“I am Buck!
The great Buck!”
“Conqueror of the Grand Line!”
“Ruler of the North Blue!”
Kane’s mouth twitched as he listened.
Sure, the guy had lost his mind and was just swinging wildly without using his tricky abilities — which actually suited Kane’s plan perfectly.
But this insane rambling was just too much to take.
He could barely hold it together.
“Telling yourself that doesn’t make it true.
Other people have to acknowledge it.”
“I could call myself the Pirate King too!
Who’d believe that?”
“You can talk all you want, but your reputation really is nothing.
I’ve genuinely never heard of you.”
The massive hammer froze mid-swing.
Buck’s face turned beet red.
“Pirate King?”
“You?”
“Shameless!”
Buck let out a furious roar, forcing out hidden reserves of strength.
The hammer swung wildly, cutting through the air with each strike.
“My reputation is huge!
Everyone knows me — you’re just some hick who doesn’t know anything!”
Kane dodged continuously, using the terrain to his advantage, deep in thought.
The movement patterns had a rhythm to them.
Could it be…
No rush.
He would test a bit more.
“Is your reputation really that big?”
“Of course!” Buck paused mid-swing.
“But I still don’t know your name.”
“Then listen well.” Buck straightened his back and drove his hammer into the ground.
“My name is—”
“It doesn’t matter what your name is!” Kane cut him off ruthlessly, then added, “Who cares what you’re called?
Nobody gives a damn!”
Buck’s mouth hung open.
His face flushed red, then turned purple with rage, and finally darkened to the color of a burnt pot — as if he had changed races entirely.
“AAAAAAHHHH!!!”
“MY NAME IS CARLOS BUCK!”
Buck exploded with fury, determined to smash this insufferable pest into a meat patty.
On the other side, Wolf was sweating with anxiety.
The situation had looked so good just moments ago — how had it turned into this so quickly?
“Don’t worry.
Kane is far stronger than he’s showing.” Law noticed his concern and spoke up to reassure him, offering his own guess:
“Kane is probably afraid of Buck’s hypnotic light ability.
He’s trying to figure out a way around it.
After all, he doesn’t have any gear that can resist it.”
“I see.” Wolf understood the key issue, and then a flash of inspiration struck him.
His expression turned resolute.
He gripped his weapon, stepped forward, and took a deep breath.
“Hey…
what are you doing?
Don’t!” Law sensed something was wrong and tried to stop him.
But it was too late.
Wolf had already let out a bellow.
“Kane!
Buck’s hypnotic light affects the eyes!
I have specially made small lenses here that Law is carrying — if you put them on, you can completely block his light!” Wolf held a pipe in one hand and a pistol in the other, striking a combat stance.
“So switch with me!
Come back and put the lenses on!”
BOOM!
The hammer smashed into the ground nearby, carving out a crater and sending up a cloud of dust that blocked the space between Kane and Wolf.
Buck turned his head and mocked loudly: “Gababa!
You’re an idiot, old man!
I can hear you!
“Also — you just revealed a key piece of information.” Buck turned to Kane, his eyes beginning to glow.
“You’re all on the same crew, but this guy isn’t wearing those special lenses — am I right?!”
Hypnotic Light — FIRE!
Submit to my power!
I’ll make you kill the old man and the brat with your own hands!
And that white bear and the other two brats too!
“Kane!”
“ROO—”
Wolf shouted in desperation.
Law tried to activate his ability, but he was too exhausted and the dust blocked his view — he could neither muster the strength nor precisely swap objects.
“Go ahead.
Kill the old man first.
Then the brats.
After that, I’ll beat you senseless and make you suffer.”
“You’d better hold on — we’ve got twenty-four hours!
Gababa!”
Wolf’s expression darkened.
He fired his pistol while charging at Buck: “Law!
We have to take him down right now!”
Law did not hesitate.
He charged at Buck alongside Wolf, grabbing a wooden stick from the ground.
“Yapping away like a dog.
What the hell are you barking about?”
A fierce shout rang out.
Kane appeared behind Buck, swinging his blade and slicing him into two blobs of liquid — and cutting through the dust cloud as well.
Then he followed up with a roundhouse kick, sending the massive hammer flying.
Even as liquid, Buck had not let go of his weapon.
He was carried along with it, crashing into the flames of a burning ruin.
“AAAAHHH!!”
“Why didn’t it work?!
My ability is supposed to be invincible!”
“Is the old man lying?
Are you actually wearing the lenses?”
…
Buck froze, staring at Kane in disbelief — because the man had closed his eyes.
Kane raised his hand and tapped his temple with a finger.
“I got a key piece of information too.”
