The sun, low in the sky, was on its way to setting over Amazon Lily, and so it convincingly cast stretching shadows across the landscape—that greeny tropical land. Borsalino Boromante, impressively known to the world as Admiral Kizaru, climbed to the shore as an imposing silhouette that his huge figure embodied. The brightness of his bright yellow three-piece suit contrasted a lot with the surroundings during the last moments of the sunset.

Kizaru's green eyes swept the treeline as his mind worked over potential threats and ways to retreat if necessary. At 23, he had built a reputation that preceded him, even here on this isolated island. Locals whispered and pointed as he confidently strode inland with his muscular form and handsome features in perpetual coexistence between admiration and fear.

As Kizaru came closer to the village, he saw a figure. It was Nyon, the Kuja Empress, just a young lady of unimaginable beauty, so transcendently beautiful that no one around here could compare with her. She shined; her brilliance maybe touched the air as it shimmered, even making him, the brilliant Admiral, speechless for a moment.

"Well, well," Kizaru drawled, his voice a lazy drawl that belied his sharp mind. "What do we have here? You must be the famous Nyon I've heard so much about."

Nyon regarded him warily, her hand instinctively moving to the weapon at her hip. "Admiral Kizaru. Your reputation precedes you. What brings a Navy dog to our shores?"

Kizaru's lips spread into a smirk; his green orbs glinted with an intensity that made Nyon take a step back involuntarily. "I've come for you, my dear. You see, I have been searching far and wide for some company—one who will stand by my side as I remake this world."

With that, he advanced towards Nyon, his enormous figure hovering above her. "The moment I heard about you, I knew you were the one. I confess my undying love unto you, Nyon. Be mine, and we shall rule the seas."

Nyon's eyes widened in shock as her voice barely came out of her throat. "You're mad. You don't even know me."

Kizaru laughed, a cold, slipping-down-the-bone sound that chilled Nyon's very insides. "Oh, but I do. I know everything about you, my dear. And I know that you are the only one who will truly understand me—-other than my dear friend Akainu."

As Kizaru spoke, visions of his childhood with Akainu flashed across his mind. They were inseparable, two brilliant minds forged in the crucible of hardship and ambition. Now, standing before Nyon, Kizaru felt another kind of hunger: a desire for companionship that extended beyond friendship.

"You see, my dear," Kizaru went on, his voice dangerous, "I've never met anyone quite like you. And I don't intend to let you slip away."

Nyon's hand tightened on her weapon, her voice trembling barely perceptibly. "And if I refuse?"

Kizaru's smile grew wider, his teeth too sharp, too predatory. "Oh, my dear. Who said you had a choice?"

It was hard not to find herself drawn inexorably to the giant figure of Admiral Kizaru as night settled on Amazon Lily. His declaration, of course, had appalled her, yet hours went by, and something in her clicked on to this colossus of a man with green, piercing eyes.

"Tell me, Admiral," Nyon murmured, "what shall I do to believe your professions of love? You barely know me."

Kizaru's lips curled into a beaming smile, at once charming and full of threat. "Oh, but I do know you, my dear. Every bit about your life, every choice you have ever made—I've read it. Your strength, your beauty, your mind—they're all the pieces to a puzzle I've so longed to solve."

His words were as smooth as honey, sharp as a blade. Nyon felt a shiver run down her spine. Though caution screamed in her mind, she felt her feet take a step back, her eyes locked on Kizaru.

"You see," he continued, his massive frame moving with unexpected grace as he circled around Nyon, "I'm not just offering you love—I am offering you the world."

A hand motion on his part, and their surroundings were suddenly bathed in yellow holographic avatars of technology well beyond that which Nyon had ever seen.

"Think of what we could achieve—together," Kizaru whispered, sending shivers through her with his breath against her ear. "With my mind and your sway on this island, we could bend reality itself to our whim."

Nyon's will began to crumble. The raw power oozing from Kizaru, blended with undeniable charms and a promise of a future beyond anything she had ever envisioned, swept her head over heels.

"I… I do not know what to say," the girl who had never been at loss of words stumbled.

Kizaru's grin broadened, his teeth too pointed in moonlight. "Say yes, my dear. Say you'll be mine."

The moment Nyon's eyes met the fierce green glint in Kizaru's, she felt as if she were teetering on the edge of some cliff. Something inside her shrieked at her to run, to fight, to reject this dangerous man and his smooth words.

