Chapter 259

—

When Sengoku learned about Impeldown's absolute destruction, he felt the earth move from under his feet.

"Impossible…"

Impel Down was the most durable structure in the entire world, only second to the main palace of Mariejois.

A person would need destruction capabilities exceeding Whitebeard if he wanted to not just destroy, but erase it entirely.

Sengoku in his prime had fought Whitebeard dozens, if not hundreds of times. Edward Newgate could theoretically obliterate the entire world into pieces. It shouldn't be possible for a man merely two decades old to have powers beyond that.

Sengoku slumped back on his chair as he stared at the mirror where his black hair visibly turned white in an almost comical motion.

"But how...?"

Thinking about it, something else made sense. Why else would Amon give someone else the Gura-Gura no Mi if he didn't have powers at the very least matching it?

"...Now he has even declared war with the Government."

That message on the cloud could only mean that. It seems unlike how Sengoku had expected, Amon didn't simply visit Laugh Tale and claim the title of Laughtale…

"No," Sengoku breathed out. "Merely being the King of the Pirates wouldn't work for him. He's targeting the unclaimed throne of the entire world, isn't he?"

Sengoku wouldn't let him as long as he's here. He could only imagine the state the world would be in if someone like Amon was the one ruling it.

However, with Impeldown lost, Marine's ability to keep the strongest of criminals captive was now gone. Meaning they would need to give extra focus to the Pirates other than the Enherjars, as well. In that case…

"How would we stop him?"

How in the world, will the government win this time?

—★—

Not even half a year had passed since the War of the Best ended, yet, now, a war that was twittering to be bigger than that had begun.

The World Government wasn't wasting even a second. They called troops from all over the world into Grandline. They knew better that most of these soldiers were cannon fodders, but even that was better than nothing.

The first was the marines from the entire world. Then, all the Cipher Pol, from 0 to 9, were deployed to assassinate Amon's strongest troops at the chance. But there was a mole among them–no, there were multiple moles amongst them.

The CP-9 were brainwashed by Amon when he first took the Door-Door fruit from them, and the moment all the CPs were gathered at once, they had betrayed the Government by killing most of the other Cipher Pols.

Amongst the remaining ones, only the CP-0 was worth the trouble as they were the ones who managed to defend against CP-9 sudden attack before eliminating them entirely.

This made the Government weary. If Amon had spies inside the fucking Cipher Pol, where else did he not have his people?!

Even the Vice-Admirals weren't out of the list of suspects. So, all the Vice-Admirals had to go through multiple tests to prove they weren't brainwashed or even simply normal spies. Even Ryokugyu, the man who was promoted to the rank of an Admiral in a single month despite the protest from all over the Marines, also had to go through some serious interrogations to keep his title.

The other two admirals, Kuzan and Gion, were with Marines for decades and so were trusted deeply by both Sengoku and Garp, so they weren't interrogated at all.

However, even with all this, the Marines were under serious pressure. It's been seven days since Amon declared the war, and while there wasn't any actual result from it since the big-shots hadn't even entered the war, the marines were being pushed back.

Many many pirates were against Amon because Amon had killed their crewmates, captains, brothers, sisters, by destroying Impel Down. Yet, at the same time, the number of people under Amon had increased drastically in the mere seven days as well. 

He now had almost 300 thousand soldiers under him now.

Pirates were joining him each day, some hoping to benefit from the war at both sides' destruction, some hoping to backstab the Einherjars when they lost, while some simply believed Amon would win. Most pirates had old and deep grudges against the Marines, so no matter which of the three aforementioned categories they belonged to, when they saw a marine soldier they didn't hold back from killing like butchers.

But the biggest disadvantage the Marines had was… Amon's base, Alabasta, had suddenly disappeared from the map.

Meaning, while he could come to Marineford, or worse Mariejois, anytime and use that technique of his that he used on Impel Down, the Marines couldn't even scratch his base. 

The war… even before it got heated, the Marines might just have lost it already.

