Chapter 105: The Warlord's Shield and the Ghosts of Goa

[Victor’s POV]

The silence that followed my ultimatum was suffocating, and terrifying.

I didn’t hold back. I let the sheer density of my Conqueror’s Haki press down on Grove 13 like a physical weight. Lower-ranking Marines collapsed into the mud, foaming at the mouth. Even the elite Marine Captains found themselves driven to one knee, gasping for air as the atmospheric pressure around them warped and fractured.

Standing at the epicenter of the storm, Commodore Aliester was trembling, but not from fear. His silver Peacemaker helmet whined as its internal systems redlined, the Unibeam charging with volatile, infinite bio-electric energy. He desperately wanted to fire. He wanted to wipe the commanding look off my face and vaporize the rookies behind me.

“Aliester. Stand down.”

The command didn’t come from me. It came from Rear Admiral Hototoguisu.

She sheathed her sword with a sharp, echoing click. She was bleeding from the shoulder where she had been struck, but her eyes were cold, calculating, and entirely pragmatic. She swept her gaze over the Titan’s Glory.

She saw me. She saw Fire Fist Ace, Trafalgar Law, and two high-ranking Revolutionary officers. She saw my entire, heavily armed crew lining the railing, and the mythical Jade Dragon construct looming over the battlefield.

“Are you out of your mind?!” Aliester roared, turning to her. “We have them surrounded! We can end Costa right here!”

“Look around you, Commodore,” Hototoguisu said, her voice dripping with venomous logic. “Half our men are unconscious. We do not have an Admiral present. If we engage a Warlord, a Whitebeard Commander, and the Verdant Abyss under these conditions. It will be a massacre, and we will be the ones in body bags. Order your men to withdraw.”

Aliester’s fists shook with such suppressed rage that arcs of blue electricity jumped from his knuckles to the damp grass. He looked back at me, our eyes locking in a silent promise of future violence.

“This isn’t over, Costa,” Aliester spat, his voice trembling with fury. “Enjoy your little ghost story while it lasts.”

“Fall back!” Hototoguisu barked.

The Marines didn’t need to be told twice. They grabbed their unconscious comrades and retreated in a rapid, disciplined withdrawal, disappearing into the thick mangrove roots of the lawless zone.

I didn’t move a single muscle until the very last Marine was entirely out of sight.

Then, I let the terrifying, world-ending aura drop. The suffocating pressure lifted from the grove. I raised a hand, and my colossal, three-headed Jade Dragon dissolved into a burst of harmless, shimmering green mist that faded into the sea breeze.

I threw my heavy Warlord coat from my shoulder and broke into a dead sprint down the adam-wood ramp, Jasmine right on my heels.

As we closed the distance to the three battered, bleeding rookies, something incredible happened. I didn’t need to ask who was in which body. My Observation Haki, refined by years of survival and combat, flared in my mind. There was no need for me to sense their physical forms. I was reading the distinct, emotional, spiritual signatures buried beneath the Longarm joints and the Ancient Zoan traits.

Despite the monstrous reputations of their bounties, standing here in front of me, they were surprisingly normal in height, no taller than an average human. They looked so small, so battered, and so undeniably familiar.

I skidded to a halt in the mud just a few feet away from them. My breath hitched. I looked at Ideo, then at Ulti, and finally at Page One.

“Jacob,” I whispered, looking at the Longarm.

I shifted my gaze to the horned girl. “Maria.”

Finally, I looked at the Spinosaurus hybrid, who was slowly shifting back into his human form. “Peter.”

The emotional dam completely shattered.

The aggressive, foul-mouthed bravado that Maria had worn as armor for months failed her completely. The mask cracked, and she burst into tears. She dropped her massive spiked club into the mud and threw her arms around Jasmine, burying her face in her older sister’s shoulder and weeping uncontrollably.

“Jas! Jas, we were so scared!” Maria sobbed, her frame shaking as Jasmine held her tight, tears streaming down the Revolutionary’s face.

