Peace, order, and development. The ninja world had entered an era of tranquility after so many wars until the end came. Only a few were the survivors.
I have to find them no matter what.
She had accepted her new life in a world completely different from hers until one day on Whitebeard's pirate ship, her life took a 180-degree turn, and hope returned to Sakura when she learned that she was not the only one from her island in this world. Now she was determined to search for traces of them. The last shinobis had entered the great pirate era!
After the intense encounter between Ace and Sakura, they finally left the room. Ace, being the first to exit and wishing to avoid any encounters with people inside Heaven, decided to leave quickly. The guards guarding the doors made no comments nor attempted to detain him, as everyone could enter and leave freely as long as they had the special invitation, like the one Ace had received upon entering Desire Paradise.
Once he finished climbing the stairs leading to the basement, he encountered a staff member who seemed to be waiting for him.
"Oh, Commander Ace, how did you find our Heaven room?" said the short man, rubbing his hands eagerly to attend to one of Whitebeard's commanders. It was the same man who had delivered the letter to Ace to go to Heaven, and since Ace had descended to the basement, he had been waiting for him.
"It was fine," said Ace, playing along with being a customer. "Several of my companions stayed on the ship; I'll encourage them to come out."
The little man's eyes gleamed with greed at the thought of the money flowing into Desire Paradise.
"Of course, everyone can come and have fun. There is no fantasy we cannot recreate, my lord."
"I can bet you can," said Ace. "I'll look for the commanders accompanying me to persuade the crew."
Ace, followed by the small man, walked through the grand hall until he found Izo and Marco, who were drinking and watching the women dance. He waved his hand at them, and the two followed him out of the place, finding themselves in a completely different landscape where it was snowing.
"Wait here," said Ace to the man who had followed him all along to his ship.
The man made a deep bow and allowed the three commanders to board one of Whitebeard's ships. It wasn't the usual and large Moby Dick, but one of its smaller versions. Since Sakura had disappeared, they had split up to cover more ground in their search. On the ship were the crew in charge of Ace's division, Marco (without the nurses who always stayed with Whitebeard), and Izo. They were all bundled up and entertained until they saw the three of them board and approached.
"I found her," Ace said after a tense moment.
Several felt relieved that the search had finally yielded results, while others cheered. They immediately began devising a plan to attack when the building was left alone.
"We'll act as customers and stay until they close at dawn. Then we'll be the last ones to leave and take our time until we're the last ship anchored. Then we'll attack," said Marco.
More than one agreed with the plan, not only to rescue Sakura, but also because the island was known for leaving its customers very happy. They brought out large sacks of money, ready to spend, which they would recover anyway once they destroyed the place. They would even return to Whitebeard with at least triple what they brought.
As everyone disembarked from the ship, the eyes of the small man gleamed at the sight of so many men, which equated to more money.
"Make sure my companions have fun," said Ace, tossing a gold coin that the man eagerly caught.
"Of course!" replied the man, leading divisions one, two, and sixteen.
Just as agreed, they pretended to be customers, and half of the divisions took it to heart. Finally, the long night ended, and morning began to dawn. Slowly, people started to leave for their ships, and the music grew quieter. The last ones in the rooms left satisfied, while others wished the night had been longer to keep having fun. Ace even caught sight of the underworld emperor walking calmly with his scythe, along with most of the people, toward the exit.
Ace, Izo, and Marco made sure to lead their people to the exit, ignoring the complaints of some of their comrades. The crew's movements were slow until, at last, as they pretended to prepare to set sail, they saw the large doors close and the last ship sail away in what was the beginning of a great snowstorm.
"It's time!" shouted Izo.
The pirates, eager for a fight, refrained from shouting to avoid alerting the people inside who were still on the island. They approached the large doors with swords, pistols, and fists raised, ready to attack. What they didn't expect was that, upon opening the entrance door, Whitebeard's pirates did not find a quiet and empty grand hall. Instead, they found that the staff, especially the pirate slavers who ran Desire Paradise, were ready with their weapons in hand. There were at least thirty people on the lower floor, and on the upper balconies, several pirates were ready with rifles, aiming at Whitebeard's pirates.