—★—

While the war was happening, Amon was looking for strong recruits around the world.

That's why he was currently in Fishman Island.

"But…" Otohime's brows were wide as she looked at Amon anxiously. "H-how can Shirahoshi help in a war of this scale?"

Amon sat on a couch opposite Neptune and Otohime as he sipped a glass of fish juice.

"You know, while it's pretty scarce knowledge in the blues, it's an open secret in this island of yours. Shirahoshi is the prophesied ancient weapon, "Poseidon". Isn't she?" Amon said. "I believe that answers your question."

Amon's never been open about this with them and acted oblivious instead. The King and Queen both knew that, so now that he was coming out of his act, it meant he was serious…

Amon turned to the third person present in the room, sitting on a different couch on his right. Shyarly, the fortune teller.

"Now, Shyarly, if you would." He motioned his hand at the trembling mermaid who had seen the future a few minutes ago.

As Amon had expected, there were limits to her ability. The limit was most apparent when she tried to see a future where multiple people with strong Haki were present. This war, in other words. She could only see bits, and even that was uncertain. That's why Amon could easily show her what he wished without her realising.

"Y-yes." The shark nodded and turned to the King and Queen. "Your majesties, I… I think it's better if you do as the Sky Emperor says." She said, "The war is dangerous, that's true. However, if Amon doesn't win, not only would we lose his backing, but the Government would be the strongest force with the absence of almost all the Emperors. Meaning, the Fishmen will be in danger once again."

She let the work sink in before continuing after a breath. "But… A-according to my calculations, the chance of victory if Shirahoshi joins Amon's side is many many times higher. So I think it's a good idea-"

"Shyarly!" Otohime cried. "She's 15! You want her to take the weight of a worldwide war on her shoulders?! Are you out of your-"

Amon's deep, annoyed sigh interrupted her. He put his cup down and raised his head to look down on her with his red eyes blazing. 

"Otohime, have I not saved your life?"

Immediately Otohime's face paled with guilt. "Amon, you know I am grateful for that. This is a different matter-"

"Good to know you are grateful." Amon cut her again. "But remember," then Amon's eyes flashed red, but it only happened in the sight of Otohime. Amon's haki sprung up towards her, entering her eyes and showing her a vision. The vision, where her head, along with Neptune's, fell to the ground with a small thud. "I can, at a moment's whim, take your life as easily as I saved it."

Otohime's already pale face lost colour as she stared at Amon in shock and disbelief. He had never threatened her before… In the end, the fear of a living being warning her about the threat in front of her made her gulp in a mouthful of saliva.

The technique Amon just used was his new stage of Observation Haki. He was trying to train his Conqueror Haki's 3rd stage by projecting his Haki out to form constructs. Raki helped him with it, very smugly he might add, which annoyed him a lot. However, even with all that, Amon couldn't succeed, yet instead, he found himself with a technique that let him create Illusion to a single target. Instead of seeing things with Haki for himself, this technique showed others what Amon wanted.

He had a simple name for it, «Mirage», he called it.

Seconds passed as Otohime exchanged glances with Neptune. The two at the end, sighed deeply. However, Otohime turned to Amon with a last plea.

 "Amon, please." She said, "She's a child. Can't you reconsider?"

At her last plea, Amon sighed but before he could speak, Shyarly did instead.

"It's fine, your majesty." She said, "I can guarantee, Shirahoshi will be fine under him."

Amon stared at her for a brief second before chuckling in his mind.

If only that was true.

—★—

Amon took Shirahoshi away from Fishman Island in a Paw-Bubble that he made with his Paw-Paw Fruit. The Mermaid Princess was more than happy to finally leave for the outside world, despite her mother warning her about the war she’s going to participate in.

But honestly, if Amon needed her to destroy a few islands here and there, she’d do it. Her limits were that she wouldn’t kill anyone, and as long as Amon let her abide by that, she would go along with his plan.

