Manipulation

Frantz's conversation with Tate played for all to hear. The crowd became silent after the recording was done. After a few seconds, the silence was broken. 

"Frantz was a revolutionary?" 

"Tate not only knew but conspired with him?" 

"Were they really planning to betray the government?" 

"Is that why everything was happening? The government was punishing us." 

"I mean, didn't this happen once already?" 

"Yeah, Tate and the Sheriff were the ones who ended it the last time..." 

Various whispers could be heard in the crowd. While these whispers grew louder and louder the frown on Frantz's face grew larger. 

(This is bad. It's only a matter of time before they become enraged and turn into a truly angry mob.) 

Thoughts ran through his mind as he scanned the faces in the crowd. 

(All that's left is for someone to fan the flames further.) 

He sighed and scowled. 

(Whoever is pulling the strings is pissing me off to no end!) 

"Wait, you mean the mean and the Sheriff did the thing they killed the previous administration for and now we're suffering because of it?!" 

(And there it is.) 

"So the reason I lost my father…" 

"The reason I lost my husband…" 

"The reason I lost my wife…." 

"It's because of them?!" 

Rage started swelling in the crowd. 

(The best course of action now is…) 

"What you guys said is right but it's not at the same time." 

(Concentrating all their hate on me.) 

Frantz stepped out. 

"The recording is indeed of me and the late mayor. We did come to an agreement and formed an alliance to take down the World Government." 

At this time, the Supreme Five came out of the station to see what was going on. Frantz placed his hand over his heart and spoke. 

"The scheme was mine and Tate's only! The Sheriff or the Supreme Five knew nothing about it!" 

"Lies! Then why was the Sheriff killed?!" 

Someone from the crowd shouted. 

"There's no way Felix wouldn't know what was going on!" 

"Is that why he killed the Mayor?!" 

(Wait…) 

Frantz started scanning the crowd. 

"Could it be the Sheriff was actually against it and told Tate?!" 

 He spread his Haki. 

(The flow of the conversation is moving in an abnormal direction!) 

"So a fight broke out and the Sheriff killed Tate just like he said he did?!" 

(Somebody knows what I was planning and is making sure the results I wanted happen faster than I can react!) 

His haki couldn't pick out the source. 

"So Felix was upset he had to kill his friend and chose to take the punishment?!" 

(It's the result I wanted but if I'm not the one controlling it…) 

"So what? The Supreme Five agreed with the mayor and killed the Sheriff in anger?!" 

(There's a major difference between confessing and being found out!) 

"Then, the ones who caused everything was the Supreme Five?!" 

"I'm the one who killed Felix!" 

Frantz's shout silenced the crowd. 

(I must retake control of the situation!) 

He pointed at himself. 

"I couldn't forgive him for killing Tate and ruining our plans! So, I used his good nature and shot him when he was defenseless!" 

"Frantz..." 

His comrades looked at him in shock and so did the mob. 

"Everything that's happening is because of me! Tate's death, the bombing at the orphanage, and the sheriff's death, it's all me!" 

(We need to find the culprit; however, we can't do that if everybody is against Jessie and the others! We need to direct their anger at a singular target, me!) 

He clenched his teeth and forced back the tears. 

(Besides, I wasn't lying! Everything happened because I came to this island! I need to help fix it!) 

"Since the government is set on killing us anyway, why should I hide the truth?!" 

He put on a grin. 

"I never liked any of you on this island anyway, you government...Oh, sorry. Former government dogs!" 

"?!" 

A wave of anger spread through the crowd. 

"Kill him!" 

"Kill that bastard who is the cause of everything!" 

"Skin him alive!" 

The grin on Frantz's face grew. 

(I wanted to confess and slowly divert their anger towards me by making it look like I didn't mean for this to happen. However, the conversation was going in the direction where all of us would be painted as heartless murderers. If that's the case, screw trying to gain their sympathy and forgiveness! If I can't calm their anger, then I'll face all of it head-on!) 

He turned and faced the Supreme Five. They were visibly enraged by his actions. 

(The Supreme Five is needed for this island's survival. Only I need to go down.) 

He faced the mob and spread his arms. 

"The source of all your troubles is right here! So how about it?!" 

Crystals burst out from underground and separated Frantz from the Supreme Five, while simultaneously pointing at the mob. 

"Let's all kill each other!" 

His voice reached the Supreme Five behind the crystals. 

"That idiot!" 

Astrid shouted while approaching the crystals. 

"I'm not allowing this." 

Jessie mumbled with a trembling voice. 

"Nobody else will die today!" 