The ambush suddenly turned against them. Silence reigned as both sides waited for the other to make the first move. Suddenly, a couple of slow claps began to resonate throughout the room. Ace, Marco, and Izo looked until they saw that, from the opposing side, a group of people moved aside, revealing a man of medium height, robust, dressed in a dark suit and rings covering both hands. On each side of him, there was a large dog that could easily be mounted. The two dogs were alert and ready to attack as soon as their owner gave the order.
"Don't be so sad, you're missing out on the fun," said the man, as the people around him stepped aside. The suited man was none other than the leader of the largest pirate band responsible for smuggling slaves. Just the man Sakura was looking for.
"We're not as foolish as you think," continued the leader, flashing a big smile. "Although our band is large, we are very well informed about what is happening in the world. We couldn't save all our ships, but we prepared as soon as a couple of them were destroyed. Nothing we can't solve with money."
They were already aware of Whitebeard's crew's attacks, so they prepared for more confrontations. As soon as they saw Izo, Marco, and Ace, they began to mobilize, pretending to be regular customers while keeping an eye on them under the guise of offering them better service for being pirates from the crew of a powerful Yonko. After all, even the strongest can fall. With money and preparation, everything can work out according to their experience.
The veins on Ace's forehead began to stand out as he thought that some of his comrades might be in trouble and he wasn't there to help them.
"Be careful, we're our father Whitebeard's crew," Marco said fearlessly.
Both the leader and his crew began to laugh carelessly.
"What can a crew do without their captain? He's the one who's scary, not you," he mocked. "It's time to prove it."
With a hand signal, his people began to attack. Ace, Marco, Izo, and the others responded to the attack, firing bullets, using their fists, or brandishing their swords.
The battle began, and the noise of the confrontation echoed in the grand building. Two dinosaurs next to the large door moved from side to side, eager for the smell of blood, wishing for people to be careless enough for them to devour. With Ace, Marco, and Izo in command, it was clear who would dominate the fight until a mechanism was activated from the balconies that fired hooks connected to chains from the walls. Ace, Marco, and other devil fruit users pushed their comrades aside to protect them, as they would not be harmed. However, the surprise came when they fell to the ground powerless, bound by the thick chains, and to make matters worse, cages fell from the ceiling enclosing most of the crew. Despite this, Izo and other gunmen continued to fight, and some comrades helped Ace and Marco remove the chains.
The fight came to a halt the moment the enemy leader aimed a pistol at Ace's head from outside the cage he was in.
"Ace!" shouted Marco from another cage, with what little energy he had left.
Izo, who was in the same cage as Ace, aimed his pistols at the enemy captain. In response, some enemy pirates aimed at him, and quickly both sides found themselves pointing weapons at each other, waiting to see who would shoot first.
"Even if you manage to break those chains, in this gun I have a prototype bullet made specifically with seastone. Whatever you do, you'll die," said the captain.
Izo started sweating at the sight of Ace lying on the ground. The situation was getting complicated. They hadn't heard of bullets made of seastone before, but if they were real, and they managed to remove Ace's chains in time, he would still die.
"You won't get away with this," Ace muttered from the ground.
"I must admit, I'm curious. We've never had the need to confront each other before. You lived your life, and we lived ours," said the captain. "The only thing I can think of is that one of my boys accidentally crossed paths with one of yours. If that's the case, now I understand your ridiculous notion that you're a big family."
"I'm not complaining about your foolish idea to attack us; after all, your heads are worth a lot of money, dead or alive. Don't blame us, you attacked first," said the captain, laughing, followed by the laughter of his people. "Anyway, if you had defeated my people and my velociraptors, you would have had some casualties and faced my no less than forty men ready to fight. Whitebeard will have to find three new commanders. Too bad he can't have your head."
