Chapter 5

Chapter 5 is titled "The Kurogaru Captain vs. Rayne & Athermos".

## Short Summary

Golatzar begins making his way to his captain after having defeated Vermithor D. Vhagar. Rayne and Athermos continue making their way to the Kurogaru Pirates. After being ambushed by the captain, Kurogaru, a fight breaks out between the trio. With a short fight, Kurogaru defeats, and seemingly kills, Athermos and Rayne. In doing so, Golatzar finally meets with his captain and the duo leave for their base. Similarly, Kurogaru reveals the first clue toward something was on the island.

## Long Summary

From the aftermath of defeating Vhagar, Golatzar commented that it was a pain Athermos and Rayne managed to get to his captain, beginning to walk toward their position. Five minutes prior to Vhagar being defeated, and just after the duo of Rayne and Athermos ran, Rayne questioned if they could really leave Vhagar behind because something could happen to him. Athermos, having confidence and unaware of the upcoming catastrophe his crewmate was going to face, told Rayne to have faith in him. Questioning which way, both Athermos and Rayne continued running as Rayne identified the location. Evading traps as they ran, Athermos questioned how she knew so much about the traps. Deciding not to hide this, she said she had been trying to get to the main base for a long time and just discovered the traps. Reaffirming that she believed the people were dead when asked, Rayne said they could potentially be enslaved but it was one or the other. Before Athermos could deliver a followup question, an invisible attack had sent Athermos into a tree and Rayne into the ground.

Questioning and coughing up blood, Rayne was confused by what just happened. Athermos took damage and hit the tree, though thought he felt someone punch him. As if right on cue, Kurogaru's voice began echoing through the area and confirmed that the people triggering the alarms was Rayne and Athermos, Rayne immediately recognized his voice. Athermos noticed this and questioned how she knew his voice, as she had said she never encountered them directly. Kurogaru, however, just questioned if it was really her and she was still alive. Though at the same time, he slammed Athermos into the ground. After doing so, Athermos dashed at Rayne and stretched his fist out to throw a punch in her general direction, attempting to hit Kurogaru. However, he had no luck in delivering a successful attack, and asked Rayne if she was alright. Rayne just nodded as she struggled to her feet, stating that the person they were talking too and combating was definitely Kurogaru.

Kurogaru admitted he thought he had killed the Hanish Family, while Athermos questioned where Kurogaru was. After being hit by a punch, Athermos stated the attack wouldn't work because he was made of rubber. Then, he went to deliver a punch right where he thought Athermos was. Having missed his attack again, Kurogaru confirmed that just like Athermos, he was a Devil Fruit user and became visible. He said that he wanted to know the name of the man he was about to kill, now fully visible. Athermos revealed his name, though stated that it was a mistake for Kurogaru to reveal himself as he stretched his fist back to wind it up for an attack. Rayne was frozen in fear, her own memories stirring at the sight of him. However, Kurogaru simply vanished from sight, turning invisible as he said he can spare 3 minutes. Noting that Kurogaru had the ability to disappear, he told Rayne not to move from behind him. Before he could deliver an attack, Kurogaru was invisible and delivered a barrage of punches on Athermos, each one releasing flames to melt into the rubber man so his punches could bypass Athermos' defense.

Realizing his defenses was being compromised, his clothes were sparking with flames and the areas being hit was searing and burning, Athermos lost concentration and was coughing up blood. Stopping his assault, Kurogaru asked if being rubber was doing Athermos much good. Rayne was grabbed by the head and slammed into the ground, losing consciousness and seemingly being killed in the process. Noticing this and getting frustrated, Athermos dashed forward to release his strongest attack, only to not hit Kurogaru. Calling Athermos stupid, Athermos was hit by an invisible flying flames, sending him crashing to the ground. Calling Athermos a joke, Kurogaru delivered a barrage of fire kicks, nearly knocking out Athermos. Now too weak to attack, Kurogaru stated he wasn't sure what he was expecting and had wrongly assumed Athermos to be a challenge. He began to walk away, as Athermos was struggling to follow him, until Golatzar arrived and delivered the final blow, seemingly killing Athermos.

Kurogaru stated he could have done this himself, before asking Golatzar who they were. Golatzar simply called them wannabe pirates, and said there was one other with them. Asking if Golatzar had took care of it since he was gone for some time, Golatzar simply confirmed he did and wanted to know where the rest of the crew was. Kurogaru stated that they were digging because the map said the first clue was on this island, and the duo walked away.

## Quick Reference

### Chapter Notes

* Rayne tells Athermos she had been trying to get close to Kurogaru's base for a long time.
* Athermos reveals his entire body is always made of rubber, and that he is impervious to blunt attacks that are not much stronger than his natural defenses.
	+ Fire is revealed to be super effective against Athermos as a result, allowing normal blunt attacks to sear into and burn Athermos.
* Kurogaru's ability is revealed to turn him invisible, and that he has a Devil Fruit, though it is not officially named.
* Kurogaru vocalizes that he thought he wiped out every Hanish member.
* Kurogaru defeats Rayne.
* Golatzar defeats Athermos.
* Kurogaru reveals there is a map that will lead them somewhere, and the first clue for what is at that location is on the island.

### Characters Involved

* Hanish Rayne
* Dansei D. Athermos
* Kurogaru
* Kurogaru Pirates (Mentioned Only)

## Trivia

* This chapter marks a semi-recurring trend where main-cast members not present in the chapter itself are mentioned.
* This chapter would become an establishing point for the main-cast going into battles with a disadvantage in some capacity.
* When this chapter came out, Rayne's backstory was still being worked on and as such there are some contradictions that happened to blend into the narrative well.