[POV: MARC]
The Knee Strike
Crocodile didn't even have time to react.
Abel moved so fast he was invisible to the naked eye.
WHAM!
A knee slammed into the Corsair's jaw.
The strike was so fast, so brutal, that Crocodile couldn't even turn into sand to avoid it.
CRACK!
His head snapped back. Blood burst from his mouth. He was launched into the stone wall with terrifying force.
BOOM!
The wall collapsed from the impact.
I stood frozen, watching the scene in horror.
He… he hit Crocodile before he could disperse…
Abel slowly turned toward me.
Then toward King Cobra, trembling on the ground.
He tilted his head, studying the king with curiosity.
"You have the same look as her…" he murmured in an ancient language I strangely understood.
"Her?" I repeated despite myself.
"The queen of my era. The one who was not a warrior. But who earned my respect during the Great War."
He paused, his gray eyes shining with strange nostalgia.
"She stood tall before death. Like him."
Then he vanished.
The Attack
Abel reappeared in front of me.
Instantly.
WHAM!
A hook smashed into my face.
I didn't even have time to react.
The force of the impact was INSANE. Like being hit by a cannonball.
My body flew.
Through the cavern.Through the corridors.Through the staircases.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
I broke through the tomb ceiling.Then the palace floor.Then the palace roof.
And I was expelled into the air above the building.
"HOLY FUCK!"
I slammed hard onto the marble floor of the inner courtyard.
THUD.
Pain exploded. Even with my immortality, that hit HURT.
[DAMAGE: FRACTURED JAW, CRACKED RIBS, CRANIAL TRAUMA][REGENERATION: IN PROGRESS…]
I spat blood and struggled to stand.
Around me…
The rest of the crew.Nami. Usopp. Chopper. Zoro. Sanji. Vivi.
They were inside the palace, watching through the windows.
And outside…
The Marines. Dozens of soldiers surrounding the building. Hina at the front.
"MARC!" Nami shouted. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!"
I stood up, still coughing blood.
"GET INTO THE FOUNDATION! NOW!"
"WHAT?!" Usopp yelled.
"THERE'S AN ANOMALY BELOW! AN SCP KETER! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DIE, GET IN NOW!"
I summoned the door immediately.
"BUT LUFFY—" Vivi started.
"HE'S ALREADY IN THE FOUNDATION! MOVE, NOW!"
I shouted with an urgency they had never heard in my voice.
They understood how serious it was.
Nami ran first. Then Chopper. Then Usopp. Then Vivi with Karoo.
Zoro and Sanji hesitated.
"WE CAN FIGHT—" Zoro began.
"NO! YOU'LL DIE! GET IN!"
Sanji clenched his teeth. "Damn it…"
They finally entered.
The moment the last one crossed the threshold—
CRASH!
Crocodile was thrown out of the palace.
He smashed through several walls and landed beside me in a cloud of dust.
THUD.
I looked at him.
His jaw was broken. Twisted at a horrible angle.
One of his arms hung limp, completely shattered.
The top of his clothes was torn, revealing skin covered in bruises and blackened patches. Massive hematomas. Broken ribs.
"Y-you… you have to run…" he growled weakly. "Th-this monster…"
Then Abel appeared.
Facing Abel
He leapt out of the hole in the palace.
Landing gracefully in front of us.
His gray eyes scanned Crocodile. Then me.
He raised an eyebrow.
"Interesting. You're unharmed."
I touched my face. The fractures were already gone. The ribs too.
"Immortal…" Abel murmured with a cold smile. "Fascinating."
He took a step toward me.
"Let's start with you."
The Massacre
What followed was… humiliating.
Abel beat me in several different ways.
At a speed where I couldn't even draw my weapon.
WHAM! BAM! CRACK!
A punch to the stomach.An elbow to the back.A knee to the jaw.
Each strike was precise. Calculated. Lethal.
But I didn't die.
My body regenerated instantly after every hit.
Which only fascinated him more.
"Interesting… you heal as fast as my brother once did."
WHAM!
A kick to the chest.
I was launched out of the palace.
Through the walls.Through the gardens.
I crashed into the desert sand, creating a crater.
BOOM.
Abel appeared beside me instantly.
He had sunk into the ground, completely unharmed, as if he'd landed gently.
He looked at me with… hatred.