Peter stumbled forward. I caught him, pulling the younger boy into a fierce, desperate embrace. Jacob stepped into the hug as well, wrapping his uniquely jointed arms around me. The three rookies, who had fought like absolute demons just moments ago, broke down completely. They were no longer notorious pirate captains. They were just my little cousins, finally finding the brother who always kept them safe.

“You found us, bhai,” Jacob wept into my shoulder, the exhaustion of months of running bleeding out of him. “You found us.”

“I’ve got you,” I said, my own voice thick with emotion, holding my cousins tight. “I’ve got you. You’re safe now.”

Ace, Law, and Koala slowly walked down the ramp, giving us a moment before stepping into the mud. Ace tilted his orange hat back, offering a warm, toothy grin to the crying trio.

“So… more cousins?” Ace asked lightly.

Maria sniffled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She looked at Ace, then at Law and Koala, her brow furrowing in utter confusion. She looked at Ace like he had two heads.

“Cousins?” Maria asked, her voice raspy. She looked up at me. “Who the hell is this guy, bhai?”

Ace blinked, his smile faltering. “Wait, they don’t know?”

“I Guess not, we have a lot to talk about,” I sighed, offering Ace an apologetic look.

“We can’t stay here,” Law interrupted calmly, his eyes scanning the tree line. “Hototoguisu is smart, but Aliester is vindictive. They might call in an Admiral. We need to get off the streets.”

“Right,” I nodded, wiping my eyes. I turned to my navigator. “Bepo! Secure the Titan’s Glory in the hidden inlet near Grove 13. Camouflage the mast.” I looked at the rest of my crew filing down the ramp. “Everyone else, with me. We’re taking a walk.”

I threw my arm over Jacob’s shoulder, supporting the battered Longarm. “Come on. I know a place.”

The bell above the door of Shakky’s Rip-off Bar chimed continuously as my entire, chaotic crew piled inside.

Shakky was standing behind the bar, polishing a glass. She took one look at the bleeding rookies, the Warlord, Fire Fist Ace, the Revolutionaries, and my entire Verdant Abyss crew filling up her tavern, and let out a deeply amused sigh.

“I see your meeting was explosive,” Shakky smirked, tossing a set of heavy iron keys onto the counter. “Lock the front door, Victor. I’m closed for the day. The backroom is yours. The rest of your crew can take the main floor. Try not to bleed on the vintage carpets.”

“I owe you, Shakky,” I said gratefully. I left Gwen, Laura, Baby 5, and the others in the main bar while I ushered Jacob, Maria, Peter, Jasmine, Ace, Law, and Koala into the spacious, dimly lit backroom.

The room was filled with plush couches and medical supplies. Jacob, Maria, and Peter collapsed onto the largest sofa, groaning as the adrenaline wore off.

“Don’t move,” Law commanded, immediately stepping up to them. He drew his Nodachi just an inch from its scabbard. “Room.”

The pale blue sphere enveloped my three cousins. Law’s eyes darted rapidly as he scanned their internal biology.

“No ruptured organs,” Law diagnosed, his surgical mind working perfectly. “But you have deep lacerations, localized hemorrhaging, and Jacob has three fractured ribs from the blunt force trauma. You’ve pushed these bodies past their limits today.”

“I’ve got the physical repairs,” I said, stepping forward and rolling up my sleeves.

I placed my hands firmly on Jacob and Maria’s shoulders. I closed my eyes and channeled my Fa-Jin. A brilliant, soothing green aura flared from my palms, sinking deeply into their muscles. The kinetically generated life-force immediately began knitting their torn flesh back together and mending the micro-fractures in their bones.

The sudden, aggressive cellular regeneration wasn’t exactly painless.

“Ow! Ow, bhai, that burns!” Jacob groaned, gritting his teeth as his ribs snapped back into place.

Maria hissed, gripping the armrest as the deep slash on her shoulder rapidly closed. “It stings! Stop pushing so hard!”

“Suck it up,” I nagged, entirely slipping into the role of the bossy older brother. “If you have the energy to complain, you have the energy to heal. Sit still, Peter, you’re next.”

