[Word Count: 600]
---
Chapter 4: Age Four – The Festival of Lies
It was spring.
The skies bloomed like sakura petals over the island of Iroshi—a forgotten speck in the South Blue. The villagers danced beneath lanterns, painted their faces with red clay, and told old tales around fires of forgotten pirates and sea kings.
Kaizen listened to all of it.
But he didn't care for stories.
He cared for secrets.
---
The Orphan's Whisper
He had begun to wonder about his parents.
The adults always got awkward when he asked. The priest said they died during childbirth. The village elder gave a different story—lost at sea.
Neither story matched.
Neither made sense.
He watched their lips.
Tracked their eye movements.
Measured their hesitations.
By the end of the week, he had his answer:
> "I was abandoned," he said to Aiyona, brushing dust off his hands as they walked through the overgrown graveyard behind the village.
> "They left me here. And the village raised me because they had no choice."
Aiyona said nothing. Her silence wasn't ignorance.
It was agreement.
---
His First Adult Target
There was a new face in the village.
A traveling merchant. Loud. Flashy. Arrogant. His name was Bozo, and he wore too many rings on his fingers.
He sold fake charms to the old. Broken toys to the young. Alcohol disguised as "elixirs."
Kaizen watched him carefully.
During the festival, Bozo performed a cheap parlor trick—flames flicking from his palms—and claimed he'd once seen a real Devil Fruit.
Kaizen's eyes narrowed.
> "What did it look like?" he asked Bozo later, his tone curious, innocent.
> "Big. Purple. Swirly. Cursed," Bozo laughed. "You eat it, and the sea hates you forever. But it makes you into a monster."
> "And… if someone killed the person who ate one?"
Bozo blinked. The boy was four.
> "Why are you asking something like that, kid?"
Kaizen smiled.
> "Just curious."
---
The Game at the Festival
Kaizen's plan began with spilled ink.
He "accidentally" ruined a festival banner the night before the ceremony, while pretending to help.
He blamed it on Doma—again.
Adults scolded the wrong boy. Doma wept.
Kaizen comforted him. Hugged him. Told him he believed him. That he was on his side.
The next day, Doma tried to steal a charm from Bozo's cart.
He got caught.
Beaten. Humiliated.
Kaizen was nowhere near.
Only Aiyona saw it all.
> "Why?" she asked later.
> "Because now I own two things," Kaizen whispered. "The village's trust. And Doma's hatred."
---
Aiyona's Dream
That night, Aiyona came to Kaizen's bedside.
> "I want to be useful," she said. "I want to do more."
Kaizen looked up at her in the dim light. Her hair had grown long, wild around her sharp eyes.
> "Then protect me," he said.
> "From what?"
> "From myself."
She tilted her head.
> "That means you plan to destroy things, doesn't it?"
He smiled, innocent as a lamb.
> "I only plan to build."
---
End of Chapter Cliffhanger: The Old Map
Before Bozo left the island, Kaizen snuck into his cart. Not to steal money.
But something far more valuable.
A weathered scroll. Smudged. Torn. But clearly a map.
Not just any map.
One with a marked location in the North Blue. A symbol beside it: a fruit-like swirl. Next to it, in shaky ink:
> "Buyer interested in rare Paramecia. Dead or alive."
Kaizen stared at the map long after Bozo had sailed away.
> "My story's about to begin, isn't it?" he murmured.
Behind him, Aiyona stood silently.
And for the first time—
She was smiling before he did.
---