OP: AMP Ch. 217

---First POV---

My name is Limoka, and I'm what you might call a professional fraud.

I'm from the Minos Kingdom in the West Blue, and yeah, I've got a 150 million berry bounty. Sounds impressive, right? Except anyone who knows me knows that number's pure fiction.

See, when kingdoms in the West Blue get into pissing contests with each other but can't officially declare war, they need someone to do their dirty work. Intercept merchant ships, block trade routes, delay supply shipments... that kind of thing. It gives them plausible deniability while still screwing over their rivals.

That's where I come in. I'm basically a government-sanctioned pirate. A tool the Minos Kingdom pulls out whenever they need someone to take the blame for their games. And that's how I've spent the last decade coasting on an inflated bounty, doing the bare minimum, and collecting a paycheck.

Honestly thought my life would just keep going like that. Easy money, low risk, retire eventually.

Then Shiki announced his plan to destroy the East Blue and started recruiting pirates from across the world to form a grand fleet. And sure, he's calling it the "East Blue Destruction Plan," but let's be real, if the guy can wipe out one of the Blues, what's stopping him from hitting the West Blue next?

The king ordered me to attend. Commanded, actually. Not like I had a choice.

Shiki. One of the legendary pirates from the Pirate King's era. I literally grew up hearing stories about him, mostly the scary kind parents tell kids to make them behave. "If you don't go to sleep, the Golden Lion will come get you!" That sort of thing.

And now I was actually going to meet him. Attend some kind of brotherhood ceremony with other pirates. Part of me was excited, even if my bounty was fake. Would he even care? Would he see through me immediately?

When I arrived at the meeting hall on one of Shiki's floating islands, I couldn't believe my luck. They seated people by bounty amount, and somehow I ended up in the top ten. Top ten! Sure, it was just because of that inflated number, but still.

I was close enough to see him clearly. And damn, the man had presence. Every movement carried authority. He made our bastard of a king back home look like a joke in comparison.

Sitting there, watching Shiki address the assembled pirates, I started thinking... maybe I should join for real. The West Blue's a backwater anyway. With someone like Shiki leading, maybe I could amount to something. Maybe even rule my own territory someday.

The man was talking about destroying Marineford, taking over Mary Geoise, becoming what the Celestial Dragons feared. Just listening to it got my blood pumping.

I'm fifty years old. Still in my prime. Maybe it's time to stop coasting and get on a ship heading toward a real future.

Then the doors to the hall burst open.

A handful of people, it couldn't have been more than ten, stormed in like they owned the place. The hell? Who crashes a gathering of powerful pirates with just a small crew?

Perfect opportunity, actually. I could show Shiki what I was made of.

I jumped to my feet, drawing my blade with what I thought was an intimidating flourish.

"Listen here, brat! You're way too cocky for someone so young!"

I charged forward, sword raised, ready to deliver an impressive strike that would... The kid with the straw hat punched me.

Just one punch.

I went down like a sack of rocks, skidding across the floor and slamming into a wall.

What the fuck just happened?

I mean, sure, my bounty's inflated, but I'm not completely useless. I've been in fights before. How did one punch put me on my ass?

No. No way. This had to be some kind of fluke. Or maybe I just wasn't ready. Yeah, that's it.

Shame burned through my chest. I couldn't just stay down. Not in front of all these other pirates. Not in front of Shiki.

"Like hell I'm going down that easy!" I shouted, forcing myself back to my feet.

My legs were shaking, but I ignored that. The straw hat kid had already moved past me, fighting someone else. The three-sword guy looked terrifying, definitely not someone I wanted to mess with. The blond one was fast, stealing weapons from pirates before they even realized what was happening.

But there... a muscular guy with a sword, not engaged with anyone yet. I had take him. My pride depended on it.

I swung my blade with everything I had.

Clang.

My sword stopped dead, caught on his blade. He hadn't even moved his feet.

Then his other hand came up and something cold pressed against my throat.

---Third POV---

"What plan? You mean the East Blue Destruction Plan?" Limoka babbled nervously. "I don't know anything about that! I just got here, they gave me a room to rest in. This was my first time seeing Shiki in person, I swear!"

