As the glowing screens above the Heartless around the world lit up once again, countless eyes immediately turned toward the broadcast. In pirate bars, Marine bases, isolated villages, and even within certain kingdoms of the New World… everyone was now watching Hades' coliseum with a mix of fascination and unease.
Unfortunately for the spectators, the screens only displayed the fighters currently inside the arena. The other captives remained unseen, guarded on the beach under Krieg's supervision and his living chains.
At the center of the coliseum, the first ten pirates tried to maintain some composure despite their obvious fear. Some awkwardly held their weapons while others tried to reassure each other.
"C-Calm down! They're just monsters!"
"There's ten of us!"
"Yeah! We can win this!"
Even Hades seemed amused by their optimism.
Then the arena gates opened.
BOOOOM.
Forty Large Bodies slowly emerged, their massive muscles rolling beneath dark fur while their yellow eyes gleamed with savagery. Behind them stood thirty Soldier Heartless perfectly lined up.
As the glowing screens above the Heartless around the world reignited once more, the attention of thousands instantly focused on Hades' coliseum. In taverns, aboard ships, inside certain Marine bases, and even deep within the New World, many now watched these broadcasts with morbid fascination.
Once again, the screens only showed the participants currently inside the arena. The other captives remained invisible, still held on the beach under Krieg's watch and his living chains.
At the center of the coliseum, the ten pirates sent first tried desperately to keep their composure. Some attempted to boast despite their trembling legs.
"Tch… they're just monsters!"
"There's ten of us against them!"
"Yeah! We can handle this!"
Even Hades looked like he was struggling not to laugh as he watched from his lodge.
Then the heavy arena gates burst open.
BOOOOM.
Forty Large Bodies slowly marched out with aggressive growls, their enormous arms almost dragging across the ground while their yellow eyes shone with violent hunger. Behind them appeared thirty Soldier Heartless, perfectly aligned, shields raised and black swords in hand.
Silence immediately fell over the pirates.
"…Why are there so many?"
"Isn't this supposed to be a tournament?!"
"Weren't we supposed to fight normal opponents?!"
Hades then raised his microphone with a huge grin.
"LET THE SHOW BEGIN!!"
The massacre was instantaneous.
One pirate charged forward screaming toward a Large Body, saber raised.
The Heartless simply grabbed his arm before smashing him into the ground with monstrous force. The impact made the man bounce across the sand like a ragdoll before he rolled all the way to the arena wall with a muffled groan.
Two others tried to surround a Soldier Heartless.
The first slashed toward its head, his saber striking the helmet that absorbed the blow.
CLANG.
The second tried to stab the creature in the back…
But the Soldier suddenly pivoted before kicking him directly in the chest, launching him several meters away.
"AAAAAH!!"
The third pirate fired his pistol in panic.
The two bullets were casually dodged with a simple sidestep before the gunman was cut down by the Soldier Heartless.
All across the arena, it was the same story.
The pirates panicked.
Screamed.
Ran in every direction.
One man even tried to climb the walls to escape.
A Large Body literally leapt several meters into the air before grabbing his leg and smashing him into the sand.
Three pirates finally managed to bring down a Soldier Heartless together.
"WE GOT IT!!"
The monster immediately got back up, spinning on itself like a capoeira fighter.
The three men were sent flying in different directions.
Even the spectators watching the screens began grimacing.
"They're getting humiliated…"
"They can't even beat one…"
The worst part was probably the ending.
The last pirates still standing desperately grouped together back-to-back while the Heartless slowly surrounded them.
"W-We surrender!!"
"PLEASE!!"
But the Large Bodies charged anyway.
A few seconds later…
It was over.
The arena sand was covered with groaning bodies, broken weapons, and pirates incapable of standing back up.
And on the Heartless' side…
Not a single one had been destroyed.
Hades burst into laughter from his lodge.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!"
He theatrically pointed toward the arena.
"This is what happens when amateurs think they can survive in MY coliseum!!"
Even back on the Grand Line beach, several captives watching the scene through their screens had turned pale as they finally understood one essential thing.
They were not there to witness a tournament.
