25 Downfall [Part 3]

|Third Person POV:|

...

As Graybeard's sword pierced sister Elena's back and left a trail of blood in the air, Farid's pupils contracted to their minimum, and his eyes soon became bloodshot because the anger he was feeling reached its limit.

-Booom!-

Kicking the air once more, Farid's body soon became a blur in the air as his speed increased, before he then tackled Graybeard and threw him to the ground.

"You bastard!!!"

"Ga-hak!"

Coughing painfully because of the sudden impact, Graybeard furrowed his eyebrows, before he then suddenly opened his eyes and saw Farid above him.

"HAHAHA, I told you brat, you should have listene-"

-Bam!!!-

-Crack...!-

Suddenly, as Graybeard was still speaking, Farid's furious punch struck his face and embedded it directly on the ground. In fact, the impact had been so powerful, that there was even some smoke coming from the part where Graybeard had been hit, and the whole ground had been shattered after having Graybeard's head get embedded in the ground.

However, Farid's onslaught wasn't going to end there.

-Bam!!!-

Graybeard soon received another punch to the ribs, that soon made every and each of them collapse and crack apart at the impact.

-Bam!!!-

Then came a punch to the jaw, that soon cracked it apart and made Graybeard's whole facial structure get disfigured.

-Bam!!!-

After that, Farid launched a punch directly toward both arms, which immediately crushed the bone within, squished the muscles to a point where they tore apart, and completely destroyed Graybeard's ability to move his arms in the future.

In an instant, Farid had turned into a furious beast without control and started hammering down Graybeard's completely destroyed and unconscious body without a speck of mercy, not stopping even though both of his hands were already being stained with Graybeard's blood to a gruesome level.

His mind, which used to be clear as a lake, had somehow turned completely muddy and didn't allow Farid to think of anything else but to express his anger through his fists.

Even if it would take dozens of them to do it.

-Bam!!!-

-Splat!-

Blood splattered in the air, and as the punches continued, the whole building soon started shaking to a dangerous level because of the enormous energy behind each one of those punches.

-Tremble...!-

This, of course, alerted the kids and the pirates left, who could only watch in horror as Farid continued to bombard Graybeard's collapsed body with punches, despite the fact that it was these that were making the whole building tremble.

"Aaaaaaargh!!!"

-Bam!!!!!-

Then, suddenly giving one final punch while letting out a furious roar, Farid caved in Graybeard's head into the ground for the last time, before he then let out an incredibly exhausted breath, and allowed both of his arms to fall to his sides in exhaustion.

"Huff...Puff..."

Farid's rough breathing echoed amidst the silence within the room, making everyone look at him, before looking at the collapsed body of Graybeard with a horrified expression.

It was then that a small voice reached Farid's ears, and snapped him out of his trance.

"Fa...Farid..."

"Sister Elena!"

Turning around in a hurry, Farid ran toward sister Elena's body with a horrified expression, before he then kneeled in front of her collapsed body and glanced at the sword on her back in a hurry.

"This is-!"

Widening his eyes, Farid's mouth trembled in shock before suddenly a small smile appeared on his mouth as he glanced at sister Elena's body.

The sword, which he had seen piercing sister Elena's back before, had actually not managed to reach the heart as it had done in his vision, and sister Elena, who would have died because of it, was right now still alive.

It seemed that the sword had only managed to pierce slightly her back because Farid had pushed Graybeard away from her right at that exact moment. What was more, although this level of injury would be said to be mortal, with the correct medical attention, it was very probable that sister Elena would survive.

Tears soon flowed down from Farid's eyes, as soon he cleaned them up and turned to look at the kids with a happy expression on his face.

However, when he saw their faces, his expression stiffened, as he remembered what he had been doing until then.

Turning around to glance at Graybeard's body, Farid's eyes widened, before his whole face became pale.

"What have I..."

A cold feeling came over him, as soon as the horrifying smell of blood reached his nostrils and made him take a step back in confusion.

-Tremble...-

There, the completely smashed, deformed, and bloodied body of Graybeard laid lifelessly with its head embedded in the ground. The sight was actually so gruesome, that it would make a horror movie pale in comparison.