"Do you know what I hate most?" he said coldly.
I spat blood. "What…?"
"Immortals."
I smiled despite the pain. "Like your brother Cain?"
His eyes narrowed.
SNAP.
A blade appeared in his hand.
Completely black. Made of a material I didn't recognize. It glowed with a sinister light.
"You dare speak his name…"
He slashed.
SLASH!
The blade cut through my neck.
Cleanly. Quickly.
But it was like striking water.
My skin closed before and after the blade passed. Instantly.
Abel frowned. "Even my conceptual blade can't harm you…?"
Then he suddenly turned his head.
As if seeing farther than his eyes allowed.
Toward the horizon.
Where Crocodile was trying to crawl away.
Abel vanished.
The Tremor
One second later—
BOOM!
A massive tremor echoed on the horizon.
The ground shook. Sand rose in clouds.
Crocodile… he's being slaughtered…
I didn't even have time to stand.
Footsteps. Many of them. Synchronized.
The Marines.
They quickly surrounded me, rifles raised.
And at the center—
Hina.
She stepped forward, cigarette in her mouth, cold stare.
"Marc. You are under arrest."
I stared at her, incredulous. "What…?"
"For the kidnapping of a Marine officer. Civilians saw you imprison Captain Smoker."
I raised an eyebrow. "You're serious?"
"Very. Now release Smoker. Immediately."
I looked at the dozens of Marines around me. Their weapons. Their arrogant confidence.
Then I burst out laughing.
"GYAHAHAHA!"
Hina frowned. "What's so funny?"
"You. Your arrogance. Your stupidity."
I slowly stood up, wiping blood from my mouth.
"Leave. Now. If you don't want to die."
Hina took it as provocation. "You dare—?!"
She began to move to activate her Devil Fruit.
Then an icy voice rang out behind her.
"Pathetic."
She froze.
The Marine Massacre
Abel was standing behind her.
Every Marine forming the circle around me was dead.
Their heads lay on the sand. Cleanly severed. No sound. No scream.
Hina slowly turned.
And saw the carnage.
Twenty men. Dead. In seconds.
"What… what is this…?"
She had heard nothing. Seen nothing. Felt nothing.
Abel stood there, black blade in hand, looking at Hina with indifference.
"Another insect…"
Hina clenched her teeth. She knew she was no match for this mysterious man.
But she refused to back down.
"I'LL ARREST YOU!" she shouted, charging.
She activated her Devil Fruit. Iron bars burst from her body, trying to imprison Abel.
SNAP. SNAP. SNAP.
Every bar was cut cleanly.
Before they even touched him.
WHAM!
A punch to the face.
Hina was sent flying into the dunes, unconscious.
Face to Face
Abel turned to me.
I slowly stood, arrogant despite the situation.
"You're strong," I said calmly. "But you can't kill me."
Abel smiled. "No. But I can torture you. Again and again. For eternity."
He stepped closer.
"I've seen that look in your eyes. That cold look. Emotionless. Calculating."
He paused.
"My brother had the same look once. Before I killed him."
He raised his blade. "I'll allow you one strike. Just one. After that, I torture you to death."
His arrogance gave me an opening.
I pulled my SCP-609 spheres from my pocket.
"Before we begin… I'm part of the Foundation."
Abel stopped.
His eyes widened slightly.
"The… Foundation?"
"Yes. The organization that contained you for millennia."
He remained silent for a long moment.
Then he laughed. A cold, bitter laugh.
"When I first appeared here, the Foundation didn't exist. But I know it. I've worked for you before. I remember."
He lowered his blade slightly.
"So you are my jailer. Interesting."
I looked at the sphere in my hand.
One chance. Only one.
I visualized the sphere inside his head.
SNAP.
The sphere vanished from my hand and appeared instantly inside Abel's skull.
By conceptual ability. Not physical.
CRACK.
His head exploded from the inside.
Blood. Bone. Brain.
Everything burst in a red spray.
Abel's body collapsed.
Then…
It began turning to ash.
Slowly. Like burning paper.
The ashes swirled in the wind and drifted toward the palace.
Toward the royal tomb.
Toward his coffin.
[SCP-076: RETURNED TO CONTAINMENT][STATUS: DORMANT][TIME UNTIL RESURRECTION: MINIMUM 6 HOURS]
I collapsed onto the sand, exhausted.