“Since your hypnotic light affects the eyes to control people, then the perfect solution is simple — just close your eyes and don’t look.”
“Then keep your eyes shut tight!
Don’t you dare open them!” Buck, with sparks still clinging to his body, leaped high into the air and brought his hammer down with full force.
Kane kept his eyes firmly closed, yet he seemed to anticipate Buck’s every move.
He sidestepped slightly to avoid the hammer, easily dodging the subsequent flurry of attacks.
Buck attacked — Kane evaded.
Buck chased — Kane fled.
And so Kane led Buck on a lap around the ruins at the edge of the square.
Then — he moved.
As he twisted to avoid the hammer, his long blade swept through the flames on the ruins, catching a tongue of fire along the blade.
“Flame Breathing: Fourth Form — Blazing Flame Vortex!”
Kane unleashed a horizontal slash.
The flaming attack spread outward from his center, forming a massive wheel of fire.
WHOOSH — CRACKLE —
“AAAAHHH!!”
Buck’s chest was split open by a deep gash.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
The flames clung to his body, dealing continuous damage.
“Just as I thought — fire can hurt your ‘Elementalization.'”
“Water extinguishes fire, but fire also evaporates water.
I started suspecting this when I noticed you deliberately avoiding the flames earlier.”
“Then I tested it repeatedly and confirmed my theory.”
Kane raised his flame-wreathed blade, the tip pointing straight at Buck.
“The health bar is showing now.
“What a joke!” Buck’s mouth stretched into an exaggerated grin, opening wider and wider — light flickering within.
“Don’t underestimate the Drunk-Drunk Fruit’s power, boy!”
“Let me send you to hell with this!
Melting All Love!”
A bluish-white beam shot from Buck’s mouth.
Kane frowned and dodged aside.
The beam struck the wall behind him, blasting a large hole with a sizzling sound.
“Gababa!
Let’s see how many of these you can dodge!”
“Melting All Love!”
“Melting All Love!”
“Melting All Love!”
…
Kane’s brow was furrowed so deeply it looked like a knot.
“Without the Empress’s beauty, don’t give your attacks names like that, you bastard!”
He switched to a two-handed grip, raising the blade high behind his right shoulder, lowering his center of gravity, and settling into a stance.
Flame Breathing: Secret Technique — Ninth Form
“PURGATORY!”
Kane erupted with overwhelming momentum.
The flames on his blade ignited and suddenly exploded around him, before he charged forward like a hellfire storm.
The incoming bluish-white beams were obliterated one after another by the spiral slash that combined blinding speed and searing flames.
“W-wait!
We can talk about this— AAAAAHH!!”
Kane ignored him.
With a single slash, he appeared behind Buck in an instant, leaving a long diagonal wound across his chest.
Surging flames invaded his body through the gash.
“The one who should go to hell is you — you bastard who gives attacks stupid names!”
Kane flicked his right hand, scattering flames in all directions.
“But before that, I’ve got one last experiment to run.”
As he spoke, eerie ghostly aura erupted from Kane’s body, climbing and clinging to the blade.
“You’re too weak.
I can’t count on your ‘Elementalization’ pressure to awaken Armament Haki.”
“Wh-what are you doing?” Buck’s voice trembled.
He forgot about everything else — ignoring the flames on his body, he immediately shifted into liquid form to escape.
But the moment Buck fully liquefied, a single slash sent him sprawling.
Blood splattered everywhere as he reverted to human form.
“The old man was right — you have to fight magic with magic.”
“The Ghost Ghost Fruit’s derivative ability — Ghost Aura — can actually hurt you.
What a pleasant surprise.”
As he spoke, the Second Ghost God, Phantom Shadow Kaija, silently manifested behind Kane.
“This really is the end now.”
In the distance, Wolf closed his eyes, standing as still as a wooden post.
Beside him, Law watched the old man’s silhouette.
His vision began to blur.
A phantom figure gradually materialized before him.
Corazón…
The buried memories began to assault Law’s mind.
Corazón’s tragedy.
That man — the root of all darkness — who killed his father and brother, with family slaughtering family…
No!
Corazón’s tragedy must not repeat itself!
Law saw Kane move and mustered every ounce of his strength to shout:
“Brother Kane!
Buck is—”
“Phantom Shadow Secret Technique — Ghost Shadow Slash!”
“—Wolf’s biological son!”
The phantom blurred past.
Kane’s blade and Kaija’s blade intersected in an X-shaped slash that tore Buck apart — separating his head from his body.
Wolf stood with his eyes closed — tears streaming down his face.
Law’s eyes went blank.
“Th-that’s…
just like that…
dead?”
Kane, crouched mid-pose, stiffly turned his head to look behind him.
“WHAT?!”