Blazing Firelight

"Shoot! Shoot!"

Bang bang bang—

A rapid series of gunshots rang out, countless bullets flying into the sky.

Such a dense barrage would have knocked an ordinary person out of the air long ago.

Yet Lin Qi was able to maneuver through the air with peak-level Geppo, flawlessly evading every attack.

In contrast, every bullet he fired precisely struck and badly wounded a pirate.

Lin Qi hung above their heads like a sharp sword, forcing the pirates below to constantly watch out for sniper fire and preventing them from going all out against the others.

As a result, although Hina appeared to be surrounded on all sides, she was able to hold on for the moment with her fierce swordsmanship.

As a small group of Marines reached the area, the pressure on the two of them eased greatly.

"Junior, what impressive marksmanship."

Major Nizer, who had rushed over, could not help but lavish praise upon them when he saw that just two people had held back so many pirates.

Bang—

A lead bullet struck a pirate in the head from an impossible angle, and Lin Qi realized that his marksmanship was rapidly improving amid life-and-death combat.

"Unfortunately, my stamina is still too weak."

Lin Qi panted heavily as he landed on a rooftop. The stamina drained by Geppo made him feel as if he had run ten laps around Marine Headquarters.

But the pirates had already been driven into a killing frenzy. Seeing that Lin Qi had finally landed, they roared and swarmed toward him.

"Roar! Kill that brat!"

"Damn Marines!"

Lin Qi used his longsword to fend off the pirates climbing up.

As the pillars beneath the roof were severed by the pirates below, the house collapsed with a crash, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

"Lin Qi!"

Hina hurried toward the ruins. Although she disliked that frivolous man, she could not simply watch a companion die before her eyes.

"I'm fine. Take care of yourself."

Lin Qi rolled out from the dust and smoke of the ruins. Something had cut his right arm, leaving a bloody wound.

Seeing nearly half the pirates present rushing toward Lin Qi, Major Nizer's mouth twitched.

Was this kid's taunting really that powerful?

"Quick! Everyone nearby, go help him!"

Soon afterward, a large number of Marines arrived and swiftly wiped out the pirates in the area.

Boom!

Lin Qi had just killed the One-armed Pirate in front of him when a massive explosion in the distance caught his attention before he could even rest.

"Teacher Zephyr?"

Hina and Lin Qi exchanged a glance, then ignored their exhaustion and rushed toward the explosion.

When they arrived, they saw the scene before them.

"I'm Blood Axe Jonard, a Great pirate with a bounty of 230 million! I'm the man who'll become the Pirate King! How can I fall here? Don't joke around, you mere old man!"

The vicious five-meter-tall man roared while covered in blood. He had just raised the great axe in his hand when Zephyr punched him into the ground, leaving his fate unknown.

Boom!

Just when Hina thought everything had ended, a huge explosion suddenly erupted where Jonard had been, swallowing Zephyr whole.

"Teacher Zephyr!"

No one had expected this turn of events. The gale generated by the explosion stung Hina's pretty face as she stared anxiously toward the blast.

While Hina was distracted, a longsword suddenly stabbed up from the earth beneath her feet.

It was too fast, and the angle of the ambush was too tricky. Hina did not notice it at all until Lin Qi shoved her away.

Blood sprayed through the air.

Although he had saved Hina, Lin Qi's other arm was also cut.

Only then did Hina realize belatedly that she had just walked through the gates of hell.

"Hina is very angry!" She swiftly thrust her longsword into the ground, but it seemed to hit nothing.

"Stop stabbing. The enemy has already left." Lin Qi's face was pale as he sat heavily on the ground. "If nothing unexpected happened, that should have been a Devil Fruit Ability User."

"How can you be certain the enemy has left?"

Hina still stared at the ground with tightly furrowed brows.

"Idiot, because Teacher Zephyr is already here."

At the center of the explosion, Zephyr walked out of the flames completely coated in Armament Haki. Even his clothes were covered in it.

Only then did Hina's tightly furrowed beautiful eyebrows finally relax.

"Thank you. Hina feels very guilty."

Looking at Lin Qi's continuously bleeding arm, Hina tore off a strip of cloth from her clothes, crouched down, and gave him a simple bandaging to stop the bleeding. Her expression was somewhat apologetic.

"I can help you once, but I can't help you every time. Be careful." Lin Qi said with a smile.

"What a petty man." Two blushes rose to Hina's cheeks.

Those were clearly the words she had said to Lin Qi not long ago. She had not expected karma to come so quickly.

However, thanks to Lin Qi's teasing, Hina's guilt eased considerably.

"Are you two all right?"

Zephyr's tall back blocked the firelight, bringing a cool breeze with it.

"I'm fine. It's just that Lin Qi was injured saving Hina." Hina shook her head. "That explosion just now was...?"

"That pirate implanted a bomb inside his body. It explodes when his heart stops beating."

"You must be careful when facing pirates like that in the future. They're ruthless toward their enemies, but even more ruthless toward themselves," Zephyr said.

"We understand, Teacher Zephyr." Hina nodded. Thinking of how Lin Qi had saved her just now, she looked thoughtful.

Before long, all the pirates in the village had been eliminated.

Rear Admiral Momonga arrived carrying a tightly bound, shifty-eyed-looking man.

"Teacher, thanks to you, many villagers survived." Momonga threw the man in his hand onto the ground.

"This guy is a Devil Fruit Ability User. He needs to be sent to Impel Down."

If a Devil Fruit Ability User was killed, their Devil Fruit would be reborn somewhere else in the world.

To slow the rebirth of Devil Fruits, the World Government required all enemy Devil Fruit Ability Users they encountered to be sent to Impel Down.

"What Devil Fruit does he have?"

Seeing that it was Lin Qi asking, Momonga replied, "Zoan: Rat-Rat Fruit, Field Mouse Model."

Upon hearing that, Lin Qi walked over to the man with a "kind" expression. "You were the one who ambushed us from underground earlier, weren't you?"

"N... no." The man swallowed.

"But your eyes have already betrayed you."

Lin Qi patted the man's shoulder kindly. "Before you're sent to prison, I'll tell everyone not to bring you food. I hope you won't starve to death."

"..."

The man lay on the ground in despair, his beard twitching as though he could already foresee his miserable future.

After leaving a small number of Marines behind to handle the follow-up issues, the rest boarded ships for the return trip.

The scene shifted to Lin Qi lying in the Medical Room aboard a warship.

Hina's crude bandaging had been removed, and the physician had wrapped both of Lin Qi's arms in neat bandages.

"All right. Don't exert your arms or get them wet until the wounds heal."

"Thank you, Doctor."