Humanoid Tank

"Men, charge!"

"Kill them! Tear Byakuya limb from limb!"

A large group of pirates raced through the streets of the Royal Capital. When the commoners saw this, they screamed and scattered.

As the pirates charged toward the palace, the vicious pirates began setting fire to everything along the way.

Flames soared outside the city, and before long, thick smoke billowed through the city as well.

Su Xiao moved through the night. He soon overtook the pirates and arrived in front of the palace ahead of them.

The Goa Kingdom could only be considered a small country in the One Piece World, so the palace was merely a small castle.

Hidden near the kingdom, Su Xiao began waiting for the Krieg Pirates.

The Royal Capital was divided into three areas. The outermost was the Commoner District, followed by Central Street, with the palace at the very center.

Outside the palace district stood a city wall. However, it was not very high, and the Krieg Pirates would soon be able to break through it and storm into the palace district.

The Guard Corps in the palace district had already poured out in full force. Not long after, shouts of battle rang out.

Su Xiao continued waiting. According to what he knew, the Guard Corps in the palace district was nothing more than an empty shell. Those guards who had barely seen blood were no match for the pirates.

And that was exactly what happened. After only half an hour, the guards in the palace district were beaten back and forced to retreat to the front of the palace.

The guards were in an extremely sorry state. They looked frantic, and their casualties were severe. Some of the weaker ones had even fled on the spot.

"Men, the palace is right in front of us! Let's take it!"

Krieg had gone completely berserk. First, Su Xiao had deceived him, and then he had fought his way here, driving the pirate utterly mad.

"Kill them all!"

At Krieg's command, the several hundred pirates behind him shouted and charged toward the palace, engaging the guards.

The most brutal close-quarters battle began. Gunshots erupted from time to time like popping beans, blood splattered, and severed limbs fell one after another.

Inside the palace, the king, who had already retired for the night, was awakened by the commotion outside the castle.

The king of the Goa Kingdom was a nearly sixty-year-old man with thick black hair and a large beard.

"What's happening outside? Why is it suddenly so noisy?"

King Philip Herbert rose impatiently, while the Queen beside him sat up in confusion.

"Your Highness, those sound like gunshots outside. What happened?"

The Queen was very young. She timidly nestled against the king's chest.

"Someone come!"

The bedroom door was pushed open, and a burly man charged in. A deep scar ran across his face, making him look especially ferocious.

"Hausen, what's happening outside?"

The burly man called Hausen was the king's personal guard.

However, a metal collar hung around Hausen's neck. It was iron-black, and the connection points were fitted with intricate mechanisms.

If Su Xiao had been there, he would have immediately recognized the collar. It was a slave collar from the One Piece World.

The burly man named Hausen was actually a slave, with his life and death in the king's hands. No wonder the king had made him his personal guard.

Hausen did not speak. He merely made several hand gestures.

Hausen had already lost the ability to speak. His tongue had been cut out by slave traders. If his body had not been unusually strong, he might already have been killed by them.

"Pirates? How could there be pirates inside the palace? Minister of the Right, send someone to deal with them."

Although the king felt that something was wrong, he did not pay much attention to it. He clearly had great confidence in the palace's guards.

Hausen stood motionless in the room. The slave collar around his neck restricted his freedom. It could be detonated, and once that happened, he would die.

Outside the palace, Su Xiao was waiting for the right moment.

It was not time yet. Although the fighting inside the palace was fierce, it had not reached its climax.

After the chaotic battle had continued for around an hour, the king inside the palace finally lost his composure. He could clearly sense the sounds of battle drawing closer and closer.

Only then did the king realize how serious the situation was.

With a bang, the bedroom door was smashed open, and the blood-covered Minister of the Right rushed inside.

"Your Highness, this is terrible! Those pirates have broken in. They've already reached the third floor."

The king's expression changed drastically.

"Impossible! Where are my guards? Those guards were carefully selected. How could they have been beaten back so easily?"

The Minister of the Right knelt on the floor, curling up completely without daring to answer.

The people guarding the palace were not elite guards at all. They were merely young men hired with a great deal of money.

"Hausen, you go—wait."

The king's face twisted with indecision. Hausen was indeed powerful, but if he sent Hausen out, his own safety would no longer be guaranteed.

Yet if he did not send Hausen, those pirates would soon kill their way to him. By then, bullets would not care whom they hit.

"Deal with those pirates as quickly as possible, then return immediately. It doesn't matter even if you're injured, understand?

"If I die, you'll be buried with me."

Hausen's eyes remained emotionless. He merely nodded blankly before leaving the room.

Su Xiao, who was waiting outside the palace, soon heard a loud explosion from within. At the third-floor level, a large cloud of purple poison gas spread out.

"Finally, the moment has come."

Su Xiao leapt into the air. His entire body clung to the castle's outer wall like a gecko.

He climbed upward nimbly, directly passing the third-floor level.

The battle was taking place on the third floor, so the king could not possibly be below it.

When he reached the third floor, Su Xiao looked through a window and saw two people fighting: Krieg and a Strong Man.

What Su Xiao had not expected was that Krieg was being beaten terribly. One of his arms hung limply, and he clearly could not hold out much longer.

That Strong Man was completely a humanoid tank. Every time he charged, he smashed through large sections of wall. If Su Xiao fought such a monster, he would lose in less than two minutes.

Not assassinating the king directly had undoubtedly been the right decision. Fighting such an enemy would be nothing short of suicide.

Conservatively, this Strong Man's Strength Attribute exceeded twenty points.

Krieg was almost unable to hold on, so Su Xiao did not have much time. He had to act quickly.

The palace had many rooms, and Su Xiao quickly checked them through the windows.

He found no sign of the king on the fourth floor. Then he searched the fifth floor, the sixth floor...

After searching quickly, Su Xiao finally found the king through a window.

The king was not in a room. Instead, he was fleeing along a corridor. It seemed he intended to escape upward, reducing the chances of being discovered by the pirates.

The successive tremors coming from below the castle had thrown the king into a panic.

Pale moonlight shone in through the window as the king ran swiftly along the corridor.

"Your Highness, huff... I-I can't run anymore. Let's rest for a while."

The Queen, who had fled with the king, sat down on the floor, panting heavily.

The king's expression shifted repeatedly. He still found the woman somewhat fresh and interesting, so he was reluctant to abandon her. But compared with his life, the woman meant nothing to him.

"Then rest here, my dear."

With that, the king turned and prepared to leave, abandoning the Queen as she sat foolishly on the floor.

Just then, the glass window beside the corridor shattered with a crash, and a figure wielding a sharp blade burst through it.

This cover is really quite flashy. (I didn't change it myself.)