As the saying goes: to catch the thieves, take down the boss first.
A pirate crew with six hundred members was definitely considered a powerful force in the East Blue.
Even so, El had no intention of "saving" this small town under pirate rule.
People living in a town belonging to a non–World Government country generally only had two fates:
Either be sold to the Celestial Dragons,or be captured as slaves to break their backs building bridges and cities in some "Laborers' Kingdom," working endlessly just so their rulers could pay Heavenly Gold to the World Government.
This was the reality of the world.
Even if El saved them once, he couldn't save them a second or third time.
Unless pirates were wiped out completely, or the world itself changed rulers, their fate would remain the same.
And El had no interest in being a hero—because being a hero was exhausting.
If he wanted to play that role, he wouldn't be aiming to become the world's greatest swordsman. He'd join the Navy, become the strongest Admiral in history, and then challenge Mary Geoise to overthrow the "bosses" at the top.
Or he'd join the Revolutionary Army, stand beside Monkey D. Dragon, and stir up the people to topple the Celestial Dragons.
However…
El had no interest in any of that.
In his previous life, he had been just another ordinary citizen.
In this life, even though he was born extraordinary—"favored by the world"—he still had no desire to conquer it.
The job of changing the world belonged to the true "Child of Destiny."It had nothing to do with him.
El just wanted to live as Luffy once said—
To be the freest person on the sea.
And when he became the strongest swordsman in history, he would naturally become the freest person as well.
After finishing his quick scan of the pirate's memories, El took Carina and Nami straight toward the base of the Saw Blade Pirates.
He picked up both girls, one in each arm. Each of them was more than ten centimeters shorter than him, their bodies light and petite.
Then, using Life Return (Seimei Kikan), he pushed his speed to the maximum again.
The three of them vanished into a blurred afterimage that normal eyes could hardly follow, slipping silently into the small villa at the center of the town.
Once inside, El set Carina and Nami down.
Then he drew the sword from his waist and vanished—leaving only a black streak where he had been.
He rushed toward the clusters of hostile auras inside the villa.
A few seconds later, before the girls had fully processed what was happening, the sound of fabric being torn echoed through the halls.
Carina and Nami glanced at each other.
Realizing that El had already "started killing," they hurried toward the direction the sound came from.
As they drew closer, the tearing sounds grew louder and more frequent.
Soon, they turned into a corridor—
And saw several bodies lying on the floor, blood pooling beneath sliced throats.
To prevent anyone from screaming and sounding an alarm, El had gone for clean, fatal strikes—just like when he hunted beasts in the forest.
He also wasn't worried that Carina and Nami would be traumatized by the sight.
They had been together long enough now.
El believed the girls already understood what kind of person he was.
And people who never saw blood would never grow strong.
Since he had decided to train them and help them grow, he felt that the sooner they faced this reality, the more it would benefit them.
Once they got used to it, there wouldn't be some huge psychological barrier between them and him.
Seeing the corpses, Carina and Nami reacted very differently.
Carina only frowned slightly.
Nami, in contrast, turned pale.
Compared to that distant, almost "unreal" sight of a massive flying slash, these simple, direct kills made the cruelty of battle much more immediate.
The impact on them was no weaker than seeing the ship-splitting slash.
Even so, Carina wasn't truly scared.
From the moment she heard El's decision to become a bounty hunter, and after seeing his strength with her own eyes, she had already pictured this—El cutting down enemies without mercy.
Being a bounty hunter was not a game.
Their targets were pirates—people who were enemies first, last, and always, not "potential friends."
A single careless mistake could mean death.
It was always:
"It's you or me."
So if you wanted to be a bounty hunter, killing was not just possible—it was unavoidable.
Carina was just… a little uncomfortable. Nothing more.
Nami, on the other hand, was clearly shaken.
This wasn't like infiltrating other pirate crews just to steal their treasure.
Over the past few days, she had started to truly accept El as "Nii-san" and had begun to feel a sense of belonging with him and Carina.
Now, watching life being taken so close, so casually—
Her heart couldn't help but tremble.