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Navy G-51 Branch, Port: The Royal Merchant Ship of the Nismail Kingdom was quietly docked.
Inside the branch, the grand banquet had already begun. Marines and the merchant ship's Warden enjoyed delicacies and fine wine.
Meanwhile, on the deck of the merchant ship...
"Man, I'm so jealous… I heard the Chief Steward prepared a 100,000 Beli reward for every single Marine soldier this time."
One of the Nismail Kingdom's guards sighed as he spoke. "Especially that Colonel Aster. I heard the private treasure the kingdom gifted him is worth that much alone."
He raised a hand to show the amount and clicked his tongue in amazement.
"You really don't get it."
Another older guard beside him chuckled as he spoke. "That Colonel Aster is no ordinary man. Last time, during Chief Steward Mantall's transport of a shipload of slaves, something happened at Master Port. Several slaves escaped and ran to the Marine branch, begging for help.
"There was a woman among the slaves. She was 'Flowering Tribe' special goods. That's premium stuff!"
At that, the younger guard's face showed shock.
The Flowering Tribe is one of the rare races of the sea.
They looked like ordinary humans on the surface, but their bodies emitted fragrance; plants grew more vigorously near them, and their sweat was some of the finest nectar in the world.
A female Flowering Tribe member was no less valuable than a mermaid. On the Sabaody Archipelago, their starting auction price was 50 million Beli.
It was easy to imagine the consequences if such merchandise escaped. Chief Steward Mantall would be in deep trouble.
But...
"It was Colonel Aster who returned those slaves to the Chief Steward and destroyed all the related rescue documents."
The old guard grinned. "Now you understand, right? Marines are our important umbrella. Of course, the chief steward has to give them plenty of benefits!"
Hearing this, the young guard became even more envious.
Hm!"But the old guard quickly changed the subject. "There's no need to envy them too much. We got quite a haul ourselves this time. Chief Steward Mantall will definitely reward us."
Hearing that, the young guard suddenly wasn't sleepy anymore.
"Isn't that the truth? Who would've guessed that in a tiny fishing village on a small island, there'd be such incredible beauty? She ended up being fancied by a Tenryubito and bought."
He swallowed as he spoke.
The old guard nodded. "Yeah... that World Noble paid a Devil Fruit and 200 million Beli for her. Counting the other slaves from this run, we've earned nearly 500 million Beli altogether... Hm!?"
Halfway through speaking, his expression suddenly changed. The two guards suddenly realized that their legs, necks, torsos, and arms were tightly bound.
Before they could struggle, two daggers pierced straight through their backs.
"Six... no, seven intruders?"
The old guard quickly calculated the number of intruders before collapsing heavily.
Immediately afterward, the seven intruders dragged the two bodies into a corner and stripped them of their clothes.
After finishing, all seven intruders were breathing heavily.
Upon closer inspection...
The shocking truth became clear:
All seven of the intruders looked exactly the same. Each one had the same appearance as the young pirate named Alan.
Needless to say... that these were Alan himself and his six remaining Slice Clones.
"Kelly, she..."
At that moment, Alan's voice sounded low and as if he were grinding his teeth to dust. From the conversation he had overheard, he already knew Kelly's fate.
"No, I can't panic yet. Grandpa and the others are still in the cabin. I have to save them first."
He forced down the rage burning in his chest and quickly had two of his clones change into the guards' uniforms.
"Fifteen minutes until the guards switch shifts. The cabin doors will open then. I can sneak in then… and rescue Grandpa and the others."
He ran through every detail of his plan in his mind again and again.
Yes.
Ever since he called himself a pirate and sent the threatening letter that forced the merchant ship to stop at Master Port, he had observed everyone's movements on the ship from afar, waiting for the right moment to begin.
"When the time comes, there will only be four guards in the cabin for a short time. I'll take out two first. As for the last two, I'll pay with my life if I have to!"
But at that moment, Alan couldn't stop thinking about that strange Marine Captain... the one whom the clone he had abandoned earlier had encountered before dying.
That man somehow spoke as if he already knew Alan's entire plan; every sentence struck straight at Alan's vital points.
"But based on the memories the clone synced back, it seems that guy didn't return to the port. So he was bluffing?"
Alan shook his head hard.
At this stage, he no longer had the luxury of overthinking.
He knew exactly how weak he was.
