The flames of plunder and destruction soon spread as if they were about to consume everything.

"Brothers! Kill them all! ”

"Oh——!"

The pirates who attacked the village took advantage of the fire to loot their belongings and burned down their houses, but even though they were not satisfied, they finally drew their swords full of murderous intent to all the villagers.

"Hurry up! Escape to the forest! ”

An old woman shouted, she seemed to be the elder of the village.

The women fled into the forest with their children in their arms, and although the men took up arms to resist, they were no match for the pirates who were like sea locusts.

"Look at my ——!"

A big man in the village, fighting alone against the pirates. I saw that he used the wooden shield in his left hand to block the opponent's attack, and then raised the woodcutter in his right hand and slashed it hard.

"Bastard!"

"Huh?"

A pirate tries to sneak up on the big man from behind, but is slashed to the ground by a swordsman who arrives at the last moment.

"Saka!"

"Lacs! Be careful! ”

The man named Saka smiled at the big man in self-reproach, and the big man Lacs nodded vigorously in response.

The next moment, the two of them rushed into the battle again.

"Ahh

Suddenly, hearing a girl's scream, Saka quickly turned around.

Just when the girl in the village was about to be killed by the pirates, Saka, who arrived quickly, knocked the pirate's sword away with his sword.

"Maya! Run! ”

Saka shouted to a girl named Maya.

Although Maya is only a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl, she gives the impression of being very mature. The hair behind the ears is tied up on each side and stuck with a hairpin, and the rest hangs straight behind the back. Saka was in his early twenties, his red robes tied up with a belt—a very pained expression on his hound-like face.

Saka ...... Dangerous! ”

When the girl was about to shout "danger", the pirate who carried out a sneak attack without martial arts had already smashed the mace on Saka's back.

At the moment of being hit by the mace, Saka's knife was also broken in two.

Saka muttered a small "Oops! AT THE SAME TIME, HE PULLED OUT ANOTHER SHORT KNIFE PINNED TO HIS WAIST - "ZORO", AND THE SHORT KNIFE WITH THE OAK HANDLE ENGRAVED ON THE MAN'S NAME.

"Ahh

Saka, who was slammed into the abdomen again by the mace, staggered, and blood oozed from the corner of his mouth.

As the pirates continued their attack, a burning pillar collapsed and lay between the two men, separating them from each other with a wall of fire.

"Run! Saka! ”

Maya helped the badly injured Saka and ran towards the forest.

It was dark and windy. An ancient castle stood on the edge of the lake against the backdrop of this terrible weather, and black clouds swept into the castle like a whirlpool.

The trees of the forest, trembling in the lightning.

Although it is said to be an ancient castle, it is actually in ruins, and it looks like no one lives in it at all, and it has collapsed everywhere, as if it has been abandoned for more than a hundred years.

The wounded Saka was supported by Maya and climbed the stairs little by little.

Both men fled out of breath.

After looking behind, the vicious pirates actually chased back here.

"Saka! Keep it up! ”

Maya desperately motivates Saka.

However, if they had taken the injured Saka like this, it would have been impossible for the two of them to escape from the hands of these shark-like pirates.

The two men ran to a room in the castle, and there was no way out.

Three pirates came after him.

"Damn!"

Saka held Maya in his back and raised his dagger in his left hand.

He had been fighting with only one left hand—his right hand seemed to be useless, and his sleeves hung limply.

"Click!"

With a sound, a pirate slashed at Saka.

Saka used a short knife to block the pirate's sword, and his sword skills were completely different from those who could only pick up arms and slash indiscriminately - I saw that he used his much weaker short sword to easily defuse the opponent's attack, and then used all his strength to deliver a decisive blow.

Exquisite angle, exquisite time control -

"Ahh

Maya screamed in fright.

Saka's footsteps didn't keep up, and with the sacrificing blow that exerted all his strength, even these pirates who were simply miscellaneous fish easily dodged.

The reason is simple, his body has long been out of strength - which limits his sword play. In an instant, Saka was stabbed by the pirate with a backhand, and the wound was pulled from his flank to his shoulder, and he reflexively fell on a sarcophagus placed in the house.

"Hahahaha! Is that the level? Feed! ”

The pirates laughed at Saka and raised their knives, intending to kill him.