“Teacher,” Shirahoshi said, leaning over the wall of the huge transparent paw as she looked down on the passing sea with glittering eyes. “You should have brought me out before! Everything just looks so beautiful!”

She pointed her nose at an island that was miles beneath. “What’s that green thing? Is that a forest?”

Amon nodded from behind her. “It’s an island, it does have a forest inside.”

Shirahoshi’s eyes glimmered. “Oh? Then let's go there, teacher!”

“We’ll go there later, Shira,” Amon said as he patted her tail. “First, let me show you something.”

The speed that the paw-bubble was travelling at suddenly increased as the world below blurred, though the inside of the bubble was perfectly calm. At the blurred sight, Shirahoshi looked stunned before a bit dejected.

She shook her head in disappointment before asking, “Where are we going?”

Amon didn’t talk and instead let the answer show itself to her. 

The travelling speed slowly lessened and the scene below them cleared up. Shirahoshi squinted but because of the lack of any Haki, she couldn't see anything. So, Amon lowered the bubble enough for her to see while making a barrier of light around the bubble using Pika-Pika no Mi that reflected light from the surface, therefore making them invisible from the outside.

"What do you think, Shira?" Amon asked, looking down on the scene where blood, gore and death, was filling the air. "This is war, where death happens every second. Beautiful right?"

He glanced at the side, observing the huge mermaid's large eyes shaking in her sockets as she started down. 

"C-can we move from here?" She said, immediately looking back at Amon with teary eyes. "I don't like this."

Amon smiled. "Why not? If the green forest is so beautiful, what's wrong with the red crimson battlefield? Watch a bit more. Do you see the people in white uniforms? They are my enemies, and everyone else is my people. Look how skillfully they kill the enemies. Think of it as a game, if you will."

"...What?" 

Her face paled as Shirahoshi tried to instinctively take a step back, but because of her fishtail not being used to the solid surface, she almost stumbled but Amon lowered the gravity enough for him to walk over and bring her back to her old position before her back could touch the ground.

"Why are you scared?" Amon asked, looking at her. "You don't think I will harm you, do you?"

The tone he used was suggesting he just might. At that, Shirahoshi's eyes quivered.

"Teacher, you are scaring me…"

"Oh?" Amon tilted his head as his red horns gleamed under the bright sun while the blood of the same colour splattered on the ground below. "I am sorry, I didn't intend to."

No, he did intend to. He needed her to feel scared. He needed her to fear death because only then he'd be able to use his Soul-Soul fruit on her. 

'Such a stupid restriction…'

He could indeed just kill her right now and then meddle with her soul, but Shirahoshi was a special being, an ancient weapon. So letting her soul leave her body might make it lose its specialness. He couldn't take such a risk.

"Shira," Amon floated over her head as he met his eyes with her. "Look into my eyes." She did as he sent a pulse of Haki into her vision. "Do I look scary?"

His «Mirage» technique caused Shirahoshi's face to pale and tremble as she crawled backwards again. However, she couldn't as Amon grabbed her chin with his hands.

"I am sorry, do I really look scary?"

"T-teacher, s-stop–"

Amon's cold gentle tone interrupted her. However, from Shirahoshi's perspective, she saw his eyes blazing and the expression of a demon appeared on his face. 

"I am asking you a question, Shirahoshi."

The girl didn't answer.

In a tranquil of great fear, for the first time in a decade, Shirahoshi closed her eyes and started to cry out loud.

Amon smirked softly.

Without wasting even a second, he grabbed the air in front of her and pulled back his grip. Like a stretchy gum, something started to come out of Shirahoshi's body as her eyes snapped open and a horrified expression took over her face.

She tried to say something, but her words were caught in her throat.

She tried again, but as her eyes saw her soul being ripped out by her grim reaper, only a scream of extreme pain came out of her. All the while, the man she called 'Teacher' gave her an expressionless stare as her eyes trembled in a light of betrayal.

From the sight below, the people couldn't even see her painful expression nor hear her scream. It was like she was a ghost… that was hurting too.

