The Divine Calamity. The name, stark and terrifying in the mundane light of Makino's bar, felt like a physical blow. It wasn't just a label; it was a condemnation, a twisted acknowledgment of the power stirring within me and the devastation of my home, repackaged by the World Government to fit their narrative. My throat tightened. They hadn't just destroyed Hi-no-Kuni; they had rewritten its ending, turning the victim into the villain, the survivor into a force of destruction. The eighty million beri wasn't just a bounty; it was a price tag on a lie.
Silence stretched through the bar, heavy and thick. The fishermen who had chuckled at Ace's teasing were now staring at the poster, then at me, their faces etched with apprehension. Makino's smile had completely vanished, replaced by a look of profound sadness and concern as she met my eyes. She knew. She saw the disparity between the terrified, bruised girl standing before her and the terrifying epithet on the paper.
Luffy, bless his oblivious heart, didn't seem to grasp the weight of the nickname. He was still bouncing slightly, looking between the poster and my face, muttering, "Divine Calamity? Sounds... like something Gramps would yell about. Is it tasty?"
Ace, however, understood. His face, moments before alight with teasing mirth, was now grim, his eyes burning with a familiar anger. He knew the sting of being labeled, of being hunted for who you are, for the secrets tied to your existence. His gaze swept over the poster, lingering on the name, then shifted to the fishermen who were now eyeing me with fear. The casual atmosphere of the bar shattered like glass.
The urge to run, to vanish back into the shadows where wanted posters couldn't find me, was overwhelming. My hand instinctively went to the Kaenken again, the familiar weight a small comfort against the sudden onslaught of being seen, truly seen, for what the world considered me.
But before the panic could fully take hold, before I could react, Luffy, sensing the heavy shift in the air, seemed to decide he'd had enough of the serious stuff. He clapped his hands together, a loud, cheerful sound that cut through the tension like a dull knife.
"Ne, enough about that, Makino-neechan!" he announced, his voice bouncing with renewed energy. He grinned, his eyes bright, completely skipping over the terrifying epithet on the poster. "Tomorrow is Sabo's... anniversary, right?" His expression softened slightly, a flicker of sadness touching his usually bright face, quickly masked by determination. "Come on! Help me and Ace build... a flower! A really big one!"
He looked at Ace, who was still glaring at the poster and the wary faces of the fishermen. "Right, Ace? We gotta make it extra good this year!"
Ace visibly flinched at the name. The anger in his eyes intensified, not directed at Luffy, but at something unseen, something deeply personal and painful. His jaw clenched, a muscle twitching in his cheek. "Yeah," he ground out, his voice low and rough. "Yeah, we do." He looked away from the poster, balling his fists at his sides.
His reaction wasn't just sadness. It was fury. A raw, simmering rage that seemed to radiate off him. "Those... those Celestial fucking bastards," he muttered under his breath, his voice barely audible, but laced with venom. He looked towards the window, towards the peaceful village outside, but his eyes saw something else. "And the Government agents... I won't forgive them. Ever."
His intense, burning hatred, directed at the same system that had annihilated my home, that had branded me a 'Divine Calamity,' resonated deep within me. His anger mirrored my own, sharper, perhaps, in its raw expression, but born from the same source of injustice and loss.
The shift in conversation was abrupt, confusing, but it successfully pulled the focus away from my poster, from the terrifying name. Sabo. An anniversary. A death, judging by Ace's reaction. And Celestial Dragons? Government agents? Another layer of hidden pain and conflict in their lives, tied somehow to the same monsters that haunted mine.
"So," I said, my voice a little shaky, pulling myself away from the abyss of my own past and into the immediate, tangible sadness and anger flickering between the brothers. I looked from Luffy's slightly sad, determined face to Ace's rigid, furious one. "Who's this Sabo guy?"