A gull dipped low, its cry sharp over the sea wind, and dropped a folded newspaper onto the deck.
Kael caught it one-handed, frowning at the fresh ink staining his palm. The rogue marine unfolded it, his sharp eyes scanning the headline before his breath stilled.
"…Captain." His voice carried an edge of awe and disbelief. "It's you."
Bullet lumbered closer, iron-plated fists resting on the rail as he ripped the paper from Kael's hands. His snarl twisted into a grin as he read aloud, voice mocking and booming all at once.
"'The Butcher of Impel Down – Magnus Delmar.' Heh. They gave you a title already, boy."
He flipped the page and barked out a laugh.
"Look at this! My bounty's back! Almost two billion berries! About damn time."
Gryphon leaned over his shoulder, the giant's deep laughter rolling like thunder when he saw his own scarred face sketched in ink.
"Eight hundred million! HAH! Haven't seen my name on a wanted sheet since the old wars. Feels good, Captain!"
Kael's brows furrowed as he traced the numbers under his name.
"Six hundred million… For betrayal. They branded me traitor." He closed the paper slowly, voice low and steady. "So be it. I'll wear it like armor."
At last the paper passed to Magnus.
He studied the image of his own face, hair wild in the wind, Shusui gleaming with black lightning. The words beneath it spelled his new truth.
WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE
2,000,000,000 Berries.
The number meant little to him. The Government had set a price on his head but it was not high enough to measure the storm that would follow.
It had branded them in history's fire.
Magnus lowered the sheet. His voice cut sharp against the rolling waves."Numbers don't matter. Titles don't matter. The only thing that matters is that the world now knows we exist."
---
Inside the heart of Thriller Bark, the air was heavy with damp stone and the stench of corpses. Candles burned low, their flames guttering against drafts that whispered through the cathedral-like halls.
On a throne carved from bone and obsidian, Gecko Moria slouched with his massive bulk spilling over the armrests. His long, jagged grin stretched lazily across his pale face, though his eyes were dark pits sunken with exhaustion.
Shadows swirled at his feet with slaves torn from corpses, puppets stitched together from graveyards. Their hollow eyes reflected the endless void.
"KISHISHISHI…" His laughter rattled through the chamber, a dry echo with no joy in it.
"The world shakes with talk of Impel Down and yet… they forget the shadows. They always forget the shadows."
From the far end of the hall, Absalom knelt, his lion's face twisted in a scowl.
"Master Moria, reports say it was Magnus Delmar. He shattered the prison, tore through Vice Admirals and escaped on the ships of Elbaf."
Moria's grin widened though his voice dripped with venom."A brat. Another brat with a sword, eh? They rise… they fall. My shadows are eternal."
Beside Absalom, Perona floated with her umbrella twirling, her expression caught between disdain and boredom.
"Eternal or not, that 'brat' has a bigger bounty than you, Moria. Almost double."
The candle flames flickered as silence followed.
Moria's fingers twitched on his throne, claws digging into bone. His grin trembled.
"….KISHISHISHI… good. Let the Government fatten his name with fear. When the boy comes here and he will come I'll carve his shadow and add it to my army. A legend's corpse dancing at my command."
He rose like tower as his stitched body creaked like an old ship. The shadows at his feet writhed and stretched slithering like living chains.
"Prepare the island," he rumbled. "If Magnus Delmar thinks to step into my graveyard, then I'll show him what it means to be devoured by darkness."
The vast, hollow halls of Thriller Bark quaked with his laughter.
"KISHISHISHI!"