Chapter 73: The Man Who Made a Pact with the Devil

They say that at some point everyone hears a voice when despair squeezes the soul. Sometimes it’s faint, almost imperceptible. Other times it’s a visceral scream that demands to be heard. Not everyone gives in to it… but some do. Not out of malice or greed. Sometimes simply because they have nothing left.

Can anyone judge someone who chooses to walk into darkness if the world they knew has been reduced to ashes? Is it betrayal if their soul was betrayed first by life itself? Is it weakness… or the only way they have left to stay standing?

Some believe pacts with demons are born of ambition. But the harsher truth is that the most dangerous bargains don’t spring from desire… they spring from pain.

And on that thin line between lost love and pure hatred, there is a man who still screams for justice… even if he must stain the whole world red to get it.

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“Shun…” Mammon’s voice boomed through the vast cavern like a poisoned echo.

Shun took a few steps forward without taking his eyes off Teach.

“Teach, why did you bring me here? What do you want from me?”

Blackbeard’s face showed neither resentment nor joy. Only a taut shadow, hardened by years of torment.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’d better leave.”

“I don’t know what you intend to do with this man, but I won’t let you, Mammon,” Shun growled, his eyes narrowed with contained fury.

The demon let out a dry chuckle.

“Damn human, don’t you dare speak to one of the princes of the underworld like that.”

Shun didn’t answer with words but with a lethal threat.

“Shut your mouth, scum. Keep talking and I’ll cut out your tongue.”

Mammon sneered in contempt, then turned to Teach with a syrupy, rotten voice.

“Teach, if you finish this wretch, I will give you everything you desire… money, fame, power… eternal life.”

“Aren’t you tired of lying, demon?” Shun interrupted without even looking at him. “I don’t know what brought you here, Teach, but whatever it is… this wretch can’t give it to you.”

Teach looked at him. His eyes asked for neither understanding nor forgiveness. They showed only desperation.

“And you can? Tell me. Can you grant what I desire?”

Shun fell silent.

“I have no choice…” Teach’s voice broke for the briefest moment. “I have to cling to the only hope I have… my only chance.”

Then, without further warning, Blackbeard’s body was covered by a viscous, profound darkness.

A darkness that seemed to scream.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured.

In an instant, he lunged at Shun, launching a strike so powerful the air itself seemed to shatter. The explosion reverberated through the cavern like a war drum.

“It’s over,” Mammon whispered, confident.

But when he looked up, he saw Shun blocking the blow with his sword, unscathed.

“Is this really what you want?” Shun asked with brutal calm.

Blackbeard ground his teeth.

“I have no alternative… Not anymore…”

A kick from Shun sent him crashing into a rocky wall, cracking it under the impact.

“Then it seems I have no other choice either.”

Then a colossal light erupted from the heart of the mountain, as if the island itself had woken.

“What the hell is that?” Edén cried, shielding his eyes.

“Is he actually fighting? Why?” Ares murmured.

“Is he truly human?” Tiresias added, his voice hushed.

At the other end of the island, Alexbold ran with his heart pounding.

“Wait, Shun… I have to finish this myself…”

Blackbeard rose from the rubble. His body trembled, but not from pain. Something dark moved within him.

“There’s no turning back… If I want to do it, I’ll have to use it…”

The air shifted. Screams began to roll out—laments of something that did not belong in this world. Thick smoke blanketed everything.

Shun pursed his lips, and for the first time he smiled.

“This will be interesting… looks like… it’s cursed.”

Teach clenched his fists.

Whatever it costs… I will bring you back…

“Hana!” he roared.

The island trembled.
With a single elemental roar, it split in two — one half engulfed in light, the other swallowed by storms and darkness.

Shun straightened, solemn.
“Come… Teach!”

And then… the scene fractured. The light faded, and time itself seemed to stop.

A memory surfaced.
Flashback.

Port Royal. A warm coastal city, smelling of salt and sea breeze.
A small boy burst into a modest house, and without hesitation, leapt into the arms of a woman.
“I’m back!”
“Well, well… how did it go, Teach? Did you make lots of friends?”
Teach lowered his gaze.
“I…”
“It’s alright,” she said with a gentle smile, brushing his hair. “You’re a good boy. I’m sure you’ll make many friends.”
“Really?”
“Of course! Now go wash your hands. I made lunch.”
“Okay!”

The scene melted into another — a church, bathed in the glow of stained glass. Murmurs. Side glances.
“Mom…”
“Yes? What is it?”
“There are a lot of people whispering… and looking at us…”
She looked at him with calm tenderness.
“It’s fine, Teach. They’re probably just talking about how handsome you look today.”
“Mom! Don’t say stuff like that in public…”
“Why not? Can’t I say my son is adorable?”
“Mooom…”
She laughed, pulling him into a hug. The boy laughed too.