Even though the Devil Fruit he ate as a child gave him a special ability, he was still just an ordinary fisherman's son. The only reason he hadn't been captured and turned into a slave like the others was pure luck; he simply hadn't been in the village at the time.
Even if he fought with all his Slice Clones, he could still lose to three trained royal guards in a direct confrontation.
This meant he only had one chance.
"I must focus! Focus!"
Just as that thought crossed his mind...
Beep!
A sharp whistle shattered the silence of the merchant ship and sounded from behind him.
Alan turned around in disbelief.
The two guards he had stabbed earlier… were now struggling to sit upright.
"Kid, is this your first time killing someone?" The old guard was still bleeding, but he let out a savage grin as he asked.
"You panicked. With a knife that short, the only fatal spots are the head, heart, and vital organs. And you didn't hit any of them! Idiot!"
As he spoke, dozens of guards poured out of the cabin, alerted by the whistle.
"An intruder!"
"Why attack now? We don't have the Treasure on board anymore!"
"Doesn't matter... catch them first!"
"Wait, what's with these intruders... septuplets?"
When they saw Alan and the two wounded guards, they immediately understood what was happening.
At that moment, Alan's face went completely pale.
Just as he had thought earlier, he only had one chance. But clearly, that chance was gone.
The next thing he heard was the old guard shouting,
"Don't kill him! He's not a septuplet; he's a Devil Fruit User! He's valuable merchandise! Capture him alive!"
Upon hearing those words, Alan's pale face suddenly flushed red. He clenched the short knife in his hand with all his strength.
"You bastards... I..."
He would never become a slave. He would rather die first! With that thought, he and his six clones lunged at the guards, knives raised.
But it was obviously futile.
In less than two minutes, Alan and several clones were lying on the deck, covered in blood.
"Which one is the real body?"
"Who cares? Grab them all."
"We're going to get rich... Devil Fruit User slaves sell for a lot of money!"
Several guards laughed as they walked over and reached down to seize Alan.
"These Bastards... so wicked..."
Alan tried to resist, but he was immediately pinned to the ground and couldn't move.
But at that moment...
Bang!
A sharp sound rang out as something cut through the air.
Then he suddenly felt the force pinning him vanish, replaced by warm liquid splashing onto his body.
He struggled to lift his head.
The guards who had just been grinning wickedly at him were gone.
In their place was a gigantic hole blasted through the deck.
He could see blood and corpses on the lower deck through the hole, and it was the source of the warm liquid on him.
"Who!?"
"What caused this hole!?"
"What happened!?"
"Look! In the sky!"
He heard the guards shouting in alarm and instinctively, he also lifted his head.
Then, he saw a sight he would never forget.
In the pitch-black sky, a full moon hung high. Its pale light glittered across the waves, leaving streaks of silver. At that moment, a figure stood directly in the center of the moon.
The figure wore a rooster-shaped mask and slowly retracted his fist.
"Who is that?! An accomplice of the intruder?"
"Can he fly? Is he a Devil Fruit User too?"
"Hurry! Shoot him down!"
The guards raised their firearms and muttered nervously. But some of them noticed something strange. The old guard whom Alan had stabbed earlier squinted and saw that...
The masked figure was truly standing in the air. But if you looked carefully, you could see his feet lightly tapping.
"That is..."
As a seasoned veteran who had seen much, the old guard had heard rumors of such techniques. Combined with the punch that had just shattered the deck...
"No! No!"
The old guard shouted, trying to give orders.
"Hurry, retreat! Go inform Chief Steward Mantall and Colonel Aster! That guy is a monster!"
But it was clearly too late.
Swoosh!
With a speed nearly invisible to the naked eye and a violent burst of displaced air, the old guard watched the figure in the sky vanish in an instant.
"Perfect."
The next moment, a low voice whispered right beside his ear.
"Since this is my first hunt... running into scum like you is just perfect. I'm really going to enjoy myself tonight."
As the deep voice echoed, the old guard felt his vision rise suddenly upward.
Then, he saw his own body.
He realized that it wasn't him who was rising.
It was only his head.
In the brief moment of lingering consciousness, he saw the rooster-masked figure drifting like a specter and plunging into the crowd without pausing at all.
Screams and slaughter filled the night.
The full moon hung high above the pitch-black sky, and moonlight washed over the deck as if stained with blood.
(End of Chapter)
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