All the blood splattered on the ground... And the corpse that didn't even look human anymore... It was a sight that would make even the bravest man in the world flinch in surprise.

And from all that blood... There was a certain trail that strayed away from the corpse. A trail... That came directly from Farid's knuckles... Which were still dripping with Graybeard's blood.

Looking at his own fists, Farid narrowed his eyes at the bloody sight, before he then turned to look at the kids, and noticed how scared they were.

...

"I... killed him?"

Many thoughts started running through his mind, as the figure of the dead Graybeard was ingrained deep into his mind.

The bloody, and horrible scene in front of him... It was something that he was never going to forget.

He had thought that death was something as simple as a people's life ending from one moment to another... However, he could feel it at that moment... Death was something much more colder and shady.

For the first time in years, Farid could see what the extent of his strength was...

And how... Fragile a person would be.

-Tremble...-

However, as shocked as Farid was currently, suddenly the entire building started collapsing, and Farid snapped out of his trance before looking all around with a startled expression.

-Craaaaack...!!!-

-Bam!-

"...!"

Out of nowhere, an enormous boulder fell from the ceiling and collapsed right in front of Farid, making him widen his eyes and look at the ceiling with shocked eyes.

"Aaaaaaaaah!!!"

"Sister, sister, what's happening?!"

The scared and horrified screams of the kids soon reached his ears, and as he looked at them, he saw them running around trying to find a way to escape.

However, with all the dust in the air, and the enormous pieces of ceiling falling constantly to the floor, the kids couldn't find any way to escape and rapidly reunited into a group, trying their best to find any possible way to survive.

'The building is collapsing...!'

Noticing what was happening, Farid cursed under his breath and gritted his teeth in anger, before he then prepared to run toward sister Elena in order to carry her outside.

However, just as he was about to move, something happened.

At that moment, the same goosebumps from before ran over all his body... The same goosebumps that told him that bad things were about to happen

Then he saw it, a boulder falling on sister Elena's unconscious body... And a wall collapsing on the group of kids, who were running away in a disarray.

Both of them happened at the same time... Both of them were illusions, but he was sure that they were going to happen either way.

At that moment, Farid was caught in a daze.

'What do I do?'

That was the question that was filling the entirety of Farid's mind at that moment...

If he chose to save the kids, then sister Elena would die because of the boulder falling on top of her, and even if for some miracle the boulder didn't fall on top of her completely, with her very delicate state currently, having her get any more injured was the same as killing her eventually.

But if he chose to save sister Elena, then all the kids of the orphanage would die crushed under the wall.

Even if he had strength and speed beyond any other person, he was but just one person.

"What do I do...?!"

Unable to make a choice, Farid looked at both sides and widened his eyes when he noticed that the tragic event was already starting to happen.

Time wasn't going to stop just because Farid desired, after all.

Soon, as Farid's mind started working at full power once again, time slowed down once more, and soon he saw how the above sister Elena cracked apart, and an enormous boulder separated itself from the ceiling before falling slowly toward sister Elena.

-Crack...-

Suddenly, another sound caught his attention, and as he looked behind him, he saw how the wall behind the kids was starting to crack apart and tumble on top of them.

Both sides were too far away from each other for Farid to save both of them at the same time, so he had to choose.

-Thump!-

Having his heart racing like never before, Farid looked all around him, before he looked at his hands for a brief moment and deeply furrowed his eyebrows in anger.

His mind worked to its fullest, for the first time in years.

"Aaaaaargh!!"

-Bam!!!-

Yelling angrily in frustration, Farid kicked furiously the ground and propelled himself toward the kids, before launching his Haki-coated fist towards the falling wall.

-BOOOOM!!!-

Farid's fist rapidly connected with the wall, and in the blink of an eye, an enormous shock force passed through the entire wall and created an enormous and thundering sound that alarmed everyone outside of the building.

The blow had so much strength, in fact, that the whole wall was blown away in just one moment, and an exit was opened for the kids after the punch blew away all the debris that prevented them from leaving.

However, even then, Farid's expression didn't ease up, and soon, he turned his whole body around and grabbed one of the pebbles on the ground, before coating it with Haki and launching it with all of his strength toward the boulder that was falling on top of sister Elena.

