[Word Count: 800]
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Chapter 7: The Girl from the Sky
It began with a lie told by the sky.
The sun blazed above in full, unbroken radiance—yet rain fell.
Cold, heavy droplets. Each drop suspended halfway to the ground, refusing to touch the earth.
The villagers stood in the square with upturned faces and parted lips. Some screamed and ran, others fell to their knees, praying as the rain paused above them. Not falling. Not rising. Just… still.
Kaizen sat alone atop the bell tower, one leg dangling off the ledge, head tilted slightly to the side.
> "This is… not natural."
He reached out.
The nearest raindrop disintegrated the moment his finger passed through it.
Like a pressure bubble, it burst—sending a miniature ripple of air against his hand.
His eyes sharpened. That ripple wasn't random. It carried intent.
> This isn't weather… it's someone.
A soft sound followed. Not thunder. Not wind.
It was the absence of sound, collapsing in on itself—like silence being strangled.
And then… she appeared.
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A figure hung upside down in the sky, standing on nothing.
She drifted lower with the elegance of a falling petal. Hair silver-white and braided to her hips, skin pale as frost, a flowing sash made of translucent silk danced behind her.
But her eyes were hidden beneath a blindfold.
She wasn't floating—she was redefining space around her, Kaizen realized.
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The moment she landed, every single suspended raindrop dropped at once.
Hundreds of splashes echoed across the town square, soaking the cobblestone streets—and her bare feet.
She stood still in the center of the plaza, head lowered slightly.
No one dared approach.
And then—she turned her head in Kaizen's direction.
Though blindfolded, he felt her gaze slice through his chest like a scalpel.
> "Did you kill her?" she asked softly.
Her voice didn't carry on wind. It arrived directly in his ears—too precisely.
Kaizen didn't answer. Not aloud.
He stepped off the tower.
He didn't fall. He glided—relying on the air flow within his silence field to cushion and control descent.
The two stood across from each other, maybe ten meters apart.
> "You're the thief," she whispered.
"The one who takes what isn't his."
Kaizen's lips curled.
> "You're not wrong. But I don't take for fun."
"Only what's useful."
She tilted her head. Rainwater dripped from her braid onto the stone. A pattern of spirals etched where it fell.
> "You're not human," she said again.
He shrugged. "Neither are you."
And that was when the air screamed.
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The First Clash
She didn't move.
But space between them collapsed.
Kaizen's bones screamed as gravity twisted sideways. He dropped to one knee, arms braced.
> She's folding space around my position—like pressure points on the world itself.
He activated his Devil Fruit's passive field: The Silence-Silence Zone.
Instantly, the pressure halted. Not because it was stopped, but because it could no longer exist within his zone of nullified force vectors.
For three seconds, absolute quiet.
Then—
> "Clever," she murmured, stepping forward.
"You can't nullify what you don't understand, though."
She was suddenly beside him. No movement. No blur. Just there.
She reached down.
Touched his face with one finger.
> "You're interesting. And broken. Just like me."
He slapped her hand away—gently, but firmly.
> "Don't flirt unless you're ready to fall," Kaizen said.
> "Who's flirting?" she asked, mock-curious.
"I was inspecting a future property."
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Tension Builds
They stood in silence for a moment longer.
The villagers were long gone. It was just them now.
Kaizen's mind worked rapidly—assessing, calculating.
She was strong. Dangerous. Not just from her ability, but from her mind.
There was no doubt. She was the kind of person who bent worlds to fit her will.
Just like him.
> "Who are you?" he asked.
> "Someone who was told I'd find my obsession here."
> "And did you?"
> "Not yet. But I found something better."
> "Which is?"
She smiled under her blindfold.
> "The possibility of obsession."
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Later That Night
Kaizen's house was small—temporarily built in the woods outside town. It was quiet. Safe. Hidden.
But that night, he felt her before she knocked.
The distortion of sound outside his window told him who it was.
> Sorami.
He opened the door before she knocked.
> "You knew I'd come," she said.
> "You're predictable."
> "You don't understand me yet."
> "But I will."
She stepped inside without invitation.
He didn't stop her.
> "I'll stay," she said calmly.
"Watch you. Break you. Understand you."
> "I'll find your limit and pull until you snap."
Kaizen turned to her, eyes dark but calm.
> "You don't get to say no?" she asked.
He smiled faintly.
> "You're welcome to try," he said. "But obsession is a two-way chain."
She smiled.
> "Then let's see who breaks first."
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[End of Chapter 7]
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