The sharp, piercing alarms of the laboratory blared as a lone figure staggered about like a trapped beast.
"Caesar!""Caesar!"
The half-mad man's eyes burned red as he rampaged through the research facility, searching for the one he hated most. Lasers burst recklessly from his eye, detonating wall after wall in violent explosions.
This black-haired man, consumed by killing intent, was known as Souta Kiryuu.
Two and a half years ago, Souta had been nothing more than an ordinary traveler. But after a strange twist of fate—his body warped by experiments and his will pushed to the brink—he had become something else entirely.
Back then, he was on a trip far from home when he mistakenly ate a peculiar mushroom. What followed was a hallucination so vivid he swore he saw a divine dragon. In a fit of foolish excitement, he rushed toward it—only for that majestic dragon to suddenly turn into a roaring dump truck that struck him head-on, flinging him into the world of pirates.
He would never forget that cursed red truck, shoddily disguised with a fake license plate: [Kawatsu·9527].
Upon awakening in this new world, Souta had little chance to adapt. His strange behavior quickly drew the suspicion of a CP agent dressed in black, who captured him and delivered him to Punk Hazard. There, his nightmare began.
Over the next two and a half years, Souta was subjected to countless inhuman experiments. Again and again, he was cut open, rebuilt, tested, injected, and scarred. While hundreds of others perished screaming, he somehow survived.
In that crucible of pain, Souta learned this world's language, its writing, and even scraps of its science and combat knowledge—taught to him by Vegapunk himself and the other scientists, who considered him their most "valuable subject." But Souta never once forgot the agony they inflicted on him.
He had been stabbed, burned, electrocuted, drowned in poisons, riddled with bullets, even blasted with cannons—all so they could measure the limits of his body.
Even the so-called "elders" left their mark. Souta still remembered the Five Elders' Saturn, who had destroyed his right eye with a Devil Fruit ability for daring to stare too long. That humiliation and pain would never be forgiven.
And then there was Caesar Clown—arrogant, sadistic, utterly devoid of humanity. Just days ago, Caesar had forced two genetic modifications onto him at once, nearly killing him outright.
Only by sheer resilience and luck did Souta survive. He had clawed his way back from death itself.
Now, reborn and free, he would find those who tormented him. He would exact vengeance, starting with Caesar.
As the purple gas from the massive explosion spread through the corridors, Souta's Lunarian flames burned hotter, the violet markings etched across his body glowing faintly. Without fear, he stepped straight into the toxic fog.
The gas coiled around him, seeping into his flesh. To his surprise, the venomous mist only made him feel stronger, the markings drinking it in like nourishment.
"So this is… the power of the Poison Gene Factor?" he muttered, his once feral eyes dimming into cold focus. His rage was no less, but clarity now sharpened his killing intent.
"Two and a half years as a lab rat… it broke me, scarred me. But it also made me stronger."
He whispered the words in a rasp, every syllable heavy with hatred.
Cries of agony echoed through the fog. Guards and researchers choked and collapsed, their lungs blackened by poison. The prisoners locked in cells fared no better—most died instantly. Only those sealed in airtight chambers remained alive, for now, waiting for experiments that would never come.
One desperate guard clawed at Souta's ankle, begging for help. Souta kicked him away without hesitation, his expression devoid of sympathy.
"This is the Punk Hazard incident," Souta thought coldly. "I've waited for this day."
He pushed onward through the collapsing halls, listening for any sign of Caesar. This was his chance—his one chance—to kill the man who had stolen his life.
Ironically, the same man who killed him had also, by triggering the gas explosion, opened the door to his freedom. But that didn't matter. Caesar would die all the same.
After all, Souta had watched hundreds of others die screaming in these labs, while only he survived. Death, fear, despair—it had all carved darkness into his heart. And now he would unleash it.
Passing corpses twisted in agony, Souta's eyes narrowed as he spotted a supply room through the haze. Inside, encased in glass, was something impossible to mistake.
An apple, patterned with spirals.
"A… synthetic Azure Dragon Fruit?"
His heart pounded. Souta burst forward—but before he could reach it, a blast of scorching fire hurled him across the room.
"ROOOOAR!!"
Through the purple mist, a massive flame-wreathed dragon emerged. Its dull eyes locked onto him, mindless yet filled with hostility.
"A man-made dragon," Souta spat as he rose from the rubble, Lunarian fire blazing around him. "So you survived the gas too."
Without hesitation, his right eye glowed gold. A blinding laser beam lanced out, striking the dragon's head and blasting one eye apart.
It shrieked, thrashing violently. Spreading its wings, it tried to escape into the air—only for Souta to leap, his swollen arm smashing it back down with brutal force.
"Worthless beast!"
Fury drove him to pummel the dragon relentlessly, fists cracking scale and bone, blood splattering the walls. The dragon writhed helplessly beneath his strength, until its roars dwindled into pitiful whimpers.
At last, Souta delivered a finishing blow, his fist punching straight through its skull.
Panting, drenched in blood, he tore free one of its legs. Fire engulfed the flesh, searing it half-cooked before he devoured it with savage hunger. The meat restored his strength, revitalizing his battered body.
Then, without pause, he smashed the glass case and seized the spiraled fruit.
"The Synthetic Azure Dragon…" Souta whispered. His cold face softened for the briefest moment with yearning.
In his past life, he had dreamed of dragons. Even his fatal delusion came from chasing that dream. And now, here it was in his hands.
Still, doubt flickered. This fruit was labeled a "failure." Vegapunk himself had forbidden anyone to consume it. Would it cripple his future strength? Would it clash with the countless modifications in his body?
But the thought of Queen the Plague… the Seraphim… and Saturn burning his eye away… solidified his resolve.
"No. I need this power. If I want revenge… if I want freedom… I can't hesitate."
Souta raised the fruit to his mouth and bit deep.
Agony ripped through him instantly. His body warped, bones cracking, flesh reshaping. His neck stretched, a snarling dragon's head sprouting where his human face had been. His limbs tore into claws, scales spreading across his skin.
"Damn it… pink scales?!" Souta snarled as he saw the garish sheen. It was humiliating, a mockery of the majestic form he dreamed of.
But then fire erupted from his scales, painting them crimson with Lunarian flames. Poisonous purple patterns writhed across his body, blending with the red to form a terrifying scarlet hue.
The dragon within him roared.
His body swelled, expanding beyond the laboratory's walls. Stone shattered, steel bent, the facility itself collapsing as a colossal crimson dragon burst skyward, wings unfurling with apocalyptic might.
A thousand meters long, its roar shook the seas, purple flames rolling beneath it like storm clouds.
"KEHHAHAHAHAHA!!" Souta's voice thundered, now a dragon's laugh echoing across Punk Hazard.
On distant warships, the scientists who had fled turned pale, their eyes wide as they saw the impossible.
From the ruins of the island, the Crimson Dragon had been born.