As the boy hit the water head-on, his body sank with great speed.

His body was completely limp and pale. Anyone who would have seen him now would have thought him to be dead but the reality was another.

The boy was alive, but barely. But still he held on to his consciousness.

He could feel the water passing through his fingers and how the pressure increased the deeper he sank. He didn't know when his eyes had closed but he found himself opening them.

It was quite dark at first. But then he saw the surface. It glimmered nicely. How calming.

'Aah..' He thought utterly exhausted, 'It's finally over..'

The blonde let himself sink. He couldn't move his body anyway. The terrible pain had numbed away and the heat and the cold had both faded away. Now it was just...so calm and nice.

The heaviness in his head was gone, just like the voice was.

'I guess I did it...I made the pain disappear...'

The silence around him was so soothing after all the noise. It was almost as if he couldn't hear anything anymore. Only his thoughts.

'I really did many bad things, huh...? Maybe it's okay like this...just to sink...'

He saw his hair sway before his eyes and even further away were those pale hands of his. He saw the familiar beads on his bracelet that had almost come loose. He thought about the time he had gotten it and how he had been with his mentor and father-figure Dante. He struggled a bit but managed to get the bracelet free.
The wooden beads guided the bracelet upwards the surface. He hoped that the people above would find it. He wasn't sure how they all felt about him since he had done such horrible things but he hoped that someone would miss him.

'I really hope you guys know...' He feels a strange pressure in his chest and he wants it to be gone so he relaxes and sees bubbles escaping his mouth. The liquid fills his mouth and forces itself down his throat, into his lungs. It hurts a bit, but soon the feeling passes.

'I never wanted to do any of those bad things. The only thing I wanted was...' He closes his eyes tiredly and accepts the darkness that is greeting him.

'Libertá...Freedom...'

–

Mondo could only register the shouts and the footsteps around him, too shocked to do anything but stare at the dark water where the boy had fallen. He had called his name. He had said 'Papá, and wished for him to save him and now he had failed. Libertá was.. He was..

"Snap out of it, Papá!" Pace's voice called him back to the reality around him.

The first thing he saw was that Nova and Luca were gone from the other ship and Felicitá was left crying hysterically at the ship. He glanced down and saw marks that the two had jumped in the water too.

How had he not seen that?

Then he turned around as he heard a sickening crunch.

"..it, stop it! Debito! Stop it!" The voice came into his ears slowly as he saw Pace, crying, and trying to hold Debito's hands. Huh? When had he moved over there?

Then Mondo really saw what was happening.

Debito had tackled the mad pirate captain on the ground and he swung his fists down at him with full strength and speed. His fists were covered in blood of his enemy's and, undoubtedly, his own.

Pace's hands seemed to be too weak to hold Debito's raging fists which was impossible. It was just because Pace was so scared and confused right then. He finally got a good hold of Debito's wrists as the other panted angrily and glared at the man below him with his one good eye. The look was not meant for many. Only those who he truly wanted to kill.

"Debito..!" Pace cried. "It's enough..." He said as a sob escaped him. "He's already..."

Debito's hands shook but Pace let him go. Pace collapsed onto his hands and knees immediately.

Debito got up in a flash and went to the other railing before slamming his hands and head down loudly. He panted in anger before he raised his head while roaring in such anger that the entire battlefield in the harbor went silent.

The roar affected Mondo immensely. He walked over the railing and felt like he finally had a hold of himself.

He looked at the people below who were staring at the ship in confusion.

Mondo took a deep breath before shouting:
"INVADERS! YOUR LEADER WAS DEFEATED! SURRENDER NOW AND YOUR LIVES WILL BE SPARED!"

Mondo was relieved that the result of his words was such that most of the pirates dropped their weapons. Some tried to flee, but were successfully captured or taken down, as were the ones who still had a fighting spirit.

"It's over..." Mondo sighed.

"Yeah, but at what cost?" Debito said and looked down.

Mondo followed his gaze and to his great shock he saw three figures at the edge of one small dock.

He didn't need to guess what was going on.
Luca was breathing air into Libertá's lungs before he turned to pump his chest. Nova was at the other side, obviously shouting at the blonde.

A cry could be heard from the other ship. Mondo looked over to see Felicitá looking at the three on the dock and still crying uncontrollably.

Dante could now be seen running over to the three.

Luca took a deep breath and was obviously exhausted. Nova seemed to shout at him, making the man try harder to revive the poor boy.

It was painful to watch Dante rush to them and push Luca away from Libertá before he continued the job the other just had.

Mondo couldn't watch anymore. Libertá had used his own power to kill himself in a horrible way. Inside, he was gone. There was no way the boy could survive. The hypnosis hadn't been broken. They couldn't save him, not even by giving him his own mind back.

There was a slim chance that Libertá would have survived even if the hypnosis would have been broken. His body was a wreck. It was amazing that he had been standing even if he had been under the hypnosis. And then...

"P..Papá.." Libertá's voice echoed inside his head.

He had understood what had been going on around him. Had he been there to see all the horrors he had been forced to do also? If that was so...were things better this way?

He then looked around himself. Debito. Pace. Felicitá. Dante. Luca. Nova. And how would Sumire react? She would slowly hear the entire truth about the case too.

No, things weren't better this way.

Arcana Family wasn't better without Libertá. It was a lot darker place without him.

A scream woke him from his thoughts.

"Libertá!" Felicitá shouted until her voice cracked and broke. She looked down but there was something different about that cry.

Could it be?

Mondo let his gaze slowly fall down again to first see Luca crying into his hand and the way his shoulder almost looked...relaxed?

Then he saw a miracle.

Dante was crying, but he held the boy they held so dear up against his chest, not in a manner that was indicating that Libertá wasn't breathing but in such way that the boy could breathe easier.

Nova was hunched, almost as if in defeat but then he slowly got up with a small sway before he lifted his head and shouted, louder than anyone had ever heard:

"LIBERTÀ IS...!" A pause. Was that a sob he heard? "ALIVE!"

There was only a pause that lasted a split second before the family members below roared in joy.

Pace and Debito both stared ahead, in complete shock.

Alive?

Alive after...all that?

"He... was able to resist... at the last moment...!" Debito said only so that the three could hear.

Was it enough to say it was a miracle?

He didn't know what kind of powers had kept Libertá alive but watching Dante, Luca and Nova rushing back to the mansion he knew that there was still a rough way ahead for Libertá if he was to survive this ordeal.