Dragging Usopp back to the ship, Adrian noticed dusk settling across the sea.
But the moment he boarded, Nami rushed over with a… complicated expression.
After hearing her full report—
Adrian honestly didn't know whether to call it good luck or pure comedy.
It turned out that during the time he'd left the ship…
The Black Cat Pirates themselves had arrived.
And then—
As the saying goes:
"When pirates meet pirates, both sides shed tears."
Of course, that was impossible.
From the Black Cat Pirates' point of view:
They spotted the Arlong Pirates' distinctive-looking ship in the distance, and fear naturally crept in. But after observing from afar, they noticed something "odd":
Two women.
Two unremarkable men.
No fish-men in sight.
So the fear evaporated.
And confidence soared.
So much confidence, in fact, that they did something only a living legend of stupidity—like Ship King Jack—would do.
They sailed their ship over to attack first.
They actually approached the Shark Spab's hull.
Their luck was mixed:
Good news—no Arlong.
Bad news—the four "small fries" they saw…
Were far more terrifying than the Arlong Pirates.
One exchange later—
The entire Black Cat crew was massacred.
When Adrian returned, he saw a bunch of heavily injured Black Cat Pirates tied up like sausages on the deck.
After Nami finished recounting the absurd chain of events—
Adrian fell silent.
He had painstakingly ordered Lucci to torture Kuro for the contact method between Kuro and his crew.
And now?
He finally learned it.
But the entire Black Cat crew—minus Kuro—
was already defeated by Yoriichi Tsugikuni and Momochi Zabuza.
"…What do we do with them?" Nami asked.
The number of captives wasn't small.
Yoriichi and Zabuza had specifically waited for Adrian to return before deciding their fate.
Adrian looked calmly at the trembling pirates.
"Kill them all."
The Black Cat Pirates immediately panicked.
What had they done to deserve this?
They had become pirates to live a better life…
And instead, after Kuro decided to retire, they had spent three miserable years starving and suffering.
Life had its ups and downs, sure.
But for them it was more like:
Up.
Down.
Down, down, down, down, down…
Now, because of one stupid mistake—
They were about to die.
They didn't even get the chance to beg.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Lucci stepped forward first.
His index finger flicked forward like a bullet, repeatedly piercing through flesh.
One sound—one life extinguished.
The remaining pirates screamed for mercy, cursed, cried—
And then died all the same.
One after another,
until none were left.
…
"Lucci, clean up the bodies," Adrian ordered with a frown as he looked at the blood-stained deck.
"Yes, Boss."
Lucci immediately obeyed.
To Adrian, these men were worthless garbage.
Keeping them would only waste food.
As for handing them to the Marines for bounty?
Adrian scoffed inwardly.
He had practically wiped out Marine Branch 16.
There was no way the Marines didn't know.
He was almost certainly on a wanted poster by now.
Going to "collect bounties"?
He'd get recognized instantly.
And then he'd have no choice but to apologize…
And destroy another East Blue branch.
He wasn't afraid—just too lazy to bother.
Besides—
He wasn't short on money.
After robbing Arlong's Pirates and Captain Nezumi…
Adrian was absurdly rich.
Especially since Yoriichi and Zabuza needed intense physical and haki training, which required high-nutrition food.
Luckily—
Sea Kings existed.
Food rich enough for elite training, abundant, and easy to hunt.
Lucci had undergone similar training in his childhood—nutrition, medicated baths, and brutal exercises to build monstrous strength.
Adrian covered all of it.
All expenses.
All supplies.
All resources.
Partly because he was loaded—
But mostly because all the money was technically his anyway.
Food wasn't the only cost.
Medicated baths were expensive too.
But Adrian covered that as well.
The stronger his subordinates grew—
the better for him.
After all—
Sooner or later, he fully intended to extort Dark King Rayleigh and Emperor Shanks.
If his crew wasn't strong enough…
They'd be hacked to death.
…
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