"Wh-what... just happened?!"
"Headliner... Lord Hawkins... he actually knelt before those people?!"
The lackeys' minds went completely blank.
As far as they knew, Lord Hawkins was a terrifying being who wielded the bizarre powers of the Straw-Straw Fruit, could transfer damage to others, and could kill without spilling blood!
Yet just now, the other side had done absolutely nothing. They had not even lifted a finger, and their invincible Headliner had dropped to his knees without warning, without a shred of dignity!
"Thud!"
While the pirates were still staring in shock, the sharpest and most perceptive lackey among them was the first to react.
He keenly sensed the suffocating, deadly killing intent in the air. Without a moment's hesitation, he leaped from his towering dragon-shaped mount and hit the ground with a heavy thump.
He did not even care that the rocks split the skin on his knees and forehead. With practiced ease, he prostrated himself, pressing his face deep into the sand. His entire body shook like a leaf, and he barely dared to breathe.
"Quick! Get on your knees! Kneel if you don't want to die, you idiots!"
The lackey who had taken the lead warned his companions in a faint voice choked with tears.
At the sight, the other pirates snapped out of their stupor.
Even a monster of Lord Hawkins's caliber lacked the courage to resist. If expendable cannon fodder like them kept standing there like fools, they would surely die without even knowing what had killed them!
"Clatter-thump! Thump! Thump!"
Weapons fell all over the ground.
The remaining dozen or so pirates followed suit. Like wheat cut down by a scythe, they tumbled from their mounts all at once and fell face-first, one after another, onto the gravel-strewn desert.
Even the tamed, mutated Ancient Zoan