Success

"Bastards, how dare you laugh at me, Lord Cat? You've really pissed me off." The black cat swept his gaze over the pirates gathered there and said coldly, "You can all go die."

"Haha..." Faced with the black cat's threat, however, the pirates paid it no mind. They kept laughing merrily, even louder than before.

"Hmph." The black cat snorted and immediately activated his devil power, beginning his transformation. Moments later, his entire body turned to iron. Without another word, he charged at the ones laughing the hardest.

The pirates were caught up in their excitement and paid no attention to the kitten charging at them. As far as they were concerned, no matter how formidable a kitten was, there was only so much it could do. If it didn't know its place, they would simply beat it to death, then roast and eat it.

The next moment, however, every one of them stopped laughing. The black cat charged at a fat man and slit his throat with lightning speed. Blood spurted from the man's throat like a fountain, impossible to stop.

The pirates sitting beside the fat man were all sprayed with his blood. Their clothes and faces were covered in red, and a thick smell of blood filled the air.

The bloody scene made every pirate take the situation seriously. They had all faced life and death, and seeing this, they knew they had misjudged the little black cat. He was no ordinary house cat, but a fierce beast capable of deadly destruction.

"Everyone, pay attention! This black cat isn't weak. Don't fall for his tricks again," said a tall, bare-chested man with a sturdy build and well-developed muscles.

He was a swordsman with a long sword at his waist. The sword was so long that even when he stood, one end still touched the ground. He seemed to hold considerable status and prestige among the pirates. As soon as he spoke, they all nodded, then stood up and prepared to deal with the black cat.

"What's this? You want to gang up on me?" The black cat glanced around and said disdainfully, "If that's what you want, then come on. I'm not afraid of you."

"Hmph, little black cat, we underestimated you just now. But we won't be careless this time. You killed one of our crew, so you'll pay with your life!" The swordsman with the long sword at his waist looked down at the black cat and spoke coldly.

"Hehe, that depends on whether you have what it takes to take it." The black cat snorted, then stopped wasting words and launched a fierce attack.

He was small and extremely agile, moving freely among the pirates. They, on the other hand, were left dizzy and confused by his antics, unable to attack freely. Every time they tried to strike, the black cat cunningly hid beside another pirate, so any attack would hit one of their own. His behavior made them gnash their teeth in anger.

After toying with the pirates for a while, the black cat left and headed straight for their ship.

Before long, he was aboard.

Once on the ship, he caused destruction while searching for ore and the like. He spared nothing made of metal, gathering everything on a large scale.

He had a space inside his body: the Manufacturing Space, which the Machine Devil Fruit had given him. Whenever he wanted to make machinery, he made it in there. For now, he was using that space for storage.

As he went, he saw many metal objects and took them all without the slightest hesitation.

Quite a few pirates followed him. When they saw the black cat looting the ship, every one of them was furious. They swarmed after him, eager to kill the damned black cat.

To their frustration, however, the little black cat was fast and extremely agile. One moment he was here, the next he was there, and they simply couldn't catch him.

He also seemed able to predict what would happen, always running to places where there were fewer people. By the time they arrived, the little black cat had already left.

The black cat ran ahead with the pirates chasing behind him, and the ship descended into chaos.

Below the ship.

Fanxin watched the situation ahead closely. He saw that most of the pirates had gone aboard to chase the black cat, leaving only two to guard the woman. He immediately made up his mind to act.

He cautiously made his way forward. When he was less than two meters from the two pirates, he suddenly attacked, raising his spear in his right hand and hurling it like a javelin.

The spear sped forward.

Both pirates were looking toward the ship, so neither dodged. The spear struck one of them in the back, and he immediately let out a scream.

The scream alerted the other pirate. He looked first at his companion, then behind him, and spotted Fanxin.

The man's face was ugly to begin with, and the scars across it made him look extremely vicious. An ordinary person would surely have been frightened at the sight.

Fanxin, however, was no ordinary person. He had grown up in a forest full of dangers and had seen fierce beasts that were both more vicious and uglier than the man. So when he saw him, his face remained perfectly calm, without any fear.

When the pirate saw Fanxin, he let out an angry roar and immediately drew the gun at his waist, preparing to deal with him.

Fanxin had been ready for this. He threw the short blade in his hand at the man before he could act, then immediately dropped to the ground to avoid his gunfire.

The moment he had taken cover, the man fired. His aim was poor, however, and he missed Fanxin with every shot.

Fanxin's thrown blade, however, struck the man in the right side of the chest. The man screamed and lost his grip on his gun, which slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.

Fanxin seized the chance to get up and quickly pounced on him, pinning him beneath him. He first punched him several times in sensitive spots such as his neck, face, nose, and eyes, leaving him unable to fight back. Then he pulled the short blade from the right side of the man's chest and stabbed him again, until the man stopped resisting.

The man was tenacious and still alive. Fanxin, however, had no intention of staying entangled with him. He had come to save someone, not to kill.

He put away his short blade at his waist, picked up the pistol from the ground, and ran to the woman. Without caring whether she was willing, he hoisted her onto his shoulder and raced toward the forest.

As soon as he left, someone behind him opened fire. They were crew members from the ship who had been chasing the black cat. The gunshots outside had alerted them, so they came out to look and happened to see Fanxin rescuing her. They opened fire.

Fanxin was agile, however, and they failed to hit him. With a few leaps, he darted into the forest and vanished from sight.