Some transmissions don't fade.
They wait.
Buried in fractured servers. Burned into dead Den Den Mushi. Echoed in the static between heartbeats.
And now, one was waking up.
Cipher Pol Aigis Zero — Extraction Post Brambledeep
"Confirm containment," the CP-0 tech agent whispered.
The commander didn't respond. His gaze was fixed on the Remnant Break Fruit pulsing in his hand, still wet with rain. It resonated faintly — not with power, but with absence.
It was… hungry for loss.
The same hunger that drove their mission.
Behind him, Ravina lay bound, face pale, sparks twitching under her skin. Her breathing had stabilized. The Wraith Spark Fruit was dormant. For now.
"Sir," said the agent again. "You need to see this."
The commander turned.
A rusted memory-receiver — a long-abandoned prototype hidden deep within the city's old war broadcast system — had activated.
It was playing a dead Cipher Pol agent's final thoughts.
[BROADCAST: INTERCEPTED FREQUENCY – CLASSIFIED Ω]
"I was wrong.
We thought the Forge user died at Punk Hazard.
But he lived.
He lived and he's building them again.
This isn't just about Devil Fruits.
It's about something older.
They call it… Arithmotech.
Pre-Fruit logic. Pre-Devil.
And the Forge user — Kaien — he found a blueprint for a god."
The voice cracked, corrupted by feedback and blood.
"If anyone finds this, tell them—"
"He's not forging weapons."
"He's forging choices."
The broadcast ended.
No one spoke for a long time.
Then the CP-0 commander turned away and whispered into a black-line communicator.
"Dreego. The transmission reached us."
Dreego's Skyborne Lab — Eltheria Drift (the sky-lab over Eltheria Island), Above the Clouds
Dreego stood barefoot on a floating glass disc, watching the transmission finish on a wall of steam-generated memory threads.
His homunculus assistant hovered beside him, flickering with forge-light.
"So," Dreego said softly. "He left echoes behind."
The assistant tilted its head. "Shall I activate the Arithmotech cipher?"
"No. We let the World Government do it for us." He smiled. "Let CP-0 chase Kaien in circles while we collect the real prize."
"Which is?"
Dreego turned toward the containment vault. Inside was a new fruit, humming like a living machine.
CHIMERA FRUIT: PROTOTYPE 002 – Echoframe Variant
Core Design: Multi-sync compatibility
Status: STABLE
Trait: Fractures the user's identity. Allows composite possession.
"We're going to test it," Dreego said. "But not here."
Brambledeep – Underground Medical Vault
Kaien had arrived too late.
He watched through a shattered vent as Ravina was wheeled into a stasis pod by CP-0 agents. Her skin was glowing faintly, a soft afterburn from her last surge.
But it was the Remnant Break Fruit missing from her side that confirmed it.
They had taken it.
Kaien reached for the forge knife in his coat. His breath was slow. Cold.
"They think they can control it."
He activated a forge-bead under his tongue. It lit up with a whisper only he could hear — the stored voice of Failed Fruit No. 51, a sensory type.
"Eyes in the wires. Sins in the static."
Kaien smiled bitterly.
"Let's broadcast a message of our own."
CP-0 Temporary HQ — One Hour Later
An emergency Den Den Mushi crackled to life.
The Commander picked it up.
There was no voice. Just static.
Then a face formed in the fuzz — Kaien, staring directly through the line.
"I built her. I can unbuild her."
The snail trembled.
Kaien's next words weren't a threat.
They were a design.
"The Wraith Spark's evolution will collapse in twenty-four hours without resonance venting. She'll either burn through her memories… or explode. You'll need the counterfruit to stabilize her."
He smiled coldly.
"And guess who's the only one who can forge a new one?"
The line cut.
The CP-0 commander stared at the receiver.
Then, for the first time, he swore under his breath.
Meanwhile — Ravina's Mind
She floated in blank space.
Memories moved around her like lightning pulses.
Her daughter's face. Kaien's warnings. The moment she phased through a screaming city and liked it.
She could still feel the counterfruit's pull.
Part of her wanted to forget.
But part of her knew…
If she did, the world would forget her too.
She clenched her fists.
"I'm not ready to be healed."
Final Scene — Eltheria Island: The Forbidden Archive
Dreego stood before an ancient forge schematic carved into glass — predating the World Government.
It was labeled:
"Project: DEICIDE"
Subtitle: If a Devil can be born… a God can be killed.
He smiled.
"It's time we showed Kaien the real reason the Forge exists."