He was following behind Marcus now, hands clasped together obsequiously.

Marcus barely paid attention to him. His focus was on the massive wave of pirates flooding toward their position from deeper in the fortress. He glanced back. The rest of the Straw Hats had already pushed forward, heading deeper into Shiki's stronghold to find the man himself.

He had volunteered to hold the rear.

Not because he was trying to avoid the main fight, he wasn't a coward. But these pirates were way more numerous than he'd expected. In the original timeline, this mob had been wiped out at the start of the arc by the Straw Hats using guns, cannons, and rocket launchers.

But now? They were showing way more organization and strength. There were even some skilled fighters mixed in with the fodder. And the sheer numbers were terrifying, easily fifty thousand pirates, maybe more.

Sure, Nami could probably end this quickly by dropping lightning on the whole crowd. But then he wouldn't get any of the experience points from defeating them. And he needed those experience points.

He watched the Straw Hats disappear around a corner, then turned back to face the approaching horde. The handful of pirates he'd already "recruited," including Limoka, were already struggling to hold the line.

His hand tightened around the Shichiseiken's hilt. She activated the Fear Domain.

The crude shouting and battle cries cut off mid-word. Pirates who'd been charging forward suddenly froze, their feet skidding on the stone floor as they tried to stop their momentum. Because the kid who'd looked like an easy target moments ago had changed.

His appearance was the same. But something had shifted. It was like looking at a disaster in human form. A demon wearing a person's skin. In the minds of everyone caught in the domain's range, inhuman whispers and screams began echoing.

Someone gulped. Then another. And another.

The sound of thousands of people swallowing in unison was eerily clear in the silence.

Clang.

A sword hit the ground. One pirate with weak resolve had dropped his weapon, hands shaking too badly to hold it. And once one person gave in to the fear, others followed. It spread like a virus through the crowd. Pirates started dropping their weapons, abandoning their armor, turning to run. The mob mentality that had driven them forward now worked in reverse, amplifying their terror instead of their courage.

"Monster! There's a fucking monster here!"

They tried to flee.

But as they ran, thin tendrils of black mist began rising from their bodies. The mist flowed through the air like smoke, all of it converging on the Shichiseiken in Marcus' hand. And as the blade absorbed more fear, the domain grew stronger.

The pirates who'd been in the front of the charge, the ones who'd been closest to Marcus, started dropping like flies. Eyes rolling back, white foam at their mouths, bodies convulsing as they collapsed.

Some of them had been scared unconscious.

He watched the experience points flow into him as each pirate fell. The little glowing orbs merged with his body, adding to his total.

He checked his experience bar.

The increase was... barely noticeable.

He'd known it would be like this. At his current level, defeating random mooks gave almost nothing. Only significant battles would give him the experience he needed.

He sighed, feeling his excitement drain away. This was going to be tedious. But the Shichiseiken didn't share his disappointment. Ghostly energy and dark mist poured from the sword in waves now, no longer just thin tendrils but thick ropes of shadowy power. They writhed through the air, reaching toward the pirates.

The stronger fighters, the crew captains who had some actual combat experience, they were already terrified just from being in the Fear Domain. But seeing these physical manifestations of demonic energy coming toward them triggered a different kind of fear.

Their survival instincts screamed at them: Don't let those things touch you. If they touch you, something terrible will happen.

"Fucking cowards!" A man with an X-shaped scar on his forehead roared at the fleeing pirates. "He's one guy! You've all lived this long and you're going to die running?!"

He was one of the few people in range of the Fear Domain who wasn't giving off any black mist. His willpower was apparently strong enough to resist, at least partially. His shouting had an effect. Some of the pirates who'd been on the verge of fleeing stopped. Their eyes refocused on Marcus.

The best way to overcome fear was to face it head-on.

The man with the X-scar suddenly started transforming. White fur sprouted from his chest and back as his body began shifting into a half-human, half-animal form.

Marcus raised an eyebrow, surprised for the first time since the fight started.

"A honey badger Zoan? Huh. That explains why you're not scared."

Honey badgers were notorious for their fearlessness. They weren't wired to back down easily. It made sense that a Zoan user would inherit some of that.