On the shore of Angel Island, the once-chaotic crowd had fallen completely silent.
The refugees who'd been screaming and fighting just moments ago now stood frozen, staring open-mouthed at the pirate ships exploding one after another in the distance. Some had their hands halfway to their faces, caught mid-gesture. Others had tears still wet on their cheeks from their panic. But now they all wore the same expression.
"What just happened?" someone whispered.
That single question seemed to break the spell. Murmurs rippled through the crowd as people tried to make sense of what they were witnessing.
Then someone with sharper eyes than the rest pointed at the distant figure moving through the flames.
"That's God Usopp! He came to save us!"
Heads whipped around, eyes straining to see through the smoke and fire.
"It can't be..."
"Is it really him?"
But the explosions answered for themselves. One ship after another erupted into brilliant fireballs.
"It IS God Usopp!" A woman fell to her knees, hands clasped in prayer. "He answered us! He heard our prayers!"
"The god is real!" someone else shouted.
"Quick, everyone pray! Let him hear our wishes!"
The most devout were already on their knees, hands pressed together, tears streaming down their faces. Others looked conflicted, caught between hope and skepticism. The resistance fighters who'd been preparing to stand and fight quietly slipped away from the crowd.
Near the shoreline, McKinley stood apart from the masses. Unlike the refugees, he knew at least part of the truth. He'd witnessed the battle between "God Usopp" and Shiki. He'd seen the god lose.
That defeat had broken something inside him. He'd spent days feeling discouraged, questioning everything he'd believed about the divine figure who'd supposedly watched over them. But now the god had returned, performing miracles right before their eyes.
He wanted to feel happy about it. He really did. But there was something hollow about the joy trying to form in his chest. He'd learned the hard way that admiration and understanding were worlds apart, you could worship something without truly comprehending it. He'd worshipped the god. He still did, in a way. But knowing that the divine figure had already been defeated once... it changed things. It made the whole situation feel fragile.
If he could have his way, he would've preferred the god to be alive but far away from all this. Not throwing himself back into danger for people who couldn't even defend themselves.
---
A crimson streak tore across the sky, trailing fire and smoke. The final pirate ship erupted into a massive fireball that painted the clouds orange and red.
In less than three minutes, all fifty-three pirate vessels had been reduced to burning wreckage floating on the White Sea.
The silence that followed was so complete it felt unreal. Then came one last explosion.
A figure shot out from the flames, arcing through the air before touching down on a cloud island several hundred meters away.
It was Usopp.
He looked completely unharmed. The explosions that had destroyed an entire fleet seemed to have washed over him like a gentle breeze. The Bomb-Bomb Fruit had made him immune to his own attacks, allowing him to walk through infernos that would've incinerated anyone else.
But he wasn't alone.
Another figure burst from the smoke, this one covered in soot and ash, clothes torn and charred. The man spread his arms wide as he cleared the flames, his eyes burning with madness.
"You fucking lunatic!" the pirate screamed. "You crazy piece of shit!"
He'd survived. Somehow, impossibly, he'd survived Usopp's rampage through the fleet. And now he wanted revenge. But as he chased after the sniper, he quickly realized a problem. Usopp's every step triggered an explosion beneath his feet, launching him forward. There was no way to catch up at a normal running pace.
The pirate's body began to shift and change.
His neck elongated grotesquely, vertebrae popping and cracking as his spine stretched. The hair on his head, which had been relatively full moments before, vanished completely, leaving him with a smooth, bald skull. His body expanded, muscles rippling and reforming into something more avian than human. Wings sprouted from his back.
And his speed increased dramatically.
If Usopp hadn't been using explosions to propel himself forward, the man would've already overtaken him easily. But it wasn't just the speed difference that mattered. The real problem was much simpler.
He was running on empty.
He'd pushed himself beyond his limits for those three minutes, pouring everything he had into destroying the fleet. The enchanted golden apple and potions had given him power far beyond what his body should've been capable of handling, but now that artificial strength was fading.
Without the Regeneration and Strength effects, his muscles screamed in protest with every movement. His lungs burned. His vision swam at the edges. The only thing keeping him conscious was the residual healing effect from the enchanted golden apple, but even that was wearing thin.
The pirate could see it too. He was a patient hunter by nature, the kind who waited for his prey to stumble, before moving in for the kill. And right now, his prey was about to collapse.
