Taunting

Commander Hammer's head hit the ground.

All his "valuable" life experience became Garen's experience points for leveling up.

Yet Smoker still made no move. He merely stood with his back to Garen, quietly smoking.

The large cigar between Smoker's lips quickly burned down to a stub under his heavy breathing, but for once, he did not take out another to light up.

The ever-present cigar smoke gradually dispersed. The fresh air without secondhand smoke actually felt a little strange to Garen.

"Smoker!"

Garen walked over and lightly patted Smoker on the shoulder.

"Don't let the words of someone like that affect you!"

"He was so twisted he barely looked human, yet he still had the nerve to pass on some 'life experience' to his juniors."

"If the sea were full of 'smart people' like him, then this world would truly be beyond saving."

Garen wore an expression of heartfelt disgust as he said solemnly:

"As a Marine who bears justice on his shoulders, what you need to do is—"

"Stay true to your original aspiration, and remember your mission!"

"I understand."

Smoker's tone was stiff.

Still somewhat worried, Garen continued asking:

"Then why aren't you even smoking?"

Smoker gave Garen a strange look. "I ran out."

"Uh..."

Garen, who had gotten addicted to talking people down, blushed with embarrassment. "Pretend I said nothing."

Man's greatest flaw was always wanting to lecture others. Garen's self-righteous preaching was useless against an adult like Smoker, whose personality and values were already fully formed.

Even if Garen had not stepped forward just now, Smoker's Jitte would have smashed solidly into Commander Hammer's head.

After all, Smoker was the kind of straightforward man who would even beat up his superiors when his temper flared.

Commander Hammer had been beheaded by Garen's greatsword, while Lieutenant Charles, who had taken Smoker's full-force blow from the Jitte, was struggling on the boundary between animal and plant. The corrupt garrison of Loguetown was now leaderless.

Yet the unrest at the Loguetown base continued, even more violently than when Commander Hammer had still been alive.

The leaders' deaths and punishment had not made those corrupt Marine grunts surrender. Instead, it had stirred up their vicious desperation to make one last stand.

Surrender meant prison.

Risking their lives in one final fight meant the endless sea outside the base, where every piece of scum could enjoy unrestricted freedom.

The thirty Headquarters Marines led by Tashigi were blocking the base entrance, still locked in fierce battle with the corrupt Marines who held the numerical advantage.

Flames suddenly surged through the Loguetown base. Gunshots, shouts, screams, and the clash of steel rose and fell in waves like the tide.

Smoker spat out the cigar stub, grabbed his heavy Jitte, and turned into a cloud of smoke that shot into the sky.

Garen also seized his greatsword without hesitation and ran toward the commotion.

Besides wanting to collect more experience points from the grunts, Garen also wanted to use this opportunity to test his new skill—

After killing the powerful Commander Hammer, Garen received an exceptionally generous experience reward and shot straight up to level five.

Then came the familiar system prompt:

Draw Random Reward

You have obtained a random reward: Skill—Taunting Shout.

This skill came from Rammus, the Armordillo from the game, but like Garen's other skills, its effect differed somewhat from the game version:

"Taunt one unit, forcibly making the target attack you for 2 seconds."

"Range limited to 30 meters."

It was vastly different from the original skill description he remembered. Garen vaguely sensed that Taunting Shout's real-world effects might differ drastically from its in-game version.

With the intention of testing the skill, Garen soon arrived at a small battlefield still caught in scattered fighting, carrying his greatsword over his shoulder.

Several Headquarters Marine soldiers who had charged in alongside Tashigi were struggling against the bloodthirsty corrupt Marines. They had not noticed that powerful reinforcements had already arrived nearby.

And rather than charging in with his greatsword as usual, those powerful reinforcements stood to one side and carefully observed the battle.

Garen's gaze wandered before finally settling on a burly man engaged in close-range saber combat with a Headquarters Marine.

Garen activated Taunting Shout in his mind, then could not resist shouting at the unlucky fellow:

"You there, you bastard! Come hack me!"

"Huh?"

Everyone present froze slightly.

Judging by the skill's in-game effect, that guy should have immediately turned and rushed toward him.

That was what Garen thought.

Then—

A gunshot rang out, and the bullet struck Garen's armor dead center.