Peter grimaced but stayed completely still as I moved my glowing hands to his chest. As the healing progressed, the heavy tension of the battle finally began to bleed out of the room.

“Okay, seriously,” Peter said, wincing slightly. “What did that fire guy mean by cousins?”

I paused the Fa-Jin flow for a second, looking at the three of them.

“Before I explain that,” I said carefully, “I need to ask you guys something. Do you know a man named Damine?”

Jacob, Maria, and Peter immediately looked at each other. It wasn’t a look of recognition, it was a bizarre, deeply hesitant exchange. They frowned, their eyes darting between each other before looking back at me.

“Yes…” Jacob said slowly, as if he were doubting his own answer the second it left his mouth. “Yeah, we know him.”

I mentally flagged the strange hesitation, but I ignored it for now. We had bigger issues.

“Okay. Good,” I nodded. I gestured to the three people standing by the door. “The short version is: when our ancestors left this world two hundred years ago, not all of them stayed in our old world. Some came back here. Ace, Law, and Koala… they are the direct descendants of the bloodline that returned to this world. They are our cousins.”

Maria’s jaw dropped. She looked at Ace, then at Law’s stoic face, and finally at Koala’s gentle smile. “Wait. Seriously? You three?”

“Nice to officially meet you,” Koala smiled warmly.

“Full family tree breakdown later,” I promised, finishing up Peter’s healing and stepping back. “Right now, I need to understand your situation. Ideo, Ulti, and Page One were established people in this world. How are you in their bodies?”

Jacob rubbed his newly healed, double-jointed shoulder. “Damine explained it to us when we… woke up. He told us the original owners of these bodies died. Disease, combat, an accident, he didn’t specify which for each of us. But their souls were gone. He said he placed us in these specific bodies because they were the most compatible with our spiritual signatures.”

“Do you have their memories?” Jasmine asked softly.

“Sort of,” Peter muttered, rubbing his temples. “It’s not clear. It’s like having blurred vision, or watching a really fuzzy movie of someone else’s life. We know who their enemies were, we know how to use their Devil Fruits and martial arts instinctively, but their original personalities are totally gone. It’s just us in here.”

“Which is why Aliester didn’t believe you,” Law noted, leaning against his sword. “From his perspective, Victor just taught three infamous rookies how to speak Hindi to run a psychological operation on him.”

“Aliester is a stubborn idiot,” Maria scoffed, her natural brashness finally starting to return now that the pain was fading. “We told him it was us, and he still ordered an execution!”

I let the green glow fade from my hands completely. I wiped a bead of sweat from my forehead. The three of them looked infinitely better, the bleeding had stopped, their breathing was even, and their strength had returned.

I pulled up a wooden chair and sat down directly across from the couch.

The comfortable, nagging warmth of the older brother faded. The Warlord returned. The atmosphere in the backroom instantly shifted from a relieved family reunion to something heavy, cold, and terrifyingly serious.

Ace stood up straighter. Law narrowed his eyes. Jasmine gripped Maria’s hand a little tighter.

“You found me,” I said, my voice quiet, steady, and demanding. “You’re safe now. No Marine and no pirate is ever going to touch you again. I promise you that.”

Jacob, Maria, and Peter looked at me, the relief in their eyes palpable.

I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, holding their gaze.

“But now I need the truth,” I said, the air in the room dropping ten degrees. “You didn’t travel here through a portal like Jasmine and I did. You transmigrated. Which means your physical bodies in the old world died.”

My eyes hardened, a dangerous, protective fire burning deep within my chest.

“How did you die?”

The silence that followed was agonizing.

Maria’s returning bravado failed her instantly. She looked down at the floor, her hands shaking in her lap. Peter swallowed hard, gripping the edge of the leather couch so tightly his knuckles turned white.

Jacob took a ragged, deep breath. He looked me dead in the eye. The weight of a horrific, tragic secret hung in the air between us, threatening to unleash an entirely new level of Warlord fury upon whatever, or whoever, had taken their lives.