Yet, in that instant, when power and passion were within her grasp, Nyon chose a path from which there was no turning back.

"Yes," she whispered, the tone barely perceptible. "Yes, I'll be yours." At that moment, she had succumbed to lovesickness.

As he pulled Nyon into his arms, the shadows seemed to lengthen around them, as if the very island itself recoiled at the unholy union that had just been forged.

* * *

It had been weeks since Nyon was smitten by Admiral Kizaru, and her world seemed to whirl into a paradise of passion and promise. The hulking figure, with piercing green eyes and a sharp mind, became her whole universe.

It was one moonlit night as they lay in each other's arms in the dead-end cove—their secret place of meeting—when Kizaru's voice cut clear through the darkness like a knife.

"My dear Nyon," he purred, his fingers tracing lazy patterns on her skin, "you understand that our love must remain our little secret, don't you?"

Nyon's heart skipped a beat. "But why, my love? Surely our happiness—"

Kizaru's laugh was low and dangerous. "Oh, my sweet, naive girl. Your tribe, they despise Marines, don't they? And the World Government? They're not exactly on your Christmas card list, are they?"

Nyon shivered with a coldness that was not of the night. "You are right, of course. But for us to conceal this. It feels wrong."

Kizaru's enormous frame moved in, casting a long shadow across her in the darkness. His green eyes seemed to glow with otherworldly light. "Wrong? No, my dear. What's wrong is letting others dictate our happiness. This is for us, and us alone."

His words were honey-coated poison, and Nyon lapped them up.

"I have something for you," Kizaru said, digging into his bright yellow suit jacket. He pulled out a small, innocuous-yellow-looking pill. "This, my love, is our ticket to forever."

Nyon's eyes went wide. "What do you mean?"

Kizaru's smile was razor-sharp in the moonlight. "This little marvel comes from a place beyond your wildest imagination. It will keep you young, preserve our love for eternity."

Nyon's hand trembled as she reached for the pill. "And you. You'll take one too?"

Kizaru's laugh was like broken glass. "Oh, my dear. I have. other means of ensuring my longevity. This is my gift to you."

The pill slid down her throat, and euphoria washed over Nyon. Somewhere deep in the recesses of her mind, a tiny voice screamed warning. A warning she was all too willing to ignore.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"There," Kizaru whispered. His hot breath licked her ear. "Now you're mine. Forever."

As Nyon drifted off to sleep within the massive arms of Kizaru, she did not see the triumphant light glowing within the eyes of Kizaru.

For in the haze of love, it was a truth overlooked by Nyon: that which seems too good to be true, often is. And in the world of Admiral Kizaru, every gift and all favors bore their due price to be paid—a price that Nyon, in her blinded devotion, had yet to understand fully.

The swallowed pill was a key to eternal youth, but a time bomb lying in wait, binding her to Kizaru in a way she could never imagine.

The sun had barely risen over Amazon Lily when the massive frame of Kizaru extended, casting a perpetual shadow on Nyon's quivering figure. It was as if green blades stared into her soul as he said, his voice a low and sinister whisper.

"My dearest Nyon," Kizaru purred, his large hand cupping her face, "I have a task that will test the very limits of your devotion."

Nyon's heart raced, a thrill of fear shooting through her veins spiked with excitement. "Anything for you, my love. What is it that you need?"

Kizaru's lips twisted into a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I need you to spy on the Rocks Pirates for me, infiltrate them."

Those words hung suspended between them, a sentence of death. Nyon's breath caught in her throat at the renewal of memories, the reasons she had reached out for the Rocks Pirates.

"But The Rocks Pirates? They're monsters, Borsalino. Demons of the sea. How could I possibly…?"

Kizaru's massive fingers tightened incrementally on her chin. "You already had your reasons for wanting to join them, didn't you? This time, you'll have a higher purpose."

Nyon furrowed her brow. "Even if I could join them, how would I get any valuable information? They're notoriously secretive and—"

Her words were cut off when Kizaru's voice resounded in her mind, ringing clear as a bell. "Don't worry, my sweet. We have ways of communicating that they can never detect."

Nyon gasped, her eyes widening in shock. "How. How are you doing that?"

Kizaru's grin grew wider, his teeth almost too sharp. "A little gift from that pill I gave you. Connected now, in ways no one else could ever understand."