If Ace weren't covered by the seastone chains, he would have already attempted to lunge at him. Suddenly, the two dogs flanking the captain and growling at Ace from outside the cell bristled their fur and turned towards the large door spanning the entire wall, beginning to growl. The people, confused by the animals' reaction, looked back. The two dinosaurs flanking each side of the door began to stir, this time not because of the smell of blood, but for another reason. They moved back and forth, causing the large, heavy chains that connected them to the doors to clang until, at a certain moment, they became completely still, staring at the doors as if analyzing whether it was better to flee or to attack. Suddenly, the room fell into a deathly silence, everyone expectant of what lay behind the door that had the animals on edge. The silence stretched on, and they were on the verge of shouting, wondering what the hell was happening, when one of the door's leaves began to creak slowly, opening little by little.
No one inside the room dared to move; the only ones who usually opened the door were the dinosaurs, and they were as expectant as the others. Suddenly, a silhouette appeared, pushing the door with their left arm while holding a sword in their right hand. As the figure became more visible, everyone saw a woman with short hair, covered in blood from head to toe.
"Sakura," whispered Ace, recognizing her.
As if she had heard him, Sakura looked up, revealing her emerald eyes that stood out amidst the bloodstains on her face.
"What does this mean? Where is my crew!" shouted the captain, agitated, unable to process that a person was opening the door and that the same person was covered in blood.
With the man's shouts, Sakura's emerald eyes instantly locked onto him, and the captain fell silent, feeling the blood in his body freeze as he met that cold gaze. He could almost feel the ghost of the bloodied woman behind him, a knife poised at his throat, waiting for the slightest movement to make his neck bleed.
Holding the door with her foot as if it were a simple wooden door, not one that any human could move, her left hand was left free, showing that it wasn't entirely empty. Sakura tossed an object that rolled across the floor as people moved aside until it reached the captain's feet. It was the scared, pale face of his vice-captain.
"I'm returning it to you, it's of no use to me anymore," said Sakura. Just as she expected from this mission, she found what she was looking for.
The captain, pale, opened and closed his mouth a couple of times until he finally found his words.
"WHERE ARE MY PIRATES?" he shouted.
The people around him didn't know if he shouted out of fear or rage.
"The people you had hidden behind the door? Don't worry, they won't be causing any more trouble," Sakura responded.
With blood covering her body, which didn't seem to be her own, it was understood what had happened without her needing to affirm it. The captain's instinct told him he should flee, as did the people close to her. The crews of divisions one, two, and sixteen were speechless; they could barely process that this was the Sakura they knew. Although some, the least surprised, remembered the emotionless Sakura who destroyed the pirates who recognized her as a slave, only this time, with the blood, she seemed even deadlier.
The dinosaurs near Sakura continued to carefully assess whether it was worth hunting her or remaining still.
Since Sakura opened the cell bars, she grabbed one of the guards' swords and began killing those who approached her. As she slid through the corridors, she left a trail of death in her wake. Seeing Mia's injured body and tears streaming down her face was the last straw. You killed and killed the people who crossed her path with one goal in mind: to eliminate the captain's right-hand man of the worst pirate gang she hoped to find. During her journey, she reached a mahogany door. Carefully, she pressed her ear to the door and waited. Inside were two people talking, but what silently enraged her was recognizing the vice-captain mocking Mia and remembering how she had cried and pleaded when she was with him. Furthermore, he mentioned that the captain was probably having fun now that Whitebeard's pirates were expecting to attack by surprise, when in reality, they would be the ones surprised. Without wasting a moment, she entered the room, terrorizing the vice-captain, extracting the information she sought. On her way to the hall, she mercilessly eliminated all who were ready to attack.
The dinosaurs near Sakura continued to carefully assess whether it was worth hunting her or remaining still.
Since Sakura opened the cell bars, she grabbed one of the guards' swords and began killing those who approached her. As she slid through the corridors, she left a trail of death in her wake. Seeing Mia's injured body and tears streaming down her face was the last straw. She killed and killed the people who crossed her path with one goal in mind: to eliminate the captain's right-hand man of the worst pirate gang she hoped to find. During her journey, she reached a mahogany door. Carefully, she pressed her ear to the door and waited. Inside were two people talking, but what silently enraged her was recognizing the vice-captain mocking Mia and remembering how she had cried and pleaded when she was with him. Furthermore, he mentioned that the captain was probably having fun now that Whitebeard's pirates were expecting to attack by surprise, when in reality, they would be the ones surprised. Without wasting a moment, she entered the room, terrorizing the vice-captain, extracting the information she sought. On her way to the hall, she mercilessly eliminated all who were ready to attack.