Just a little more and you're mine, he thought hungrily.
Usopp's next explosion-powered leap was weaker than the last. He could feel his control slipping.
He misjudged the angle.
The blast sent him careening sideways, and he slammed into a cloud bank. Fortunately, the cloud's natural elasticity absorbed most of the impact. He lay there for a moment, gasping for air, sweat pouring down his face. Every muscle in his body felt like it was on fire. His hands were shaking so badly he could barely make a fist.
Through his blurred vision, he spotted Marcus waiting exactly where they'd planned.
He forced his trembling hand up and gave Marcus a thumbs up. Marcus returned the gesture with a small smile.
Mission accomplished. Usopp had done his part.
The pirate noticed the exchange and his eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Typical Paramecia user," he sneered, circling overhead. "You burned through all your power like a reckless idiot. You're already dead!"
His talons flexed in anticipation, imagining how they'd feel tearing through flesh.
"Yeah," came a voice from behind him. "You're already dead."
The pirate's eyes widened in shock. He'd been so focused on Usopp that he'd completely forgotten about the guy standing nearby.
Marcus' blade flashed.
The pirate didn't even have time to dodge before the strike connected. His body went spinning through the air, tumbling end over end straight toward where Usopp was lying.
"Oh shit!" Usopp scrambled to the side, his exhausted muscles screaming in protest.
Thepirate's talons missed him by centimeters, close enough that he could hear the whistle of sharp claws passing by his head.
"A little warning next time?!" he wheezed. "I almost died just now! Do you know how tired I am? I just blew up fifty-three ships!"
Marcus just shrugged. "If you hadn't moved, he wouldn't have hit you anyway."
The pirate's body hit the cloud surface and bounced once before reverting to his human form. He was a muscular man, bare-chested, with a nasty scar running from his forehead all the way down to his abdomen. His eyes were already glazing over, consciousness fading fast.
Then he stopped moving entirely.
Next to Marcus, a pea-shaped fruit that had been sitting innocuously on the cloud surface began to change.
The transformation was visible even from where Usopp was lying. Swirling patterns appeared on the fruit's skin, and its color shifted from green to a mottled brown. In just seconds, it had become a Devil Fruit.
Marcus picked it up, examining it with interest. "Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Vulture. Not bad."
Usopp had been watching the whole thing, and despite his exhaustion, he felt a spark of understanding.
"So that's how you do it," he muttered.
Marcus glanced over at him. "Took you long enough to figure it out."
"Well, excuse me for being slow." Usopp managed a weak grin. "I've been a bit busy, you know, playing god and destroying entire fleets."
It made sense when you thought about it. When a Devil Fruit user died, their power transferred to a nearby compatible fruit. Marcus had clearly been experimenting with this mechanic, perfecting the art of Devil Fruit collection.
The Straw Hats had all wondered how he had accumulated so many fruits. Now the answer was obvious, he'd been killing ability users and capturing their powers.
The real question was why nobody else had figured this out. The World Government had to know how Devil Fruit reincarnation worked. The Marines probably did too. So why weren't they collecting fruits from the prisoners in Impel Down?
Maybe it was a moral thing. Maybe there were complications Usopp didn't understand. Or maybe...
BOOM!
A massive explosion erupted from the burning wreckage of the destroyed fleet, interrupting Usopp's train of thought. His head snapped toward the sound, eyes widening in disbelief.
A figure was using explosions to launch himself into the air, riding the blasts in a manner similar to how he had just been fighting.
"What the... another Bomb-Bomb Fruit user?!"
He stared in shock as the figure continued to rise, propelled by controlled detonations beneath his feet.
But then his eyes caught more detail. There weren't one but two people in the air. The one creating the explosions was being carried on someone else's back. And the person doing the carrying had a distinctly metallic sheen to their body.
"Over there!" one of them shouted, pointing directly at the cloud island where Usopp and Marcus were standing.
"Oh no," Usopp breathed.
BOOM!
Another explosion propelled the metal man and his explosive passenger forward, accelerating them straight toward their position.
He turned to Marcus, pointing at the incoming human projectiles.
"Did someone steal your Bomb-Bomb Fruit?"
Marcus was equally stunned, his eyes tracking the approaching threats.