Location: Moonless Reef – Coral Spire Plateau
The sea trembled.
Waves stood still.
And in the eye of this impossible stillness, Ankit faced the woman who saw through fate.
The Eye floated above the reef, her single crimson iris flickering with a thousand reflections. Strips of cursed ribbon danced around her like tendrils of thought.
Shanks, Makino, and Benn Beckman had been separated—pushed back by the Eye's illusions.
Now only Ankit remained within the spiral dome of sight.
A prison made of truth.
The Dome of Sight
The Eye's voice was calm, almost sweet. "You've touched something you don't understand. And your world—" she tilted her head—"your original world, still clings to you."
Ankit's blades pulsed with golden-red soulflame.
He stood still, his mind alert. "You're from the World Government?"
"No," she said. "They just point me at the fires they want smothered."
She raised one hand.
The sea warped.
Reality folded inward.
And the duel began.
System Alert – Danger Class: A+
Opponent Detected: Cipher Pol Omega-Class Agent – Code Name: The Eye
Abilities: Illusion-Warp, Time Memory Slice, Identity Thread Severance
Threat Level: A+
Objective: Eliminate or extract soul core.
Warning: Spatial Reality Is Altered.
Note: Memory Guard Activated (Passive).
Phase One – The Mirror Clash
The Eye struck first.
Her ribbons lashed out, not physically—but through possibility. Each strike showed a different version of Ankit.
—Ankit the traitor
—Ankit who killed Shanks
—Ankit who joined the Marines
—Ankit still trapped on Earth, dying in a hospital bed
He slashed through them all.
His dual blades spun in fiery arcs, slicing the images apart. Each time he cut, soulflame burst outward, creating anchors of stability in the twisted space.
"You're not real!" he shouted.
The Eye smiled.
"That doesn't mean I'm wrong."
Phase Two – Identity Severance
She drew closer, walking on thin air. Her eye flashed.
Suddenly, Ankit couldn't remember his last name.
Then—his brother's face blurred.
Then—he couldn't remember what age he was when he died on Earth.
System Warning – Identity Thread Disruption Detected
Resisting...
System Proficiency Check Passed
Trait "Emotional Anchor" Activated
Ankit stabbed one blade into the coral floor to hold onto reality.
"I know who I am," he whispered. "I am the one who burns false futures."
His body flared—Soulflame Overdrive: Level 1
The memories snapped back.
Clash – First Real Strike
He moved.
Faster than flame. Quicker than a lie.
His right blade slashed upward, his left swept in low—X-shaped arc.
The Eye twisted, ribbons blocking—but his flame coated the space around them.
Boom!
Her robes burned at the edges. She hissed.
"Impressive."
Then vanished.
Phase Three – Time Memory Slice
She reappeared behind him.
Her finger tapped his back.
Time stopped.
Ankit found himself in a memory—
—He was 12 again
—Lying in a hospital bed
—The system had not awakened
—No blades
—No Shanks
—No crew
—Only despair
And then...
A whisper inside him: "Will you surrender this dream?"
System Trigger – Soul Resurgence
Proficiency Surge: Soulflame Resonance Spiked
Trait Activated: Stormmark Sync > 64%
Temporal Lock Countermeasure Deployed
Ankit clenched his fists.
And remembered—he had no power in that world.
But he had resolve.
He willed the sword into his hand.
And it formed—born of soul and fire.
He cut through the memory.
Time resumed.
Final Phase – The True Eye
The Eye landed hard, breath catching for the first time.
"You're still intact?"
"I'm more than intact," Ankit said. "I'm anchored."
He held up his blades—now glowing not just with soulflame, but a faint shimmer of starlight.
System Update: Soulflame Tier Advanced – Phase 2 Initiated
New Trait: Flame Mirror (Passive) – 10% of any illusion reflected back to the caster
New Skill: Flare Cross – Twin-blade strike enhanced with burn and memory disruptor
The Eye's Past (Brief Reveal)
The Eye paused… staring at him.
"You... remind me of someone."
A flicker of her own memory leaked—shown in her broken eye.
A child. Alone. Trapped. Marked as cursed.
Forced to become the Eye. To forget her name. To serve Cipher Pol.
Ankit didn't strike.
"Then stop. Step back."
Her face twisted.
"I can't. They own my thread."
Climax – Shattered Sight
She screamed—and unleashed her final attack: a sphere of pure memory-break, meant to erase everything she saw.
Ankit stepped forward.
Memory Cleave – Full Power!
He slashed through the sphere with both blades crossed.
The illusion shattered.
Her eye cracked.
For the first time in years—she blinked.
And fell.
Aftermath – The Reef Shifts
The reef began to collapse.
Coral shattered. The sea finally moved.
Makino, Benn, and Shanks rejoined Ankit as the Eye floated unconscious nearby.
Shanks sheathed his sword.
"Leave her."
Ankit looked down. "She wasn't the villain."
Makino placed a hand on his shoulder.
"No," she said. "She was just a weapon."
They left the reef as it sank beneath the sea.
System Panel – End of Trial 4
Stormmark Fragment 4 Secured
Total Sync: 64.1%
Soulflame Resonance: 61.9%
New Trait: Flame Mirror (Passive)
New Skill: Flare Cross (Active)
Base Damage: 140% Soul Attack
Bonus: Disrupts illusions and mind-type Haki
Cooldown: 3 mins
New Title Unlocked: "Breaker of Vision"
You have survived and countered Cipher Pol Omega's A+ assassin class agent.
Final Scene – Cipher Pol Reacts
Back in Mariejois, Director R.O.N. stared at the cracked red eye on the display.
"Impossible…"
He turned to the sealed chamber of another figure.
"Open Vault 3."
An agent paled. "That's a Yonko-class risk."
"I don't care."
He stared at the flame dancing in Ankit's latest footage.
"He's becoming a myth."