Gozzi charged. Gozzi drew his blade. Gozzi… went flying.
Following the same trajectory as before, he slammed back into the crater he had made in the tree.
"Heh, that one's on me. I held back because I thought he was just a kid."
Under Bill's astonished gaze, Gozzi jumped out of the hollow.
Rubbing his aching stomach, he forced a smile and offered this explanation for his failure.
"Then this time, I'll go all out!"
Bang.
He rushed in again—and flew straight back into the same tree hole.
"My stomach hurts too much. I can't put any strength into it. Let me recover a bit."
Bang.
"I didn't eat breakfast this morning. I'm a little hungry. No energy."
Broly took the fish skewer someone handed him and silently watched the man across from him make excuses, chewing on his "rations."
On the whole, he did accept that hungry people lacked strength.
"Now I've eaten. I've got energy. This time for sure—"
Bang.
Bang, bang, bang…
After charging in over and over, only to be kicked back into the tree crater every time, Gozzi finally accepted the truth.
As a former member of the Four Rakshasa Demons, with a body honed beyond human limits and combat experience from countless battles, he was still separated from the boy opposite him—who looked about the same age as his own daughter—by an absolute gulf in raw power.
It was a chasm, expressed in the purest speed and strength. Thinking he could cut off that boy's limbs had been nothing but a ridiculous fantasy.
After several attempts and a stomach nearly kicked into the shape of the boy's foot, Gozzi finally dropped the ordinary sword and drew his own Teigu, Murasame.
"You're giving up on trying to bring him back?"
Bill asked cautiously.
"You think I can still take him back, like this?"
Gozzi's face went dark as a dangerous aura rolled off him.
You can't even beat the kid and you're talking about dragging him back—your words are slapping your own face.
Bill did not say that part aloud. Instead he asked:
"So what now?"
"Our assassination force is being formed to clear obstacles for the empire. He's obstructing that. That makes him an obstacle. And I, Gozzi, will clear this obstacle for the empire."
"His combat power is incredible. Shouldn't we be trying to bring him into the empire instead?"
Broly's strength was obvious, and Bill, too, felt the urge to recruit him.
He was no warrior, but he still wanted the boy.
After all, a powerful specimen was very useful for drug enhancement experiments as well.
"He's too strong. Trying to control a power we can't control will only get us hurt."
Gozzi's eyes were cold. It was not just that the boy had embarrassed him; he feared that monstrous strength and potential, and wanted to erase it.
"Can you do it?"
"My Teigu, Murasame, curses and kills anyone it so much as scratches. I might not be sure I can kill him with an ordinary weapon. But if all I need is to nick him with Murasame…"
He did not finish, but the meaning was clear. His confidence was absolute.
…
"Big Brother Broly, fresh roast bird."
Naha Shu walked over with a skewer.
"How's the kid who got kicked? He, uh… okay?"
Taking the meat from him, Broly asked after the "external‑slot wife" boy who had been booted.
"Glen's fine. Just a little swollen in the belly."
"Good. Tell him I made sure the guy who kicked him has a swollen belly too."
Someone had kicked an "external‑slot wife," and that annoyed Broly.
If Gozzi hadn't talked about "giving them happiness" when he showed up, that first kick might've killed him. Broly would have used a lot more force.
Now the man was not only alive—he was downright clingy, charging in again and again just to be kicked.
Even the Vampa spiders ran when they were hurt. This guy didn't. It made Broly wonder if he was holding back too much.
Thinking it over, he realized that might actually be the case.
Then I'll just use a bit more strength.
Watching Gozzi rush in yet again, Broly thought that, and lifted his foot.
Then he saw the man suddenly whip his hair.
Gozzi's long hair came alive, flaring and swelling to block Broly's vision.
The technique was called Wild Hair. It made hair as hard as steel needles.
Right now it was just there to blind him. The real killing blow lay in the lowered blade.
Hidden behind the hair, on a different path from its movement, it was a body art that used visual misdirection.
Gozzi had killed many strong foes with this move. This time, too, would be no exception.
Broly had no idea what the man was doing. He was just about to stomp on that spiky head when a splashing noise sounded behind him.
