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One Piece: As Heavy as a Gale #111
🕑 Added 2025-08-06 04:18:57 +0000 UTCThe night air over Sabaody carried the sharp tang of salt and gunpowder, the kind of combination that screamed either a battle just ended or
The night air over Sabaody carried the sharp tang of salt and gunpowder, the kind of combination that screamed either a battle just ended or you walked past a seafood restaurant run by criminals.
Boots slapped against cobblestone as Law and Ren bolted through the backstreets toward the shore. Ren moved like smoke—silent, fluid, impossible to track—while Law’s gait was purposeful but laced with the edge of a man who had very recently almost died in public.
Every corner they turned, every alley they ducked through, Law’s gaze flicked over his shoulder, scanning for the inevitable pursuit. But… nothing.
No shouts. No footsteps. Not even a stray bullet for courtesy.
Finally, he exhaled—long, sharp, relieved.
“…Can’t believe that actually worked,” he muttered.
Ren didn’t even look back. “The guy might be clinically insane,” he said in his usual, flat delivery, “but he gets things done.”
Law gave him a side-eye so sharp it could cut glass. “…Right.”
A beat passed before Law spoke again, tone edging toward suspicion. “That guy in the dragon mask—how did you meet him? And how exactly did he arrange all of this?” His eyes narrowed. “And why?”
Ren’s pace didn’t change. “The why and how,” he said evenly, “are none of your business.”
“…Not much for gratitude, are you?” Law deadpanned.
Ren ignored that. “As for how we met… I tried to kill him.”
Law actually stopped for half a step, then caught up again. “…You tried to kill him?”
Ren gave a shrug that suggested he’d done far worse before breakfast. “Strictly business.”
“…And now you work together?”
“Also business.” Ren’s tone was the exact same—like he was reciting the weather forecast. Then, almost as an afterthought, “Partnership’s nothing personal.”
He trailed off, eyes flicking toward the coastline now visible between the tightly packed buildings. “Speaking of which… I hear you also have a bone to pick with Doflamingo.”
Law’s expression cooled, and for a moment, his voice lost its sardonic edge. “…I do. Someone I held dear wanted him stopped.”
There was a beat of silence—heavy enough to feel. The night wind filled it, carrying the sound of waves breaking against the shore.
“What about you?” Law asked, watching him closely.
Ren’s reply was almost bored. “I don’t have a grudge against Doflamingo.”
Law’s brow furrowed slightly.
Ren glanced at him, eyes unreadable behind the oni mask. “Not directly, anyway. But he’s working for someone… and the work he’s doing is ruining my homeland.”
The words hung between them—simple, direct, without theatrics.
Law didn’t press. He knew better than to demand more from someone like Ren.
Instead, he smirked faintly, eyes forward again. “Sounds like you’ve got your own brand of ‘business,’ then.”
The shoreline was just ahead now. Lanterns from the coated ship bobbed in the water like patient eyes, watching their approach.
Ren walked in silence for a moment, then finally spoke, his voice just as even as always—but with a thread of something colder beneath it.
“I did,” he said. “Had a plan. Ruin Doflamingo. Break the network. Watch his little empire collapse so I could go home and deal with the bastard who’s wrecking it.”
His words weren’t bitter. They were… mechanical. Like he was reading off a checklist of necessary evil.
Law exhaled through his nose, slow and skeptical.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”
Ren’s eyes shifted. “What do you mean?”
Law didn’t answer right away. He looked out across the water, jaw tight.
“We just framed him and his people,” Ren continued, “for collaborating in the assassination of a Celestial Dragon.” He raised a hand, counting it off with his fingers. “Accessory to murder, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, aiding a fugitive...”
He looked over at Law. “No matter how much power he has, that kind of stain doesn’t wash off.”
Law gave him a look. The kind of look that said you really think this is a story with justice in it?
“You’d think so,” Law said. “But the truth… isn’t that simple.”
Ren frowned under his mask. “Then what is the truth?”
Law’s gaze didn’t waver.
“Doflamingo… was a Celestial Dragon.”
A pause.
Ren stopped walking. Even his cloak rustled like it wasn’t sure how to react.
“...You’re kidding.”
“I’m not.”
“He was born one of them?”
“Yup.”
Ren’s voice flattened with disbelief. “And he left that life to dress as a pink bird and play pirate?”
Law didn’t dignify that with a response.
He kept walking. Ren followed, albeit a little slower now.
“That explains a lot,” Ren muttered. “Still doesn’t mean he can walk away from this.”
Law gave a small shrug. “He has leverage. On the World Government. Something even the higher-ups can’t ignore.”
Ren stopped again. “You’re telling me… after all this? All the planning, the manipulation, the violence, the speeches—that guy gets out scot-free?”
Law turned, finally looking him in the eye.
“No,” he said. “Not scot-free.”
Ren tilted his head.
“His human trafficking business?” Law continued. “Done for. Publicly, at least. He’ll have to shut down everything in Sabaody and pretend it was a rogue operation. Maybe even toss Diamante under the bus to sell it.”
He said that last part with a small, bitter smile.
Ren gave a snort of amusement. “That I’d pay to see.”
“But his position as king of Dressrosa?” Law said, voice dropping again. “His status as a Warlord? His connections in the underworld?”
He shook his head.
“Those won't be touched.”
Silence followed.
Ren stared at him for a long moment. Then looked out toward the sea, where their escape ship was now prepping the submersible lift.
“…You know, when I was a kid,” Ren said, “I thought if I just got strong enough, smart enough, I could fix things. Break the system. Save the people I cared about.”
Law raised an eyebrow. “And how’s that going?”
Ren gave a humorless chuckle. “Turns out the system’s been broken so long it’s growing moss.”