They were there to survive.
The silence on the beach grew heavier and heavier after the massacre of the first group. The remaining pirate captives stared at their screens with fear-drained faces while Krieg remained motionless among them, gigantic, his black chains slowly writhing around the prisoners like serpents ready to strike.
Three pirate captains finally stepped forward together.
They understood.
Fighting alone meant dying.
The largest of the three carried a massive axe strapped to his back and had a bounty of fifty million berries. To his right stood a scar-covered man armed with two modified revolvers, wanted for forty-five million. The last one, younger but clearly the smartest of the group, had a forty-one million bounty and constantly shifting eyes.
Without hesitation, they abandoned the men still loyal to them on the beach.
Cowardly.
Without even a glance backward.
"Sorry guys… but we survive first."
"We'll avenge you later!"
Their own crews watched them leave with horrified or resigned expressions.
Even Hina seemed disgusted by their behavior.
"Pathetic…" she muttered while crossing her arms.
Meanwhile, spectators across the world witnessed something far worse.
Inside the arena…
The ten defeated pirates began transforming.
Darkness slowly seeped out of their bodies while they screamed in agony. Their silhouettes twisted, their shadows unnaturally swelled before becoming true Heartless.
Some transformed into Shadows.
Others into Soldiers.
One of them even became a Large Body before unleashing a monstrous roar.
Then…
All of them slowly vanished into the shadows of the coliseum.
Only the original seventy Heartless remained standing at the center of the arena.
The silence that followed across the world was ice-cold.
Even several Marines watching the broadcast felt chills run down their spines.
The losers truly became monsters.
I then made a quick trip between the coliseum and the beach, grabbing the next three pirate captains by the collars before dragging them toward the portal of blue flames.
The three immediately began begging.
"P-PLEASE!!"
"We can pay!!"
"We'll leave the Grand Line!!"
But the moment I looked at their hearts…
I felt absolutely no hesitation.
Red.
Crimson.
Almost saturated with darkness.
These men regularly murdered innocents. Not in ordinary pirate battles. No.
Civilians.
The weak.
People incapable of defending themselves.
I observed them for a few seconds before coldly replying:
"You should have begged forgiveness from your victims."
Then I literally threw them into the arena.
Their screams echoed throughout the coliseum while Hades burst into laughter in his lodge.
And the following fights…
Were exactly the same.
No suspense.
No heroic comeback.
Even in trios, the pirates were far too weak. The Large Bodies crushed them physically while the Soldier Heartless methodically drove them back with powerful kicks.
One duo managed to survive for almost an entire minute before a Soldier shattered both their legs with a simple low kick.
Another pirate tried to surrender immediately…
Before being knocked unconscious by a Large Body that nearly ripped his arm off along with his weapon.
The worst was probably the final lone fighter.
Because of the odd number of participants, he ended up alone in the arena.
The man was already crying before the gates even opened.
"I want to go home…"
The Heartless overwhelmed him in less than fifteen seconds.
Fight after fight…
Defeat after defeat…
The captives on the beach watched their own future unfold before their eyes.
And when it was finally over…
Forty-four pirates had been transformed into Heartless.
Now, only these remained:
The three pirate captains.
And my three favorites.
Mr. 3.
Miss Goldenweek.
And Hina.
The only ones who still had a real chance of surviving Hades' coliseum.
I then grabbed the three pirate captains together before violently throwing them into the arena under the tense gazes of the remaining captives still on the beach.
Unlike the previous groups…
These ones actually knew how to fight.
The moment their feet touched the sand, the axe captain roared and charged directly at a Large Body, his weapon coated in a thin layer of rudimentary colorless Haki. The strike literally exploded the Heartless' torso into a spray of darkness.
The global audience immediately reacted.
"Finally, someone who can kill them!"
The revolver gunman used explosive bullets capable of blowing apart Large Bodies and slowing down Soldier Heartless, even if his firing rate left much to be desired. As for the third captain, more agile, he moved rapidly between enemies with two short blades, systematically targeting the creatures' yellow eyes.
For the first time since the beginning of the tournament…
The original Heartless truly began to fall.
