[Word Count: 500]
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Chapter 6: Age Five – The Second Theft
The pirate girl's body twitched as the healer poured warm water over her wounds.
She'd washed up near death, her body torn by shrapnel, her breath a ghost of what it once was.
Kaizen stood outside the hut, staring through the wooden slats.
> "She's dying," the healer said.
> "She's not," Kaizen whispered.
> "She's dangerous."
He didn't say it aloud, but he could feel it—the mark. The same strange aura as the man before. The Devil Fruit's hum.
> "I need her to die."
But not just die.
She had to die by his hands.
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The Setup
That night, he visited her when the healer fell asleep.
Her eyes fluttered. She was conscious now, weakly clinging to life.
> "Water…" she croaked.
Kaizen tilted the cup toward her lips.
She drank greedily.
And never noticed the powdered sedative he had stolen from the herbal jars earlier.
> "You'll feel heavy in a moment," he said gently.
> "But it's okay. You don't need to struggle."
> "Why…?" she murmured.
> "Because I'm the end of your story."
Her eyes widened.
She tried to move.
But her limbs betrayed her.
Kaizen smiled softly.
> "It's not personal. I just… need to know."
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The Death
He used a blade no bigger than a carving knife. Dull, old, but enough.
The first cut was to the throat. Slow. Deliberate.
He didn't flinch. His hands didn't shake.
She choked quietly.
Her blood spread across the healer's cot.
Her eyes locked on his as the last of her life drained away.
Kaizen whispered:
> "I want to remember you. Not your name. Just your skill."
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The Steal
It wasn't dramatic.
No flashing light. No thunder. No cries from the heavens.
Just a slow wave of understanding.
The Devil Fruit power slid into him like a whisper—subtle and serpentine.
> The Silence-Silence Fruit (Paramecia).
Her ability?
> To create zones of absolute silence.
In battle, it was lethal. No sound. No scream. No warning.
In stealth, it was divine.
> "She could mute entire buildings," Kaizen realized.
> "And now I can."
He stood up, his body pulsing with the quiet thrill of new power.
> "I was right."
> "Killing them gives me everything."
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Aftermath
He cleaned the blade in the river, watched as blood faded into the current.
Aiyona found him there.
> "You're different again," she said.
> "How many now?"
> "Two," Kaizen replied.
She smiled.
> "You'll be a monster soon."
> "Aren't I already?"
Aiyona took his hand.
> "Not to me."
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End of Chapter Cliffhanger: The Whispering Man
That night, Kaizen heard a voice in his dreams.
Not his.
Not Rako's.
Not the pirate's.
> "You are the vessel," it said.
> "You are the library of death."
> "But beware, little thief—some powers remember their masters."
Kaizen sat upright in bed, gasping.
In his hand, for just a second, was a bloodstained coin—one that wasn't there before.
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