.
"You're too late!!!" Buggy cackled arrogantly.
"Even that Zoro won't make it in time!!!"
He lifted his blade, laughing as he brought it down.
The Marines waited for Luffy to die, ready to act the instant it happened.
"Are you sure it's fine?" Mihawk asked, watching the whole thing like some ridiculous street performance, then glancing at Ozz.
"No need to worry," Ozz said, bright-eyed now, like he was waiting for the best part.
He even pulled out a Den Den Mushi.
Zoro and Sanji were still fighting desperately.
But Luffy, the one on the platform, looked fearless.
He called out his friends' names, then grinned wide, as if he weren't about to die at all.
At one moment, his silhouette seemed to overlap with another.
He laughed and said, casually,
"Sorry. Looks like I'm going to die."
Zoro and Sanji's faces turned ugly.
Only a few people, in that instant, felt their hearts sink.
Smoker's expression hardened. His eyes were bloodshot.
He… smiled?
Just like the Pirate King he'd seen as a child.
The Pirate King who smiled as he died.
Mihawk was the same.
For that single heartbeat, his hawk-sharp eyes narrowed, locked onto the man laughing at the edge of death, as if he'd witnessed something impossible.
"Feels familiar, doesn't it?" Ozz said softly.
He smiled too, and snapped a picture of the moment.
A fearless smile wasn't that shocking to someone like Smoker, who had never truly seen the peaks of the world.
But to monsters who lived at the top, men with even a shred of resolve rarely feared death.
Still, this situation was special.
Loguetown. The execution platform. A smile before death.
It was impossible not to draw comparisons.
"A man like that should be the one stirring the world," Mihawk said. "Dying here would be boring."
The instant the words fell, within their Observation Haki, the atmosphere shifted.
Natural lightning gathered, thread by thread, then condensed into a blue bolt.
It struck the execution platform, arriving just before the blade could fall.
Mihawk's gaze turned strange. He didn't move, but the way he looked at Ozz said everything.
He suspected Ozz had forced the execution to stop.
"Don't look at me," Ozz said, sounding helpless. "I didn't use any lightning."
When you played the troublemaker too often, people always blamed you first whenever something weird happened.
He had used his ability just now, yes.
But it wasn't to summon a storm or call down thunder.
As the lightning hit the platform, blue flames ignited and spread.
Everyone gasped in panic.
Especially those who believed in fate, staring at what looked like a divine sign.
A voice rang out through the shock.
"Do you believe… in the existence of God?"
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