The pain lasted almost a minute, and when it ended, Shirahoshi was relieved as her last breath left her and she slumped down on the floor of the bubble. 

Amon didn't waste a second and ordered Kiyu to open a portal to the Door Dimension before stepping inside himself.

Inside, it was the same place he was floating over a second ago, just that all the Marines and pirates from his faction fighting were missing.

He dispersed the bubble and jumped down, letting Shirahoshi's dead body fall to the ground with a loud thud, as he crouched down with her pink round soul.

Then, he pushed the soul inside his chest.

—★—

Amon hadn't truthfully planned to kill Shirahoshi when he started training her. But, because of what Imu did, he couldn't help but change his plans a little.

He had gone to Fishman Island intending to just grab Shirahoshi and teleport away before scaring her and then killing her there. However, he changed his mind on the way.

If Shirahoshi suddenly disappeared there were only a few suspects. It wouldn't take long for them to realise it was Amon. In that case, the entire Fishmen race will be against him in this war. Which was a big no-no. There were millions of Fishmen all around the world, after all.

So he asked her parents politely before bringing her away. Now, he just had to make a clone out of her and everything will be fixed.

These were his thoughts as Amon cleared the will, desire, and ambition from Shirahoshi's soul, filling it with his own at the same time. He stopped thinking and instead started to observe the bits of her memories instead.

They were childish memories of her childhood, and her memories with him… Knowing that the soul only contained the person's deepest/precious memories, Amon couldn't say he didn't feel a tad bit guilty. But he had to remind himself, guilt wouldn't make him stronger. So, with a motion of Seimei Kikan, he stopped the guilt and focused on his current job.

It took minutes in reality but Amon felt like he just spent a lifetime as finally, the entire soul sunk inside his chest and he released a relieved breath.

However, "Phew, that was hard–" his relief caught in his throat as a great pain suddenly leapt around his body and soul. His heart felt as if it was being poked with a million needles and his soul felt like bursting up.

"What the fuck…?"

That was all Amon could say before his vision went blank… and he lost consciousness.

His Future Sight couldn't see minutes ahead, and he didn't have the spare attention to use it while in the process. Because if he could… he wouldn't have absorbed Shirahoshi's soul in the mere hope to control a few sea kings if he knew what else came with the power.

….

Amon woke up next time with Kiyu's and Raki's worried voices from beside him. He groaned and grabbed his head with one hand.

"Who the hell is speaking?" Grumbling the words, he sat up from the ground, his brows furrowed as he gritted his teeth.

"...You're finally up." Raki, crouching beside him, said in a dry voice even as her eyes were moist. "I thought you fucking died, what the hell made you lose consciousness?"

"Oh hey, what's up sis." Amon said, his frown deepening as he looked around. "That voice doesn't seem to belong to you..."

It was night time and he wasn't in the door-dimension anymore, and instead laid on the shore of a beach. But since Alabasta was in the Door Dimension, Kiyu must have brought Raki from there… What an annoyance.

"Can't you hear it?" Amon asked, turning at Raki with a frown. "...no, you don't seem to be."

"What are you even talking about?" Raki asked as she wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Just tell me if you're fine or not. You have been knocked out for hours."

Ignoring her last words, Amon's searched for the appropriate words.

"To put it simply. There is a new voice in my head… no." He corrected himself with a shake of his head. "There is an… ancient voice all around us, present in everything, present in the essence of the world itself, I guess. That voice is telling me something."

"Huh?"

"It's…" Amon's frown deepened. "...Telling me to die."

Then it clicked. As Amon's eyes widened. Seconds passed before he grinned like a madman.

"The voice of everything, aha."

From all around him, The Voice of the World was telling him to kill himself.

Amon wasn't expecting this development.

**

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Author's Note: Some people really forgetting how Amon is, deep down. This isn't a story about a villain turning into a hero. This is a villain, starting as a villain, and winning his last battle still as a villain.