In the darkness, the Shadow Wraith hovered silently before a massive bed.
On it lay a bloated man in his thirties, his face slick with oil, his breathing heavy as thunderous snores echoed through the room.
"So this is the target?" Yato gazed at him calmly, an inner voice murmuring, "Celestial Dragon… We have no personal grudge, but I'm sorry. The cycle of heaven turns. Consider this justice carried out in its name."
As the thought settled, Yato slowly raised his right hand.
Endless black mist gathered in an instant, condensing into a razor-sharp blade.
Perhaps sensing danger, the Celestial Dragon unconsciously scratched his face and rolled over, continuing to sleep, utterly unaware that in the darkness above him, a pair of eyes brimming with killing intent were fixed upon his body.
Yato did not hesitate.
This was his first kill. Lacking experience, he relied solely on basic knowledge of the human body and aimed straight for a vital point.
The heart.
Pshhk.
The jet-black blade of shadow pierced through the luxurious bedding, tore through flesh, and punctured the heart.
The Celestial Dragon's eyes flew open in an instant. He raised a trembling hand, trying to touch the source of the pain, but with his heart destroyed, his strength drained away at once.
All he could see was darkness.
And within that darkness, a pair of terrifying eyes staring down at him.
"My apologies," Yato said softly. "I've let you experience pain before death."
With a sharp pull, the shadow blade was withdrawn. In the next instant, a flash of cold light passed through the air as the blade pierced straight through the man's throat.
After no more than five or six seconds of futile struggle, the man lay dead, eyes wide open in disbelief.
He had wanted to scream for help, but no sound came out. Until his final breath, he could not accept that within the supposedly absolute safety of the Holy Land, he, a World Noble, a Celestial Dragon, had been assassinated.
"Exhale…"
Yato released a quiet breath. After confirming the target's death, he withdrew the blade. After a brief silence, he dipped the bloodstained tip against the wall and wrote a line of words.
Killer: Shadow Wraith of the Dream Phantom Pirates
Beneath it, he drew a skull.
"That completes the job," Yato nodded in satisfaction. He glanced once more at the corpse on the bed. "This is only the first. Hopefully the next client won't keep me waiting too long."
A low chuckle echoed.
The next moment, Yato's body dissolved into smoke and vanished.
Yato returned to Amazon Lily just as the sun rose over the sea.
"Today will be a good day," he yawned lightly. "After all, I just removed a malignant tumor from the world."
Leaning against the trunk of a massive tree, he sat down, gazed at the brilliant sunrise, closed his eyes, and slowly drifted into sleep.
He had killed, and then he slept, utterly at ease.
But for the World Government, his actions triggered a violent shockwave, no less devastating than a magnitude‑ten earthquake striking the Holy Land of Mary Geoise.
The one who discovered Saint Nirudik's body was a maid from the estate. When she entered the bedroom in the morning to attend to her master, she was greeted by a cold corpse. Blood-soaked bedding, and the crimson words scrawled across the wall, sent terror straight through her heart.
She screamed once, and fainted on the spot.
From there, the incident exploded.
The entire estate learned that their Celestial Dragon master had been assassinated, plunging everyone into sheer panic.
A Celestial Dragon being harmed was already an unforgivable crime.
Let alone being killed.
And worse still, the assassin had done it silently, right in the heart of the World Government's headquarters.
This was nothing short of a declaration of war.
The news rapidly climbed through layers of authority until it reached the highest echelons of the World Government.
"Who did this?"
Inside an opulent chamber, five elderly men sat around a round table. One of them, gripping a sword, spoke first, his voice heavy with fury.
"This is the Holy Land, Mary Geoise!"
"The killer even left his name on the wall," another elder with a square face snorted coldly. "This is a blatant provocation."
"Dream Phantom Pirates? Never heard of them. To infiltrate the Holy Land without a sound… Could this be someone from the Four Emperors?"
"Shadow Wraith? There's no such person under the Four Emperors."
"Forget that. Seal off the entire Holy Land immediately. We cannot allow the assassin to escape, or the World Government's dignity will be dragged through the mud."
The five spoke one after another, their tone lofty and absolute.
These five were the pillars of the World Government, the Five Elders. Each of them held authority even above Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
"A Celestial Dragon has never been assassinated before. This situation is extremely delicate."
"We should suppress the news first. Otherwise, panic will spread among the other Celestial Dragons."
"It's already too late. The entire Holy Land knows. Chaos has broken out everywhere."
"Damn it. Then we have no choice but to hand this over to the Marines."
"Order CP0 to investigate the Dream Phantom Pirates. For now, stabilize the situation in the Holy Land."
After a brief but intense discussion, a decision was made.
"Someone, bring the Den Den Mushi. Contact Marine Headquarters!"
Far away in Marineford, Sengoku was visibly shaken when he received the call from the Five Elders.
He never imagined that someone could be so audacious, so utterly insane, as to commit murder in the supposedly impregnable Holy Land, and worse, assassinate a Celestial Dragon.
"This is a joke… right?!"
Bang!
When he slammed the Den Den Mushi down, Sengoku shattered his brand-new desk with a single strike.
"Men! Summon the three Admirals immediately!"
The marines standing guard outside jumped in fright and rushed to relay the order. Before long, three men draped in coats bearing the word Justice entered the Fleet Admiral's office.
Along with them came a Vice Admiral, casually chewing on a rice cracker.
"Sengoku, this early in the morning and you're already this angry?" the man laughed, flashing a toothy grin. "Want a cracker?"
"Garp!" Sengoku's face darkened, his head throbbing. "This is no time for jokes. Something major has happened!"
"Major?" Garp paused, then shrugged and kept chewing. "The higher-ups rushing the Seven Warlords again? Haven't we already secured four? Only three left. Even the Empress is almost on board. I don't get why they're so impatient."
"No," Sengoku said bitterly. "A Celestial Dragon is dead. Murdered in the Holy Land."
The room fell silent.
All four men changed expressions at once.
Sakazuki, Akainu himself, widened his eyes in disbelief. "Impossible! That's Mary Geoise! Who did it?!"
"A man calling himself Shadow Wraith… claiming to be from the Dream Phantom Pirates…"
"Shadow Wraith?!"
For some reason, Akainu's mind suddenly flashed back to that strange black shadow he had seen days ago…