MTL - No. 8 Pawnshop - Chapter 61

”When I tell you to proceed with Plan A, you can’t just ignore it and go with Plan B,” said the king.

The ancient empire was on its last legs, the nascent federation echoed with the roar of steam, slumbering gods gradually awoke, and colossal beasts that vanished in the primordial era were slowly emerging.When Laine arrived in another world, a magical profession panel awakened within him as well.Laine believed that if a person's life could keep growing stronger, one day they would certainly be able to control their own destiny and stand shoulder to shoulder with the gods!

A Lovecraft- inspired darker, grittier One piece fanfic. A fanfic based on emotion and madness. A fanfic not for the faint hearted.----------------Regret. I have been drowning in it for far too long. I’ve regretted every choice I’ve made, every mistake I’ve carried, every moment of my past. I’ve regretted the present I live, the path I walk. Even my future, uncertain as it may be, has been tainted by regret.But not anymore. I refuse to live under its shadow. Yet, I know the truth—I don’t have the power to escape it completely.Am I not like a flicker of flame? So fragile, so fleeting—one puff, and I’m gone.Regret has burdened me, weighed me down to make me climb the towering wall of greatness. But I press on.It was all I could do. All I ever wanted to do.

Cassidy Calista never begged for love.Not even from Ezekiel Salvador, the cold, enigmatic heir to the world’s largest pharmaceutical empire.Their marriage was built on power, not passion. Four years of shared silence and a single rule: Fall for someone else, and walk away.So when Cassidy caught Zeke with another woman, she didn’t wait for an explanation. She filed for divorce.And vanished.What Zeke didn’t know? She left pregnant.Now, after four long years, she’s back. And she’s not alone.By her side walks a little girl. Bright, curious, with the same defiant spark in her eyes as Cassidy once had.Zeke watches, frozen. His world tilts.Zeke had spent every year trying and failing to forget her. But the moment he sees her again, something inside him snaps. The fire he buried returns…And then he sees him.A man. Tall. Steady. Standing too close. Speaking to Cassidy in a voice only intimacy can shape. The little girl runs to him, laughing, and he catches her like he’s done it a thousand times.She says nothing. Offers no explanations. And suddenly, Zeke is no longer the man with all the power.Because now, he wants answers.Whose child is she?Has Cassidy moved on?Is she married to another man?And the most terrifying question of all, Is he already too late?