Demon Slayer Virgil [Isekai One Piece]

"Speak up, where did you come from?"

Inside the interrogation room on the Marine battleship, Zavia sat across from a woman with tattered clothes and disheveled hair.

The woman knelt on the floor, her hands bound by Sea Prism Stone handcuffs pulled outward, her appearance utterly pitiful.

Hearing Zavia's question, the woman slightly shifted her body, slowly raising her head to reveal a beautiful face to Zavia's eyes, as it should have been.

Yet her face was marred by bloodstains large and small. Her once surely silky golden hair was now damaged, matching the tattered brown rags that remained of her dress—one could imagine the immense suffering she had endured.

"Don't give me that pitiful look. I'm no saint; as long as my enmity toward you hasn't dissipated, you're my enemy," Zavia said with a furrowed brow, his hand resting on the hilt of his Yamato Blade.

"Tch, useless, is it? What a pity."

Seeing her pitiful act had no effect, the woman's wretched expression twisted into one of disdain and scorn.

"Woman, state your origins."

"...You may as well kill me."

"..."

Zavia felt a hint of surprise at her words.

"Grr—give me a reason."

"Because I am a cursed being. Being around me only brings endless pain and misfortune."

The woman lowered her raised head, her golden locks concealing her eyes, as if she had accepted her reality.

"A curse? What curse?"

"Hahaha, you—how amusing. Hearing that I'm cursed, yet you don't seem alarmed at all. Could it be that you people from the 'Dimensional Realm' are all so naïve?"

Suddenly, the woman let out a mocking laugh at Zavia's question.

But Zavia's heart remained unperturbed by her taunts. This woman was one of the people Zavia had rescued from the pirate ship earlier.

Funnily enough, that pirate ship turned out to be a slaver vessel. Their earlier celebration was because they had captured many slaves, intending to sell them for a massive profit. But they celebrated too soon, as not long after setting sail, they encountered Zavia.

From the moment Zavia boarded that pirate ship, he sensed something amiss about this woman—in his sense of presence, she did not belong to this world.

So Zavia, originally intending to play along with the pirates, decisively chose to eliminate them instead. He then took the woman onto his naval ship to interrogate her about her circumstances. Hence, this scene unfolded.

"Whether I'm naïve or not is none of your concern. While I didn't initially believe in ghosts and spirits, due to a fortuitous series of events, I came to believe. But more than that, I'm more interested in the intelligence you can provide." Taking a cake out of his spatial bag, Zavia said as he savored a bite.

"Hahaha, is that so? Well, I don't mind telling you then."

The woman let out a light laugh, her eyelids lowering as various thoughts swirled in her mind, recounting her origins. After her narration, Zavia understood her background.

The woman's name was Lily, a resident of World No. 23098 in the 'Universal Realm'.

One day, a "monster" descended upon her world. This "monster", upon arriving in her world, began slaughtering and destroying everything without explanation.

All of her world—human civilization, nature itself—was decimated and destroyed by this "monster".

At first, the inhabitants of her world tried to retaliate against this "monster", but they did not expect it to be so tremendously powerful.

This "monster" had white hair, crimson eyes, black six wings on its back, and a strange black smoke around its hands. Anything that smoke touched would instantly disintegrate into nothingness.

In a mere 10 minutes, Lily's world was utterly annihilated, turned to ash and ruin. She was the sole survivor who escaped.

"That monster...I will never forgive him! I absolutely must avenge my people!"

Lily's eyes now burned with fury, her killing intent palpable enough that she seemed ready to murder that monster.

"I see...the 'Universal Realm', huh? So there are other realms besides the 2D and 3D ones...I thought there were only those two..."

After listening to Lily's account, Zavia lowered his head in thought, muttering to himself.

"Revenge, huh? Not a bad idea, but if that 'monster' is as powerful as you described, I advise you to abandon that notion. You'd merely be throwing your life away."

"What?!?"

Zavia's words were like using a lit torch to ignite a gasoline fire—utterly foolish, provoking Lily's intense killing intent.

"What do you mean by that?! Are you saying I'm not worthy of fighting that beast?!?"

"Hmph, what do you think? Let me tell you, with your current state, you'd be killed with a single punch."

Zavia let out a cold laugh, not taking Lily's killing intent seriously at all.

"You!...No, wait, you know that monster! You know about that monster, don't you?!?"

Originally intending to vent further, Lily suddenly realized the implication in Zavia's words and shouted at him.

"So what if I know that monster? Even if I tell you about it, how would that change anything? You'd still be a one-punch matter."

