The room was silent, save for the echoes of Draco's punch still bouncing off the icy walls. Dust hung thick in the air, swirling lazily as the vibrations settled. Then, with an ear-splitting crack, the surface of the Poneglyph split.
Draco blinked, taking a small step back as jagged fractures spread across the stone. A chunk of the "indestructible" material broke off, clattering to the ground with a weighty thud. His eyes widened slightly—not in awe, but in mild surprise.
The Poneglyph, meant to be indestructible, had shattered under his fist. And in the center of the massive stone was something far more concerning—a gaping hole, as if his punch had driven through to the other side. Draco scratched his head, exhaling through his nose as if he expected to have to do either nothing or destroy the whole thing itself.
"Well, that was unexpected," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. With a small chuckle, he added under his breath, "Should've had someone read it first."
Before he could dwell on it any further, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from the tunnel leading into the chamber. Draco lazily turned his head toward the entrance, where five figures emerged from the darkness.
[5 minutes of the past]
The ground trembled violently, causing both the Roger Pirates and their enemies to pause in confusion. This kind of quake was unnatural, something that rarely occurred.
Sensing that something was off, the leader of the enemy group narrowed his eyes. Without hesitation, he unleashed a powerful slash, forcing Roger to retreat momentarily. The leader used the opening to signal his companions. "Fall back!" he barked. Without question, the group disengaged and swiftly began retreating toward a hidden cave entrance.
The Roger Pirates stood still, momentarily stunned by the abrupt shift in the battle. "What the hell?" one of them muttered, scanning the shore where their enemies had just vanished.
Roger tilted his head back and let out a booming, maniacal laugh. "Bwahahaha! What are they running for?"
Rayleigh, still on edge, glanced back toward the ship. "I'll check if Draco's onboard." With a graceful leap, he landed on the ship and scanned the deck quickly.
"Where's Draco?" he called out, his eyes darting around. But the realization hit him hard—Draco was nowhere to be found. "He's not here!" Rayleigh yelled from the ship.
Roger's grin widened. "What a sneaky kid! Heuahahahah!" His laugh echoed across the shore as if the entire situation was a joke to him.
"Don't worry about him," Roger added, waving off the concern as if it were nothing. "Scopper, Rayleigh—let's follow them." He cast a quick glance toward the rest of the crew, some still with bruises and bleeding from the earlier fight.
"You lot stay here and keep an eye on the ship," Roger ordered with an easy grin. "We'll handle this."
Without missing a beat, the three of them took off toward the cave, leaving the rest of the crew to watch in a mixture of even more confusion and exasperation from the situation.
[Present]
Their leader—clad in a thick white cloak and a longsword to his side, with his group—stopped dead in his tracks at the sight before him. His blind eyes widened in disbelief, almost sensing the impossible.
"What... what happened here!?" he shouted, his voice cracking as he stared at the cracked and broken Poneglyph, a relic believed untouchable by any force on earth.
The group gaped, all of them too stunned to notice Draco standing nonchalantly atop the circular pedestal.
It wasn't until one of the figures, a woman with icy blue hair—Yui—pointed, that they realized they were not alone. "There's someone up there!"
The leader's expression morphed from shock to fury in an instant. His gaze locked onto Draco. "What have you done!?"
Draco scratched the side of his temple casually, as if embarrassed. "Ah, yeah, that's my bad," he said, tilting his head in a gesture of apology. "Didn't mean to, ...uhm break it if it was already owned, truly my apologies." Draco comments to himself, 'thought no one knew about this place, guess there was another entrance'
The leader's jaw clenched, and an oppressive wave of Haoshoku Haki—Conqueror's Haki—surged from him like a storm, crashing toward Draco with deadly intent.
But Draco didn't even flinch. The wave of Haki raged but it dispersed around him like mist meeting the morning sun. It was as if the pressure never existed at all.
"I'll ask one more time," the leader growled, unsheathing his sword slightly. The sharp click of the blade echoed in the cavern. "What did you do?"
Draco let out a sigh, already done with the conversation. Before he could answer, however, the misted man beside the leader surged forward, his body dissolving into thick black clouds that snaked toward Draco.
The mist swirled around Draco, obscuring him from view as the figure charged, ready to strike. But just as the mist began to close in, Draco let out a sudden, thunderous sneeze.
The force of the sneeze blasted the mist away like a hurricane, scattering it across the chamber. The misted man flew backward, slamming into the far wall with a dull thud. His eyes rolled back into his head, and his mask cracked open as he collapsed in a heap, completely unconscious.
Draco sniffled, rubbing his nose. "Must've caught a cold…" he muttered, almost apologetically.
The remaining four members stared in disbelief, their mouths agape. Yui took a cautious step back, gripping her axe tighter. The leader's hand twitched at his sword, disbelief clouding his face.
"Zexer's mist could confuse someone's observation leaving them completely senseless...—but one sneeze...?" he whispered to himself. "What... is this man?"
Before the leader could react, the other three members sprang into action, launching themselves at Draco in perfect synchronization.
With a raised wrist and a yawn, Draco sneezed again. A powerful gust erupted from him, knocking the three attackers off their feet mid-air. They tumbled like rag dolls, landing unconscious in a heap near the misted man.
Draco blinked, wiping his nose. "Guess I jinxed myself…" he said, genuinely puzzled by his own sneezes.
The leader stood frozen, his expression shifting between disbelief and rage. He had trained these fighters himself—each one capable of challenging a Yonko commander. Yet they had been dispatched as if they were nothing more than leaves in the wind.
His anger boiled over, the killing intent radiating from him now unmistakable. With a roar, he was about to launch himself toward Draco—
"Bwahahaha! There you are, Draco!"
The deep, booming laughter echoed from the tunnel entrance, halting the leader in his tracks. From the shadows emerged the unmistakable figure of Gol D. Roger, his broad grin gleaming even in the dim light. Behind him, Rayleigh and Scopper Gaban followed, their faces calm but alert.
The tension in the chamber shifted as the Roger stepped forward, surveying the scene with an amused twinkle in his eye.
"Wondered where you'd run off to," Roger said with a chuckle, his hands resting on his hips.
Rayleigh smirked, glancing at the unconscious bodies scattered around the chamber. "I see you've been busy."
The leader of the group narrowed his eyes, his hand still gripping the hilt of his sword. His Haki flared briefly, but Roger's presence pressed against him like a tidal wave, forcing him to not act up as of right now.
Roger tilted his head toward the leader with a grin. "Looks like you've met our friend/ally Draco."
The leader clenched his teeth, trying to contain his frustration. "Draco...?"
Roger's laughter boomed once more, filling the cavern. "Yep! Quite the troublesome guy, isn't he?"
Draco stood there, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "I thought no one knew about this place..."
Roger slapped Rayleigh on the back, nearly knocking him off balance. "Bwahahaha! Look there is a poneglyph!"
"It's broken...", Rayleigh crossed his arms, grinning. "Well, now that everyone's here... how about we figure out what's really going on?"
The leader's gaze flickered between Draco, Roger, and the broken Poneglyph. One thing was clear: this encounter had just become far more complicated than he'd expected.