Hideout

Smoke and gunpowder hung thick in the air, pungent and conspicuous.

The pirates in the tavern had spent years keeping company with smoke, gunfire, and flashing blades, so they paid no attention to the spreading haze.

One after another, gazes pierced through the smoke and settled on Maud.

There was awe, surprise, and astonishment among them.

The incident had happened too suddenly. By the time they reacted, the two pirates who had clearly come looking for revenge had already been shot between the brows, leaving them sprawled on the floor as corpses.

Although the two pirates had burst in, clearly identified their target, and raised their guns without hesitation to pull the triggers,

the masked Undertaker had been faster.

And he had fired with both hands, sending two lead bullets into their foreheads almost simultaneously.

He had been fast, ruthless, and accurate!

Several pirates sitting near the entrance could not help glancing at their two dead companions, eyes still open in death. Once they understood what had happened, they immediately realized the sinister intentions of those two men.

They had chosen that time and place to seek revenge because they had most likely followed Lafitte there, intending to use the people present as obstacles or shields that would let them escape in time.

What they had never dreamed of was that a ruthless man had been waiting for them at the very table where Lafitte sat.

"Of all times, it had to be when I was preparing to leave..."

Under the gazes of everyone in the tavern, Maud sighed inwardly and calmly slipped the flintlock, its muzzle still carrying residual warmth, beneath the table.

He did not rush to leave. Instead, he immediately reloaded the flintlock pistol.

Blind reloading was inefficient, but he performed it steadily and properly.

By now, Maud had more or less figured out that the two pirates had come for Lafitte. Otherwise, why would they have followed so closely after Lafitte entered?

Unfortunately, Lafitte had ended up sharing his table, leaving Maud exposed to the guns as well.

Under those circumstances, even if he had not sensed killing intent, how could he possibly have sat there waiting to die?

Whoever you came for, you brought your guns to me. Suffer the consequences.

That was why Maud had drawn his gun without a second thought and killed the two pirates.

As a result, Maud had killed two of the many enemies Lafitte had made.

But in truth, Maud had only acted to eliminate the risk.

"Nice shooting."

Steel Pipe's hand, gripping the end of the pipe, relaxed slightly as he watched Maud with interest.

His real name was Sabo. He came from the Revolutionary Army and had undergone all kinds of rigorous training, so he was proficient in a wide range of skills and abilities.

Gathering intelligence was one of them.

Although he did not often use guns, marksmanship was another skill he possessed.

Earlier, he had noticed that Maud was also gathering intelligence. While curious about Maud's identity, he had leaned toward the guess that Maud might be a Marine.

Now that he had witnessed Maud's clearly systematized marksmanship at close range, he was even more convinced that Maud might be a Marine.

Maud ignored Sabo's praise, lowered his head slightly, and focused on blindly reloading.

Seeing Maud remain as silent as before, Sabo smiled and did not mind.

Though they belonged to different factions, he had never judged a person's good or evil based on that. Nor would he hate someone for no reason simply because they belonged to a different faction.

His values were relatively free. He would not let outdated and stubborn ideas bind him.

Lafitte, who shared the table, took another look at Maud.

Lafitte knew very well that the two unlucky men had come for him. The killing intent that had come at him like the points of two blades had been so obvious that it might as well have been a red light hanging over their bodies.

What surprised him was how decisively and ruthlessly this man, who should have been uninvolved, had acted.

Naturally, he did not believe Maud had acted to help him. He could also see why Maud had acted so decisively.

"Heh."

And that was precisely what he admired.

Lafitte's gaze swept over every detail of Maud visible beyond the mask.

His eyes, lips, ears, and neck.

Only after committing them all to memory did he withdraw his gaze and signal for a server to come over.

The tavern staff had also recovered from their shock. They immediately carried the bodies outside and cleaned up the blood that had not yet spread across the floor.

At the same time, with manpower in short supply, they sent someone to notify the Undertaker to come collect the bodies.

As for the Undertaker inside the tavern, who had snuffed out the incident in time, they would have to be out of their minds to disturb him.

The commotion gradually subsided, and the surrounding pirates withdrew their attention from Maud one after another.

By then, Maud had finally finished loading both flintlock pistols.

He lacked practical experience when it came to reloading, so whether he was blind reloading or not, his efficiency was truly hard to praise.

After stowing the loaded flintlock pistols, Maud stood up, preparing to leave this troublesome place and find somewhere outside to lie in wait for the prey he had targeted.

"Leaving already?"

Although Maud had ignored him several times, Sabo still struck up a conversation with the familiarity of an old acquaintance.

Maud glanced at Sabo's broad-lensed sunglasses, chose to ignore him again, and walked straight toward the entrance.

Lafitte, meanwhile, watched Maud's figure from the corner of his eye. His gaze swept over Maud's back from head to toe like a scanner.

The surrounding pirates could not help glancing at Maud as well.

Only after Maud had left and the entrance had closed again did the tavern grow lively once more.

After leaving the tavern, Maud examined the surroundings, trying to find a patch of shadow where he could hide.

In a place filled with densely packed buildings of varying heights, wherever there was light, there would inevitably be shadow.

Soon, Maud found a suitable temporary hiding place.

He strode through the crowd in the street and silently slipped into the shadows of his hiding place.

Then, from across the street, he watched the tavern entrance in silence.

The moment his targeted prey walked out the door, he would follow them and look for an opportunity to hunt.

As for their names, there was no need to force them out of them. He only had to search them and find the Bounty Posters they carried as objects of bragging.

Time trickled by. Less than ten minutes remained before the auction began.

However, Maud's attention was not on the auction.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Maud saw two familiar figures.

"It's Kid and Killer."

Keeping his body hidden in the shadows, Maud watched Kid and Killer head toward the auction and instinctively touched Usopp strapped to his back.

"If I get the chance tonight, perhaps I can give it a try."

Maud slowly withdrew his gaze, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

Whether it was worth taking the risk would depend on the circumstances.

For now, he should keep a close eye on those prey.

If they got away, his trip tonight would be for nothing.

Maud silently watched the tavern entrance.

Before long, the minute hand reached nine o'clock, and the auction house began closing its entrance channels.

Looking from a distance, Maud noticed quite a few people in matching outfits appearing around the auction house, standing guard like sentries.

They were probably the auction house's armed security team.

Maud thought to himself.

Then he stopped paying attention to the auction house.

An hour passed.

The tavern doors opened, and three men with drunken faces stumbled out with their arms around one another's shoulders.

When Maud saw the three men, his eyes lit up after lying in wait for more than an hour.

"They finally came out."

Maud quietly followed them.

At that moment, the auction was in full swing.