Aramaki yawned, then glanced at the people gathered nearby.
His gaze passed over the others before settling on the burly old man standing at the center.
"Are you people sure he'll come? You know how strong he is. If we don't leave now and he really shows up, none of us will get the chance to escape."
Ever since receiving special permission to become a Celestial Dragon, Aramaki had grown even more arrogant.
At least when dealing with other people.
Cyrus was a different matter. Aramaki was genuinely afraid of him.
He believed Cyrus's powers were simply too effective against his own.
Although he had developed ways to counter fire after further exploring the Woods-Woods Fruit, this was Cyrus they were talking about.
No one on the sea could claim to face Cyrus's flames without fear, and Aramaki was no exception.
"Just follow your orders."
Kong turned toward the green-haired man, his expression grave.
"We have a way to retreat."
Kong knew he was bait—and bait that might not even serve its purpose.
It was an extremely dangerous role, but he had no choice. He could not refuse the World Government's command.
"A way to retreat? Why wasn't I told about it?"
Aramaki's expression immediately changed.
They hadn't brought him here just to abandon him, had they?
"Relax."
Kong understood what he was thinking even without hearing it aloud.
"Even the World Government wouldn't willingly throw away a Logia user of your strength."
"You damn old man! I'm a Celestial Dragon now, so show some respect!"
Aramaki flew into a rage at being spoken of as though he were merely a useful weapon.
Before joining the World Government, he had practically worshipped the Celestial Dragons.
Cyrus's two attacks on Mary Geoise had briefly shaken that faith, but every doubt vanished once Aramaki became a Celestial Dragon himself.
Kong exchanged glances with the others, and they all fell silent.
A Celestial Dragon?
So were they.
Still, no one bothered arguing with Aramaki.
As Kong had said, the World Government currently lacked powerful fighters who were truly loyal.
A fanatic like Aramaki was a perfect tool.
All it had taken was an empty title to make him willing to risk his life.
"He's here."
Just as Aramaki prepared to complain again, a hoarse voice sounded from nowhere.
His body tensed, and he shot upright before looking around wildly.
He could not find the speaker.
Was someone else hiding on the island?
"Prepare yourselves." Kong spoke in a low voice.
Under Aramaki's startled gaze, a faint purple glow appeared beneath their feet.
Intricate patterns spread across the ground until they surrounded everyone present, including Aramaki.
'That teleportation circle?'
Aramaki had not served the World Government for long, but he had already accompanied Celestial Dragons on several operations.
He remembered these strange patterns, which could transport people over enormous distances.
Boom!
A wave of scorching wind swept across the island as a figure made entirely of fire appeared in the sky.
The burning man hovered high overhead and looked down at the island.
Everyone below raised their heads to meet his gaze.
"Cyrus!"
Kong's expression hardened as dense Armament Haki spread across his entire body.
The coating was so complete that he looked like a black iron statue.
His Armament Haki was nearly comparable to Garp's.
Boom!
Cyrus descended like a meteor and smashed into the ground, blasting open a deep crater.
Flames poured outward from the impact point and instantly set the island's forest ablaze.
Aramaki bared his teeth and instinctively took a step back.
The flames drew inward, and Cyrus rose from the crater, his cold gaze sweeping across the group.
"Kong."
His voice was equally cold.
"Hm?"
Kong instinctively sensed something was wrong when he saw Cyrus's expression.
But Cyrus had already arrived, which meant their plan had succeeded.
"Activate it!"
At his command, the enormous purple formation flared to life.
"So that's your plan."
A stiff smile appeared on Cyrus's face.
The purple light flashed and Cyrus vanished without a trace.
"So that's how it works?"
Aramaki stared at the place where Cyrus had disappeared, then looked around and realized that the rest of them had remained behind.
"Where did you send him?"
"Somewhere he won't be able to escape for a while."
The hoarse voice sounded again.
A gloomy middle-aged man wearing a bubble helmet emerged from hiding, but the moment he finished speaking, his expression changed.