The light shifted again — now they stood before a food cart.
“What’s wrong, Teach? Do you want one of those rolls?”
The boy, a little drool at the corner of his mouth, shook his head shyly.
“No, I’m fine…”
“Here. Go buy one. Don’t take too long, alright?”
“Thanks, Mom!”

As he ran off, clutching the coin, his mother watched him proudly.
“Tell me, kid, what do you want?”
“Can I have one of those chocolate rolls?” Teach asked with a timid smile.
“Sure thing,” the vendor said, handing him the pastry wrapped in brown paper.

Teach took a bite immediately, his eyes lighting up.
“Delicious!” he thought, as the sweetness filled his soul — if only for a moment.

But the sweetness faded quickly.
“Look, look… there’s that boy,” whispered a woman across the street.
“Poor thing… they say his father abandoned him.”
“I heard his mother sleeps with men for money…”
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” added a third, her tone dripping with poison. “Some even say he’s the priest’s son.”

The words were knives — each one stabbing deeper into Teach’s neck.
He turned around, eyes trembling, his face flushed with anger.
“Don’t talk like that about my mom!”
“Filthy brat… like mother, like son. Looks like growing up without a father made you rude.”
“Poor thing,” another sneered. “Having to see a different man enter the house every day…”

The boy clenched his fists tight — not from helplessness, but from love.
“Teach!” his mother’s voice cut through the noise.
“Mom…”
“I told you not to take too long. Come on, we’re going home.”
“But…”

Lucia bowed slightly to the women — a gesture of courtesy wrapped in resignation.
“I apologize for whatever trouble my son caused.”
“Don’t worry,” one replied with a hypocritical smile. “The Lord teaches us not to hold grudges.”
“With your permission,” Lucia said softly, and walked away without looking back.

At home, silence hung heavy for a moment.
“Mom… I…”
“It’s alright, Teach,” she interrupted gently. “You don’t have to apologize.”
“But I don’t get it… why do they talk badly about you? Did you do something to them?”

Lucia sighed. Her eyes, though tired, still held an unbroken dignity.
“No. But there have always been people like that — and there always will be. That’s why you must be strong, Teach.”

She pulled him into a tight embrace — one that carried everything: fear, tenderness, and a promise.
“Mom…”
“Promise me something, Teach. Promise you’ll be a good boy… that you’ll take care of your family and be a good person, no matter what happens.”
“I promise,” he said, feeling the warmth of her arms.
“You’re a good son…” Lucia whispered, a single tear falling onto her child’s forehead.

Minutes later, Teach was leaving for school, his lunchbox swinging and his heart still unsettled.
“Have a good day!” his mother called from the doorway.

But barely had he walked away when a group of men blocked the house entrance. One of them shoved the door open and stepped inside uninvited.
“What are you doing here?” Lucia asked, keeping her composure.
“Are you serious?” one of them replied, closing in. “You know perfectly well why we’re here. You’ve gone three months without paying your offering to the Great God.”
“I already told you… I never agreed to pay anything.”

The man grabbed her by the throat with force.
“Do you really want to oppose us? So far we’ve only spread rumors. Next time… we could go much further. It’d be a shame if something happened to your son, wouldn’t it?”

Lucia stared back like a wounded beast.
“Don’t you dare involve my son in this, you scum.”

Furious, she dug her nails into his arm until he howled. The man, enraged, threw her against a mirror. The glass shattered and cut her face and arms.
“We warned you, Lucia. You shouldn’t have refused to be part of our community. Next time… it won’t be us who come.”

“If you so much as touch a hair on my son’s head… I’ll kill you all!” she spat.

Hours later the door opened again. Teach stumbled in, covered in wounds.
“Teach! What happened to you?” Lucia cried, dropping to her knees.
“T-they were saying bad things about you…” he stammered through tears.
“Teach…”
“I couldn’t let them keep talking like that… I couldn’t…”

In the darkness of his memory, one moment was burned into him: children hitting him, laughing, and behind them… a shadow.
A voice.
“Kill them… kill them… I will give you what you need… kill them…”
“No! I don’t want to! Stop! Stop!”

Returning from school, still sore, Teach saw smoke rising into the sky.
“What is that…?” Panic tore at his chest as he ran. “No… it can’t be…”

He ran like never before—until he saw it. The house. On fire.
“Mom!” he screamed with everything in his lungs, tearing from the inside.

