Undead Emerge from the Coffin

Clang!

Two pirate ships slowly drew closer. The moment they brushed past each other, Bruto's crew was ready. Sailors threw grappling hooks, forming a bridge to Hundred Plans' Black Cat ship.

"Kill them!"

"Charge with me!"

"Kill them all and take their treasure!"

Pirates, barely clothed, leaped across the intervening sea, slapping their ribs and shouting battle cries as they swarmed the deck like locusts.

As the ships drew nearer, Bruto noticed something strange.

There was genuinely no one in sight!

But he assumed the others were either hiding in the ship's cabins out of fear or lying in wait to ambush them.

After three years as a pirate, Bruto had enough command experience for that.

So he stood on his own deck, letting his subordinates charge, watching them rush across the plank, onto the deck, and into the cabins.

Then...

"Captain, there's no one inside!"

The pirate who had charged the fastest emerged from the other end of the cabin, scratching the back of his head in confusion.

"But the kettle in the kitchen is still hot, and the food on the table is only half-eaten."

Signs of habitation, but no people?

What was going on?

Bruto's eyes widened.

There really was no one?!

"It's... it's a ghost ship!"

Suddenly, the first mate's shriek startled him.

Those who made a living at sea had all heard tales of ghost ships. At the mention, all eyes turned towards him.

These gazes reflected an eerie light in the sun. The first mate swallowed hard. "It must be Kuro's ghost haunting the ship. He didn't want Zango to be captain, so he killed them all."

"Nonsense!"

A thick palm smacked the first mate's face, sending him flying out, spitting blood. He slid down the cabin wall, leaving a trail of gouges.

Bruto glared with his bull-like eyes. "Kuro was arrested alive! I saw him paraded through Loguetown with my own eyes! What ghost?!"

With that, Bruto glared at the trembling crew and angrily commanded.

"Move all the treasure onto our ship, then set it ablaze! If they won't come out, let them become ghosts for real!"

"Ooh!"

"Long live the Captain!"

Nothing could soothe the superstitious pirates better than a fierce captain. The clamor became deafening.

Bruto's expression remained unchanged as he accepted their adulation, but privately, he fretted.

Damn it, what if they abandoned the ship?

He didn't want to miss this golden opportunity!

Claiming to have destroyed the Black Cat Pirates himself?

What if the real Black Cat Pirates showed up one day? Wouldn't he be laughed out of the pirate world?

It wasn't like such things hadn't happened before. You could find all sorts of scoundrels among pirates.

Just then, the first mate, who should have been knocked unconscious, crawled up shakily. His hands hung limply, and he was hunched over, making it impossible to see his face.

Bruto heard the movement and turned around.

"Huh? You, since when are you so tough?"

He'd hit him hard this time, expecting him to be bedridden for three days.

Bruto had been scared earlier, so he'd held back a bit, though his face, full of fat, didn't show it clearly.

After a few seconds of silence, Bruto glared impatiently.

"I'm talking to you! Are you mute?!"

The gaunt first mate trembled all over. The next second, he raised his head.

"He's right."

Gulp...

Bruto swallowed.

Although the first mate was speaking, his eyeballs had rolled up to their limit, leaving no black visible. His hollow eyes were filled only with bloodshot veins.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Heh!"

A strange smile appeared as the first mate spoke word by word.

"I was on that ship before."

A bone-chilling cold swept over Bruto like a brush, his pupils dilating and goosebumps erupting all over his body.

Who is "I"?

The first mate had only ever mentioned one person before: "Hundred Plans" Kuro!!!

"Now, I'm on your ship."

"Playing spooky tricks!!"

Overwhelmed by extreme fear, Bruto erupted in rage. He fiercely swung his large scimitar, cleaving down at the first mate.

Creeak!!

"What's going on?"

"Oh no, that sound came from the captain's area!"

The loud noise startled the pirates searching the Hundred Plans • Black Cat, and they rushed to the deck. There, they saw Captain "Great" Pirate Bruto frozen in a downward-swinging pose, panting heavily.

Blood splattered his face. On the deck before him lay the corpse of First Mate Masy, split into two pieces, left and right.

"This..."

The pirates looked at each other, bewildered.

Why did the boss kill his second-in-command?

First Mate Masy, apart from his fighting ability, handled all other duties well. Otherwise, Bruto couldn't have supported such a large crew, and the treasure would have long since been traded for drinks.

Did he finally lose his patience?

Unlike the pirates' confusion, Bruto's eyes were filled with terror, cold sweat streaming down his greasy face.

He felt it – something was around him!