Rising to his feet, Zavia had obtained the intelligence he wanted, so he prepared to leave.

"Wait! Wait, I said! Tell me! You know about that monster, don't you?!" Lily shouted as if she had gone mad.

Zavia paused, contemplating for a moment, before slowly turning his head. "You don't need to know. All you need to know is that you're already a dead woman."

"What..."

"From today onward, you'll remain here in this world. As for revenge, save that talk for when you're strong enough."

Leaving Lily no time to respond, Zavia departed the interrogation room with those parting words, leaving only her crazed shrieks behind.

…

Coming out onto the deck, Zavia glanced around to find some of the Marines displaying looks of terror. He surmised Lily's frenzied shrieks had frightened them.

"Hm? Where is this? Have we reached the Calm Belt already?" Walking to the edge of the ship, Zavia gazed out at the eerily still ocean surface.

"Yes, Rear Admiral Zavia! In a few more hours, we'll arrive at the first half of the Grand Line!" At that moment, a Marine ran up behind Zavia and reported seriously.

"A few hours, huh? Good work, you may resume your duties."

"Yes, sir!"

Hearing it would take a few more hours, Zavia headed to the bow gun deck and sat down, beginning to analyze Lily's words.

(If I'm not mistaken, the 'monster' that woman spoke of probably refers to NAO...)

...

A few hours later, Zavia's naval ship arrived in the waters of the first half of the Grand Line.

"Finally here, huh? Ah~" Sitting on the gun deck, Zavia felt the wind again and let out a yawn, his eyes half-open.

The journey had been remarkably peaceful—not a single Sea King was encountered, though Zavia had hoped to test the gap between his strength and theirs.

"Hm? What's this feeling?"

Suddenly, Zavia sensed an anomalous presence, one that felt strangely familiar to him. He stood up, carefully perceiving that strange presence. It was coming from the northeast!

"Hey, you all set a course northeast!" Pinpointing the source of the presence, Zavia directly ordered his subordinates.

"Huh? But Rear Admiral Zavia, the direction to the Sabaody Archipelago isn't this way..."

"Quit your babbling, I said go where I order." Meeting his subordinate's confused gaze, Zavia shot him a cold glare, his tone icy.

"Y-Yes! My apologies, I spoke out of turn!" Cowed by Zavia's glare, the Marine hurriedly ran off in a panic.

(There's definitely something over there!)

Zavia gazed seriously towards the northeast, convinced in his heart.

...

A thousand miles away from Zavia's location, there was nothing but an endless expanse of ocean. If one had to point out anything distinct, there was an island to the west of this area.

What made this island peculiar was that it had a resort-like area, and many ships docked around its shores.

These ships varied in size, but even the smallest was of a medium build, and every mainmast flew a black pirate flag. Clearly, these were pirate ships.

Hovering a million meters above this island, past the cloud layer, was a huge landmass suspended in mid-air. On this bizarre floating continent stood a palace.

Inside the palace's interior, a man with four drums emblazoned with triple magatama on his back, a white headband, and extremely long earlobes lazed on a couch, enjoying fruits served by his attendants.

"Sigh, how boring. Is there really nothing of interest to entertain this divine one?"

After finishing a grape, the man cast a languid gaze at the four kneeling figures below, his tone dripping with extreme arrogance.

"Indeed, Lord Eneru. This is something the residents of the town found washed ashore at White Beach. Since it looked peculiar, I brought it back, my lord." On the far right, a brawny bald man wearing sunglasses with a large white sword respectfully replied, then retrieved an object from his pocket.

Lord Eneru fixed his eyes on it, his lazy expression turning slightly intrigued, before glancing at the attendants beside him.

The attendants understood immediately, ceasing their tasks to present the object before him.

Eneru accepted it, scrutinizing it carefully.

It was a necklace—a rather large one, about the size of a human palm. The necklace had a golden gemstone that seemed to contain something flickering within, glimmering brightly.

"Hmm, not bad. A fine item—this divine one is quite taken with it." Nodding in satisfaction, Eneru hung the necklace around his neck.

"It suits you perfectly, Lord Eneru." Seeing Eneru don the necklace, the bald muscular man wasted no time flattering him.

"Yahahaha, hm? You four, those savage beasts are here again. Go deal with them—this divine one is in a good mood today and doesn't wish to lay eyes on them."

Suddenly, Eneru seemed to sense something, addressing the four figures below in a cold tone.

"Understood!!" they replied in unison.