Law said nothing. Because what was there to say?
For a moment, they stood there, just two fugitives with vendettas and matching trauma, staring out at a sea too dark to see the bottom of.
Finally, Ren sighed. “Well. At least we ruined his day.”
Law nodded. “That, we did. And there will be more to ruin if we work together...”
They boarded the coated ship in silence.
...
Gale jumped back just in time as Diamante’s blade struck the ground, carving a deep gash through the dirt like someone had taken a giant can opener to the earth. Clods of soil exploded upward, scattering across the empty plaza.
He landed lightly on the narrow railing of Sabaody’s theme park fence—balancing with the easy grace of someone who’d been doing reckless stunts since before breakfast.
“Nice swing,” Gale called down with a grin. “You’re only… what, thiiis far from hitting me?”
Diamante’s answer was a wordless snarl as he swung again, this time unleashing a flying slash that hissed through the air toward Gale’s midsection.
Gale didn’t stick around to admire it. He pushed off the fence and twisted midair, letting the slash pass cleanly beneath him.
The twist became a full-body spin—more for style than necessity—as his hand slipped inside his coat and pulled free his revolver.
Still in the air, he leveled the barrel at Diamante, his grin sharpening.
The moment he pulled the trigger, his Devil Fruit kicked in.
The bullet was small when it left the barrel. It was not small a second later.
By the time it had traveled a single meter, it had grown to the size of a particularly chunky horse—complete with the same kind of weight and presence that made you instinctively think I should probably not be in front of that.
It kept its speed, rocketing forward like a cannonball on steroids.
Diamante’s eyes widened for a split second before narrowing in focus. Haki shimmered black along his blade as he planted his feet.
“TCH—!”
He brought the sword down in a powerful arc, the steel singing as it cleaved the bullet neatly in half.
The two massive halves screamed past him, smashing into a pair of closed food stalls behind him. The impact tore wood, splintered metal, and sent a cloud of popcorn kernels and cotton candy dust billowing into the air.
If anyone had been standing there, they’d be very dead. Luckily, this late at night, the park was empty—just like Gale wanted.
Step one: no accidental casualties. Step two: chaos. Step three: fun.
And speaking of fun…
His eyes flicked toward the looming silhouette in the distance—the Ferris Wheel—its carriages swaying gently in the breeze like it had no idea what kind of nonsense was about to happen.
Gale’s grin stretched wider. Yup. Definitely time for step three.
He spun on his heel and bolted, boots pounding against the cracked pavement.
Behind him, Diamante shouted, “Stop running, you brat!”
Gale didn’t even look back. “Stop chasing me, you fashion disaster!”
“You think you can get away?!”
“I think you’re about three missed leg days away from catching me, yeah!”
The Ferris Wheel grew larger with each stride, its creaking frame reflecting the moonlight.
Gale’s mind raced—not with strategy in the traditional sense, but with the sheer excitement of pulling off something ridiculous enough to talk about later.
...
Gale darted between the dark silhouettes of rusting rides, boots crunching over stray popcorn kernels and discarded plush toys. Tilt-a-Whirls, bumper cars, and a merry-go-round missing half its horses blurred past him as he zigzagged through the abandoned theme park.
Behind him, Diamante gave chase with all the subtlety of an angry rhinoceros in a china shop.
Every swing of his sword sliced clean through whatever was in the way—steel beams, ticket booths, a cotton candy stand that exploded in a puff of pastel sugar mist.
“STAND AND FIGHT, YOU COWARD!” Diamante roared.
“COWARD?!” Gale shouted back over his shoulder. “You’re literally armed with a whip sword and an outfit that blinds people at twenty paces!”
They crashed through the park’s central plaza, where the cracked pavement was littered with faded streamers and toppled benches. And then—looming above the night sky—the Ferris Wheel.
Its massive frame groaned in the wind, the carriages swaying lazily as if the giant metal circle had been half-asleep for years.
Gale skidded to a stop just at its base.
Diamante slowed as well, sword raised, breathing hard from the chase. His eyes narrowed.
“So… you’ve finally decided to stop running and accept your fate?”
Gale’s lips curled into that dangerous grin—the one that usually meant trouble for everyone within a hundred meters.
“I wasn’t running from you,” he said casually.
Diamante frowned. “Then what were you—”
“I was leading you here.”
The words hung in the air, heavy enough to make Diamante’s Observation Haki twitch in warning. His gaze flicked around the plaza—corners, shadows, rooftops—half-expecting a squad of Marines, assassins, or maybe a circus troupe with guns to jump out.
“You think I don’t know an ambush setup when I see one?” Diamante snapped, turning in place.
Gale tilted his head, amused. “An ambush? Nah. I didn’t drag you all the way here for that.”
“Then what—”
Gale lifted his sword and pointed it straight up at the looming Ferris Wheel.
“I brought you here,” he said with complete sincerity, “because I think this big lump of metal is an eyesore.”
Diamante blinked. “...You what?”
“It’s ugly,” Gale continued matter-of-factly. “Been wanting to scrap it since the day I laid eyes on it.”
There was a long pause where Diamante’s brain visibly stalled. “You—are you seriously telling me—”
Gale sighed, shaking his head like a disappointed teacher. “You’re really slow on the uptake, aren’t you? I just needed a patsy to take the fall.”
Diamante’s voice went dangerously flat. “The fall for what?”
“Destroying the Ferris Wheel, obviously,” Gale said, as if explaining basic math to a stubborn child.
Then his grin returned.
“You were nice enough to take the heat while that slave ran off after gutting a Celestial Dragon… so I figured you wouldn't mind taking the fall for this one, too.”
Comments
trollord3000
Poor Diamanté
