Goa Kingdom Royal Capital, Royal Guard Garrison
"Grand Duke Oterluk assassinated the King and Prince? Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
"They're saying the entire Oterluk family has been executed?!"
"No! Your Royal Highness must have been deceived! There's no way Grand Duke Oterluk would rebel!"
"I don't believe this! All units charge! Slay the traitors! Protect the Princess!"
…
Within the ranks of the Royal Guard stationed in the capital, chaos erupted. The once-unified force splintered into three distinct factions.
First, there were the neutral soldiers those left stunned and confused by the sudden change, frozen in place, uncertain of which side to take.
Then came the loyalists, the soldiers who continued to believe in and defend Princess Sally De Cannette with unwavering loyalty.
And finally, the rebels, comprised of officers handpicked by Oterluk III, along with soldiers tied to his family by blood or oath. These were the ones who refused to accept the death of Grand Duke Oterluk. They believed this entire announcement was a lie some twisted scheme to seize power.
Amidst the thousands of gathered troops, Princess Sally and Victor Shaw stood side by side atop a raised building, overlooking the battlefield. Both were dressed in regal attire that shimmered in the fading sunlight.
"My King," Sally said, her voice carrying both urgency and expectation, "won't you show them your heroic strength?"
She needed this chaos to end quickly. The capital was teetering. A single wrong move, and the kingdom could collapse into anarchy.
But it wasn't just about stopping the fighting.
Victor Shaw had to prove himself not just to her, but to the people.
He couldn't be seen as a random rogue who stumbled into royalty.
He had to look like a hero.
He had to act like a king.
Victor eyed the battlefield with a slight frown.
"So many soldiers… it's a little troublesome," he muttered.
Then, without missing a beat, he added, "But not that troublesome."
Draped in noble robes, a curved saber resting at his waist, Victor stepped forward. Calm and unshaken, he descended from the rooftop, heading directly toward the heart of the rebel formation.
"There he is! That's the traitor who manipulated the Princess!"
"Take him down!"
Among the rebel ranks, General Oterluk Ampera bellowed orders with fury.
"Open fire! Don't let him get close!"
In an instant, the air was filled with the thunder of cannons and the shrill whine of musket fire. Dozens of cannonballs and bullets rained down toward Victor's lone figure.
"Oh? So that's how you want to play?"
Victor's eyes gleamed as he took a deep breath, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.
"Dense cannon fire... yeah, not exactly my favorite."
Before anyone could blink, the storm of projectiles engulfed him.
Bullets tore through the air.
Explosions lit up the square.
Smoke billowed as debris scattered in every direction.
Victor's figure was lost in the chaos.
"He's down! We got him!"
"Ha! What an idiot walking straight into cannon fire!"
"What kind of fool just strolls into the middle of an artillery barrage?!"
Rebel soldiers burst into laughter, cheering wildly as smoke continued to rise.
But… none of them noticed the faint shimmer in the air just beyond the blast zone.
They didn't see the small, almost imperceptible wave ripple outward from where Victor had been standing.
They hadn't realized yet
The battle was only just beginning.
Oterluk Ampera laughed with excitement.
He hadn't expected it to be this easy.
That pretentious newcomer he acted so calm, so intimidating when he first arrived had seemed almost supernatural.
But in the end?
He was just a fool walking into a wall of cannon fire.
What a joke, Ampera thought, sneering.
He had scared himself over nothing.
False alarm.
As the smoke lingered in the air, Ampera's eyes narrowed, fixated on the spot where Victor Shaw had vanished under the explosion.
If the Oterluk main family is truly gone…
Then maybe I, Oterluk Ampera, a distant relative, could inherit everything.
The Duke's soldiers, his titles, his properties all of it.
Maybe, if he played his cards right… he could even marry the Princess.
Become King of the Goa Kingdom himself!
His breathing grew heavy with greed.
His pupils dilated as he stared up at the distant figure of Princess Sally, standing like a jewel atop the building.
He had never imagined such a perfect opportunity would fall into his lap.
One clean sweep and he'd rise to the top overnight!
But then
"General!" a soldier screamed.
"He's still standing!"
"What?!"
"Monster! He's a monster!"
"Could he be… a Logia-type Devil Fruit user?!"