-Whoooosh!!!-

Shot like a bullet, the pebble moved through the air like a blur, and soon in the blink of an eye, it crashed against the boulder that was still in the middle of fall and tore it apart into several fragments.

-Boooom!!!-

-Creaaackk!!!-

However, although each of these fragments was a lot smaller than the original boulder falling on top of sister Elena, they still had enough size and mass to pose a threat to her life, and of course, Farid knew this all perfectly.

-Bam!!!-

Kicking the ground with his full strength, Farid's body shot toward sister Elena at an enormous speed, before he threw himself on top of her in order to block the fragments with his body.

Thanks to the debris he launched from before, the speed of the boulder and its fragments had slowed down a little, allowing Farid to reach sister Elena on time and block the fragments from falling on top of her.

-Bam!-

-Crack!-

-Baf!-

After that, Farid blocked each of these enormous fragments with his back and prevented any of them from reaching sister Elena. However probably because he had used simply too much strength before, most of these fragments were peeling off his skin and damaging him slightly.

However, even then, Farid didn't leave sister Elena alone and continued to take on the blows with his back while not uttering a single word.

-Crack!-

-Baf!-

-Boom!-

...

In the end, it took a few more seconds, but finally, after receiving a few more hits, all the fragments fell to the ground, and sister Elena was safe.

'I... did it...'

Closing his eyes in relief, Farid sighed briefly, before suddenly a sharp pain assaulted his back and made him groan.

"Huff... Puff..." Breathing roughly, Farid looked around in a daze, before he then kneeled in front of sister Elena, and tried lifting her body.

'I have to get her... out of here... and take her to a hospital... before this place collapses'

-Thud!-

Ignoring his aching back, and his tired body asking for a small break, Farid rapidly lifted sister Elena's body and placed it on his shoulder.

"...?!"

At that moment, however, one last goosebump struck his body and made him turn his head to look at the ceiling with widened eyes.

Then, he saw it.

An illusion where the whole building collapsed and buried both of them... An illusion that was equally real to all the previous ones...

And probably an illusion that was about to turn real as well...

Probably because of the previous punch that he had used to save the kids from the wall, the stability of the building had worsened by a lot and now the whole building was on the verge of completely collapsing.

"Shit..."

Cursing under his breath, Farid turned his head in a hurry towards the previous spot where the kids had been and sighed in relief when he saw all of them moving as a group towards the exit that he had opened for them.

The next second, both of his eyes turned incredibly serious and soon he glanced at the unconscious sister Elena lying on his shoulder.

'I have to hurry!'

Taking out all the strength left in his body, Farid groaned in response to his aching body, before he started running at superhuman speed towards the exit with sister Elena hanging on his small shoulder.

While all that happened, time slowed down once more, as Farid's brain started working at its full capacity to not fail.

-Boom!-

-Baam!!-

-Booom!!-

Dodging each of the falling debris with high mastery, Farid focused only on the exit and the perfect way to get there, dodging every obstacle, and cutting every possible corner to save some time.

-Creaaaaaaak...!!!-

Suddenly, the horrible sound of everything crumpling reached his ears and made Farid's heart tighten in stress. After all, he knew that if he failed to reach the exit in time, then sister Elena would be done for.

-Broooom!!!-

"Aaaaaaargh!!!"

Letting out a ferocious roar, Farid widened his eyes when he noticed that they were about to reach the exit, and immediately increased his speed to his limit even if he knew that it meant that his legs were going to be torn apart because of the enormous friction and energy used.

It was his last struggle... However, even then, Farid didn't know if he could be able to make it on time or not.

-Rumble...!!-

'So this is it...'

Seeing how the whole building was about to fall on him and sister Elena, Farid closed his eyes and hoped for the best.

Then... it happened.

-BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!-

-Tssssss...-

The building collapsed completely, and an enormous dust cloud covered the whole area, making everyone around wonder what in the world had happened.

|A minute later...|

...

"Cough, cough!"

Coughing while trying their best to breathe correctly amid the dust cloud beside the collapsed building, the kids looked with uncertainty around, as if looking for someone and completely ignored the worried gaze of the people around.

