"Wealth, fame, power. The man, who once owned everything, the Pirate King, Gold Roger. The words he said before his death sent all the people of the world out to the seas."

"My treasure? If you want it, I'll give it to you! Find it! I left everything in that place."

"Men, searching for romance, pushed forward towards the Grand Line. The world is now in the Grand Age of Pirates!"

Chapter 12: The Fierce Clash! Kazuya vs Don Krieg

(NOTICE: This is a continuation of the flashback/story from the previous chapter.)

Don Krieg stared curiously at the snow white feathers that adorned the dead Airtopian man's wing that he held. It was at that moment that he reached up with his free hand and promptly tore at the wing, resulting in feathers flying and down being exposed. Krieg stared at the down with fascination before turning his attention to his crew members who were still withing earshot. "Restrain them and bring them all to me! I will create a display of dominance to show the world, and these false angels will be the source of it!"

Krieg laughed loudly as he tore a handful of down from the wing, admiring its purity before watching his men attempt to round up the Airtopians. Not far behind, Valdivina watched quietly from a window located in the ship's stern. Ahead, Gin's eyes darted between various mates as they tried to leap at and tackle the winged people of the sky island. The ship had docked at a small peninsula, and the only reasonable exit off of it was already being blocked by dozens of Krieg's men. This all seemed... unacceptable. Gin did not want to commit genocide, nor did he want to take part in whatever poaching scheme Don Krieg was hatching. He had become a pirate to be a free man, allowed to do anything he wanted. This? This was not what he wanted and, ever since recovering from Don Krieg's poison that he had been exposed to at the floating Baratie restaurant in East Blue, Gin struggled to respect Don Krieg, let alone feel like he was still part of his crew. Gin gritted his teeth as the Airtopians around him were being severely mistreated and beaten, prompting him to suddenly slam his rod to the ground and look towards Don Krieg. Krieg noticed this and looked towards him and, just as Gin opened his mouth to shout his captain's name and challenge him to a fight, there was a horrific gust of wind that promptly blew many of Krieg's men over. Gin struggled to stay on his feet, shielding himself from the wind with an arm as he looked ahead to try and figure out where it was coming from. Just then, the winds subsided and gusts of air shot together to form a winged man standing several yards in front of Don Krieg.

"You are?" Don Krieg looked at the stranger curiously, an anxious smile taking shape on his face. The man appeared to have the power of a Devil Fruit, which excited him!

The barefoot winged man wore a toga, his left arm exposed with black tattoos of wind currents running down the entirety of his arm. His head, shaved, had a tornado tattooed to his forehead. He simply stared back at Don Krieg, who appeared calm and not intimidated in the very least. "My name is Kazuya, and I am Protector of Airtopia. You, foreigner from the seas below, will not harm my island's people."

"Gwahahaha, is that what you believe!?" A delighted Krieg took a step forward, locking eyes with Kazuya. "If so, then try to stop me! I welcome it!"

Kazuya narrowed his eyes, shaking his head. "Violence does not need to be the answer, foreigner. I am more than willing to allow you to take your people and leave Airtopia unharmed, if only you cease what you are doing at once."

"The only way you will be able to stop me..." Krieg grinned. "... is if you kill me."

A heavy sigh escaped Kazuya as he closed his eyes. "Very well then, foreigner. If forcing my hand is what you truly wish to do, then... kaze kaze no cannon!"

Kazuya quickly shot his hands out, blasting a torrent of air at Don Krieg that harmlessly struck his armor, not phasing him in the least as he took a step forward. Kazuya recoiled in confusion. "W-What? The brute force of a hurricane, and yet you did not move an inch? How is that possible!?"

Krieg began advancing towards Kazuya without a word, simply opting to grin devilishly at him instead. Kazuya gulped and prepared for another attack in an attempt to halt Krieg in his tracks. "Kaze kaze no rampart!"