"Who the hell are you?" asked the captain.
It was then that Sakura, upon leaving the cell, noticed her blood-covered state.
"You may not recognize me, but according to what your vice-captain said, you should remember the names Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. They are the two men who will make you damn rich," she said determinedly.
The captain's eyes widened. Those two names belonged to two of the individuals they captured when one of their ships was nearby. When he received the news, he was intrigued, but his interest turned into a smile when he saw them. He remembered them vividly. One of them had an extremely low resistance to anesthesia, while the other, although he could endure it better, had to be sedated quickly, as he began to form the appearance of a skeleton around him. Fortunately, they put him to sleep before he could complete the summoning.
"You're lucky it's me who found you," Sakura warned, pointing her sword at the captain. "If it had been them, even with your death, you wouldn't find peace."
The captain stepped back, feeling his body start to sweat. The imaginary figure of Sakura, looming over him from behind, finally moved her sword as if to cut his throat, and he had no doubt the real one would do the same.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GO GET HER!" the captain shouted.
Like a chain reaction, the pirates lunged toward Sakura: those with pistols took aim at her, while the two dinosaurs finally decided to attack her.
Sakura leaped onto the head of the nearest dinosaur and propelled herself to strike the other, avoiding the bullets fired in her direction. The impact caused the struck dinosaur to fall to the ground forcefully.
Meanwhile, Izo and his companions armed with pistols began firing at the pirates rushing toward Sakura, while the others took advantage of the distraction to counterattack.
With great agility, Sakura moved at an impressive speed, wielding her sword to fend off the pirates approaching her. The dinosaur by the opposite door began thrashing violently, causing the door to swing open and shut in an attempt to attack Sakura.
As the other dinosaur rose to attack her, Sakura pushed a man toward the jaws of the animal and swiftly dodged bullets, knocking down her enemies with precise sword strikes, leaving them sprawled on the ground as blood covered her body.
Finally, the chain restraining the farther dinosaur snapped from the strain, and the creature lunged at Sakura with great speed. She skillfully evaded it, grabbing its tail tightly and spinning on her own axis. The dinosaur, unable to change direction, knocked down several pirates until Sakura let go, hurling it toward a pillar and causing it to shatter, making the animal crash into the wall, which began to crack under the impact.
The other dinosaur thrashed violently, managing to break its chain. Sakura ran towards the wall and climbed onto the balcony where snipers divided their shots between her and Whitebeard's pirates. With swift movements, she deflected bullets with her sword as she continued her sprint. The dinosaur, unwilling to be left behind, leaped, shoved, crushed, and bit pirates as it pursued Sakura.
Once Sakura reached the end of the hallway, she faced the dinosaur charging at her and thrust her sword into its mouth, making the tip protrude above its head, between its eyes. The dinosaur roared, and before falling dead, it whipped its tail at Sakura, throwing her off the railing to the ground. However, the other dinosaur, propelled against one of the walls, caught her by the shoulder with its jaws, and both plunged into one of the pools. The depth of the water swallowed them, plunging them into its darkness.
"Sakura!" Ace shouted once they managed to remove the seastone chain from him.
The captain of the slaver gang laughed maliciously.
"If she ate a devil fruit from the sea, she's finished!" he exclaimed. People stopped, watching as the water churned violently from the dinosaur's movement, obscuring any vision beyond the turbulence. Suddenly, the water turned red, and after a few seconds, it calmed down. Everyone waited with bated breath. One of Whitebeard's pirates was about to dive into the water in the hope of saving Sakura. In the remote possibility that she had escaped the dinosaur, everyone in the Grand Line knew that a devil fruit user couldn't float in the water.
However, what no one expected was for the inert body of the dinosaur to emerge from the water. The captain's smile faded slightly, though he still entertained the possibility that the dinosaur had drowned in the turmoil. But soon, Sakura emerged from the water, leaving everyone stunned. Not only that, but they saw her move as if she were on solid ground, standing upright on the water.