The battles were brutal.
Violent.
Chaotic.
A Large Body grabbed the revolver captain by the arm, but the man fired an explosive bullet directly into its mouth before blowing its head apart.
The agile swordsman then dodged a Soldier Heartless before deliberately shoving one of his allies into the path of another strike to save his own skin.
"BASTARD!!"
"Survive first, complain later!"
Even as allies…
They continued betraying each other whenever an opportunity appeared.
The axe captain absorbed the majority of the attacks, his body covered in wounds and black burns while the other two exploited the openings he created to eliminate enemies.
Little by little…
The seventy Heartless of the first round were finally destroyed.
The last Large Body eventually collapsed after an explosive shot to the head while the three pirates remained standing in the middle of the arena… completely exhausted.
Their breathing was heavy.
Their bodies covered in blood and sweat.
The axe captain planted his weapon into the ground before laughing weakly.
"Hah…"
He looked up toward the lodges.
"We won!!"
Then he pointed at Hades.
"Now let us leave!!"
…
Silence.
Then Hades literally burst into laughter.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
Even Zeus, seated higher up in the clouds, looked at them as though they were the biggest idiots in the world.
The spectators across the world immediately understood the problem.
They knew.
The coliseum had ten rounds.
But these three pirates, recently captured by Sora…
Had absolutely no idea.
The victorious smile on the axe captain's face slowly began to disappear when he noticed the audience's reactions.
"…Why are you laughing?"
Then the heavy arena gates opened once again.
BOOOOOOM.
The three captains froze.
Ten Large Bodies slowly emerged, pounding their fists against the ground.
Then came twenty Green Requiems, floating above the sand like poisonous specters.
And finally…
Twenty Red Nocturnes and fifty Yellow Operas flooded the skies of the coliseum.
The expressions of the three pirates completely shattered.
"…This is a joke."
"No…"
"NO!!"
Hades raised his microphone with a monstrous grin.
"SECOND ROUND!!"
The barrage began immediately.
The Yellow Operas opened fire all at once.
Dozens of lightning bolts instantly crossed the arena in a deafening explosion.
BOOOOOM!!
The three captains were struck head-on before they even had time to reposition themselves.
The gunman screamed as his body convulsed violently under the electricity. The agile swordsman tried to flee toward the arena walls…
But the Red Nocturnes immediately bombarded his path with fireballs.
The axe captain tried to protect the others.
"REGROUP—"
A Large Body smashed him in the face with a punch, but the captain retaliated with an axe strike that forced it back. Before he could finish it off, however, a Green Requiem appeared and healed the Heartless, leaving the axe captain completely stunned.
"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KI..." he tried to shout before being swarmed by the ten Large Bodies.
The fight instantly turned into humiliation.
The three men were already far too exhausted after the first round. Their movements were slower, their dodges imprecise, their attacks desperate.
Lightning rained down without pause.
Fire exploded everywhere around them.
The Large Bodies constantly forced them into close combat while the flying creatures bombarded them from the skies.
Even the spectators were beginning to grimace at the sheer brutality of the massacre.
The revolver captain was eventually struck by three simultaneous lightning bolts before collapsing to the ground, smoke still rising from his body.
The agile swordsman tried to abandon him to survive alone…
Before a Large Body grabbed his leg and brutally smashed him into the sand.
The last man still standing was the axe wielder.
He roared one final time before desperately charging toward the Yellow Operas…
But a storm of lightning completely engulfed him.
A few seconds later…
All three captains were on the ground.
Defeated.
Humiliated.
And Hades' coliseum had just reminded the entire world of one simple truth:
The first round… was only the beginning.
I observed the three defeated pirates lying on the ground while the infernal flames of the coliseum danced around their still-smoking bodies. Hades was still laughing in his lodge, clearly delighted by the spectacle they had given the audience.
I slightly raised my eyes toward him.
"Hades."
The god of the underworld immediately turned his head toward me with an amused smile.
"Hmm?"
I pointed toward the three bodies sprawled across the arena.
"Can I take those ones for my own Heartless?"
The god barely took a second to think before shrugging.
"Take them."
