One Piece: The Shadow Emperor

I had taken a risk. A calculated one, but a risk nonetheless.

The man Sabo brought to Baltigo was an unknown factor, an anomaly that should not exist—and yet, here he was, standing within the very heart of the Revolutionary Army.

Had I made a mistake?

If he were a spy, a weapon of the World Government, then I had just jeopardized everything we had built. If he were something worse, something that even the Government feared, then I had willingly let a walking disaster into our midst.

And yet, I couldn't ignore the unease that settled in my gut, the strange pull that told me I needed to meet this man. Why? I couldn't explain. It was as if fate itself had drawn him here.

I closed my eyes and extended my Observation Haki throughout Baltigo. Instantly, I found him.

The man called Jin stood deep inside the fortress, his body calm, composed, but his emotions… off.

Confusion.

That was what I sensed most from him. Not fear. Not aggression. Not arrogance. Just… confusion.

But confused about what?

Then I felt it.

The air around him was wrong.

It reeked of death.

Not the death of a mere killer or soldier. No, this was something far worse. It was as if death itself had taken form, given a body, and decided to walk among the living.

A suffocating aura clung to him like a veil of shadows, an unseen force that whispered of endless graves, of battles long lost to time, of souls that would never know peace.

And then… I saw them.

The eyes.

Millions of them, peering from beneath his feet, from within the depths of his very shadow.

They blinked in unison, countless unseen gazes watching, waiting, like a silent army lurking beneath reality itself.

My body tensed. Even I, the most wanted man in the world, felt the urge to prepare for battle.

Was this man even human?

A knock. The door opened.

Sabo stepped inside, his expression unreadable. Behind him, the man in question—Jin—followed.

I took him in.

He was young. Mid-to-late twenties, maybe thirty at most. Not what I had expected. His face was sharp, unreadable, but his eyes—his eyes held something ancient. Something that should not belong to someone so young.

Sabo spoke first. "Dragon, this is the man responsible for the Conqueror's Haki surge we felt earlier."

I studied him.

Conqueror's Haki? Was that really what it was? It had felt different, something unique, foreign, alien—as if the world itself struggled to define it.

Before I could say anything, the man frowned, muttering to himself, "Conqueror's Haki?"

He didn't know?

Now that was interesting.

I crossed my arms. "It's the ability to assert your will on others. To make your presence felt. What would you do when you want to make your presence known?"

His gaze flickered with understanding. Slowly, he nodded.

Then… he did it.

The air turned heavy.

Then, like a dam breaking, his presence flooded the room.

The walls groaned under the pressure. The floor beneath my feet cracked, thin fractures spreading outward like veins. The entire building trembled, and outside, I could hear the sound of bodies hitting the ground.

I sensed them falling.

Dozens. Hundreds.

Soldiers, trained revolutionaries—men and women hardened by war—were collapsing, foaming at the mouth, their minds utterly crushed beneath the sheer force of his existence.

It was like Conqueror's Haki—but far worse.

This wasn't the will of a king imposing itself on others.

This was something deeper, darker.

This was the weight of death itself, pressing down on the living, reminding them of their place in the natural order.

I exhaled sharply. "That's enough."

Instantly, the pressure faded, and the fortress stopped shaking.

Jin looked at me, his expression calm, but I could tell he wasn't even using his full strength.

This man…

I could feel it now.

He was dangerous.

Not just because of his power, but because I didn't even know what he was.

And that made him the most unpredictable force in this world.