The liquid cascaded over Sakura's body, washing away all the blood and revealing her short pink hair and pale skin, marked with strange black spots that extended across her body to her right arm.
"Did you think water would stop me?" Sakura said, her gaze fixed on the captain. "You haven't seen anything yet."
With a couple of hand signals, an identical clone of Sakura emerged, while lines on the real Sakura's body extended, even covering her face. The two Sakura figures, still on the water, made another gesture, activating a kanji on their wrists that only those versed in chakra control could understand. Suddenly, from a cloud of smoke, scrolls emerged which, when unraveled, revealed kunais and explosive tags.
"You're a demon," the captain murmured, paling as he realized that this power did not come from a simple devil fruit, but from something much more sinister.
Terrified by the woman defying the laws of the world, several pirates abandoned their weapons and fled in search of safety. Meanwhile, Sakura's clone and the original launched the explosive tags towards the balcony, where some sniper pirates still remained. The clone headed towards the pirates and the cages, while the real Sakura confronted those running towards her, throwing punches ferociously.
The captain of the slave gang stepped back, ready to flee. His two large dogs made their way through the pirates, heading straight for Sakura.
Sakura's clone skillfully handled the kunais, eliminating enemies and using her superhuman strength to smash the cages and free her comrades.
Every time Sakura channeled her chakra, the marks on her body expanded, until the kanji for the number one appeared on the side of her arm. The continuous use of her strength, combined with the creation of a clone, caused a significant increase in her chakra consumption. Suddenly, the black marks took on a reddish hue and, like a mirror shattering, they fragmented and disappeared completely. At that moment, just as Sakura's clone opened the cage where Izo and Ace were, it vanished.
Sakura abruptly stopped, feeling her body burning and the excessive use of her chakra causing a sensation akin to holding a lightning bolt in her hands. Her muscles weakened, and her body became heavy.
"I can't give up now," Sakura thought. She still had to face the leader of the pirate gang who had tortured her friends and herself.
The two large dogs finally reached Sakura. Quickly, Sakura used a kunai, plunging it into one of the dogs, which howled in pain before falling dead. When the other dog attacked her, Sakura didn't have time to reach for a weapon, so she allowed it to bite her shoulder and, skillfully, pressed pressure points on the animal, causing it to instantly fall asleep.
Once the dog was out of the way, Sakura ran straight towards the captain, who was fleeing near the wall where the dinosaur had previously charged. The captain, glancing briefly, was left breathless as he saw Sakura over him, fist raised high, grabbing him by the shirt.
The captain paled completely.
"I wish I had the Sharingan so you'd know what a painful death feels like for what you and yours did to my people," Sakura whispered, radiating anger with every word that escaped her lips.
"P-please," the captain whispered.
Time seemed to slow down as Sakura launched her fist towards the captain, until the blow hit his torso with such force that his organs were crushed, and he was thrown towards the wall, which gave way under the impact, sending him lifeless into the sea, where a furious snowstorm raged.
Finally, she had dealt with them. With the captain and the vice-captain eliminated, and Whitebeard taking care of the rest of the crew, Sakura could finally rest knowing they wouldn't be out at sea inflicting the same suffering on others as they had done to her friends and herself. Now, all that was left was to search for all her friends and find them.
The crew within the crumbling Desire Paradise began to flee in fear as they realized it was the end.
Now that the adrenaline and effort had come to an end, Sakura's body seemed to transform into lead. The breaking of the seal with the number one symbol triggered a burning sensation that surged through her being like an electric shock.
At that moment, the floor and walls began to creak, with large cracks appearing that extended to where Sakura stood. She looked up and met Ace's gaze.
She couldn't move and was about to fall into the sea.
Next Chapter:Revelation
The next chapter is already available on my Ko-fi page! ko-fi mayurakarin
Here's the new chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! If you want to know more, you can visit my Ko-fi page. Also, I'm announcing that the estimated date for Chapter 22 to be uploaded to Ko-fi is on the 15th or 16th.
On Ao3, Wattpad, or Fanfiction, feel free to read "Flower of Two Worlds," "Butterfly Effect," and "Sakura: The Beginning of a Kunoichi!"