Seconds—a lifetime—relief washed over Nyon. At least he couldn't read her thoughts, couldn't see the depths of her obsession: the way he consumed every living, waking moment of hers.

"I can't read your mind, if that's what you're worried about," the voice of Kizaru echoed in her head. "Just talk. Our little secret."

Nyon nodded, a mixture of fear and excitement racing through her veins. "I will do that," she whispered barely loud enough to hear herself. "For you, I will infiltrate the Rocks Pirates."

Kizaru's laughter was like shattered glass, sharp and grating. "That is my girl. You will be our key to the ultimate victory."

"Remember, my love," Kizaru's voice whispered into her mind and reality. "Our bond is unbreakable now. No matter where you go, no matter what horrors you face with the Rocks, I'll always be by your side."

Nyon closed her eyes, glorying in the warmth of Kizaru's massive body and his voice as it sounded in her mind; her love further blinded her to the strings of fate entwining her.

* * *

The sun had begun its dip down to the bottom of the horizon; rays stretched across the headquarters of the Marines as Admiral Kizaru strode down corridors barely keeping his bulk within an immaculate yellow three-piece suit. He walked with a gait that foreshadowed the darkness that came with him in his footsteps.

Akainu's office door screeched open, and the stern-faced Admiral was hunched over his desk. He raised his gaze, and a rather rare smile cracked that stony visage as Kizaru came through.

"Ooooh, Sakazuki-kun," Kizaru drawled, his voice forming a lazy contrast to his sharp green eyes. "It's been too loooong."

Akainu leaned back, his chair groaning under his weight. "Borsalino. I trust your… vacation was productive?"

Kizaru's lips curled into a smirk. "Mooore than you could imagine. Our little spy is in plaaaace."

Akainu's eyebrow arched. "Nyon? She's infiltrated the Rocks?"

"Indeeeed," Kizaru replied, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "But there's been an… unexpected development."

Akainu leaned forward, his interest piqued. "What kind of development?"

Kizaru's massive frame seemed to shrink slightly, an almost sheepish look crossing his handsome features. "I've fallen for her, Sakazuki. Truly fallen."

The silence hung there for a moment before Akainu suddenly burst into laughter, the harsh, grating sound sending chills down junior officers' spines as they passed by outside.

"You? In love?" Akainu shook his head, still chuckling. "Well, well. The great Admiral Kizaru, felled by Cupid's arrow."

An alarm went off all over the building, cutting Kizaru's response off. Akainu's Den Den Mushi crackled to life, reporting a pirate crew spotted not too far away.

"Shall we, old friend?" Akainu grinned, his eyes flashing with all the predatorial instincts of a wild beast.

"Ooooh, it would be my pleasure," Kizaru said with an easy smile, his momentary vulnerability gone like smoke.

* * *

The two Admirals charged through the pirate crew like a hurricane on paper. Limbs flew, screams resounded, and blood raced across the deck of the pirate ship, painting it crimson.

As Kizaru lazily vaporized a fleeing pirate with a beam of light, he picked up their earlier conversation. "You see, Sakazuki-kun, Nyon is…different. She understands me."

Akainu nodded, having the mast of that ship melt with just a touch of his magma-infused clenched fist. "And the pill? Perfectly in place?"

"Perrrrrfectly," Kizaru purred, stepping over a fallen body without a glance at it. "She's mine now, body and soul."

The final pirate fell, and there the two Admirals stood amidst the carnage, pristine garments amidst destruction.

"Just be careful, Borsalino," Akainu warned, his voice soft, unbeknownst to him. "Love can be a weakness in our line of work."

Kizaru's laughter was cold, hollow. "Oh, Sakazuki-kun. Love isn't my weakness. It's my greatest weapon."

The sun dipped below the horizon, the sky turning red amidst Blood spilling across the deck. Kizaru and Akainu turned their backs to the butchery they left behind them, but the acrid smell of roasted flesh and molten metal filled the air—an evil evidence of their power to cause destruction.

"Oooooh, Sakazuki-kun," Kizaru drawled, his voice a lazy contrast to the surroundings. "Don't you think it's time you found yourself a little companionship?" His green eyes glinted with mischief, a stark juxtaposition to the bodies strewn about their feet.