The first reaction of the saber-wielding brute after being taunted by Garen was actually to lower his blade, draw a flintlock pistol from his waist, and fire at Garen from afar.

Garen froze for a moment, then immediately understood the skill's hidden meaning: it only forced the target to attack him, but did not restrict the method of attack.

Garen could not help feeling slightly disappointed.

In the game, Rammus's Taunting Shout could force enemies to use only Normal Attack. It could make fragile mages personally engage a giant tank turtle in bare-knuckle combat. Its control power was naturally beyond question.

His own Taunting Shout seemed less powerful than he had imagined.

However, Garen quickly changed his opinion of the skill.

The two-second duration of Taunting Shout had not yet ended. After firing one shot, the unlucky victim started reloading like a madman, displaying a fierce determination to fire another shot at Garen even at the cost of his life.

But the Headquarters Marine soldier who had just been trading saber blows with him was still right there.

After a brief moment of shock, the Marine soldier quickly reacted and slashed at the unlucky man.

The blade was right in front of him, and the distance was practically zero, yet the unlucky man acted as if he saw nothing.

All he wanted was to launch another attack at Garen.

Yet fear and panic were plainly written across the corrupt Marine's face. He clearly had not lost his mind.

It was as though some absolute existence was toying with his will, forcing him to try every possible means to attack Garen.

The blade came down across his shoulder, crippling nearly half his arm as blood sprayed everywhere.

The corrupt Marine whose arm had been severed immediately let out an uncontrollable scream of pain, his facial muscles violently twisting from the injury.

Even so, he stubbornly struggled to attack Garen in the distance.

Only after the two seconds ended did he collapse into the pool of blood with a terrified expression, instantly passing out from his severe injuries.

The entire process—

Looked like something out of an utterly horrifying horror film.

Even Garen, the user of the skill, felt a chill run down his spine.

The scene fell silent.

Garen, the Headquarters Marines, and the corrupt Marines all stared at one another, unsure what to make of it.

The twelve-second cooldown of Taunting Shout ended before anyone noticed.

Garen silently looked toward another enemy grunt and muttered in his mind, Taunting Shout!

The second unlucky victim stiffened all over, then involuntarily grabbed his blade and charged at Garen.

"What... what's happening?!"

He shouted in panic, yet he could not stop himself from thinking about how to attack Garen.

It was an incredibly contradictory and terrifying experience.

He clearly knew it was dangerous and wanted to flee, but his mind was firmly occupied by another completely different thought:

I have to find a way to fucking slash him!

To attack Garen, he abandoned all defense and all evasion.

The Headquarters Marine behind him quickly raised his flintlock and sent a bullet into the second unlucky victim.

He screamed and fell to the ground.

Yet even while sprawled in a pool of blood, he still struggled to grab a handful of dirt from the ground and throw it at Garen from afar.

The second man died on the path to attacking Garen.

The scene was deathly silent.

This method of twisting a person's will out of thin air was simply too bizarre and terrifying.

Several seconds later, the remaining enemy grunts all dropped to their knees and cried out:

"Spare us! Don't put a curse on us!"

"Uh..."

Garen waved at several Headquarters Marines. "I'll leave them to you."

"Y-Yes!"

The Marine soldiers hurriedly nodded.

Garen turned to leave, but a familiar voice sounded beside him:

"You..."

"How did you do that?"

It was Smoker.

After turning into smoke, Smoker had quickly wiped out the rebels throughout the base.

By the time he had finished making a round through the base and arrived here, he had happened to witness this bizarre scene.

"Well..."

Unable to answer Smoker's question, Garen could only blame it all on the Devil Fruit that did not exist.

"This is also an ability of my Knight Fruit."

"Knight Fruit?"

Smoker questioned him with a skeptical expression:

"How does any of this look like a knight's ability?"

"That invisibility thing from before was already underhanded enough, and this is even worse."

"Cough, cough."

Garen explained with a straight face.

"As the saying goes: adapt your tactics by avoiding strength and striking weakness."

"Invisibility and substitutes are precisely a knight's application of military strategy!"

"As for just now..."

Garen pondered for a moment before finally organizing his words.

"A candle burns silently, and moths come of their own accord."

"They came at me so crazily with their blades."

"Maybe it's because I'm too outstanding."