Now We're in Trouble

Just as Urouge was about to be turned into a pincushion, a piercing metal music suddenly erupted. Drums, piano, and trumpet sounds clashed together in a chaotic mess—painfully unpleasant to hear. It was a mystery how anyone could endure such a cacophony.

The one playing so animatedly was Apoo. He possessed the Music-Music Fruit, allowing any part of his body to transform into an instrument. Through different performances, he could create soundwave attacks that inflicted various types of damage on enemies.

Simply put, he used soundwaves to attack. But the music he produced was... objectively terrible.

Kaguya frowned. Accustomed to more elegant music, she clearly found the noise unbearable.

But in the next moment, a barely visible soundwave shot forth like a blade of wind, slicing through the air and colliding with the falling swords like lightning.

"Scrape Disk Blast!"

BOOM!

A deafening explosion erupted as the soundwave struck the weapons mid-air. Blades were blasted away, smoke billowed, and flames surged, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

Urouge coughed violently. "Were you trying to kill me?"

"Exactly. Shame I missed," Apoo grunted, turning around. "Hmph. You think beating us will be that easy?"

"Is that so?"

A voice, as if echoing from the depths of the abyss, sounded by his ear. Apoo's pupils shrank as he spun around in alarm—at some point, Kaguya had appeared behind him.

"Look out!" Hawkins and Drake shouted, leaping toward him. But it was too late.

A pale hand flashed from behind, piercing straight through his back. Amid the gushing blood, it emerged from his chest, clutching a still-beating heart—Apoo's heart.

"How..." Apoo's face turned pale. The searing pain in his chest left him stunned. Everything had happened so fast, he hadn't even realized what was going on.

"Because," Kaguya whispered by his ear, "your noise was far too annoying."

With that, her white hand clenched. The heart exploded like a watermelon, spraying crimson blood.

Apoo shuddered violently. Blood spurted from his mouth, and he stumbled before collapsing to the ground.

"Apoo!"

Everyone was shocked, eyes wide in disbelief. They hadn't expected Apoo, one of the stronger among them, to be killed so easily.

They hadn't spent much time with Apoo, and his abrasive personality made him hard to like. But those who knew him well understood that he wasn't truly a bad person—just too blunt for his own good. Seeing him fall now, the others couldn't help but feel a sense of shared sorrow.

The vivid red blood stood out starkly against Kaguya's fair skin, striking and eerie. She wiped her hands clean with a white handkerchief, her skin instantly pristine again. Turning back around, she smirked and said, "One down. Now, it's your turn."

...

Naval Headquarters, Marineford.

"Vice Admiral Issho, Fleet Admiral Sengoku is inside. You may go in."

The speaker was a tall, cold-faced woman with long pink hair—Tina. Many years had passed, and she was even more beautiful than before, having shed all traces of youthful innocence and gaining the charm unique to a mature woman.

Fujitora nodded and pushed the door open, striding in.

"You're here. Did you find anything on Sabaody Archipelago?" Sengoku looked up but paused in surprise. "What happened to your injuries? Was there some kind of incident?"

Fujitora said solemnly, "That's exactly what I came to report."

Seeing Fujitora's grave expression, Sengoku grew serious as well. "Go ahead. Tell me what happened."

Fujitora's deep voice resonated through the room. "Artoria... has returned."

Sengoku's eyes narrowed. "Wasn't she reported missing a few years ago? How did she suddenly reappear? Is the intel reliable?"

"Yes," Fujitora nodded. "The one I fought on Sabaody Archipelago was her. And these wounds... were caused by her."

"What?" Sengoku exclaimed in disbelief. "You mean she injured you?"

It was no surprise Sengoku was shocked. Fujitora's strength was among the best in Marine Headquarters. Though not yet officially an admiral, he already possessed admiral-level power—comparable to Akainu or Kizaru. There were very few who could injure him.

"That's right," Fujitora said, face dark. "And you may not believe this, but... I lost to her."

"You lost?" Sengoku was stunned. "Are you serious?"

"It's the truth," Fujitora said heavily. "In fact, if she hadn't held back, I might not be alive to report this."

Sengoku was dumbfounded. Fujitora, defeated?

He knew of Artoria. Years ago, she had appeared on Amazon Lily and defeated two admirals, Akainu and Kizaru. Her power had been staggering. However, later intelligence suggested she had used some method to temporarily boost her strength, and it was believed she didn't truly possess the power to defeat an admiral.

Subsequent reports confirmed this assumption.

But now, years later, Artoria had returned, and her strength had grown even further.

The problem was, Marine Headquarters had recalled most of its elite forces in preparation for the approaching Whitebeard Fleet. This left the outside severely understaffed. If Artoria chose this moment to create chaos, they would be in deep trouble.

Worse still, there were rumors that Kaguya—missing for many years—had also resurfaced. She was said to have attacked multiple pirate ships at sea and even appeared on Fishman Island. Though these reports couldn't yet be confirmed, they couldn't be ignored either.

After all, it was Kaguya. Twenty years ago, she was hailed as the strongest in the world. There was almost no one who could match her, and no one had ever heard of her being injured. Her casual dominance in battle was so terrifying that even Sengoku felt uneasy.

Only after her confirmed disappearance and years of fruitless searching did the World Government finally relax. For some reason, they later pinned false charges on her.

