Live On

The newcomers were Cifer and Enel.

One stood three meters tall, the other 2.7 meters. Standing before twelve-year-old Jerry, they looked like two giants.

Jerry's heart was filled with fear. The men before him were supervillains with Bounties exceeding one billion. They would definitely kill him!

If only he had not left home so quickly! Why had he not considered that they might still be wandering the streets?

Jerry instinctively clutched the Savage Dragon wrapped in a rag against his chest. To him, it was more important than his own life.

"We meet again, kid."

Cifer's tone was mild, but beneath the backlit shadows, his emerald-green pupils seemed to glimmer with a terrifying light.

"Gentlemen, I don't think we've met before, have we?"

Jerry could only pretend to be stupid, praying that they would spare him.

"Is that so? I thought this wallet was something you dropped. Apparently not. Let's go, Enel."

Cifer pulled a bulging wallet from his inner pocket and casually tossed it into the air while he and Enel pretended to turn away.

"Wait!"

So they had picked it up after he dropped it!

Jerry threw his arms around Cifer's thigh, his eyes filled with hope. If he could get his wallet back, he could persuade his mother not to sell the Savage Dragon!

After all, it was a treasure passed down through his mother's ancestors. To him, it was a family heirloom. How could it be sold off cheaply for money?

"It's mine, it's mine! Big brother, you really have a good eye!"

Seeing Jerry look as though he were ready to declare, "If you do not reject me, I would gladly call you my godfather," Cifer shuddered.

"Take it."

Jerry excitedly accepted the wallet, opened it, and carefully counted the money inside. The light in his eyes was practically spilling over.

Seeing how obsessed with money he looked, Cifer and Enel turned and left. They could not be bothered to make things difficult for a kid like him.

All along the way, they had watched the boy's miserable ordeal: beaten, robbed of his money, trying to survive in a poor household all by himself. It truly had not been easy.

When a person committed crimes for bread, the guilty one was this world.

Cifer felt that he had still killed far too few people.

But as he watched the two of them prepare to leave, Jerry hesitated.

He had stolen their money, yet they had found his wallet and returned it to him.

Guilt began to fill his heart. He could tell himself that he stole to survive, but he could not tolerate becoming someone who repaid kindness with betrayal.

He hurried after them. The instant they turned around, he dropped to his knees, drawing the gazes of everyone on the street.

A trace of confusion flashed through Cifer's eyes, while Enel was used to it. It was only natural for people to kneel before a god.

"Um... I'm really sorry! I stole your wallet!"

Jerry had completely forgotten that he was on a street. When the passersby heard him, they looked at him with disgust.

His already bruised and swollen face flushed red with shame, yet he remained kneeling there.

"That wallet was stolen from me by someone else, but I can pay you back! I have money! Please forgive me!"

Jerry pulled money from his own wallet, only to discover that it was all loose change. There was no way he could scrape together one hundred thousand.

"Can we go to the cash exchange at the Marine base? Can I withdraw money and pay you back there?"

More and more people gathered around them, and Jerry's voice grew softer and softer.

"My wallet?"

Jerry watched Cifer pull another wallet from his clothes. He abruptly stood up and leaned closer for a careful look, confirming that it was the one he had stolen earlier.

Seeing that it was all a misunderstanding, the crowd began to disperse. A child said he had stolen money, while the adult said nothing had been stolen. They simply treated it as a bit of entertainment.

"Why...?"

He was confused. Hadn't that group of little thugs taken the wallet? How had it returned to its original owner?

"A group of passionate young men found my wallet and returned it to me."

Cifer's voice seemed somewhat gloomy. Jerry felt afraid. He swallowed and looked up at Cifer's face.

His pale face, terrifying eyes, and slightly raised smile made Jerry feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

In his rush of shame, he had actually forgotten that the man before him was a supervillain!

At that moment, Jerry felt that everything he had done and thought before was utterly laughable.

This man had both happened to wait at the exit of the alley Jerry had carefully chosen, and happened to run into those "passionate" young thugs and recover the wallet.

Once those two coincidences were put together, they were no longer coincidences.

They had been following him from the very beginning!

Jerry had completely guessed the truth. His entire body was drenched in sweat, and he could not even feel the pain from being beaten anymore.

He did not know what he would face next. He began to regret it, regretting why he had gone home!

They must know where his home was. He was terrified that they would hurt his mother and sister!

Men with Bounties exceeding one billion! Just thinking about it made it obvious that they could not be good people. Their companions might even have already gone to his home!

Jerry's legs nearly gave out as he looked at the two men, ready to kneel and apologize again.

Cifer was quick-eyed and swift-handed. He grabbed Jerry before he could kneel and vanished from the spot. Enel also disappeared in a flash of lightning, leaving behind only bewildered pedestrians.

"You seem very afraid?"

Cifer tossed the kid onto the ground and looked at him.

Jerry had no mind to care how the other man had teleported. There was only one thought in his heart now.

"Can you please not kill me? Don't hurt my family! I'll do anything!"

It would be a lie to say he was not afraid of death, but compared to his own life, Jerry was more worried about his family.

His mother was ill, and his sister was still so young. How would they survive without him? No matter what, he had to live on!

"Looks like you saw the Wanted Poster in that wallet!"

"Yeh~ hahahahaha~ This is what happens when you defy a god!"

Their words made Jerry's heart sink even further. A Great Pirate was still a Great Pirate. They must have killed countless people.

Jerry looked at the thing in his arms. He could no longer think of a better way.

His mother and sister had to survive!

If possible, he wanted to live too.

He patted his knees and backside, then stood with a determined gaze and looked calmly at the two men.

When others offered no path to life, he could only lay down his life as stone and water a path with blood.

Jerry tore away the rag wrapped around the Savage Dragon and placed his hand on its hilt. Fear no longer filled his heart; there was only the resolve to succeed or die.

Only now did Cifer truly take him seriously.

Cifer could see that fear had filled Jerry's heart, yet after the terror and helplessness, he had calmed down.

He had not chosen to keep begging, nor had he gone mad. He chose to fight.

Cifer saw his powerful desire to live, as well as that sliver of ambition buried deep in his heart.

One who held thunder in his chest yet wore the face of a calm lake could be made a great general.

Cifer revealed a satisfied smile.

If you wanted to live, you had to pick up a blade.