"A Natural-type?! Like Captain Smoker from Loguetown?!"
…
Panic spread through the rebel ranks.
Their so-called "victory" had just vanished with the smoke.
The enemy this terrifying figure was still alive.
Untouched.
Standing tall in the very same spot where every other man would've been turned to paste.
Cold sweat dripped down Ampera's face.
His ambitious fantasy crumbled in an instant.
How?
How could there be a Logia-type user in the Goa Kingdom?!
They weren't supposed to be here!
People like this either became Marine Admirals… or notorious pirates sailing the Grand Line!
What the hell was someone like that doing in a backwater kingdom like Goa?!
His heart pounded.
His hands began to shake.
And on the battlefield through the fading smoke Victor Shaw stepped forward.
Not a scratch on him.
He moved with a calm, eerie precision, his coat fluttering from the aftershock.
The cannon fire had stopped. Silence hung in the air.
Victor slowly raised one hand.
A shimmering distortion rippled out from his fingers an unseen force expanding into the battlefield.
Then
A rift in space tore open.
A pulse of pressure rolled out, and in the next moment, a field of darkness bloomed across the rebel formation like a void.
"Domain: Banishment!"
Gasps erupted from the Royal Guard.
Even Princess Sally clutched the edge of the rooftop in awe.
In front of them, rebel soldiers began vanishing one by one.
No blood. No explosions.
Just... erasure.
Gone in a blink.
Victor dashed forward at full speed, cutting through the chaos like a phantom.
"It's that strange ability again!" a guard cried.
He moved like a ghost, and none of them could stop him.
Princess Sally's eyes widened in astonishment.
Back in the palace, she had seen Victor Shaw use this strange ability once before guards had vanished without a trace, only to reappear moments later and be swiftly cut down by him.
But now… he had made hundreds of soldiers disappear in a single breath.
She never imagined his powers had grown this terrifying.
"Where are General Ampera and the rest of the rebel soldiers?" she whispered.
Around her, both royalist and neutralist officers stared in horror as the battlefield rapidly emptied.
One after another, enemy soldiers blinked out of existence.
Their bodies were gone. Their weapons clattered to the ground.
A wave of dread swept through the remaining troops.
This mysterious man this so-called future King not only shrugged off cannon fire, but now… he could erase people.
Just how powerful was Victor Shaw?
It was terrifying.
Then, a few seconds later
Victor dashed toward the area where the soldiers had disappeared.
Suddenly pop!
A rebel soldier reappeared in his original position, still gripping a rifle.
But before he could even blink
Slash!
Victor was already beside him. One clean strike, and blood sprayed into the air.
The next second, another soldier materialized holding a blade.
Victor spun with a backhand strike and sent him collapsing to the ground before he could raise it.
Then another.
And another.
Soldiers began reappearing one by one like respawning NPCs in a game.
And just as quickly, Victor cut each one down.
It was a scene straight from a nightmare rhythmic, methodical, almost surreal.
The Royal Guard both loyalist and neutral stood frozen in place.
What they were witnessing couldn't be real.
…
Meanwhile, from the rebels' perspective, it was even worse.
They hadn't seen themselves vanish.
All they saw… was Victor Shaw.
One second, he was in the distance.
The next he was right next to them.
A flash of steel.
A searing pain.
Darkness.
Some didn't even have time to scream.
It felt like he could teleport.
Bullets didn't work. Cannons didn't matter.
He was untouchable and everywhere.
Confused voices echoed across the field:
"Where is everyone?"
"Where's my squad…?"
"Why is it so empty?"
Not a single ally stood beside them anymore.
Only emptiness.
Only the sound of blade meeting flesh.
If they had known this was the enemy they were facing…
If they had known it would end like this…
They would never have followed General Ampera into battle.
If they could start over, none of them would've sworn loyalty to the Oterluk family.
…
The massacre continued.
Victor Shaw moved like a storm, carving his way through what remained of the rebel forces.
One swing.
One strike.
One life lost.
Over and over, like clearing out respawned enemies in a cursed arena.
Rivers of blood began to form across the stone courtyard small streams flowing between corpses, glinting red beneath the morning sun.
Until finally, General Ampera reappeared only to be immediately pierced straight through the heart by Victor Shaw's saber.
