In a room with no windows except a single door which was the entrance as well as exit.
There sat two figures, both of almost similar heights, one male and the other female.
"Father, why do you wish to conquer the world?"
Mint, sitting opposite of Akuma, asked with a curious expression as her eyes stared at him.
"As you have guessed, there's always a reason for every action. Mine is the same, I also have a reason."
Answered Akuma with a slightly thoughtful look. The light in his eyes slowly decreased.
"What is it? Revenge?"
Mint obviously wanted to know what could have made Akuma be who he is right now.
"Do you want to listen to a story?"
Said Akuma while leaning back on the chair. Closing his eyes, he left a heavy feeling in his heart.
"Yes!"
Mint nodded immediately.
"It all started in that empty space. One soul was created but soon split into two.
One was dark and evil, the other kind and pure. Both were supposed to be equal yet completely different.
One day, the pure and kind soul was taken by the heavens while the dark and evil soul was left all alone.
It fell down till it reached the depth of hell, slowly, it rose to power as an infamous devil. Unknown to this devil, the other half was already an angel.
Favored by the heavens, the angel was sent to a particular place called Earth.
Her mission was to save a billion people, she could spend as much time as she wanted there until her mission was completed.
The problem was, that billion people, were humans. An organism feared even by the heavens and hell.
Humans could become anything, as long as it full filled their inner desires.
After spending a thousand years, the angel was unable to help more than a thousand people.
The reason? Humans don't understand what's good for them. No matter what she did, the angel couldn't help them.
What was she supposed to do? Well, that question was solved by the appearance of the devil.
As soon as the devil came, the world turned chaotic and the angel became a hope for humans to defeat the devil.
How laughable! The devil was only killing and eating the human souls to keep himself alive as he was afraid to die unlike the immortal angel.
They fought, the devil and the angel, like what the humans wanted and the devil lost.
Just before the devil died, he took the angel together with him causing their fate to be entangled forever.
They reborn, meet, fight and die. This repeated numerous times, the devil had lost his mind because of this.
He was turning even more crazy, as for the angel, she was still the same kind and pure.
But it all came to an end when the two were reborn again, at the same location.
That life, the two were completely unaware of their long past as they shared many deep secrets among themselves.
Once, the angel wanted to find out what the devil really wanted. They headed to a forest far from their home to settle for a few days.
Unfortunately, there came an incident which took the angel away from the devil as she sacrificed herself for the devil.
That moment, the inner devil opened his eyes. He conquered the whole world and at last, killed himself for he had nothing left to do.
But it obviously can't end at that, the devil was saved by the new Demon Lord who didn't know what danger the devil was.
He sent the devil to another world, where he was to conquer it and later go back to hell and serve the Demon Lord.
To know, the devil still didn't remember his past with the angel.
Later, the devil was defeated by the forces of that world and he was captured. Years went by, the devil was all alone inside that cold and dark cell.
He was left to die from hunger, but he survived even that and escaped after a hundred years of captivity.
He planned and took advantage of the special powers of that world and regained his prime and memories.
Yes, he now remembered everything. The thousands of years on Earth and his life with the angel.
The devil, he wanted not to be a pawn in the hands of the player called the 'fate'.
Mint, you were wrong about one thing. I never wanted to actually conquer the world."
As he finished the story, Akuma said to Mint with a smile on his face.
"I just want to let the world know what it feels to suffer."
Akuma's smile vanished and he replied with a dark expression. His eyes glowed with a red light making Mint get a shiver.
Gulp.
Mint swallowed her saliva as she avoided matching her eyes with Akuma's.
"You can leave."
Hearing the command, Mint immediately stood up, bowed and left the room in a hurry.
Within the darkness of the room, two red eyes shined as a grin appeared below.
* * *
Sphinx___
It is the birthplace of Whitebeard, one of the Four Emperors, yet today this place was seeing its doomsday.
Black smoke rose in the sky while the surrounding forests were lit on the sea of flames.
"Ahh! Save me!"
"Help! Help!"
"Damn pirates!"
The citizens of the old town hidden in the valleys were attacked by the Devil's Pirates.
Bang!
Bullets flew around, blood splashed everywhere as multiple dead bodies dropped down.
"Don't let a single one escape! Everyone must be killed! Show no mercy! Show no sympathy!"
The captains of the pirates shouted out loudly for their crewmates to hear them clearly.
"What have we done to you!"
The town chief was held down by a huge muscular pirate, no matter if he begged, the pirates didn't stop killing.
"Ask that to Whitebeard after our Captain, The Devil, kills him in his own territory!"
Saying so, the huge muscular pirate crushed the town chief's head with his feet.
"Hahah!"
"Kill! Kill! Not one shall be alive!"
The pirates laughed and shot the citizens with their modern arms provided by Rocky.
"Captain! These women and girls are very useful! They are very beautiful. Why not keep some alive to play with later on?"
Few pirates dragged some young women and teenage girls to the main captain in charge.
Bang!
The main captain in charge fired his gun at one of the pirates that dragged the women and teenage girls.
The pirate's head burst open with his brain matter and blood splashing on the other pirates, women and teenage girls.
The pirates stopped their feets while the women and teenage girls were horrified by the cruelty of the main captain in charge.
"Not a single one must be kept alive. That's the order from Captain! If you want to die, so be it!"
As his words came out, the surrounding pirates raised their guns at those few pirates, women and teenage girls.
Bang! Bang!
The gunshots covered the entire island, not long after, silence followed.
All the people of the old town were killed without anyone escaping.
Sphinx wasn't the only location which had gone through the extermination.
From every side, the Whitebeard's territories were attacked.
Even so, Whitebeard Pirates couldn't do anything as they themselves had to prepare for the war against the Devil's Pirates's main force.
In the center of Whitebeard's territory, the huge pirate fleet was ready.
150 pirate ships, more than four hundred thousand pirates and Whitebeard himself.
And the enemy they will be facing, the Devil's Pirates which was a pirate group active for more than hundred years.
A total of 450 pirate ships, more than a million pirates, three submarines, the Air Strike commanded by Karen and the "Devil of the Sea" himself.
They were only half a day's distance away from each other.
It was already night time long ago, and the war will be beginning when the first light ray from the sun reaches them.