Chapter 77: The Sting
The world held its breath. The impossible had happened. The invincible, terrifying Black Crow, who had just crushed Red-Hair Shanks in a clash of wills, now had a claw the size of a warship's anchor erupting from his chest. Azure scales, wickedly sharp talons, and the dripping, shocking crimson of Levi's own blood painted a tableau of ultimate betrayal and defeat.
Gion's scream was a raw wound in the air. The Red Hair Pirates stared, frozen in a mixture of shock and grim satisfaction. The prisoners, for a fleeting second, felt a surge of vicious hope.
Kaido's voice, smug and tutting, rumbled from the clouds above. "You see? All that power, but you left your back open. A fatal mistake for a fledgling crow."
Levi looked down at the colossal claw impaling him. He didn't cough blood. He didn't gasp. His face, reflected in the gleaming scale, showed no pain. Only a faint, almost bored… irritation.
"Oh," Levi said, his voice unnervingly calm. "I was wondering when you'd work up the nerve."
He reached up, not to grip the claw, but to place his hand on it. His fingers didn't struggle against the scaled hide. They pressed against it, and a web of fine, black cracks—not physical, but spiritual—spread from his touch across the surface of Kaido's manifested claw.
Reiatsu Transfer: Soul Anchor.
Kaido's mocking grin in the clouds faltered. He felt a strange, cold sensation, not in his physical claw, but in the spirit he had projected with it. It was as if hooks had been set deep into his will.
"What trick is this?!" Kaido boomed, trying to retract his limb.
Levi ignored him. He looked over his shoulder, through the hole in his own body, at the stunned faces below. "A lesson, for those of you who think victory is decided by a single surprise attack."
Then, he pulled.
Not on the physical claw. On the spiritual tether he had just established.
From high in the clouds, there was a deafuring, pained ROAR that shook the sea. Not of physical injury, but of spiritual violation. Kaido's massive draconic form convulsed, his control over the clouds breaking. The claw impaling Levi began to… dissipate. Not retract, but turn to shimmering, insubstantial mist, starting from where Levi touched and racing back up its length toward Kaido's true body.
As the claw vanished, the grievous wound in Levi's chest remained for all to see—a horrific, fist-sized tunnel straight through his torso. And yet, he didn't fall. He floated, the wound not bleeding, the edges seeming to glow with a faint, inner black light.
"You…" Shanks breathed, understanding dawning faster than anyone. "It's not your real body."
"An afterimage," Levi confirmed, his voice echoing slightly, as if coming from a distance. "A very convincing one, reinforced with a substantial portion of my Reiatsu. Enough to fight, to pressure you, to feel real." He gestured to the wound. "Even enough to simulate damage. But it is, ultimately, just energy and will."
The truth crashed down on everyone. The Levi who had dominated Impel Down, who had clashed with Shanks, was not physically present. He had never left Marineford. He had split his consciousness and a great deal of his power, creating a remote-controlled puppet of such potency it could duel an Emperor. The real Levi was still at the war.
The "body" before them began to fade, becoming translucent. "My business here is concluded," the fading Levi said, his gaze sweeping over the broken prisoners, the horrified Red Hair Pirates, the recovering Gion. "The prison is secure. The guardian is in place. Remember this day. Remember the price of defiance."
His eyes lastly found Shanks. "And you, Red-Hair… we will finish our discussion another time. On a field where I am not… otherwise occupied."
With that, the afterimage dissolved completely into a swirl of black mist that was sucked down into the shaft, presumably returning to its source.
Silence, heavier than before, blanketed Impel Down. The victory they thought they'd witnessed was an illusion. The defeat was even more total. He hadn't just beaten them; he had done it with a fraction of his attention, from miles away.
Gion, tears still wet on her cheeks, now stared at the empty space with a different kind of awe. He was that powerful. He was fighting a war on two fronts simultaneously.
High above, Kaido's roars of fury and pain echoed as he wrestled with the spiritual backlash Levi had sent up the tether. He had tried to assassinate a shadow, and the shadow had bitten back with soul-deep venom.
On the main deck of the approaching World Government fleet, Kosas watched the spectacle through a spyglass, his face pale. The reports hadn't done Black Crow justice. Not even close. He wasn't just a new Admiral. He was a strategic weapon of incomprehensible scope.
"Change of plans," Kosas said, his voice tight. "Do not approach Impel Down. Hold position. Observe only. Relay to the Five Elders: Situation at Impel Down is… contained. By Admiral Black Crow. Assessment of threat level requires… drastic upward revision."
Back at Marineford, on the execution platform, the real Levi—who had never stopped appearing to sit calmly in his Admiral's chair—opened his eyes fully for the first time in minutes. A tiny, almost imperceptible trickle of blood escaped the corner of his lips. Maintaining that level of remote operation, especially absorbing the kinetic and spiritual force of Kaido's "killing blow" to sell the illusion, had taken a toll, even on him.
He wiped the blood away with a thumb, unseen by the cameras focused on the raging battle between Akainu and Whitebeard. A cold, calculating smile touched his lips.
Good, he thought. The diversion served its purpose. Impel Down is mine. The Red Hair Pirates are shaken. Kaido is wounded and enraged. And here…
He watched Akainu struggle against the cunning Whitebeard. The stage was set. The old lion was bleeding, tired, but still devastating. The time for the final, dramatic act was approaching.
Levi stood up from his chair, drawing the eyes of Sengoku and Garp. The pretense of remote supervision was over. Now, he would step onto the ice and claim his trophy.
The Black Crow was done with illusions. It was time for the real performance to begin.
(End of Chapter)
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