Victor stood over him, breathing heavily.
His chest rose and fell with exhaustion.
Even his arms trembled slightly as he held the bloodied weapon.
It was no small feat.
Maintaining his Devil Fruit ability while personally cutting down hundreds of soldiers had pushed his body to the limit.
If even a single one of the Royal Guard had possessed Haki…
Things might have gone differently.
He might have lost.
After all, he hadn't had this Devil Fruit power for long.
But compared to the fruit's previous owner?
He was already leagues stronger.
"You… you're a devil…"
Ampera clutched at the hilt of the saber now lodged deep in his chest, his blood-soaked fingers trembling.
His eyes were wide with terror, staring at Victor like he was staring into hell.
Around them, the courtyard was drenched in blood.
Bodies lay everywhere.
Not a single soldier was left standing.
How... was this possible?
How could it end so suddenly?
How could an entire rebel force be wiped out in a matter of minutes?
All Ampera remembered was seeing Victor raise his hand.
The next thing he knew his men were dead, and he was staring death in the face.
Even his own heart… had been pierced before he saw the strike.
As Victor slowly pulled the saber free, a spray of blood followed.
Ampera's body collapsed to the ground with a dull thud.
His eyes were glassy.
Filled with confusion.
Regret.
And one lingering thought:
Why did someone this powerful show up in the Goa Kingdom?
His dream of becoming king… gone.
His fantasy of marrying the princess… shattered.
His ambition… crushed in an instant.
Clang!
Victor looked down at the saber in his hand.
Its edge was dulled from overuse, its surface covered in blood and viscera.
With a casual flick of his wrist, he tossed it to the ground.
The weapon landed with a sharp metallic ring that echoed across the silent battlefield.
"Oi," Victor called out, turning to face the stunned soldiers who still hadn't moved.
"Come clean this up."
He stood there like a devil in human form his entire body soaked in blood, hair tousled, eyes gleaming with fire.
And as he walked back slowly across the sea of corpses…
The neutral and royalist soldiers trembled uncontrollably.
Their new king… was a monster.
And yet, no one dared to look away
Even though Princess Sally had already accepted this man as her future husband, she couldn't help the fear that crawled up her spine.
She had grown up in a palace surrounded by luxury, protected by etiquette, music, and silk-draped ceilings.
Never in her life had she witnessed such a brutal massacre with her own eyes.
And this man Victor Shaw had slaughtered people like it was nothing.
It was terrifying.
"Why aren't you cleaning up the rebels?!"
Her voice cracked into a high-pitched shriek as panic finally burst from her chest.
She turned on the stunned soldiers surrounding her, shouting the command with enough force to snap them out of their trance.
The neutralists and royalists jolted into motion, scrambling to gather the rebel corpses scattered across the palace courtyard.
But they all carefully avoided Victor's path.
No one dared get too close.
In their eyes, he was no longer just the Princess's consort.
He was a blood-soaked demon.
A single glance from him might be the last thing they ever saw.
"Lord Victor," Sally said, forcing a smile. Her voice trembled.
"Your clothes… they're soaked. Let's get you cleaned up. I'll help you change into a fresh set."
She looked at him the way a frightened deer watches a predator cautious, trying not to provoke.
She had only hoped for him to show some strength, maybe swing a sword or give a speech.
She never imagined he'd slaughter five hundred men.
Victor looked down at his hands, still dripping crimson.
"This should be enough to secure the military's loyalty, right?"
He gave her a faint smile, his breathing finally starting to settle.
The effort of banishing and personally cutting down so many enemies had nearly drained him.
But this ability... it was more devastating in his hands than he'd ever imagined.
He hadn't expected to rack up a five-hundred-man kill in one day.
Just like Rob Lucci in Enies Lobby.
He laughed to himself.
At this rate, his name would soon sit alongside infamous monsters like Lucci and Judge notorious warriors known across the seas for their ruthless might.
"Y-Yes! Of course!" Sally stammered, nodding quickly like a nervous little bird.
Her face was pale, but she tried to keep herself composed.
She gently took Victor's blood-slicked arm and led him back toward the palace, trembling with every step.
A bath. A change of clothes.
And maybe, just maybe… a chance to breathe again.
…