In the blood pool where the first mate had fallen, there was a fresh footprint that belonged to neither him nor Masy!

And from time to time, he felt sharp gazes like knives, giving him a stinging sensation.

"G-Ghost!!"

Finally, he screamed, releasing a foul-smelling liquid from his crotch that dripped down his pant leg.

On the deck of the Hundred Plans • Black Cat, the pirates stared in disbelief at the trembling, sobbing blob of fat with wet pants, falling into self-doubt.

"No... no way?"

"Our captain..."

He wet himself from fear?!

Wait, that doesn't seem to be the main point.

"A ghost?!!!"

Fear is contagious. Without the Necromancer's deliberate manipulation, creatures with high-level thinking abilities could scare themselves into a frenzy through their own imaginations.

"Quick, get out of here! There's a ghost!!"

Ignoring the captain's silence, the pirates suddenly surged back towards their own pirate ship like madmen. Some heavy treasures were even discarded on the ground, as if they wished they had two extra legs.

But seeing this, Bruto felt a bitter helplessness.

It was already too late.

That thing had already boarded their ship.

The truly safe location now was actually the Hundred Plans • Black Cat!

"Tsk, bullying idiots is so boring."

Seeing this, Lowett shook his head in dissatisfaction.

He had even prepared several small spells, but the opponent, despite his imposing stature – nearly four meters tall – turned out to be incredibly cowardly.

And you call yourself a "Great" Pirate.

I haven't even exerted myself yet, and you've already fallen.

Then, he nodded with satisfaction.

"But at least it proves the practical effect meets expectations."

The gazes Bruto felt were real, and the stinging sensation was not an illusion.

Transformed into a Black Knight, Kuro, under Lowett's command, used the spoon to disappear and then, bit by bit, like the most skilled surgeon, along the muscle fibers, precisely and accurately, slowly carved away his flesh.

The stinging sensation he felt was actually the last signal from his sensory nerve endings before detaching from the central nervous system.

If the speed is fast enough, even a decapitated person wouldn't realize what happened, losing their life without pain.

Similarly, if the speed is fast enough, it's possible to prevent the flesh from falling off.

While my mind wasn't paying attention!

Being able to accurately hit the target during consecutive uses of Silent Step was the greatest achievement of the Black Knight Modification.

Combined with the undead's natural immortality, Kuro would no longer be easily outmatched even by elite officers from Marine Headquarters.

Human stamina has limits, human bodies have limits.

But the undead do not, the Black Knight does not!

As long as Lowett willed it, he could make Kuro disappear from the eyes of the world for a day and a night.

And this was only because the current Black Knight was at a lower level, and joint wear and tear had to be taken into account.

Coupled with Lowett's own mastery of spells and combat prowess, future major battles would truly be... much easier!

"Speaking of which..."

Lowett dispelled the concealment magic, Void Existence, from his body and appeared directly on the pirates' ship.

He glanced at the stunned pirate beside him and asked, "Where is your navigator?"

"In! ...In the back, in the cabin."

"Is that so? Thanks."

Dispelling the black vortex in his eyes, Lowett nodded and walked towards the cabin.

Halfway there, he turned back as if suddenly remembering.

"Oh right, I shouldn't have let you see my face... I'll be more careful next time!"

With that, he turned and continued forward.

Next time?

Why would there be a next time?

What next time?

Also... who the hell are you?!

The pirates snapped back to reality and were about to speak when, suddenly, the wind blew and minced meat flew.

Swish...

Rustle!

The small deck instantly turned into a living hell.

No screams were heard, only the spraying and flailing blood that turned into a bloody rain falling from the sky, soaking the deck.

Corpses of fleshless, blood-red bone sculptures remained frozen in their final poses on the deck. At the very center, Bruto's face held a satisfied smile, his eyes peacefully closed.

"Finally, freedom."

Swish!

Large chunks of blood and flesh, ground into powder, slid off him. Starting from his neck, white bones were exposed. Only his chubby head remained intact. But paired with his completely bare skeleton, the scene was indescribably bizarre.

Flicker...!

The rhythm of the blood rain seemed to falter for a moment. Something disappeared at the cabin door. Looking down closely, wet, red footprints led forward, stretching to the deepest part of the darkness.

Thank you to the book friends ~Bury Myself with My Own Hands~ and ~Fire Blue Flame~ for the 100 reward. Thank you for your support.

The recommendation tickets aren't not being sung; it's just that the recommendation ticket details in the writer's assistant have some issue. It freezes when clicked and crashes when it freezes. It's just "99+", other notifications can be opened normally.