Sengoku had strongly opposed this decision at the time. He knew that if Kaguya ever found out she'd been framed, she would never let it go.

Sengoku furrowed his brows.

If it really is her who's returned this time... then things have just gotten very troublesome.

...

Bang!

A dark figure was sent flying and crashed heavily into the wall with a thunderous boom. The stone wall shattered on impact, chunks of debris flew in all directions, and a large hole opened up with cracks spreading like a spiderweb.

What hit the wall was a dinosaur—battered and bruised, its body twisted unnaturally, who knows how many bones had been broken. Its chest bore several deep, bone-exposing wounds, from which blood flowed continuously.

The dinosaur struggled to rise, but before it could, a storm of swords, spears, and halberds rained down from above, instantly riddling it like a sieve.

Blood splattered.

The dinosaur twitched a few times and then collapsed to the ground, blood streaming from its nose and mouth. In a gentle white glow, its body gradually transformed back into human form.

All around, others lay in pools of blood, sprawled at odd angles: Urouge, still bound tightly by the Chains of Heaven and pierced like a pincushion; Apoo, with a gaping hole in his chest; and Hawkins, nailed to the ground and soaked in blood.

The golden-haired girl swept her cold gaze over the corpses lying in the blood and turned away without another glance. Her slender figure gradually disappeared into the darkness of night.

She had acquired three more Devil Fruits. Her mission target was drawing ever closer. The remaining fruits were mostly from powerful individuals, or those with major relevance to the storyline. In other words, the real performance was about to begin.

When Kaguya returned to the inn, it was already deep into the night. Everything was still and silent. Only the rustling of leaves and the faint fluttering of curtains in the breeze could be heard.

As she entered the bedroom, she saw Bonney sprawled ungracefully across the bed, snoring softly. Her cheeks were flushed with the lingering effects of alcohol—but what really caught the eye was her outfit.

Perhaps due to the summer heat, she wasn't wearing much—just a thin layer of underwear, and even that wasn't fastened properly. Under the silken moonlight, large swaths of pale skin were exposed.

Kaguya unconsciously felt her mouth go dry and coughed lightly, averting her gaze. She picked up a glass on the table and took a sip—only to realize after swallowing that the sharp taste wasn't water, but fruit wine.

So this girl really did love drinking. Even her everyday drinks were spiked with alcohol. How she could enjoy such a strange flavor was a mystery.

But just then, Kaguya suddenly felt dizzy. Her steps grew unsteady, and after a few sways, she lost her balance and collapsed onto the bed.

She hadn't expected the fruit wine to be so mild in flavor yet have such a strong aftereffect. The alcohol hit hard, and Kaguya's cheeks flushed red.

As she tried to push herself up from the bed, her hand accidentally landed on something soft. With her thoughts muddled from the drink, her fingers instinctively squeezed a few times.

Mnnh...

A soft moan escaped as Bonney frowned slightly in her sleep. She shifted and, without waking, wrapped her arms around Kaguya's head like a plush toy, pulling her into an embrace.

Kaguya once again found herself enveloped in the sensation of being smothered, and her already hazy mind grew even more clouded. Breathing in the sweet scent at the tip of her nose, she involuntarily opened her mouth and...

At that moment, Bonney's eyes slowly opened, drowsy and unfocused. She seemed not to realize what was happening. But soon, a strange wave of sensation surged over her like a tide, and her body instinctively responded, slowly swept away by the moment.

...

Regardless, Bonney seemed extremely embarrassed about the whole thing. Early the next morning, she chased Kaguya out with a pillow.

Seriously, what's the big deal? We're all adults here. Having a little something happen isn't exactly out of the ordinary.

At that moment, Bonney came down from upstairs and silently sat at the dining table. She looked no different than usual. In fact, judging by how quickly the food disappeared from the table, everything seemed normal.

Kaguya thought for a moment and said, "About last night—"

Bonney immediately froze, then yelled, red-faced, "Don't you dare bring it up!"

Clearly, Bonney was still quite upset about being, well, overpowered. Even though Kaguya was also a woman now, being reduced to a helpless mess was undeniably humiliating.

By this time, the tavern had begun to fill with people. A conversation that broke out caught Bonney's attention and made her slow down her eating.

"Hey, did you hear? Something big happened last night."

"What big thing? Just that Sabaody Archipelago got wrecked, right?"

"No, not that. Something else."

"Something else? Let's hear it."

Everyone in the tavern gradually tuned in to the conversation.

"That's right. There was a murder last night."

"A murder? Big deal. Isn't there a murder every day on Sabaody Archipelago? What's so special about that?"

"This one's different. The victims were members of the Worst Generation."

"You mean the Supernovas? The ones with bounties in the hundreds of millions?"

"Exactly. Several of them were wiped out last night by someone."

"No way. How could they be killed? And multiple ones at that? Did the Navy do it?"

"Doesn't seem like it. If it were the Navy, they'd have captured them and thrown them into Impel Down. Besides, the Navy's tied up with Whitebeard right now."

Listening to the growing chatter around them, Bonney nudged Kaguya with her elbow and whispered, "Don't tell me that was you again."

"Why is your first thought always me?" Kaguya replied helplessly. "Do I just look like a villain to you?"

Bonney seemed relieved. "So it wasn't you, huh?"

"Actually," Kaguya said with a smile, "It was me."

"..."

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