The others nodded in agreement. 

(You idiots! Don't interfere!) 

Frantz noticed what they were about to do and was about to face them-- 

"Wait, something about this doesn't add up." 

He paused when a low voice pierced through the noise and entered everyone's ears. 

"It feels like Frantz is trying to take all the blame, so we have someone to vent our frustrations on." 

"What?" 

He scanned the crowd again. 

"I mean think about it. Frantz is the type of guy who would try to bear all the burden himself." 

Another voice reached his ear. 

"Now that you mentioned it, that does sound like Frantz.' 

"That's right, Frantz is a good kid." 

"He saved my life more times than I can count." 

"He's a bit of a joker though." 

Laughter started coming from the crowd. 

(What the hell?) 

Despite some people speaking up for him, Frantz wasn't happy or relieved. Instead, he felt pure dread. Why? Because he knew the one who started the wave of support he was getting was the same entity that was trying to corner him and his comrades. 

"I think we just need to calm down." 

"That's right. We're forcing the kids to act out of character." 

"I mean, they were closer to Tate and Felix than anybody else." 

(Why? Why? Why? Why are you creating support for me now?!) 

Frantz's heartbeat raced along with his mind as he tried to make sense of everything. 

*Bam* 

That's when a gunshot was heard. 

"Frantz!" 

Astrid shattered the crystals so he and the others could reach Frantz. 

"......" 

Frantz stood there frozen. 

"Are you okay?!" 

They started to check on him. They noticed a gunshot lodged in the crystal behind him. It was inches away from hitting him in the head. Seeing this, Caria faced the mob enraged. 

"Who did that?!" 

She roared. A man was in the crowd pointing his gun at the stage. 

"I'm not going to fall for your tricks! I know you guys are responsible for everything!" 

He roared at the top of his lungs. 

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?!" 

Some of the people close to him grabbed the man and started roughing him up. 

"How dare you shoot at them?!" 

"He did nothing wrong! That bastard is a Revolutionary!" 

Others came to the man's rescue. 

"The Supreme Five did nothing wrong!" 

"They caused everything!" 

"No, they're just victims like the rest of us!" 

"Shut up, Traitor!" 

"You're the traitor here!" 

Fights started breaking out in the crowd. 

"...op...em.." 

"Hm? What did you say, Frantz?" 

Luka turned to Frantz's after hearing a mutter. 

"I saw it." 

Franz recalled moments before the shot was fired. The shooter pulled his gun and smirked before he fired. The smirk only grew when the shot missed. 

"Everything was planned from the beginning. Spreading Felix's death to draw us and a crowd here. Playing the recording of me and Tate to create distrust. Making me confess to things I didn't do in an attempt to calm the crowd, only for me to aggravate the crowd to divert their anger on me. Spreading praises for me and implanting the idea we're actually innocent..." 

"What are you-" 

"Everything was a trap! They didn't want to turn the island against us!" 

He moved Luka out of the way. 

"Their real aim is to-" 

*Bam* 

Another gunshot rang out. A child's body lifelessly hit the ground. 

"They want to turn the people against each other..." 

A man trembled with a smoking gun in his hand. 

"You bastard!" 

He was stabbed in the back by a woman. 

"How dare you stab my brother?!" 

She was hit over the head by another woman. A man shot that woman in the head. 

"Kill the traitors!" 

He roared before firing into the crowd. People started attacking each other with weapons and fists. In seconds, explosions rang across the town. 

"It's over." 

Frant fell to his knees. 

"We realized too late." 

He and the Supreme Five looked on in horror as the townspeople started tearing each other apart. They could hear mayhem coming from all over the island. They instantly knew similar developments as to what happened here took place everywhere else. For countless different reasons, friends, family, neighbors, lovers, everybody was trying to kill each other. 

"I enjoyed your performance, Frantz Zapata. I really did." 

In the midst of the chaos, a child was grinning from ear to ear. 

"Your performance did well to fan the flames." 

They burst out laughing as they walked down the fiery streets. They skipped over the body of an old woman and stood on a man's severed head. 

"Ah, this is the best. Wouldn't you agree, La Par-" 

"I found you." 

The child turned around and a fist was a few inches from their face. 

"Huh?" 

*BAM* 

The fist smashed into their face and cracking noises reached their ears. Their head slammed into the earth and was buried in the ground. 

"It took some time to find where the voice was coming from because it kept moving around, but I finally got you." 

Luffy pulled his fist out of the ground and looked down at the child with a face resembling a demon's. 

"I hope you're prepared to get pummelled for all the stuff you've done today!"