A vendor stopped him.
“You’re that kid from before…”
“My mom’s in there!”
“No… I heard the police took her away earlier…”
“The police…? Took my mom? Why?”
“I don’t know the details,” the vendor mumbled, unable to meet the child’s eyes, “but… it seems they discovered her practicing witchcraft. They say… they’ll condemn her.”

“I have to—” Teach stammered, voice trembling. He tried to run, but the vendor grabbed his arm.
“Don’t. If they see you there, I don’t know what could happen to you too.”
“But she’s my mom!”

Silence.

In the child’s eyes, the world shattered.
No… I can’t… my mom is all I have left… I have to help her, even if I die trying.

He wrenched free in desperation and ran, vanishing into Port Royal’s cobbled streets as the sky turned gray. A storm began to fall in fury.

The square was packed. Hundreds of empty eyes. Hundreds of mouths thirsty for justice.
And in the center… Lucia. Tied to a post. Soaked. Silent.

“This is the fate of those who reject the path of the Great God!” the religious leader bellowed. “Those who deny his truth will be condemned to the eternal flames!”

Lucia closed her eyes.
Thank God… thank God Teach won’t have to see this.

Here’s the English translation of Scene 4 (Chapter 73):

A soft smile spread across her face… just before the flames engulfed her.
And then Teach arrived.

His body froze in place, but his soul fell into the void.
What did we do wrong? Were we really that bad? Did we kill someone? No… it was only mom and me… not hurting anyone…
So… why? Why are they punishing us? Why?

The flames roared.
Lucia screamed.
The town applauded.
And behind it all… the shadow.

“Kill them…” whispered an ancient, rotten voice. “Kill them…”
“Shut up!” Teach snarled, eyes wild. “I’ll wipe you all out myself!”

The shadow smiled.
It rained. It rained as if the sky wept blood.

Minutes later, in the middle of the square…
Bodies.
Blood.
Silence.

Barbanegra, on his knees, eyes hollow… his arms wrapped in flesh and smoke.
Beside him, his mother. Charred.
And he, still clinging to her.

“Was I bad?” he asked, in a voice that did not sound human.

The vendor, horrified, stepped back. Then he ran.

Barbanegra began to lose himself in fractured, painful memories—full of hurt, sorrow and blood:
“I thought I deserved to be punished. I tried to kill myself again and again. But… how ironic. I feared death. Even though it was all I wanted.”

He stood up, aimless, hopeless.
“I couldn’t do it. So… I set out to sea. Looking for a way to die that didn’t feel like surrender. Day after day. I thought I deserved the worst punishment. But the real punishment… was surviving.”

His voice broke.
“And then… a woman found me. She saved me. She loved me. I had a daughter. A family… finally.”

The memory turned red.
“And then… that damned god returned.”

A pool of blood reflected his wife’s lifeless face.
“What the hell is all this?”

Footsteps.
A man appeared from the shadows.
“So you’re Teach,” he said calmly.
“You… did all this?”
“That woman wouldn’t cooperate. It seems she loved you so much she chose to die for you.”

Teach’s gaze ignited.
“Don’t you dare speak of her that way, bastard!”

He threw a punch full of hatred, but the man stopped it… with a single finger.
“You’d better know your place.”

Teach fell. Not from the blow, but from the realization of the difference between them.
“What… is this?”
“The difference between you and me, son of a witch.”
“Who the hell are you?! What do you want from me?! Why did you do this?!”

“After the disaster you caused as a child, we discovered you have special blood. Part of something we have been searching for. You no longer serve us… but your daughter does.”

Teach’s eyes widened.
“Hana…”

“She’s perfect for our experiment. Look on the bright side… your mother’s death and that bitch’s… will serve some great purpose in the future.”

The man smiled.

Teach roared. A roar that split the sky.
“HANA! YOU BASTARD, LET HER GO!”

But the stranger left… taking her with him.
“LET HER GO! LET HER GO, YOU COWARD!”

That scream wasn’t rage. It was the end of a soul.
And then he saw it.

The tattoo on the man’s neck.
“The… Twelve Families…”

Everything.
Everything made sense.
Everything was his fault.
Everything had been stolen from him by them.

“This time I won’t run… this time… you will pay.”

Later, the newspaper showed the inevitable.
“Failed experiment. Death of multiple minor subjects. Investigation sealed by court order.”

A bracelet.
A small bracelet… among the corpses.
“Hana…”

In front of two graves.
Barbanegra was no longer a man.
He was an oath.
“This time… you will pay.”

Back in the present.
A shout.
A flash.
A demon with a human face lunged at Shun, wrapped in hatred.
They collided again and again as the mountain shook, collapsing like his soul had years before.