He burst into laughter again.
"After a show like that, I'm not gonna cry over three monsters."
His gleaming gaze turned toward the screens still broadcasting reactions from all over the world.
"And besides…"
His grin widened.
"If you keep giving me fights like this in the future, we'll both come out winners."
I nodded slightly before descending into the arena.
The three pirates were still conscious.
Barely.
The axe captain weakly lifted his head toward me.
"…Monster…"
I didn't answer and simply released a gigantic Shadow to transform them.
Darkness immediately spread.
The three men screamed as their shadows violently twisted beneath the eyes of the global audience.
Just as I expected…
They did not become simple Shadows or Soldier Heartless.
Their strength, willpower, and desires had been enough to create unique variants.
The first to complete his transformation was the axe captain.
His body swelled violently, his muscles nearly doubling in size while his skin took on a dark metallic texture. He now stood well over three meters tall. His gigantic axe fused directly into him before disappearing into a mass of darkness.
The weapon instantly reappeared in another of his hands.
And then in another.
He could now summon or dismiss his axe at will from any of his monstrous arms.
The new Heartless let out a deep roar that shook the arena.
The second pirate underwent a far stranger transformation.
Instead of growing larger, his body became thinner, taking on an appearance vaguely reminiscent of a Blue Rhapsody… but far more disturbing. Dozens of hollow spikes emerged from his back, arms, and even shoulders, each resembling the barrel of one of his former revolvers.
His blue eyes glowed.
Then his entire body suddenly spun before a barrage of dark energy was fired from several cannons at once.
BOOOOM.
Even Hades let out an impressed whistle.
"That one's going to be fun…"
I nodded slightly.
A true mobile turret.
As for the last pirate…
He changed surprisingly little physically.
He kept almost his entire human appearance, aside from his completely black skin and glowing blue eyes.
But his twin daggers…
Had become something else.
Blue electrical arcs constantly ran across their blades, crackling dangerously around his arms. Every movement left unstable electric trails behind him, an obvious consequence of the brutal punishment the Yellow Operas had inflicted on him in the arena.
The new Heartless slowly looked at his weapons before smiling.
An empty smile.
Cold.
Then he suddenly vanished in an electric burst before reappearing several meters away.
I smiled slightly at the sight.
"Interesting…"
Even Hades seemed satisfied with the result.
"Looks like you've got a sharp eye when it comes to potential…" he said with amusement.
When I returned to the beach after the transformation of the three pirate captains, the atmosphere had completely changed.
After what they had just witnessed…
No one considered the coliseum a simple fight anymore.
It was a grinder.
A place where the weak were crushed before being turned into monsters.
I calmly walked between the prisoners when I suddenly felt someone lightly grab the bottom of my coat.
I lowered my eyes.
Miss Goldenweek.
Or rather, Marianne.
The little painter in the pink hat was trembling slightly, her eyes red and swollen from crying. Unlike her usual calm demeanor, she now looked completely terrified after seeing nearly all the other participants disappear.
Her voice was weak.
Fragile.
"P-Please…"
She lowered her head before tightening her grip on my coat.
"Don't make me go into that arena…"
Tears started running down her cheeks.
"I don't want to die…"
Even Krieg slightly turned his head toward her without moving.
Marianne finally looked back up at me with genuine fear in her eyes.
"I can't fight those monsters…"
Her voice trembled more and more.
"My paintings don't work on them…"
She looked down at her own hands as if they were useless.
"I have no way to defend myself…"
She struggled to breathe before finally breaking down completely.
"Please… I just want to go home…"
Even Hina seemed uncomfortable watching the scene.
The Rear Admiral observed the young girl for a few seconds before letting out a heavy sigh.
"Hina hates to say this…"
She turned toward me, cigarette between her lips.
"But this child clearly has no place in your arena."
Marianne quickly wiped her eyes but kept trembling.
Hina continued in a colder voice:
"Her abilities don't even work against the Heartless."
She pointed toward the screens still displaying the previous fights.
"She just watched forty-seven people get slaughtered and then transformed into monsters right in front of her."
Even Hina's voice sounded slightly harsher than before.