Akainu's expression didn't budge an iota, though a flicker did pass over his eyes. "Companionship? Borsalino, above all, you ought to know the only love I hold is in justice." With that, he stepped over the body of a fallen pirate, with smoldering footprints left behind.

Kizaru laughed clear, a sound that shivered the spines of junior marines now rushing around to clean up the mess throughout the decimated ship. "Justice might warm your bed at night, my friend, but it won't keep you company in the way a woman could."

Akainu's eyebrow arched slightly. "And what would you suggest? That I find myself a spy to fall in love with, like you?" His tone was dry, but there was no real bite behind his words.

Kizaru's enormous frame shook silently as he laughed. "Ooooh, perhaps not quite like that. But surely even the great Admiral Sakazuki isn't above the pleasures of the flesh?" He wiggled his eyebrows in a suggestive fashion, looking rather comic on his hulking, handsome face.

Akainu’s face was human for a moment before flickering back to well Akainu. "I… would not say no to sex, that is fun," he confessed reluctantly. "But love? It is a-interference we cannot afford in our line of business again."

Kizaru put a huge hand on Akainu's shoulder, the motion nearly rocking the other man off-balance despite being roughly the same size. "Aaah, my friend. Always so serious. Maybe one day you will find someone that can melt that cold heart of yours."

Akainu snorted and shrugged Kizaru's hand off his shoulder. "And the day that happens is the day I retire from the Marines."

As they walked away from the scene of destruction, Kizaru couldn't help but smile at his friend's unwavering dedication. "The zeal you show toward your Absolute Justice is admirable, Sakazuki-kun. It's what makes you such a formidable ally and a terrifying enemy."

The two Admirals walked back to headquarters with casual banter that sharply contrasted with the trail of death in their wake.

A ruckus near the training fields drew their interest. There was an awkward teenager with curly hair, surrounded by a group of gawking marines, his hands sheathed in a shimmering layer of ice.

"Oooh, what have we got here?" Kizaru drawled, green eyes narrowing with interest.

The boy spun about, eyes widening at the sight of the two Admirals. "Admirals Kizaru and Akainu, sir!" His salute was sharp, but his voice blurred in an adolescent croak. "I'm Kuzan, sir. I… I was hoping to speak with you both."

Akainu's face darkened further, his perpetual scowl deepening. "We don't have time for children's games, boy. Run along."

Kuzan's face fell, but in his eyes flashed a gleam of determination. He whisked out a complex model of the Marine logo, just like that, and with such fineness that the fading light made it shimmer.

"I want to be apprenticed under you both," Kuzan said, much more controlled now. "I was ranked first in my class, so I am sure to learn a lot from you."

Kizaru’s arm stretched out suddenly, as Akainu reached up to dismiss the boy once more. "Wait, Sakazuki-kun. I think we should listen to this."

Akainu's eyebrow rose. "Listen to what? Take on some brat as an apprentice?"

Kizaru's voice dropped to a whisper, his usual drawl sharpening with intensity. "This boy. he could be exactly what we need. Remember what I told you about the Rocks? About the future?"

Akainu's eyes widened the slightest, comprehension washing over his features. Kizaru continued his words for Akainu's ears alone.

"He'll make a great Admiral, Sakazuki-kun. Likely reaching the role earlier than we did and he'll probably be far more important than we could ever know."

Akainu's jaw clenched visibly, but he nodded minutely. Kizaru turned back to Kuzan, a lazy smile spreading over his handsome face.

"Well, young Kuzan. It seems you've impressed us. We'll take you on as our apprentice."

Kuzan's face lit up with joy, but Akainu's next words froze the smile on his face.

"But understand this, boy. Our path is not an easy one. We walk the road of Absolute Justice. There is no room for weakness, for hesitation. Are you prepared for that?"

Kuzan stood upright; his youthful face was set in determination. "Yes, sir. Any order is fine by me."

As Kuzan followed the two Admirals with shining eyes, full of admiration, neither he nor Akainu noticed the cold, calculating gleam in Kizaru's green eyes. In the game of shadows and prophecies, young Kuzan was just another piece on the board—a powerful one, to be sure, but a piece nonetheless.

Later that night, Kizaru stood alone on the balcony of his quarter. His face turned into a smile, ice-cold in nature if one was viewing him.

"Oooh, Nyon-chan," he murmured to the empty air. "Everything is falling into place."

Kizaru, the puppet master was pulling strings that even he did not understand.