Shiryu's Style!

Two hours later, the warship successfully rendezvoused with another warship. Following the Major's instructions, Shiryu crossed over alone on a plank to the latter's deck.

At the same time, he spotted Sakazuki's back standing at the bow at a glance.

In Shiryu's eyes, although Vice Admiral Akainu was a head shorter than him, the aura he exuded was far more imposing than Magellan's.

This made his mood somewhat heavy, and his expression had long since turned restrained.

"Reporting to Vice Admiral Akainu. Former Chief Warden of Impel Down, current Colonel of Marine Headquarters, Shiryu, reporting for duty."

As soon as he finished speaking, Sakazuki slowly turned around, arms folded across his chest. His oppressive gaze swept over Shiryu from head to toe.

"As Impel Down's Chief Warden, someone specifically responsible for guarding prisoners, what is your opinion of pirates? Speak."

Hearing this, Shiryu instinctively considered the other man's intentions. What he knew of Sakazuki was limited to what had been reported in the newspapers: a candidate for Admiral and a user of the Logia-type Magma-Magma Fruit. As for his personality, preferences, and dislikes, Shiryu knew nothing.

Since that was the case, he chose to answer according to his true feelings.

"A bunch of trash. Aside from ability users, the rest shouldn't be locked up and waste food at all. If they absolutely have to be put to use, they can serve as target practice for soldiers and straw mats for testing blades."

Sakazuki raised a brow. Though his expression remained completely calm, he was quite satisfied inside. He had originally thought that if some softhearted fellow showed up, he would kick him straight off the ship and make him swim back to Marineford to await reassignment.

"Not bad. I hope you can live up to those words later." With that, he ordered the Marine standing by nearby, "Set sail!"

"Yes!"

The Marine hurried back into the cabin to relay the order. Soon, the enormous vessel beneath their feet began to move.

"You should have some understanding of this mission by now, correct?" Sakazuki asked in a low voice.

Shiryu nodded. On his way over, he had already read the mission details sent by the other side. The Medal Kingdom, located on the fourth island of the first route in the first half of the Grand Line, had been attacked by a large number of pirates.

The first route happened to run alongside the Calm Belt where Impel Down was located, making them one of the closer warships. The moment Sakazuki heard the words "a large number of pirates," he took the mission, leaving Marineford no chance to assign it to another nearby warship.

Also to save time, Sakazuki had not gone to Impel Down to pick up Shiryu, instead having him rush over aboard someone else's warship.

"For this mission, I won't make the first move. You'll lead the team and handle it!"

"No problem. I'm looking forward to it too." Shiryu touched the red-wrapped hilt of Raiu at his waist with his right hand and revealed a chilling smile.

He had never expected that he would get the chance for a grand slaughter the moment he left Impel Down. This made him even more satisfied with the transfer, though his superior seemed rather domineering.

In Impel Down, although he was the third-ranking Chief Warden, he was effectively second in command. Aside from Warden Columbus's orders, he did not need to pay attention to anyone, including Vice Warden Magellan.

As for the other Prison Guard Chiefs and Jailer Beasts, seeing him was no different from mice seeing a cat.

Warden Columbus, meanwhile, had little presence unless the World Government required his cooperation. He normally spoke little, and even turned a blind eye when Shiryu occasionally killed prisoners in private. He basically did not care about the prisoners on the first four levels. In his eyes, only prisoners from the fifth level onward, those with bounties exceeding one hundred million, counted as important assets.

Magellan, on the other hand, often reprimanded him over such matters. That was why he found the man so irritating. He had only killed some insignificant trash—what was there to nag about endlessly?

When a Headquarters Class warship meticulously built by Water Seven's shipwrights traveled at full speed, it displayed astonishing efficiency and velocity. In only one hour and seven minutes, it arrived in the waters near the Medal Kingdom.

At this distance, Sakazuki, Shiryu, and the others on deck could already hear the booming carried over by the sea wind. Looking into the distance, they could vaguely make out seven or eight pirate warships flying pirate flags, continuously bombarding the towns on the island.

One of the ships gradually ceased firing and slowly turned its bow, seemingly preparing to leave the harbor.

"Looks like they spotted us." Shiryu smiled into the sea breeze.

He casually took out a cigar, put it between his lips, and lit it. Whenever he was about to kill people—especially a great many people—his emotions became excited. At such times, taking a puff was the greatest enjoyment for him.

Sakazuki neither responded to nor interfered with his words or actions. Since he had said the mission would be handed to Shiryu, he would let him do as he pleased.

Of course, he would not truly allow pirates to escape right in front of him.

[Whoosh!]

The next second, like the other Marine officers, Shiryu, draped in a Coat of Justice, turned into an afterimage and vanished from the spot, leaving only faint smoke drifting through the air.

This left the officers and Marines on deck eagerly anticipating their adjutant's coming performance.

At the same time, the other pirate warships also stopped their bombardment and hurriedly turned around. Clearly, they too had noticed the massive warship approaching.

The first ship to react had already completed its turn and was heading in another direction.

"Faster! Move faster!"

"Now isn't the time to fight the Marines!"

On the pirate ship, a nearly four-meter-tall, heavily built giant clad in iron armor and bearing a vicious face waved his saber as he shouted orders.

The other pirates aboard, whether in temperament or dress, looked very much like ordinary soldiers. In any case, they did not feel like pirates at all.

[Whoosh—]

Just then, a piercing sound of something cutting through the air rang out beside them, causing the giant and the crew to drastically change expression. The former instinctively shouted, "Watch out for cannon fire!"

Not just him—everyone believed the distant warship had fired its cannons.

Yet several seconds passed. As the whistling sound faded away, nothing happened. Forget the ship being struck by cannon fire; not even a water column erupted from the sea.

Rows of golden question marks practically lit up over their heads.

"Yo, trash. Your time is up. Give me a smile~"

Suddenly, a chilling, sinister laugh came from above. Everyone raised their heads in unison and indeed saw a Marine officer over three meters tall standing atop the mast, his red-glinting pupils looking down at them mockingly.

"You!"

The giant raised his saber and pointed it at the man. Just as he was about to say something viciously, the figure before his eyes vanished in an instant. All he vaguely saw was a blood-red flash.

"C-Cas, Boss Cas!"

The surrounding pirates were dumbfounded. The Marine who had been atop the mast a second ago had instantly appeared behind Boss Cas. The long blade at his waist was already drawn, gleaming coldly beneath the sunlight.

At the same time, a thin line of blood gradually appeared around the giant's neck, while the armor on his body shattered into fragments and fell to the deck.

Who knew how many times he had been slashed in that instant?

Shiryu did not even glance at Cas behind him. Though the other man was still breathing and conscious, he was already a corpse in Shiryu's eyes.

[Whoosh!]

The next second, his entire body became a white afterimage, darting at high speed through the cries of alarm and screams of over a hundred armed pirates. Blood-red blade flashes streaked through the air.

When Shiryu killed, he did not like cutting ships apart or destroying warships. Instead, he preferred to chop people to death one by one with the blade in his hand. The sensation of a blade cutting through flesh truly intoxicated him.

As the saying went, killing was a bad habit—but he could no longer quit it!

Dear readers, this book has a new cover. Have you all seen it? What do you think? Isn't this cover much better than the last one? I made it myself!

Also, I have good news to share with everyone. With the generous support of you readers, this book has reached 46th place in the light novel category of the contracted authors' new book rankings!

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