A giant wall of wind appeared between the two men, the wind currents that made up the wall gusting at such an extreme speed that it was visible to the naked eye. Cannons made of air emerged from the wall emerged and began sending blasts of wind at Don Krieg, but it still had no effect on him. As he reached the wall of wind, he merely started to walk through it, the winds directly around him dissipating immediately. Kazuya's eyes widened, unable to process what was happening. As Krieg's advance continued, Kazuya grew desperate and aimed to finish things with a third attack. "This time, I shall not fail! Kaze kaze no tornado!"

Kazuya's body disappeared, forming a colossal tornado that almost sucked up Krieg's men as well as Airtopians themselves. Krieg simply grinned and continued towards the tornado, which was advancing on him quickly. As the tornado drew perilously close, Krieg remained unphased by the winds and simply snapped his arm forward, reaching into the tornado. The entire tornado immediately dissipated at Krieg pulled Kazuya forward. He reared his fist, showing his intention to punch Kazuya, which prompted the Airtopian man to turn his head into wind. As Krieg's hand came down with great speed, it connected with Kazuya's face, disabling him and forcing him to crash into the ground with a pained cry.

"Logias... Paramecias... Zoans..." Krieg walked to where Kazuya had been crushed into the ground, reaching down and grasping his head as he lifted him up to look at him. "All are useless against me!"

"I... I can't use m-my... w-what are... you?" Kazuya was barely able to spit the words out as he looked at Krieg through puffy eyes.

Krieg simply smiled back, looking like the Devil himself before reaching up with his free hand and violently twisting Kazuya's entire body breaking his neck. "The solution."

As Kazuya dangled lifelessly from Krieg's grasp, the gathered Airtopians began to panic.

"What do we do now!?"

"Protector Kazuya has been defeated!"

"There's no hope for us now!"

Krieg simply dropped Kazuya's lifeless body to the ground like a piece of trash before kicking him onto his stomach so that his wings were exposed. He stared at the wings with a twisted grin before leaning down and pulling them with all his might, ripping them from the corpse that had once been Airtopia's proud guardian. This prompted further cries of anguish and terror from the Airtopians as Krieg inspected them with sick glee. Pearl, who had a helpless young Airtopian woman pinned to the ground, was the first to pipe up. "C-Captain! What should do we now?"

For a moment, Krieg appeared too interested in Kazuya's wings to respond, but he quickly looked out towards his men. "Kill them all and bring me their wings."

A silent and reflective Gin leaned back in his chair, looking deeply uncomfortable with what he had shared, his eyes having fallen to the ground. "It was then that I knew I could not continue to be a crew member of the Krieg Pirates. I left as soon as we returned to the sea."

"Their wings?" Franky looked both disturbed and perplexed.

Zoro, who sat with his arms crossed and wore a furious expression, chimed in. "What did he need them for?"

An awkward Paulie sat in silence as Gin responded, though he did not lift his gaze. "To mark his dominance."

A silently forlorn Conis sat within her cell, laying on the cold stone floor as she stared down at it soundlessly, absently tracing a finger through the cracks. Why was this happening to her? What did she do to deserve this?

Click... click... click...

Finger freezing and raising from the floor, the hair on the back of Conis' neck quickly rose at the sound of approaching footsteps. They were slow and ominous sounding. Her head raised as she watched and waited. It only took a few moments more for the silhouette of Don Krieg to appear in the distance. Conis gulped at the sight of it but, as he approached, horror quickly overcame her as she looked at the cape he wore. The same cape from before! Was it what she thought it was?

Don Krieg halted just in front of her cell, a twisted and malevolent grin plastered on his face as he gently stroked the cape. There was no denying it, and Conis' fears were soon confirmed. "Do you see this cape? Beautiful, isn't it? That is because... this wondrous material that it has been covered in... is down from the wings of your people."

Conis gulped loudly, her eyes started to tear up as she looked at the cape that was made from the wings of her own kind, spotting one solitary patch of brown that was lacking any presence of down. Don Krieg licked his lips excitedly before laughing maniacally. "Gwahahaha! And soon, my pretty little thing, your down will be added to it!"

TO BE CONTINUED