"And she's only sixteen."
Marianne immediately lowered her head again, ashamed of being so frightened.
"I-I can do something else…"
She spoke quickly, as if desperately trying to make herself useful.
"I can draw… cook a little… I won't be a bother…"
Then she looked back up at me one last time.
"But I really don't want to go there…"
Silence fell over the beach for several seconds.
Even Mr. 3 seemed unable to make a joke this time.
Looking at the three remaining contestants still standing on the beach, I let out a long sigh. Unlike the other pirates captured earlier, none of them possessed the dark, saturated red that characterized ruthless murderers.
They were… more complicated.
The sea breeze blew gently around us while the Heartless screens continued broadcasting the flames of the coliseum in the distance. Marianne kept her eyes lowered, still trembling, while Hina remained standing straight despite her chains, and Mr. 3 mostly focused on trying not to panic.
I finally spoke calmly.
"The others were pure criminals."
My gaze briefly moved toward the traces of battle left across the beach.
"Men who killed innocent people without the slightest hesitation."
Then I slowly turned my eyes toward Hina.
"You…"
I gently pointed at the Rear Admiral.
"Your heart is blue."
She immediately frowned.
"What does that mean?"
I answered bluntly.
"It means you mainly live to follow rules and orders… whether they are just or not."
Silence instantly fell.
Even Mr. 3 stopped moving.
I calmly continued:
"You protect people because it's your duty… but if tomorrow the Government ordered you to do something horrible, you would still continue as long as it remained 'the law.'"
Hina's fists clenched violently.
Those words hurt her.
Because deep down…
She knew it wasn't completely false.
"Hina is not just a tool…" she muttered through gritted teeth.
But her voice lacked conviction.
I then shifted my attention toward Mr. 3.
The bounty hunter immediately jumped.
"W-Well… I guess I've got a weird color too…"
"Green."
He blinked.
I lightly crossed my arms.
"That means you mainly target bad people… or people worse than yourself."
Galdino actually looked relieved for half a second.
Before I continued:
"But you still harmed innocent people along the way."
His nervous smile vanished instantly.
"So sorry…"
I shrugged slightly.
"You won't escape the arena either."
The poor man immediately turned pale before looking toward the arena displayed on the screens with an expression close to despair.
"…I'm going to die…"
Then…
I finally turned my attention toward Marianne.
The young girl trembled slightly before instinctively taking half a step back. Her eyes were still wet with tears, her hands tightly pressed against herself as if trying to protect her body.
I remained silent for several seconds before slowly kneeling down to her height.
The gesture seemed to surprise everyone.
Even Krieg slightly tilted his head.
I slowly raised my hand before wiping away one of the tears still running down her cheek.
"You, however…"
Her breathing slightly stopped.
"Your heart is golden."
Marianne slowly raised her eyes toward me.
I gave her a faint smile.
"That means you've mostly helped good people."
Her lips trembled slightly.
"You're not made for a place like this."
Her eyes widened as I continued:
"So… I'm willing to spare you from the coliseum."
Silence.
Then her eyes immediately filled with hope.
"R-Really?!"
I slowly nodded.
"But in exchange…"
I gently placed a hand on her head.
"I'm taking you to East Blue."
Marianne froze.
"There, you'll live safely."
It took her a few seconds to truly process my words.
"T-Thank you…"
Her voice completely broke.
"Thank you so much…"
This time she fully burst into tears, but from relief, before hurriedly bowing to me over and over again.
Beside her, Galdino, also known as Mr. 3, let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Ahhh… at least you're going to make it out of this…"
Even though he was trying to joke, his face clearly showed that he wasn't certain he would survive Hades' coliseum himself.
Hina, meanwhile, silently observed the scene.
And despite her earlier anger…
Even she seemed relieved that the young girl would escape that hell, and she needed to survive in order to provide the Marines with information about Sora's heart classification system.
(Author's Note: And that's it for this chapter. I'm going to do something new here — I'll leave you the three images of the Heartless the pirate captains became. You have until next Saturday to choose one of the three. I won't say anything about how it'll be used, just pick one ^^)