Although Krieg looked calm and ready to fight from the outside, after witnessing Gojo's overwhelming strength, he knew deep down that the chances of either escaping or winning were almost zero—so slim they were barely worth considering. Now he was left with only one option: to fight. And even if he died, he would die fighting. That much conviction still burned inside him. His pride would never allow him to fall while running away. If he was going down, it would be with his weapons drawn.
Once Krieg made up his mind, the inside of his cape suddenly shifted, and several large barrel-guns sprang outward with a snapping metallic clatter. From those barrels, a volley of shells shot toward Gojo. As before, the moment they neared him, they froze mid-air, unable to reach him—Limitless quietly distorting the space around Gojo.
But these shells were never meant to hurt him. They weren't rockets or explosives designed to deal damage. Instead, each one burst instantly, releasing a massive wave of thick smoke that billowed outward in an instant, swallowing the battlefield and momentarily obscuring Gojo's figure behind the dark tint of his sunglasses. A desperate tactic… but still a tactic, Krieg thought as the smoke surged forward like a dense gray tide.
Seeing this move from Krieg, Gojo's lips curved into an amused smile. He wasn't afraid of anything Krieg could fire at him—not even slightly—but he still didn't allow the smoke to touch his body. Gojo knew better than to let any foreign substance reach him at a time like this; for all he knew, the smoke could contain poison or some other trick. And although Gojo was supremely confident in his strength, he was also an extremely cautious person. If he wasn't, he wouldn't have lived quietly for years on an isolated island, in a village so unknown that outsiders didn't even know it existed.
So, of course, Gojo wouldn't let the smoke reach him. He simply stood there, waiting patiently—almost leisurely—for Krieg to make the only move he realistically could: a sneak attack.
And exactly that happened.
Through the thick haze, Krieg emerged with his spear gripped tightly in his hand. He rushed toward Gojo from behind and thrust the spear with everything he had. But just like before, the tip came to a dead stop mere inches from Gojo, frozen in mid-air, unable to bridge the impossibly small distance between them. Gojo didn't even turn his head; Limitless made sure Krieg's attack never had a chance.
Finally, Krieg snapped. His voice cracked as he shouted, "No… I can't lose my life here, not like this!"
In a panic, he abandoned his spear—still frozen mid-air by Gojo's Limitless—and used the remaining cover of the smoke to bolt toward the edge of the ship. His footsteps hammered against the deck as he ran, desperation sharpening every movement. He jumped onto the railing, ready to throw himself into the sea and escape.
But just as he reached the corner and was about to leap, Gojo appeared in front of him—no sound, no warning, just there. Krieg froze for a heartbeat.
Then Gojo's sword pierced straight into his throat, driving him backward and slamming him onto the deck. The captain of the Krieg Pirates, Krieg, died in an instant.
The moment their captain fell, the rest of the pirates stood stunned. A wave of confusion washed over them—fear, shock, and the sickening realization that they no longer knew what they should do. Attack? Surrender? Run? Each option felt equally fatal.
Gojo casually removed the blood from his blade with a small flick and looked at them through his sunglasses. His voice was calm, almost bored, as he spoke.
"All of you are just trash in my eyes. None of you have even a single bounty on your head, so you're worthless to me. What you will do now is simple—pack the bodies of your officers and your captain in proper bags so I can carry them cleanly onto my ship. I don't want their blood dirtying my newly built ship."
His words echoed across the deck, each one slicing deeper than the last.
"Secondly," Gojo continued, "you will sail straight toward that shore of the Shellpoint town and surrender yourselves."
He sheathed his sword with a soft click.
"If you do this much, then as far as I'm concerned, you can live. I don't care. But if any one of you resists…" His sunglasses tilted slightly, catching the light. "Then I'll go on a killing spree. I won't let a single person live if they want to kill me or even think about killing me."
A cold silence followed—every pirate understanding exactly how serious he was.
After saying this, Gojo gave the pirates a few minutes to make their decision. The tension on the deck was suffocating, but they quickly chose the only option that made sense—the right one. They began packing the bodies of Krieg and his officers, the ones who actually had bounties on their heads. The rest of the crew were, in Gojo's eyes, completely worthless, so he didn't bother capturing them or killing them.
As the pirates gathered the bodies of Gin, Pearl, Ideaman, and Krieg, Gojo moved. With a light step and a smooth leap, he jumped onto the saber-toothed tiger figurehead of the ship he had arrived on. He landed silently, standing on the figurehead with perfect balance, his sword sheathed on his back. The sea breeze brushed against his clothes as he gazed out toward the horizon, utterly calm, as if the battlefield behind him no longer existed.
Meanwhile, the rest of Krieg's fleet—those ships that had been waiting for the conflict to end—finally saw what had happened. Their eyes widened when they spotted Gojo standing on the figurehead of their captain's ship, completely uninjured and unstained, not a single drop of blood on him.
From that alone, they reached a terrifying conclusion: their captain, Krieg, had been defeated.
But Gojo didn't say a word to them. He simply stood there, serene and unbothered, waiting patiently for the pirates to finish packing the corpses of Krieg and the others.
When everything was finally packed, Gojo grabbed the ropes tied around the mouths of the body bags and lifted them with one hand. With a light jump, he rose into the air and simply stood there—suspended effortlessly by Limitless. The four bodies hung from his left hand, swaying slightly in the breeze as he hovered high above the ships.
Floating above the entire fleet, Gojo raised his voice. It boomed across the sea, loud enough for every pirate on every ship to hear him clearly.
"Today, I have killed the officers and the captain of the Krieg Pirates. With their deaths, the Krieg Pirates should now be considered finished. All of you will head toward Shellpoint Town and surrender yourselves. I will be watching from here. If even one of you disobeys…" His sunglasses caught the sunlight as he tilted his head. "Then I will kill you."
The declaration echoed over the water like a final verdict.
Then, without hesitation, Gojo unsheathed his sword. With a smooth, fluid motion, he swung it through the air. A cutting wave of compressed force shot forward—a flying slash that ripped cleanly through the sail of Krieg's flagship. The cloth exploded apart, shredding the engraved Jolly Roger in a single stroke. The symbol of the Krieg Pirates fluttered away in tatters, marking the undeniable end of their crew.
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