Pirates: How Many Divisions Do the Five Elders Have? Decision and Flash

"Run!"

"We can't beat him!"

"If we don't run, we're dead!"

A cowardly soldier is one thing; a cowardly commander makes cowards of the whole lot.

With a superior like Lieutenant Nezumi, it was easy to imagine what these marines were like.

Once they realized their opponent was a Devil Fruit User they had absolutely no chance of defeating, every one of them displayed the talent of a sprinting champion.

While the pirate's attention was on Ma Qiao, they all took to their heels and ran out of the cave as fast as they could.

To improve their chances of escape even further, a few of the marines shouted at Karen Santini, "Our commander is right on top of your head! He won't let you get away with this!"

"Our captain's butt has locked onto your head! Surrender!"

"Lord Nezumi, we'll never forget your sacrifice in staying behind to cover our retreat!"

"Lord Nezumi, hold on! We'll go get help from town right away!"

The marines' tricks worked.

Karen Santini's attention was completely diverted.

He whipped his head around, flinging Lieutenant Nezumi off, then picked him up and examined him before looking disappointed.

"Damn it, he's only a captain? I'm afraid he won't be enough to exchange for Brother Laqiuba..."

Hearing the name Laqiuba, Ma Qiao had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

Juan Laqiuba was the pirate with the highest bounty Whiskey Peak had captured earlier, with a bounty of 17 million Beli.

Seventeen million Beli might not sound like much, but this was not yet an era of inflated bounties.

After several established powerhouses had been defeated by Ace, the title of overlord of the East Blue had fallen to the leader of the Krieg Pirates, Admiral Krieg.

His bounty was 17 million.

That was the price on the head of a regional powerhouse!

Of course, that was also because the East Blue really was too weak.

Every few years, some superpowered expert would come along and farm the established pirates entrenched in the East Blue like beginner mobs. It was hard for the sea not to be weak.

Still, even on the Grand Line, a bounty of 17 million was not low.

At present, the mid- and high-ranking officers of Baroque Works had roughly that bounty on average.

Of course, Marine Headquarters had generally underestimated the bounties of every member of Baroque Works, including Crocodile.

After all, Crocodile was one of the Shichibukai. His subordinates would not openly cause any major incidents that endangered the world and thereby put the government on alert or prompt a Marine investigation.

Well...

Nico Robin was an exception.

In any case, with a bounty of 17 million, Laqiuba qualified as a powerful pirate. If he had not gotten drunk and botched things, Whiskey Peak would never have captured someone like him without Ma Qiao stepping in.

It seemed that Santini and Laqiuba were probably close friends, and that he had risked capture so he could strike when the marines came to collect the prisoners, seize a Marine officer as a hostage, and exchange him for Laqiuba's freedom.

Ma Qiao understood now.

Lieutenant Nezumi did not know the whole story, but he was well versed in dealing with people.

He saw the disappointment and murderous intent in Karen Santini's eyes and hurriedly shouted, "Don't kill me! I have connections! I have an uncle who's a Vice Admiral at Marine Headquarters! I'm valuable as a hostage!"

"A Vice Admiral?"

Karen Santini wet himself in fright. "You mean if people find out I held you hostage, a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral will come after me?"

Lieutenant Nezumi immediately realized he had overdone it and scared the pirate.

The man was already thinking of killing him to silence him, then making a clean getaway.

Lieutenant Nezumi hurriedly shouted, "Well... he's not really my uncle... just a distant relative. We're not that close... but I can get a word with him..."

"All right, I'll believe you for now."

Karen Santini stuck Lieutenant Nezumi back on his head, then turned to look at Ma Qiao.

"All right, all right, it's your turn, you bastard! Give me back my treasure!"

"Treasure? What treasure?"

Ma Qiao spread his hands innocently. "Shouldn't you report missing property to the authorities? There's a Marine officer right on your head."

"Gurgle, gurgle..."

Lieutenant Nezumi wanted to curse out that damned red scarf, but blood was gushing from his butt, so he had better not move around.

Though Karen Santini looked rough, he was as cunning as Blackbeard and could be considered a clever strategist by the standards of the pirate world. Naturally, he would not be led astray by Ma Qiao's nonsense.

"Brat, the boring games are over. You and your little girlfriend can die together!!!"

Shouting, Santini swung his right hand, which had transformed into a drill, viciously at Ma Qiao and Vivi.

Cunningly, he also directed the main force of his attack at Vivi.

A few days earlier, although Karen Santini had deliberately let Ma Qiao capture him and the whole fight had been brief and superficial, the fighting strength Ma Qiao's group had shown back then had still made him wary.

Fortunately, though, neither the purple bald man nor the female gunner was there. The Pirate Hunter had only a little girlfriend who looked like a complete novice at his side.

That was his biggest weakness!

As long as Santini put him in a position where he could neither advance nor retreat, he could easily win!

What could be more pleasurable to body and mind than tormenting a handsome man and a beautiful woman?

Karen Santini smiled cruelly.

"Peacock Chain Saw!"

Facing the enormous, rapidly spinning drill, Vivi bit her lip and forced herself to calm down.

She hooked her little finger and flicked her secret weapon, the Peacock Slashers, out of her sleeve.

It was a hidden weapon made from precious peacock tail feathers, shaped like a chain and designed to catch opponents off guard.

It flew swiftly to meet the incoming attack.

Honestly, even Ma Qiao had not expected Vivi to have the resolve to strike at such a critical moment.

Compared with those female drivers who panicked and treated screaming as a brake, or even mistook the accelerator for the brake, Vivi's performance under pressure was outstanding.

However, the gulf in their strength was enormous.

The instant the Peacock Slashers touched the tungsten-steel drill, they were violently shredded.

The drill showed no sign of slowing down and continued hurtling toward them, as though it would shred everything in the next second.

There was no time to dodge!

At that moment, Vivi truly realized just how vast the gap was between her meager skills and those of a great pirate who held sway over a region!

Even if she staked her life, she would have trouble changing the outcome!

But Nefertari Vivi would not sit and wait for death!

Just as Vivi pulled the remaining half of the peacock chain taut, preparing to fight for her life and give that stinking old man a chance to escape, a lazy voice suddenly sounded beside her ear.

"Yare yare, what a headache. If you die, my performance bonus for this month will be gone..."

Before the voice had finished, Vivi suddenly felt her body tighten, and then someone roughly scooped her up in his arms.

"For the performance bonus, here we go!"

With a flash of white light, the two vanished into thin air.

[Summoner Skill · Flash] activated!