Power is never left unchallenged.And gold, when cornered, bites harder than steel.
After Raizen's blitzkrieg across Kronvale's northern ports, the merchant nation bled — but did not die. It did what it had always done best: it invested in violence.
And in the vaults beneath the capital, it opened a box it had sworn to keep sealed.
Kronvale – The Chimera Spire
Beneath the surface of the city, beyond twenty locked vault doors, two men in white coats stood before a reinforced chamber. Inside, a figure sat bound in chains etched with ancient seastone.
"You sure about this?" the younger scientist whispered. "This isn't a war weapon... It's a myth."
The older man didn't blink. "That boy burns empires with words. This thing? It devours hope itself."
With trembling hands, they activated the release.
Inside, a creature slowly rose — tall, humanoid, but with a serpentine face and spines of bone protruding from its arms. Its skin shimmered like obsidian, and behind its sharklike grin, a voice echoed in multiple tones:
"You called... merchant kings? Shall I eat your nightmares?"
They called it: Varnax, the Merchant's Teeth.
Once a pirate from the Grand Line, captured and experimented on. Now a hybrid of Zoan and Paramecia Devil Fruits — and bound by money, not loyalty.
Emberfang – Deckside Training
Raizen sparred with Calder in silence, his movements sharper, more brutal. His form had changed. Cleaner. Colder.
"Why so angry, Captain?" Calder asked, dodging a strike.
Raizen didn't stop. "Because we're still reacting. I don't want to win battles. I want to write the script."
A messenger burst onto the deck.
"Captain — Kronvale's flagship approaches. But… it's alone."
Raizen narrowed his eyes. "That's not strategy. That's bait."
He turned to Silco. "Prepare for boarders. No one touches the helm until we see what kind of monster they bought."
At Sea – Encounter with the Teeth
The ship cut through the fog like a blade. It bore no flag, no sails — just black iron and claw-marked hull. And on the deck stood Varnax, barely restrained by three handlers.
As the Emberfang approached, Zhara whispered, "That's no mercenary. That's a curse."
Raizen took one long look, then gave the order.
"Fire."
Cannons roared. The black ship was engulfed in flame.
But when the smoke cleared, Varnax was walking on water, dragging two chains behind him, smiling.
Then — he vanished.
Seconds later, he was aboard the Emberfang.
Chaos Unleashed
Screams rang out. Varnax's arms extended like whips, slicing through masts and flesh alike. Every strike was silent, efficient, and cruel.
"Gravity means nothing to me," he whispered. "Your bones? Just stories waiting to be forgotten."
Silco fired a dozen rounds. Calder launched a lightning shot from his rifle. Neither slowed the beast.
Then Raizen stepped forward — holding something new.
A silver vial. With a swirling purple mist inside.
The Grav-Grav Fruit.
He drank it.
Raizen Awakens
For a moment, everything stopped.
Then the world bent around him.
The air thickened. The deck cracked. Varnax paused — confused — as his next step crushed the floor beneath him. The pressure was growing.
Raizen raised a single hand.
"Fall."
The gravity pulse hit like a god's finger. Varnax collapsed into the ship's core — unable to move, roaring, furious.
But still alive.
Raizen knelt beside him.
"You're strong. But strength without will… is just noise."
And then, with one final surge, he drove the pressure deep — crushing the deck and Varnax into unconsciousness.
Aftermath
The Emberfang was in tatters.
Twelve crew members dead. Two more maimed. And Raizen, his eyes glowing faintly with power, stood at the edge of his ship — victorious, but altered.
Zhara approached, sword still dripping. "You used the Fruit."
Raizen looked at his hands, flexing his fingers.
"Yes. And now I know what it wants from me."
She tilted her head. "And what's that?"
Raizen smiled.
"Everything."
Elsewhere – A Line Crossed
In the halls of Mariejois, the Cipher Core received the news.
A new file was marked: Nightborne, Raizen D. – Potential Category Red Threat.
A voice in the dark murmured:
"We should've killed him when he was still a boy."
Another replied:
"Then pray he doesn't come to remind us."
End of Chapter 14: The Merchant's Teeth