"Where's Kong?"
Aramaki spun around.
Everyone else was still present.
But Kong had disappeared!
"What happened?"
The others exchanged bewildered looks.
"Could it be…?"
Disbelief entered the Celestial Dragon's voice.
Had Cyrus grabbed Kong and dragged him along at the instant he was transported?
Kong was extremely powerful.
Yet now that it had happened, there was no way they could attempt to retrieve him.
If Cyrus used the opportunity to escape, everything they had arranged would be wasted.
Uranus still needed time to gather enough power to fire.
Their trap could not imprison Cyrus permanently, but it should hold him for several hours.
After all, it relied on the power of space itself.
…
Cyrus looked around at his new surroundings.
It appeared to be an ordinary deserted island.
The vegetation was sparse, the island itself was small, and loose stones covered most of the ground.
A lone hill stood along one edge.
He could see almost the entire island at a glance.
However, Cyrus could sense a strange barrier separating it from the outside world.
After inspecting his surroundings, he turned toward Kong, who stood nearby in grim silence.
"If I'm going to take the bait, I may as well eat it too."
Cyrus's tone was calm.
Kong's vigilance sharpened, while confusion churned inside him.
Why had he been transported as well?
Had this been part of the plan from the beginning?
Had the World Government discarded him?
Even now, Kong did not understand why he had appeared here with Cyrus.
Cyrus raised one hand, creating a green doorway before him, then stepped through.
He reappeared only a short distance away, still on the same small island.
"I see. A spatial Devil Fruit."
Cyrus looked mildly impressed.
"The World Government has ruled for a long time. It seems you really have collected some useful abilities."
Even when he spread his Observation Haki as far as possible, his senses could not extend beyond the island.
Despite appearances, this place did not exist in the same space as the outside world.
The Door-Door Fruit still had limitations.
He would have to develop it further.
First, however, he needed to dispose of the target in front of him.
Cyrus turned.
His figure vanished, and flames gathered beside Kong.
"Don't underestimate me! How do you think I became Fleet Admiral?"
Sensing the danger, Kong roared and swung a fist toward him.
Before Cyrus's body had fully formed, the violent punch scattered the flames in every direction.
They immediately began gathering again, forming the upper half of Cyrus's body while fire still burned along its edges.
Boom!
Kong threw another punch.
Dense Armament Haki covered his fist, accompanied by flickering black lightning.
The force behind it created a storm that swept toward Cyrus.
The wind only fed the flames.
Fire erupted violently and rode the force of Kong's punch across the entire island.
It clung to everything it touched.
The sparse trees, the loose rocks, and even the lonely hill all began to burn.
Kong sliced the scorched flesh from his right fist and stared solemnly at the sight of stone itself catching fire.
Blood dripped from the exposed wound, but he did not so much as frown.
The flames continued spreading and growing, as though everything inside this isolated space had become fuel.
Then, under Kong's watchful gaze, the fire covering half the island gathered into an enormous human figure.
"What else do you have?"
The colossal fire giant spoke as the temperature within the confined space rose rapidly.
"If this is all you can do, you won't survive."
"Hah…"
Kong slowly exhaled.
He shook off the Marine coat draped across his shoulders, and the muscles covering his body began twisting and swelling.
The wound on his right fist had already healed completely.
Kong had always been powerfully built, but normally stood only around three meters tall.
Now his muscles expanded at a terrifying rate, enlarging his body until he became a towering mass of flesh seven or eight meters in height.
"So you're a Devil Fruit user too."
Cyrus immediately understood.
A master of Rokushiki could use Life Return to control every part of their body, but Kong's transformation clearly went beyond that.
"I ate the Muscle-Muscle Fruit. I'm a Muscle Human."
Armament Haki covered Kong from head to toe, transforming him into a black mountain of muscle with a strangely small head.
"Oh? Come on, then."
The fire giant rapidly contracted until Cyrus returned to his normal form.
He stepped forward, stopped a short distance from Kong, and beckoned.