"Fuck… I almost died…"
Return to the Tomb
I struggled to my feet and walked toward the palace.
Through destroyed corridors. Collapsed walls. Traces of battle.
I descended back into the royal tomb.
King Cobra was still there. With his two Zoan guards, Chaka and Pell.
They were searching for Vivi, panicked.
"Princess Vivi! Where are you?!" Chaka shouted.
"PRINCESS!" Pell added.
I approached calmly. "She's safe. With me."
They spun around, weapons raised.
"Who are you?!" Chaka demanded.
"A friend. Vivi asked me to come."
I summoned the Foundation door.
PSHHH.
It opened.
Vivi ran out. "DAD!"
"VIVI!" King Cobra opened his arms wide.
She threw herself into him, crying. "Dad… I was so scared…"
"It's alright, my daughter. Everything is fine."
The others came out as well. Nami. Usopp. Chopper. Zoro. Sanji.
Then—
Foundation guards.
About ten of them. Armed. Wearing heavy transport equipment.
"Chain the cube," I ordered. "And transport it to the Foundation. Now."
The guards moved toward Abel's coffin.
The Interposition
King Cobra suddenly straightened. "WAIT!"
He stepped in front of the cube, arms spread. "You can't take that! It's the guardian of the Poneglyph! My family has been responsible for it for generations!"
I looked at him calmly. "Your Majesty. That is not a guardian. It's an anomaly. An SCP. It worked for the Foundation long before your family existed."
"I refuse! It is my duty—"
"If you continue trying to keep it," I cut in coldly, "I'll leak the fact that you have a Poneglyph here."
Silence fell.
"You… you wouldn't dare…" the king whispered.
"Really? You think the Celestial Dragons would be happy to learn that one of their former allies keeps a Poneglyph in his palace?"
CLANG.
The silence was deafening.
The Shock
Vivi stared at her father, stunned.
"Dad… you… you were Celestial Dragons…?"
King Cobra lowered his head. "Vivi… it's complicated…"
"YOU WERE CELESTIAL DRAGONS?!" she repeated, incredulous.
The Straw Hat crew was completely lost.
"What's a Celestial Dragon?" Luffy asked as he stepped out too.
"World Nobles," Nami explained. "The rulers of the World Government. The most powerful people in the world."
"And they were bad?" Luffy asked innocently.
"The worst," Zoro replied.
King Cobra finally raised his eyes. "My family… betrayed the Celestial Dragons 800 years ago. We refused to go to Mary Geoise. We stayed here. In Alabasta."
"Why?" Vivi asked.
"Because we didn't want to become monsters. Because we wanted to protect our people."
He looked at the Poneglyph.
"And that's why we guard this stone. To atone for our betrayal. To ensure the secret remains hidden."
"What secret?" Sanji asked.
The king didn't answer.
I smiled. "The Void Century. The Ancient Weapons. The truth the World Government wants buried."
Cobra looked at me in shock. "How… how do you know…?"
"I have my sources."
Containment
The guards finished chaining Abel's cube.
With reinforced chains. Seastone locks. Security seals.
They lifted it with an anti-gravity device and transported it into the Foundation.
CLANG.
The door closed.
King Cobra collapsed to the ground, defeated.
"It's over… my duty is finished…"
"No," I said calmly. "Your duty as king is just beginning. Your country needs you."
Vivi knelt beside him. "Dad… we'll rebuild. Together."
He looked at her, tears in his eyes. "My daughter… I'm sorry… I hid so many things from you…"
"I know. But now we move forward."
Luffy stepped up and held out his hand. "Hey, King! You're a good guy! Thanks for helping us!"
Cobra blinked. Then smiled weakly and shook Luffy's hand.
"Thank you… young pirate…"
[END OF CHAPTER 39]
[ANOMALY CAPTURED: SCP-076 – ABEL (KETER)][STATUS: CONTAINED IN COFFIN][CROCODILE: DEFEATED, LOCATION UNKNOWN][HINA: UNCONSCIOUS, MARINES DECIMATED][KING COBRA: SECRET REVEALED (FORMER CELESTIAL DRAGONS)][VIVI: IN SHOCK][MARC: INJURED BUT REGENERATED][TOTAL ANOMALIES: 15][NEXT STEP: CONSEQUENCES AND DEPARTURE FROM ALABASTA]