Looking back, he saw the big crocodile he had knocked out earlier slipping into the water to flee.
"My breakfast."
He turned without a thought.
Got him!
The demon blade swung, biting into the side of his neck.
A heartbeat later, Broly dropped everything and lunged after the escaping crocodile.
His small foot hit the mud, kicking up clods of dirt that smashed straight into Gozzi's face.
The assassin with the demon blade did not even have time to react before a big chunk of earth slammed into his forehead.
His vision went black. He passed out.
His sword flew from his hand as he tumbled away.
He rolled a few times across the ground before finally stopping by Bill's feet, blocked by two Intelligence Bureau men.
"Sir Bill, Lord Gozzi took a heavy blow and has lost consciousness."
The man crouching over him reported.
"What do we do?"
The other asked.
"What do you think? We run!"
The boy who had wrecked Gozzi was just off grabbing a crocodile. He was not dead. Bill was no fool. If even a Four Rakshasa Demon like Gozzi had been flattened, was a drug‑enhancement department chief like him supposed to step up and brawl with that monster?
"What about Lord Gozzi's sword?"
Bill glanced at it.
"It's broken. What good is it? Grab him. We're leaving."
A damaged Teigu was hardly of use, and every extra second they stayed here was a risk.
The group hastily hauled the unconscious Gozzi onto a mount.
With a shriek from the flying danger beasts, the Intelligence Bureau squad fled.
Quick to come, quick to go—without taking a single child.
Underwater, the crocodile spun into a death roll, churning the riverbed silt in hopes of hiding itself.
Broly's energy blast tore the river in two. The sly beast was forced ashore again.
"Where'd they go?"
Climbing out of the water, Broly looked around in confusion when he saw no sign of Gozzi and the others.
"Big Brother Broly, they ran. They flew off on those flying danger beasts that way."
Naha Shu pointed in the direction the Intelligence Bureau had escaped.
Broly memorized it but did not bother to chase.
He had more important things to do right now—like deal with his breakfast.
"The hide's too tough. Our knives won't go through."
The kids helping with the crocodile discovered their weapons were useless against its skin.
"Try this."
Just as Broly was about to tear it apart by hand, Akame brought over a broken blade. Murasame had snapped when it struck Broly's neck, but as a weapon made from a super danger beast and rare metals like orichalcum, even a fragment could slice.
The hide of a mere B‑class danger beast crocodile could not stop it.
"This blade's really sharp. Kurome, be careful."
Seeing her sister pick up the broken sword to help cut meat, Akame warned her.
"Big Brother Broly, are you okay?"
A girl came over to ask. Broly remembered her name as Cornelia.
"What could be wrong?"
He did not understand the question.
"He cut you with that sword just now."
At her words, all the kids suddenly remembered and turned to look.
Broly touched the spot where the blade had hit. There was not even a white scratch, much less a wound.
"Guess he didn't eat enough. No strength."
The kids around him: …
Was this really a "didn't eat enough" problem?
Forget it.
Anyway, Big Bro was awesome. Big Bro was terrifying.
"The crocodile's done."
"Nom, nom…"
Broly dug in. The others just watched him.
"This is good. You want some?"
Feeling their eyes, he looked up and asked.
"No thanks. We're stuffed."
Naha Shu waved it off. After all that fish and bird, he could not eat another bite.
Akame did, though. So did the chubby Losan, Cornelia, and the slightly slow mushroom girl Pony, the one who had picked and roasted the poisonous mushrooms last night.
They all had one thing in common: their strength clearly surpassed what was normal for their age.
Broly did not count.
The one who could almost lift a bear by himself, Losan, ate the most. Cornelia was next—she was older, so a bigger appetite made sense—then Pony, and finally Akame.
Broly ate most of the crocodile. The others shared a little and left a small portion.
"Call it road rations."
Broly said, and prepared to move out.
"Uh… where are we going?"
Someone asked.
"I'm going to take you to find happiness."
Broly pointed in the direction Naha Shu had indicated when the Intelligence Bureau fled.
Gozzi had been a clown, but he had given Broly one crucial piece of information: the direction of "happiness."
__________
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