The girl suddenly stood in front of the pirates with open arms, intending to protect Saka - but this act of courage only stimulated the pirates' bloodthirsty desires.

"Mayan ......"

Saka whispered the girl's name as he tried to stand up with a determination to die. The lid of the sarcophagus was covered with a large amount of blood - the wound on his chest was very large, and the blood flowed frantically as if it had been pumped out by a water pump.

Not surprisingly, Maya was instantly knocked to the ground by the pirates.

Saka could barely move his head, and what he saw was a pirate walking towards Maya who had fallen to the ground with a sword, presumably trying to give her a final blow in the back.

"Mixed ......"

Badly wounded, Saka didn't even have the strength to lift his hand - he was desperate, and he fainted from blood loss.

A bolt of lightning lit up the sky outside, and a blinding white light shone in through the broken window.

The pirates looked down at Maya, a girl whose face was already swollen but still trying to stand up.

"Hahaha! It hurts, right? You ...... thing."

The sharp tip of the knife shone brightly in front of Maya.

The lightning outside the window became more intense, continuous, as if nature was hating something, and let out a roar.

And at the moment when the most manic lightning appeared, a little light seemed to be faintly visible between the sarcophagus and the coffin lid.

Saka's blood was all sucked into the tiny slit.

I don't know why, the lid of the sarcophagus opened on its own.

The pirates were completely oblivious to these things, and were still looking at Maya with lustful eyes—they had both a desire to kill and a desire to be beastly.

Unconscious, Saka's upper body fell completely into the sarcophagus. The lid moved slowly, and finally slipped away from the sarcophagus, only to hear a loud bang and fall to the ground.

The pirates heard the sound and looked back in surprise.

Saka also opened his eyes from the sound and vibration of the coffin lid slipping, and dimly seemed to see something emerging from the lightning.

As if grasping at a life-saving straw, Saka held it in his left hand.

"What is this guy doing?"

"Do you want to be stabbed again?"

"Hey! We might as well let him watch! Let him watch us take this chick ...... Hey, hey, hey! ”

The pirates retrieved all the swords pointed at Maya and stabbed Saka once more at Saka, who was lying on the sarcophagus, ready to break his hands and feet.

And yet—

Behind a purple-red light, it was not the vicious pirates who stood, but Saka, who was badly injured and unable to move.

I saw that Saka, who stood up, was holding a peculiar fruit in the shape of a tomato, but the color was a bewitching purple red, and there were cloud-like patterns on the surface of the fruit.

Blood mist kept pouring out from the surface of this fruit, and it seemed that it was this strange power that knocked down the villain just now.

The remaining two pirates had no idea that the dying Saka would be able to fight back, and they were so frightened that they retreated.

"Ahh......hh

Looking at Saka, who was holding the fruit sealed in the sarcophagus in front of her, Maya covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes filled with fear.

"Damn!"

"Die!"

As if manipulated by the fruit that Saka was holding, the two pirates rushed towards it defenselessly, as if they had sent their bodies up.

With his remaining hand, Saka lifted the strange fruit high - only to see that the blood mist was even thicker.

“？！”

The pirate who attacked Saka's left side turned his body into a dried corpse in an instant.

The pirates who attacked from Saka's right side split their heads vertically with a blood-colored slash.

As if there was life, constantly breathing and expanding their own blood mist, the three pirates all died miserably.

"Put it down, Saka, this fruit is ......"

Maya gasped - but she was too scared to speak.

In front of the pile of three corpses, Saka felt the blood mist intoxicated and brought the fruit to his mouth.

Outside the window, there was a deep darkness.

"Hey, hey, hey......"

Saka smiled, and as the fruit was swallowed into his stomach one by one, his whole person seemed to be sublimated. Moreover, the huge knife wound on his chest, the fatal wound that would cause massive bleeding, actually closed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Hey, hey, hey, ......"

Feeling the power surging in his body, Saka laughed like a wild beast, unusually terrifying—the cut in his missing right arm even began to itch with new flesh.

Maya looked at the suddenly changed Saka, but she couldn't stop shaking.

Lightning and thunder surrounded the castle by the lake.

……

Sunny afternoon.

