Cement and Steel — Chapter 10: The Pale Flame and the Price of Power
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A gentle breeze carried the scent of salt and ash as the **Thousand Sunny** sailed away from Vulcanis Island. The crew was in high spirits after their hard-fought victory against Marl Vein, the Sculptor. Luffy lounged atop the figurehead, Sanji prepared grilled fish below deck, and even Zoro was wide awake, keeping one eye on the horizon.
But below deck, Kaito sat in silence.
In front of him lay a **new wanted poster**, still fresh from a news-coating snail delivered earlier that morning.
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**WANTED: Kaito "Stoneheart" Moriyama**
**Bounty: 430,000,000 Berries**
**Affiliation: Straw Hat Pirates**
**Status: Dangerous Devil Fruit User / Potential Threat to World Government Order**
**Abilities: Mastery of the Cement-Cement Fruit, Haki Integration, Combat Specialist**
**"Capable of mass structural manipulation. Approach with caution."**
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Kaito stared at it for a long time.
The last time he had seen his own face on paper, he was an anonymous scientist in another world — now, he was one of the most hunted men on the Grand Line.
The bounty felt heavy. Not in the money — but in what it represented.
He folded the poster slowly and tucked it into his coat.
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Outside, Nami was leafing through the rest of the bounty sheets.
"Zoro's went up again. Luffy's is basically a declaration of war. But Kaito... 430 million?" Her tone was both impressed and concerned.
Sanji whistled. "You're officially hotter than me, cement guy."
Luffy grinned. "That means the Marines *really* don't like you. Good job!"
Robin, however, narrowed her eyes.
"This will attract more than just Marines."
Zoro agreed. "Every bounty hunter with a death wish will be on your trail now."
Kaito nodded. "Let them come. I won't run from what I've become."
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That evening, the crew anchored near a small archipelago to resupply. It was quiet — too quiet.
The port town was abandoned. Buildings stood half-crumbled, scorch marks staining the walls. No people. No sounds. Just empty silence.
Chopper picked up subtle signs of trauma — sudden evacuations, heat damage, signs of unnatural fire.
As the crew spread out to investigate, Kaito noticed something strange.
Stone here had melted.
Not cracked. Not burned.
**Melted.**
He crouched by the remains of a wall. "Whatever did this… wasn't normal flame."
Suddenly, Robin's voice echoed across the square. "Everyone. Look up."
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A figure hovered in the air — cloaked in pale robes that fluttered without wind.
He descended slowly, standing atop the ruined church's roof. He wore a white mask marked with a single black flame, and his presence was suffocating. The air itself shimmered around him like heat rising from scorched earth.
"I was wondering when I'd find you, Stoneheart."
Kaito stepped forward. "Who are you?"
The figure's voice was calm. Cold.
**"I am Seraph Cain. Agent of the Pale Flame. Envoy of Cipher Pol Omega."**
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The crew tensed. Robin's expression darkened instantly.
"Cipher Pol Omega," she whispered. "They're the deepest shadow. Not even CP0 speaks their name."
Cain continued, ignoring the crew. "You've become… inconvenient, Kaito Moriyama. The World Government sees you as a destabilizing force. Unpredictable. Dangerous."
Luffy stepped forward. "You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!"
Cain turned his head slowly. "Ah. The captain. You've grown bolder… but not wiser. This is not a fight you can win."
He raised his hand.
A pale flame flickered in his palm — white-blue, ghostly, and utterly silent.
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In an instant, Cain launched the flame like a spear.
Kaito reacted first, activating Stoneheart and raising a cement wall — only to watch it melt away *without even touching the flame*.
Cain dropped to the ground as if weightless and rushed forward, faster than human reflex. His hands glowed with Palefire — a Devil Fruit ability unlike any Kaito had seen.
**"Palefire-Palefire Fruit,"** Cain said, reading Kaito's expression. "It burns the *concept* of matter. Not heat. Not light. *Meaning.*"
He touched a support pillar, and it vanished into dust.
"Your cement? It exists. But not to me."
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Kaito gritted his teeth and reshaped the ground into tendrils, trying to ensnare Cain.
But Cain didn't dodge.
The cement wrapped around him… then disintegrated.
"Clever," Cain admitted. "But you rely on physical truths. I burn truths."
Kaito switched tactics — **Resonance Mode**, vibrating his armor at high frequency, launching hundreds of tiny projectiles from above.
Cain burned a sigil in the air. The projectiles vanished mid-flight.
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Zoro leapt in with three blades drawn. "Let's see you burn *me.*"
But Cain sidestepped every slash and countered with a palm strike to Zoro's chest — knocking him back 20 feet without breaking a sweat.
Sanji's flaming kick was similarly blocked.
Cain's expression didn't change once.
"You will all fall," he said softly. "But you — Kaito — are my priority."
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Kaito's mind raced. Cain didn't just destroy matter — he unraveled it conceptually. He had to think *beyond physical combat*.
He drew on the orb's teachings. The Cement-Cement Fruit could do more than shape — it could *store* information. Echoes. Patterns.
Cain lunged forward again, reaching with burning palms.
Kaito slammed his fists together.
**Cement Domain: Echo Forge!**
A dome of cement erupted — not just solid, but *alive* with runic symbols — copies of everything Cain had burned since arriving.
Cain paused mid-motion.
"What is this?"
Kaito's voice boomed from within the dome. "You burn reality? Then I'll trap you in the *memory* of it."
The dome locked in, mirroring Cain's every move with illusions made of solidified memory. As Cain touched a wall, it reformed instantly — not physically, but conceptually.
Kaito had turned cement into an **echo of permanence** — a loop of unburnable meaning.
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Cain narrowed his eyes. "You're adapting. Impressive."
He vanished in a blink, using a teleportation burst of Palefire.
When the light faded, he was gone.
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The crew regrouped, panting and shaken.
Luffy frowned. "We'll see him again."
Kaito nodded. "Next time, I'll be ready."
Robin placed a hand on his shoulder. "You've made enemies that exist in shadows. The more power you gain… the more they'll fear you."
Kaito looked at his bounty again. The price on his head wasn't just for destruction.
It was for what he *represented*.
A man of science. A warrior of will. A wielder of a power the world had no defense against.
And he wasn't done growing.
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