Shun, panting, watched his eyes.
“That look… it belongs to someone who has nothing left to lose…”

A dark, thick, roaring explosion burst from Barbanegra’s hands. The energy crackled violently, warping the air as it tore through. But standing before it, unmoved, was Shun.
With a single sweep of his sword, he turned everything to ashes.

“Do you really want to keep doing this?” Shun asked, not raising his voice. “You know perfectly well you don’t stand a chance against me.”
Barbanegra gasped. His legs trembled, but he would not retreat.
“I won’t run. I have no other choice. It’s all or nothing.”

Shun’s eyes narrowed. Then he lifted his sword.
“If that’s what you want… then prepare yourself.”
“Teach!”

The sky opened as if answering his name.
Trumpets sounded in the distance, booming across the island. A sacred, terrible, solemn sound.
Ares growled.
“Don’t tell me…”
Yosa swallowed.
“Looks like the boss got tired of playing.”
Joan barely kept a nervous smile.
Thank heaven I’m on his side…

“What is this energy…?” Eden murmured, feeling a chill crawl up his spine.
Shun lowered his blade slowly.
“Goodbye, Teach.”
“Come!”
“Divine Punishment!”

A column of light descended from the heavens, piercing the clouds and enveloping the summit. The roar was deafening. The ground split. The mountain exploded.
Dust. Rubble. Silence.

Through the haze of death, Shun appeared. Motionless. Watching.
“So… will you simply abandon what you long for? That would be a waste… don’t you think?”
Facing him, standing… unscathed.

“W-what was that?” Teach stammered. “Impossible. I… that attack… passed through me. I should be dead…”
“Idiot,” Shun whispered. “It was only an illusion. My real target was...”

Mammon’s roar cut the air. The demon stood, one arm torn off, laughing with fury.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…”
“I told you not to get in my way, damned demon,” Shun said flatly. “Next time it goes straight for you.”

Mammon laughed with hysteria, his face drenched in blood.
“Damn you, human! You’re incredible! Truly incredible! CURSE YOU!”

The demon unleashed a monstrous, dark, suffocating energy. The island trembled.
Ares fell to his knees.
“Is this for real…?”
Joan and Yosa spat blood. Even Eden, kneeling, vomited a thin line of crimson.
“This energy…!” Eden said, eyes wide.

Tiresias, for his part, smiled.
“It’s been a long time since I felt anything like this. But… there is something worse.”

Shun sighed.
“I told you not to get in my way… filth.”
He took off the chain that hung from his neck. The energy spread like a sun.
Mammon took a step back, trembling for the first time.
“W-what do you think you’ll do? You think removing that will make you beat me?”
“No,” Shun said, his voice deeper than ever. “I will kill you.”

A heartbeat.
And everything lit up.
The island was wrapped in light. Beyond the sea, the skies tore open.
The gods of the Council rose from their thrones, confused, alarmed.

Elsewhere, Yohei and Zef stopped training. Both shuddered.
“W-what the hell is this?” Yohei thought, sweating cold.
“This is… a monster,” Zef said. “Not even Poseidon could face it.”
“Is this real?” Eden whispered.

Mammon stepped back. He fixed his gaze…and saw the sword.
“No… it can’t be…”

A moment later, another arm flew off.
Mammon’s scream was wrenching.

Shun lowered his sword.
“What a disappointment. I thought you’d be stronger. But you’re just pathetic.”
“CURSE YOU!” Mammon roared, unleashing a gigantic blast.
Shun destroyed it with a single snap.
“You can’t even use your power fully. You’re weak. And I’m tired of this.”

He walked toward him.
“It’s time for you to go back where you came from.”

A series of slashes ripped through Mammon’s body. His flesh disintegrated. His eyes burst.
Then a sphere of energy reduced everything to nothing.
Mammon no longer existed.

Barbanegra watched in silence. Still panting. Still incredulous.
“Why?” he said, barely audible. “Why have you spared me?”
“I told you,” Shun replied without turning—“it would be a waste to let you die now.”

He turned. He looked him in the eyes.
“Tell me. Why did you bring me here? You’d better not lie.”
Barbanegra bowed his head.
“I… wanted you to take vengeance for me.”

Shun narrowed his eyes.
“Vengeance? Who do you think I am? A murderer?”
“No… but I can’t allow them to keep doing whatever they please. They… killed my mother… my wife… my Hana…”
“Them?”

Teach nodded. Teeth clenched. Tears that no longer fell.
“The Twelve Families.”

Silence broke.
Shun froze. A shadow crossed his face.
“It can’t be… I…”

“BARBANEGRA!”
A roar interrupted the moment.
Alexbold appeared among the rubble. His eyes… crimson.