Human Tank

"Lads, charge with me!"

"Kill them! Tear Byakuya to pieces!"

A massive horde of pirates sprinted through the streets of the Royal Capital. Upon seeing this, the civilians in the Commoner District screamed and fled in every direction.

As the pirates charged toward the palace, the most ruthless among them began setting fires along their path.

Flames soared into the sky outside the city, and soon, thick smoke billowed within the walls as well.

Su Xiao moved through the night, quickly overtaking the pirates and arriving at the palace ahead of them.

The Goa Kingdom was merely a small nation in the One Piece World, so the palace was nothing more than a castle with a modest footprint.

Hiding near the perimeter, Su Xiao began to wait for the Krieg Pirates.

The Royal Capital was divided into three sections: the outermost was the Commoner District, followed by Central Street, and the palace sat at the very center.

There was a wall surrounding the palace district, but it was not particularly high; the Krieg Pirates would be able to breach it and storm the palace grounds in no time.

The Guard Corps within the palace district had already mobilized in full force, and before long, the sounds of battle erupted.

Su Xiao remained in wait. Based on his knowledge, the palace Guard Corps were all bark and no bite; those guards who had rarely seen blood were no match for these pirates.

The facts proved him right. After only half an hour, the guards of the palace district were beaten back, retreating to the front of the palace.

These guards were in a pathetic state, their expressions frantic, and they had suffered heavy casualties. Some of the weaker ones had even turned and fled on the spot.

"Lads, the palace is right before us! Let's plunder it!"

Krieg had been driven into a bloodthirsty frenzy. First deceived by Su Xiao and then forced to fight his way here, the pirate had completely lost his mind.

"Kill them all! Leave no one alive!"

At Krieg's command, the hundreds of pirates behind him roared and charged toward the palace, clashing with the guards.

The most brutal hand-to-hand combat began. The sound of gunfire, like popping beans, rang out incessantly as blood splattered and severed limbs hit the ground one after another.

Inside the palace, the King, who had already been resting, was startled awake by the noise outside the castle.

The King of the Goa Kingdom was a man nearing sixty, with a full head of black hair and a thick beard.

"What is going on outside? Why is it so noisy all of a sudden?"

King Philip Herbert rose with some impatience, and the Queen beside him sat up, looking bewildered.

"Your Highness, it sounds like gunfire outside. What has happened?"

The Queen was very young and huddled timidly in the King's arms.

"Someone, come here!"

The bedroom door was pushed open, and a burly man rushed in. On the man's face was a deep, jagged scar that stretched across his entire visage, making him look exceptionally ferocious.

"Hausen, what is happening outside?"

The burly man known as Hausen was the King's personal bodyguard.

However, around Hausen's neck was a metal collar, iron-black in color, with intricate mechanisms at the clasp.

If Su Xiao were present, he would surely recognize this collar; it was a slave collar from the One Piece World.

This burly man named Hausen was actually a slave whose life and death were held in the King's hands. No wonder the King trusted him to be his personal bodyguard.

Hausen did not speak, merely making a few gestures.

Hausen had lost the ability to speak; his tongue had been cut out by slave traders. If not for his exceptionally strong physique, he likely would have been killed by the traders long ago.

"Pirates? How could there be pirates in the palace? Minister of the Right, go and send men to deal with this group of pirates."

Although the King felt something was amiss, he did not pay much mind to it, appearing very confident in the palace's security forces.

Hausen stood frozen in the room. The slave collar around his neck restricted his freedom; if this collar were detonated, he would die.

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

It was not yet time. Although the fighting within the palace was intense, it had not yet reached its peak.

After the chaotic battle had continued for about an hour, the King inside the palace could no longer remain calm. He could clearly sense that the sounds of slaughter were drawing closer.

At this moment, the King finally realized the severity of the situation.

With a bang, the door was kicked open, and the Minister of the Right, covered in blood, rushed into the bedroom.

"Your Highness, it is a disaster! That group of pirates has broken through; they have already reached the third floor!"

The King's expression changed drastically.

"Impossible! What about my guards? Those guards were all carefully selected—how could they be beaten back so easily?"

The Minister of the Right knelt on the ground, curled up, and dared not answer.

The people in the palace were not elite guards at all, but merely young men who had been hired for a high price.

"Hausen, you go—wait..."

The King's face was full of conflict. Hausen was indeed powerful, but if he sent Hausen away, his own safety would no longer be guaranteed.

Yet, if he did not send Hausen, that group of pirates would soon kill their way to him, and bullets had no eyes.

"Finish off that group of pirates as quickly as possible, then return immediately. It doesn't matter if you get injured, do you understand?

If I die, you will be buried with me."

Hausen's eyes remained devoid of emotion; he simply nodded blankly before leaving the room.

Su Xiao, who was waiting outside the palace, soon heard a loud crash from within. On the third floor, a massive cloud of purple poison gas began to spread.

Finally, the moment has arrived.

Su Xiao leaped upward, his entire body clinging to the outer wall of the castle like a gecko.

Climbing with agility, Su Xiao bypassed the third floor entirely.

Since the battle was taking place on the third floor, the King could not possibly be below that level.

Upon reaching the third floor, Su Xiao looked through a window and saw two people fighting: Krieg and a burly man.

To Su Xiao's surprise, Krieg was being beaten quite badly; one of his arms hung limp, and it seemed he wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer.

That burly man was a human tank; every charge shattered large sections of the wall. If Su Xiao were to face such a monster, he would be defeated in less than two minutes.

It was undoubtedly the right choice not to attempt an assassination of the King directly; engaging an enemy like that would be pure suicide.

This burly man, by conservative estimates, had a Strength attribute exceeding 20 points.

Krieg was nearing his limit, so time was running out; Su Xiao needed to act as quickly as possible.

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

He found no trace of the King on the fourth floor, then the fifth, the sixth...

After a swift search, Su Xiao finally spotted the King through a window.

The man was not in a room, but was fleeing down a corridor; it seemed he was trying to reach higher ground to reduce the chance of being discovered by the pirates.

The tremors echoing from the lower levels of the castle had caused the King to lose his composure.

Pale moonlight streamed in through the windows as the King sprinted down the hallway.

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

The Queen, who had been fleeing with the King, sat on the floor, gasping for breath.

The King's expression shifted rapidly. He still had some lingering interest in this woman, so he didn't want to abandon her, but compared to his own life, a woman meant nothing to him.

"Then my beloved, you may rest here."

Having said that, the King prepared to turn and leave, abandoning the Queen who 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.

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