After the building had collapsed, an enormous crowd had gathered around to see what had happened, as everyone was curious about what would have happened to the pirates that were rumored to be hiding there, and what was the reason for the collapse of the abandoned building.

Some of the people had tried talking to kids, however, none of them had responded and instead had completely ignored them.

"Sister Elena..."

"Sister... Elena... Where are you...?"

The pitiful mutterings of the kids could be heard once in a while, making all the people watching furrow their eyebrows in confusion and pity, knowing that whatever had happened, it hadn't been good.

Then, suddenly, amidst the pitiful mutterings of the kids, the sounds of something coming out of the rubble echoed all around and startled everyone around.

-Crack...-

-Crack...!-

-Crack!!-

Then, suddenly, somewhere in the distance, the blurry figure of someone emerged from under the rubble and staggered to its feet as it descended from the mountain of debris that the building had left behind.

Hanging on its shoulder seemed to be what was an unconscious person, and as the person going down from the mountain of debris continued to descend, the pitiful and tired breaths coming from him could soon be heard by everyone around.

"Huff... Puff..."

Soon, as the dust around the area started dispersing, the figure slowly started turning clear, and as everyone around looked at it in a daze, soon the figure turned completely visible, and several gasps started being heard all around.

A kid of no more than twelve years old was carrying what seemed to be a gravely injured woman on his shoulder, while also seemingly sustaining several injuries on his body himself. Though, only superficial.

"Is there a doctor here? Go treat them!"

"Oh gosh, what happened there?!"

"Those pirates... Where did they go?"

Rapidly, several people looked around in surprise, and although some of them started running toward the group in order to provide help, the kid did not care about them and simply continued walking forward.

"Cough, cough!"

Letting out incredibly raspy and rough coughs because of the dust lingering in the air, the kid looked around himself and soon stopped right in front of the group of kids, who were looking at him warily.

The kid looked back at some of them, seemingly waiting for something. However, contrary to his expectations, none of them talked to him, and instead backed away from him, seemingly in fear.

"..."

Suddenly, closing his eyes with a painful expression, the kid kneeled in front of the group of kids, and placed delicately the unconscious body of the woman on the ground, seemingly unable to hold her anymore.

It was then that most of the people around widened their eyes in shock.

Probably because the dust had covered slightly the kid's figure, none had noticed how the kid's hands were covered with blood. No injuries... But blood... From who knows whom.

Seeing the blood, most of the kids took several steps back, and soon all of them looked at the kid in front of them with horrified expressions.

One of them, seemed even to have been unable to stop himself from muttering in disbelief.

"Monster..."

Hearing the words of the kid in front of him, the kid whose hands were covered in blood widened his eyes briefly before he gritted his teeth and looked at the kid who had said that with anger, making him flinch and stagger backward in fear.

However, once he saw how the kid fell on his buttocks, his eyes narrowed, before he turned to look at the woman on the floor with sad eyes, and then at his own hands with a gaze of confusion.

However, suddenly, as the kid was falling into a daze, some small screams started being heard in the distance and startled him slightly.

"It is a very dangerous pirate this time, men. Graybeard is said to be a very cunning and powerful pirate that has created havoc all around the Grand Line, so be careful when we arrive... Who knows what kind of plan he has prepared for us!"

""Yes sir!!""

"The pirates were over here, come on!"

"Tsk...!"

Hearing the approaching voices of the group, the kid clicked his tongue in frustration before he then turned around and started running away, disappearing into the distance after just a few seconds after that

...

That day would be remembered greatly in the hearts of every citizen of Alubarna, as on that day, Alubarna's greatest defender disappeared forever.

...

-To be continued...-

°°°

(A/N: Took a while, but here it's the changed chapter. Sorry for the wait, but I had a week full of exams and projects, so I couldn't afford to pay much attention to this fic. However, it should be fine now, and even if there are more exams to come, the semester will be over in just a few weeks, so I will probably write more at that moment)

[PD: Also, I will try to write the next chapter today, but I can't guarantee anything. I have a presentation tomorrow, after all]

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