In the sky, flickering lightning danced through the rolling dark clouds, casting shifting light and shadow on the ground below.
The round object Krieg had thrown rolled right to the feet of Nami and Chopper.
Boom!
Another muffled thunderclap echoed, turning the world stark white for a moment.
Nami finally saw clearly what that spherical object on the ground was.
It was a human head.
A head with wide-open eyes, a twisted face, and a long nose.
Clatter.
The Clima-Tact Nami had been holding high fell to the ground. Her body trembled uncontrollably.
"USOPPP!!"
Chopper's eyes instantly widened, filled with disbelief.
Usopp was dead!
And in such a brutal way - his head had been cut off.
With a thud, Nami lost all strength and collapsed to the ground, sitting numbly as she stared blankly at Usopp's head on the ground.
At the pale face twisted in despair.
"Waaah! Usopp! Why? Why did you have to kill Usopp? Oh god, I don't believe it, is this a dream?"
Chopper's incredibly kind heart contracted painfully. The intense agony nearly made him faint.
"Hahahaha! Tasting the bitterness of losing a comrade? But this is the most common occurrence on these seas.
That's why I say, I truly envy you overly lucky bastards. Roaming the Grand Line and New World for years without a scratch.
If not for the great Beast God Pirates emerging, you children playing house would still be wandering the seas with your naive ideas.
This is not what I, Krieg, want to see. Straw Hat Luffy, hahaha, the pride of East Blue - I'll make you feel my pain!"
Krieg laughed maniacally, grabbing Genzo's head and slamming him hard onto the ground in front of him.
At the same time, he raised his spear high and thrust it down violently, piercing through Akin's thigh and pinning him to the earth.
"Ahhhhhhhh!" Genzo screamed in agony, his whole body twisting as he clutched his leg.
Gen's agonized scream snapped Nami out of her dazed state, her eyes burning with furious helplessness as she stared at Krieg.
In that moment, she felt transported back two years - to the time she'd spent under Arlong's thumb.
The same terror, the same powerlessness, the same rage that could change nothing.
"DISARM!!"
Krieg's roar echoed with mockery and bloodlust as he gestured sharply.
At his signal, the pirates holding Cocoyashi villagers forced out over a dozen despairing screams from the captives.
The sickening sound of blades slicing through flesh followed immediately.
Then a fresh batch of severed heads with wide, unseeing eyes came rolling to rest at Nami's feet.
This horrific, bloody spectacle shattered what remained of Nami and Chopper's mental defenses.
"Stop! Please don't hurt them! I'll surrender! No more killing!" Nami wept uncontrollably as she retracted the thundercloud into her Climate Baton.
Chopper shrank back to his small form in anguish, though his gaze remained fixed blankly on Usopp's severed head.
"Hahaha! How pathetic!" Krieg laughed maniacally as he strode toward Nami.
"What use is power alone? As long as you have humanity, as long as you have bonds - even the strongest have weaknesses!"
Looming over Nami, Krieg eyed her body with undisguised greed.
"You know, just days ago at Syrup Village, I enjoyed a beauty who was no less exquisite than you. Seems my luck with women continues! Hahaha!"
Krieg reached out and began tearing at Nami's clothes.
"Stop that!"
Chopper swelled with rage, preparing to attack Krieg.
"Get lost, you beast!" Krieg roared, glaring at Chopper. "Or I'll slaughter every last person in this village!"
Another series of rustling sounds preceded more heads being tossed forward.
Several blood-drenched heads struck Chopper directly, staining his fur crimson.
Staggering backward, Chopper let out a cry of terror and pain.
"Haha! Just a wild animal after all. Now, where were we, little thief cat?"
Krieg ripped away Nami's thin nightgown, exposing her pale, full skin.
"KRIEEEEEEG!!!"
Just as Krieg was about to violently grab Nami, a hysterical roar erupted from the sea beyond Cocoyashi Village.
The next instant, a terrifying storm impact shook every corner of the village.
Bzzzzzt...
The air vibrated, the ground rumbled.
Lightning-shaped cracks spread like spiderwebs across the sky.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
The heads of pirates holding villagers exploded like firecrackers, sending geysers of blood skyward.
"Guh-!"
Krieg's head rang as he vomited blood, his large body flying backward as if struck by cannon fire before crashing through a grove of orange trees.
"LUFFY!" Nami cried out, her voice trembling with fear and desperation.
Simultaneously, a blinding sword flash split the dark sky in two as a figure wreathed in blue flames slammed into the ground, driving an invisible blade into the earth!
"Sword Lotus Bloom -!"
With a resonant voice echoing, the blood within the remaining thousand pirates transforming into razor-sharp sword energy and blade radiance that pierced through their bodies from the inside out.
The dazzling sword light, after penetrating the pirates' bodies, spun in the air like blooming lotuses, slicing the few remaining pirates into pieces.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two figures abruptly appeared before Nami.
"Luffy! Zoro!"
Seeing the newcomers, Nami and Chopper immediately burst into tears, their suppressed fear and anguish pouring out as they threw themselves into the pair's arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
Zoro silently stepped forward and picked up Usopp's head.
He gazed at Usopp's face for a long time before letting out a deep sigh, reaching out to gently close Usopp's wide-open eyes.
Luffy held Nami and Chopper tightly, his teeth clenched as he stared fiercely at Krieg beneath the tangerine tree.
Tap. Tap.
Footsteps echoed from the darkness.
It was Robin.
In her arms, she carried the unconscious Kaya.
Seeing that Nami and Chopper were safe, Robin finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But when she saw the head in Zoro's hands, her expression darkened.
Zoro walked into the tangerine grove and looked down at Krieg lying on the ground.
"He's dead... by his own hand."
The moment Luffy released his Conqueror's Haki and sent Krieg flying, Krieg had realized his doom had come.
Though not particularly strong, his head hadn't exploded.
Clearly, Luffy had intended to capture him alive.
Without hesitation, Krieg grabbed the battle spear beside him and slit his own throat.
"Die in remorse, Straw Hat Kid! Hahaha! You'll forever remember my name - Krieg!"
Under the moonlight, Zoro emerged from the tangerine grove and turned his gaze to the numb-looking Luffy.
"This... is the true world of pirates!"