Aska Island is an ideal place to stay for the seabirds of the Great Route. A large number of seagulls are constantly flying in the low altitude in order to get some small fish and shrimp left over from the fishmongers in the harbor market.

Although it is an island on the Great Shipping Route, it is not far from the East China Sea, so the same dazzling sunlight as most of the East China Sea makes it warm everywhere.

Inside a port on a small island.

The table of the moored "Golden Merry" is filled with dishes like a hill.

"So, what we are going to help General Polusalino investigate this time is this Aska Island with the legend of the Seven-Star Sword?"

Chopper, a humanoid reindeer, asked as he desperately stuffed the steak into his mouth.

Captain Luffy also fought for the meat steak completely unconvinced, and ate it desperately: "But I remember that the legendary seven-star sword, it seems that someone has already gotten it, right?" That's what my grandfather seems to say! ”

"You're right, that legendary seven-star sword appeared in the Clifford Kingdom of the New World many years ago - it is now the residence of Admiral Sakasky,"

Nami and her friends explained, "After the navy launched a demon slaying order there, killing its original owner, the sword was obtained by the high-ranking cadre of the Revolutionary Army who appeared there at the time, Moria 'Moonlight'! ”

"Revolutionary Army? Isn't that ......?"

"It's Luffy's father's organization, my brother's shipyard often receives anonymous shipbuilding commissions from them," Frankie took a big sip of Coke and then looked at Zoron, "But if that's the case, why did Admiral Polusalino ask Zoro to tell us that you want to investigate this island with the legend of the Seven-Star Sword?" ”

"Could it be that the green algae head who almost missed the boat is mistaken? After all, with his IQ ......"

Sanji smoked a cigarette after his meal and glanced at Zoro defiantly.

"Hey! Chef Sei, do you want to be cut? ”

Zoro didn't show weakness, and subconsciously wanted to draw his sword and stage a daily life on the Golden Merry with Sanji, but he was directly pressed down by Nami, whose forehead was blue-

"Listen to me first!"

"After the Seven Star Sword was obtained by 'Moonlight' Moria, this guy, who has an extremely strange personality himself, has completely become a strange person, and the power of this magic sword has deeply affected him, and even began to try to turn him into a puppet who only knows how to kill and destroy - but coincidentally, General Polusalino purified him and destroyed the sword."

"So, General Polusalino didn't ask us to investigate the sword itself on this island - after all, this magic sword is completely non-existent, and what he wants us to investigate is the legend related to this sword!"

"Legends?"

"Well, legend has it that since ancient times, the people of this island have feared the red full moon, which only appears once in a hundred years, as an ominous moon that invites disasters and mutations."

"Therefore, the gods of the Seven Stars of Askar, in order to save the people from the calamity, bestowed upon King Askar the orb of great power and the Sword of the Seven Stars."

"But after that, the fate of the Seven Star Sword was full of irony. For in the midst of this legend there is a very ominous prophecy - 'When the red full moon fills the sky, great power will be lodged in the sword.' That great power is like a double-edged sword, and when all the seven stars are defeated, it is when darkness begins to dominate the world.'" ’

"Black and dark will rule the world?"

Luffy was stunned for a moment, then panicked: "Isn't that me?!" ”

"Stupid! Nobody says anything about you! It's about the darkness related to the Seven Star Sword! Sanji gave Luffy a kick in anger.

"But ......"

Chopper frowned, "The god-given sword contains the power of the 'Red Full Moon' that brings calamity?" It feels a lot like the legend of the King's Treasure on Crown Island......"

Zoro nodded: "So, Admiral Polusalino asked us to investigate this island, perhaps because of the same situation - this place may also have something to do with the huge kingdom that has been erased. ”

"Hey! I say! Whatever it has to do with it, can you say it differently! Luffy snapped his nose rather depressed, "I can understand that, but we're pirates!" Pirate! How can we do whatever General Polusalino tells us to do? ”

"So—it's actually our own adventure! Because this island with the legend of the seven-star sword is just on our way, yes! That's it! ”

“……”

Looking at Luffy, who slapped his palms and felt that what he said was very reasonable, and couldn't help nodding to himself, my friends couldn't help but look at me, I look at you-

"The darkness that governs the world, if it's Luffy......"

"That's great!"

"No, maybe it's the end of the world......"

(End of chapter)