There was a sharp sound like a powerful spring snapping loose.
A fist larger than Cyrus's entire body appeared before him.
Boom!
Cyrus met it with his left fist.
The scorching stone beneath his feet exploded from the impact.
Even so, Cyrus did not move back an inch.
"Keep going."
"Die!"
Kong unleashed both fists in a relentless barrage.
His speed turned his enormous arms into a blur as countless crushing punches rained down upon Cyrus.
Cyrus moved only his left hand.
Like an impenetrable shield, it intercepted every attack.
He had allowed the force of the first punch to spread into the ground.
After that, although Kong's blows became steadily heavier, Cyrus blocked every trace of their power without allowing any of it to escape.
"That's enough."
A voice suddenly sounded.
Cyrus narrowed his eyes.
Kong's next punch stopped abruptly.
His arm fell limply to his side, and his enormous body crashed onto the ground.
Cyrus stood holding a white-haired head by its hair.
Kong's eyes remained open, filled with disbelief.
Darkness spread from Cyrus's left hand and swallowed both the severed head and the body that was already shrinking back to normal.
Cyrus turned toward the source of the voice.
"You actually dared to appear in front of me again."
He looked at Imu, who had suddenly materialized nearby in black clothing.
Kong's death drew no emotion from her, though the Dark-Dark Fruit held her attention for several seconds.
"You should already understand that you cannot kill me." Imu spoke calmly.
"Heh. Tell me why you're here."
Cyrus sneered.
"I only came to confirm your answer one final time. You should have accepted my proposal."
Her gaze remained fixed on the darkness retreating into Cyrus's left hand until it disappeared completely.
"Rule the world together? We have nothing more to discuss on that subject."
Cyrus shook his head.
"What a pity. If you had agreed, those people wouldn't need to die."
There was something resembling regret in Imu's voice.
"Those people?"
Cyrus repeated.
"Everyone on Sky Island is important to you, aren't they? If you accept, they will be spared. It seems you have chosen to reject my kindness."
"Kindness?"
Cyrus tilted his head and studied her.
"So this is only a clone. And you're using the spatial ability user's body?"
He had seen through the truth after only a few glances.
"That doesn't matter. They were only another ability user."
Imu shook her head.
"Even if you destroy this body, this space will remain sealed for several more hours. By the time it opens, everything will be over."
"Aren't you afraid I'll destroy the entire World Government, kill every Celestial Dragon, and hunt down all the agents you've hidden across the world?"
Cyrus's voice lost all emotion.
"You know I can do it."
"I don't care."
Imu shook her head.
"Even if every last one of them dies, it means nothing to me."
"Bullshit."
Cyrus dismissed the claim flatly.
"If you didn't care, what have you been doing all these years?"
"I was merely preventing those ghosts from returning."
Imu looked at the black fabric covering her left hand, her tone remaining even.
"But that no longer matters. Everything can simply begin again."
"Oh? So you stole something that belonged to me."
Cyrus immediately understood the implication.
"It's already over." Imu said nothing more.
"So you did take it. That's fine. I'll just steal it back."
Cyrus appeared completely unconcerned.
"You don't have time."
Imu looked directly at him.
"If you intend to take revenge on me, you should hurry. From this moment onward, it will destroy the islands one by one. The resulting tsunamis will swallow the entire world, leaving you with nothing but an empty wasteland."
"Mm."
Cyrus nodded.
"You aren't angry?"
For the first time, a trace of emotion entered Imu's voice.
"No."
Cyrus shook his head.
"Why? Do those people mean nothing to you? What about those two women?"
Imu had become genuinely curious.
Was Cyrus like her after all?
"Of course they matter. They're mine." Cyrus answered calmly.
"That includes the others on Sky Island. They're members of my Guild."
"And they're about to die."
Imu continued watching him, unable to understand how he remained so composed.
"They won't."
Cyrus shook his head.
"After all, if you can come here using a clone…"
He met Imu's gaze with complete calm.
"Did it never occur to you that I could do the same?"