Half an hour earlier___
Deep in the sea, somewhere in the middle of the Fish-Man Island.
There was an area full of tents and pirates. In the center, a huge tent was set specially for the main captain.
The tent was almost 5 meters high and covered a wide space.
The front opening of the tent was slid off to let one view the outside.
The pirates, however, could only see darkness and a pair of cold and sharp in the tent from the outside.
It was as if an evil and powerful entity, eager to destroy any soul on sight, resided there.
Not far from that tent, another large one was set. This particular tent was for the use of communicating.
Inside, Irish had a headphone like device on her head which was also for similar use but with a poor design.
"What!? Are you telling me that he was hiding it from us for years? Impossible!... Okay, I will let him know."
As the call was cut, Irish placed the headphone down on the table with a heavy sigh.
"He won't be happy."
Irish massaged her forehead and gritted her teeth.
"Get the things ready, now!"
Ordering her crewmates from her main ship, Irish started thinking of what she was going to explain.
"What happened? Is something wrong?"
Lancelot stepped inside the tent and saw the stressed out Irish.
"There's a problem. It's about Maba."
And so, Irish shared the news which she got from Hamburg to Lancelot.
"So he was… from the very beginning."
Lancelot shook his head and petted Irish on the shoulder. He could only show pity to Irish as her job was one hell of an adventure.
"I hope he doesn't burst out in anger. If that happens, you might not be unharmed."
Leaving his words, Lancelot left the tent to share the news with other Division Captains.
"Captain, we got the files. And it's ready!"
The vice captain of Irish's main ship, informed while pulling out the CS-M2.
On the screen of CS-M2, it showed images of a huge chest in Maba's house with many items.
Scrolling down, Irish checked each and every document in the list.
As she read, her face showed some anger and a bit of sorrow.
"It really wasn't just a myth that the captain could hypnotise anyone."
The information was very crucial and surprising as well to Irish. Years were gone, and only now did she learn about some things.
"Maba… his son and wife died because of the captain. Millions lost their lives in the captain's hands. As expected from the Devil."
Irish took a deep breath and calmed her mind. Taking the CS-M2, she headed towards that very tent which emitted danger.
* * *
As Irish entered the tent, darkness swallowed her completely.
"What is it?"
The voice, with a hint of confusion and curiosity, asked. Irish extended her hands holding the CS-M2.
"We have a traitor, captain."
Irish lowered her head and replied to the person before her with some difficulty.
"Huh?"
A hand came and took the device from Irish's hands. The screen showed all the images and documents which the Irish read earlier.
As the time moved, the atmosphere inside the tent turned heavy.
Irish was struggling to breath. The hand which held the CS-M2, crushed it into pieces.
"So he remembered everything! He was scamming behind my back!"
The person roared with anger and slammed his hand on the armrest.
An aura erupted from within the person which soon engulfed the entire Fish-Man island and further.
The weak ones fainted instantly with the pressure while the slightly stronger ones struggled to stand.
Few were aware that a certain entity was enraged by the news from Hamburg.
*Boom*
The tent was blasted off with an explosion, a metal bat had hit the ground with a huge impact.
The cracks spread around like a spiderweb, taking half the area in.
"Haa…"
Under the light of the underwater plants and creatures, Akuma, who was the person all along, released his breath.
As his mind relaxed back. His grip on the handle of the metal bat lossen.
On the side, Irish was in a lowered position trying to save herself from any danger.
The nearby conscious pirates screamed in fear and terror, they tried to get as far as they could from Akuma.
As he sat down on his throne, Akuma leaned back and closed his eyes.
"I told him to stay. I was going to hypnotise him again but he just couldn't… Haa…"
Akuma muttered very slowly, he then sighed and opened his eyes to look at Irish.
"Tell Hamburg. Give the current location of Maba, and ya… kill him."
Said Akuma. Irish was a little shocked but also slightly expecting this.
"Yes, captain!"
Nodding her head, Irish was about to leave but Akuma called her.
"And, release EX-7. It's time for her to take Maba's place and maintain the territory."
Akuma was still thinking whether this was the right or wrong choice.
But he had to make one decision. It definitely won't be long when he could see the world become his real home.
A home which he couldn't forget.
* * *
Hell Realm___
In the laboratory, Hamburg listened to Irish and laughed.
"I knew it."
He said with a grin on his face. Pushing the person before the controls to the side, Hamburg cracked his knuckles.
"Bye Bye, Maba. Have a sweet dream!"
Hamburg pressed some buttons and then on the monitor, Maba's status appeared.
*Press*
As the last button, which was in a red color, was pressed, a red light flashed on Maba's status.
[Detonating core number 1]
"And now is your turn to serve the Devil!"
Then, Hamburg started pressing different buttons as a clicking sound came from somewhere.
"Bring the devil fruit!"
Hamburg shouted and ran to the place where the sound had come from.
Inside a huge cylinder filled with green fluid, was an extremely beautiful woman with a dark purple dress.
EX-7, also called Erika. She was supposed to be a helper for Maba but due to the change in situation, she will be taking his place.
The green fluid was sucked out by a machine then oxygen was gassed in.
Erika's eyes opened suddenly, but she had no panic visible in them. Instead, she was anticipating such things in her long dream.
"Here's the devil fruit!"
A researcher ran up to Hamburg and handed him a black colored devil fruit with snake-like patterns.
As the devil fruit came into her sight, Erika gave a smile. Her mouth opened and then her words followed.
"I waited long enough."
* * *
Paradise___
Just a second before the explosion, Maba's eyes which were caught in flames and rage changed.
Concentrating all his energy, Maba created a wind barrier around Fenrir.
It was very thick and dense. Everything happened so fast that Fenrir was unable to understand Maba's move.
His baton could fully absorb the explosion, but he won't survive till then as time was needed.
Fenrir's eyes met Maba's, he saw him speak out a sentence which caused Fenrir's eyes to widen.
"The Devil must die."
*Boom!*
The explosion was so huge that the area with a radius of 4 kilometres was destroyed.
Everything within, islands, fishes, Sea Kings, and other matters all perished.
The sea boiled to extremes with the head generated by the explosion. Large waves rippled faraway crossing the calm belt.
The quiet calm belt was no longer quiet. Strong winds pushed trees and plants of islands safe from the explosion.
As the silence came back after a few seconds, nothing was left in the area of the explosion except water.
Suddenly, two shadows appeared out of thin air in the sky above that location.
As soon as his job was done, Joker quickly vanished back.
Akuma was falling down, but stopped as his lower half turned to gas and spread around.
His eyes stared down on the spot where the sea was still boiling a little.
But he said nothing.
It was the worst, silence from Akuma meant that he was thinking something.
And it won't be so good for sure. With that incident, the year finally came to an end.
Soon, a new year will welcome everyone. Will there be peace, definitely not.
But of course, peace has to come one day. And when will that 'one day' come?
Nobody knows…