One Piece: General Blue

After the thunderball, radiating an aura of absolute annihilation, descended, the battle between Rorschach and Aristo officially came to an end.

The viscous sea of blood on the ground completely evaporated, leaving behind a scene of utter devastation.

The once vast surface of the 66th Red Tree Zone now resembled the aftermath of a massive earthquake.

The ground was riddled with enormous cracks, with soil and grass overturned in disarray.

The iconic giant red tree of Zone 66, with a trunk thicker than an average house, bore a massive hole piercing through it.

"Zzzzzt."

Stray arcs of lightning still flickered sporadically in the air.

Rorschach's form shrank, returning to his human appearance.

Pulling off the tattered remains of his clothing, he checked his pants.

Fortunately, his underwear was intact.

Although the beach shorts he wore over them had long since burst apart, he managed to avoid any embarrassing exposure.

Rorschach couldn't help but sigh. "The shorts issued by headquarters are truly impressive. Elastic, durable, and comfortable. They prevented any wardrobe malfunctions caused by my transformation-induced body expansion."

This was reality—clothing tearing during combat was entirely normal.

Especially for Zoan-type ability users.

Even before fighting began, transforming alone would often cause their bodies to expand several times over, which inevitably led to their clothing being destroyed.

Considering this, the Navy's science division spent a lot of time developing durable trousers.

The pair Rorschach wore was part of the special equipment he received after becoming a Headquarters Major.

They bore an uncanny resemblance to the indestructible pants worn by the Hulk.

Of course, Logia users didn't face such embarrassing issues.

Their bodies could elementalize.

As Drake once speculated, he suspected Kizaru didn't wear clothes at all.

After all, the ability to elementalize only applied to a user's body—clothes wouldn't naturally possess the same trait.

The garments Kizaru seemed to wear were likely a manifestation of his elemental ability.

Rorschach found the theory plausible.

"I'm pretty curious about this. I'll ask Kizaru about it when I return tomorrow to see if it's true."

Shaking his head to dismiss the intrusive thought, Rorschach walked over to the severely injured and immobilized Aristo, who was lying on the ground, barely clinging to life.

The towering man, nearly four meters tall, lay on his back amidst the shattered grassland, staring blankly at the crimson canopy of the massive red tree.

His body was charred black from the thunderball's impact.

Some parts of his body had even turned to carbonized ash.

Judging by his state, he was clearly at death's door.

Aristo's strength had been exceptional.

In Rorschach's eyes, even the Vice Admirals at Marineford might not match his power.

The 360-million bounty on his head was well-deserved.

Perhaps it was even underestimated.

The two abilities Aristo demonstrated at the end were especially overwhelming.

One was the form of a blood-red giant, whose sheer strength was unparalleled.

If Rorschach didn't transform, he would have been utterly crushed.

The other was his transformation into a sea of blood, granting him a pseudo-Logia-like elementality.

Unless the overwhelming blood was completely evaporated and destroyed, Aristo wouldn't fall.

Fortunately, this battlefield had been devoid of any spectators apart from the two of them.

"If not, if Aristo had been allowed to keep extracting the blood of others to replenish himself while fighting me, the outcome of this battle might truly have been uncertain."

This realization gave Rorschach newfound respect for yet another formidable Devil Fruit ability.

The special Paramecia-type Blood-Blood Fruit, similar to Katakuri's Mochi-Mochi Fruit, was equally powerful.

In some aspects, the traits of the Blood-Blood Fruit even surpassed those of the Mochi-Mochi Fruit.

If paired with a powerful swordsman, this fruit could exponentially amplify their lethality.

"Can you tell me now? Why are you so obsessed with killing all the Marines? What did the Navy do to you?"

Rorschach crouched down and looked at the severely weakened Aristo, whose breath was like a flickering candle in the wind. He voiced his lingering question.

"You don't know?" Aristo lay on his back. Despite his severe injuries, bloodshot veins reappeared in his eyes.

"I see… you're so young; you probably don't know about that incident."

"After all, it's a sin your Navy committed—a crime you who claim justice would undoubtedly go to great lengths to cover up."

"A sin?" Rorschach frowned slightly. "Are you talking about…"

"I'm from the South Blue, Batelila Island."

Aristo's chest rose and fell slightly as his breathing grew heavier. His eyes turned red.

"South Blue… Batelila Island? That place is…"

Hearing the familiar name from Aristo's mouth, Rorschach's heart trembled, and his pupils contracted.

"So, you know that place, huh? Heh…"

Aristo's eyes turned blood-red as he gritted his teeth, forcing each word out with venomous hatred.

"Fifteen years ago, the World Government and Navy fleets surrounded that peaceful island under the pretext that it harbored Roger's widow and potential descendants.

They rounded up every pregnant woman or recently postpartum mother on that island and executed them all…"

As he spoke, Aristo bit his gums so hard that blood dripped from his mouth.

"My brother Dafirons and I once had happy families."

"My wife, Rosa, had been resting in our room after giving birth to our daughter, Lia, due to heavy postpartum bleeding."

"When those butchers, cloaked in snow-white 'Justice' capes, stormed into my home and dragged Rosa out, they didn't even let her see her daughter one last time before slitting her throat…"

Tears poured from Aristo's eyes, streaming down his cheeks and dripping onto the ground.

"My newborn daughter… my little Lia… didn't even get to see what this world looks like before she was brutally murdered."

"When I woke up from unconsciousness, all I saw was a house soaked in blood and utterly empty."

"Those animals didn't even leave me Rosa's and Lia's bodies!"

Aristo's voice choked, and blood-red tears flowed like a breached dam.

"Dafirons' newlywed wife, who had been pregnant for less than three months, was killed by those monsters right in front of him."

"I should have died that day on Batelila Island."

"But I couldn't face Rosa and Lia in the afterlife without avenging them."

"So, we left the South Blue, crossing sea after sea, hunting down and slaughtering Marines wherever we could!"

"Roger, that scumbag! Why did he have to come to Batelila Island? Even in death, he couldn't stop his romantic escapades, and his selfishness condemned hundreds of innocent women and children on that island to death.

Why did he deserve to be the Pirate King? If I ever learn where he's buried, I'll dig up his corpse and grind his bones to dust!"

"Damn the World Government! Damn the Navy! You animals! I swear, even as a ghost, I won't let you go!"

Aristo's blood-red, tear-filled eyes glared fiercely at Rorschach, as if he wanted to swallow him whole and tear him apart piece by piece.

Rorschach's face turned pale, unable to meet his searing gaze.

"To hunt down a bloodline that might not even exist, you heartlessly slaughtered my wife and child and so many innocent women and infants."

"This is what you, who call yourselves the champions of justice, have done."

"Hahaha… hahahaha…"

Aristo laughed. Lying on the ground, he laughed loudly.

"Justice? What a ridiculous notion! In this cursed world, such a thing has never existed!"

(End of Chapter)

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