Arlong would slaughter every last one of you humans.
Those were the words Sam had wanted to finish saying before he died.
If Maud heard them, he might even laugh out loud.
Still, Maud had not expected to hear Arlong's name from Sam.
After all, the Arlong Pirates were in the East Blue, while this was the West Blue.
Could he have been trying to join Arlong, only to end up in the West Blue because he got lost, and then be captured by humans?
Maud shook his head and stopped dwelling on it.
Just then, his body suddenly gave a faint series of cracking sounds, followed by subtle changes.
Sensing this, Maud rolled up his sleeve. The muscles on his arm had begun to take shape, though they were still rather weak.
"It was only a few scraps of information, yet the gains are already this substantial."
Maud was somewhat surprised and could not help glancing at Sam's corpse.
After all, Sam was someone who had relied solely on his physical abilities and astonishing grip strength to carve a bloody path through a crowd.
That aside, despite his serious injuries, he had not only managed to hold out until now, but even when he charged over just now, his speed had been severely reduced and he had still been a force to be reckoned with.
If Maud had not taken Sam's reaction into account and pulled away in advance, Sam might have closed in on him right after he finished writing the name.
If a fish-man with physical abilities as strong as Sam's learned martial arts or Fish-Man Karate, his overall strength would probably multiply several times over.
"This guy clearly isn't an ordinary Fish-Man Race warrior. If I'd let him escape tonight and he later joined up with the Arlong Pirates... he might have wiped out the Straw Hat Pirates before they had fully formed several years from now."
Maud picked up Usopp, which he had tossed aside earlier.
Throwing away the gun had actually been somewhat unnecessary. He had originally hoped it might make Sam lower his guard slightly, but there were no bullets in the gun anyway.
Even so, Maud still admired the decisiveness Sam had displayed in those few short minutes.
Unfortunately, fate had already secretly marked the price.
Even if Sam had managed to escape the auction house by sheer luck and make it here, he still could not escape his one inevitable destination—death.
At that point, even if Maud had not fired, he could have killed the badly wounded Sam with nothing but a dagger while his breathing was unsteady.
He had only fired because it was safer.
Since he had a safer method, only an idiot would choose to use a dagger instead.
If it had been a long blade, it might have been worth considering.
After all, every inch of extra length brought extra strength. A long blade was far more reliable than a dagger.
Without lingering any longer, Maud left the alley.
A moment later, the faint smell of fish gradually spread through the air.
On this outing tonight, Maud had successfully harvested three pirates and one fish-man.
His substantial gains made him decide to stop there. He would no longer go back to the auction house to join in the excitement, but would return directly to the weapons shop.
"The Arlong Pirates..."
On the way back, because of Sam's unfinished final words and because Maud had tasted the benefits brought by hunting a fish-man for the first time, his thoughts inevitably began to run wild.
For now, they were only thoughts.
After all, the Arlong Pirates were far away in the East Blue. Besides, with his current strength, going there would be nothing but delivering himself to be slaughtered.
Still, the benefits brought by fish-men were truly enticing.
Of course, ordinary fish-men probably would not provide much benefit.
For fish-men of Sam's caliber, the only places Maud could think of were the Arlong Pirates in the East Blue, Fish-Man Island ten thousand meters beneath the sea, and the Sabaody Archipelago, where the supply of fish-man slaves was relatively abundant.
The awkward part was that by the time Maud could reach those places, his strength might already have grown to the point where he no longer needed them.
On the way back to the weapons shop, Maud deliberately took a route without any lights, only to get lost.
With no other choice, Maud could only honestly take the route along the rooftops, and that was how he safely returned to the weapons shop.
After returning, Maud quietly entered the washroom.
He removed his mask and Death Armband in the darkness and placed them on the sink. Then he turned on the faucet, cupped some water, and patted it against his face.
He planned to dispose of these disguises tomorrow.
Even if he needed them again in the future, he would make a new set in a different style.
"Phew..."
Maud wiped the water from his face and looked toward the mirror in the darkness. It was pitch-black.
His Constitution request had already gotten on the right track, and he began considering whether he should fill in a second request.
Once the thought arose, hesitation followed close behind.
Swordsmanship or martial arts?
When he thought of martial arts, the first thing Maud associated it with was the Marines' Six Powers—Shave, Iron Body, Paper Arts, Geppo, Tempest Kick, and Finger Pistol.
As for swordsmanship, the most vivid impressions were Zoro's various dazzling sword techniques and the overwhelming aura Hawk Eyes displayed when he casually swung a blade.
With the former, he would first have to learn the Six Powers before the martial arts request could truly show its effects.
With the latter, he could take a shortcut and fill in a request for cold weapons.
However, once the scope of a request widened, the experience gained would have to be divided among more areas.
A passive request like Constitution already distributed its gains among various aspects such as strength, stamina, and speed.
If he filled the second request with something similar, he would probably end up with quantity at the expense of quality.
If he went all out, he could even fill in a request for talent or something, but talent was an intangible and mysterious thing, and Maud did not want to take that risk.
He probably would not be able to decide anytime soon.
Still, Maud actually knew that he leaned more toward swordsmanship. It was just that he had so few request slots, so he had to choose carefully and could not make a decision too quickly.
His consideration was simple: under equal conditions, a blade was definitely harder than a fist.
There was another crucial point as well—the length.
When he thought of that, a scene inevitably surfaced in Maud's mind.
A martial-arts matchstick figure darted wildly through a crowd, shaking out afterimages as it shouted, "I can make your scalp go numb with my moves!"
A swordsmanship matchstick figure directly pulled out something long and hard and said disdainfully, "Mine is longer than yours."
And that was where the topic ended.
Maud's thoughts returned to reality.
"Take it slow."
As usual, he reminded himself not to rush.
As long as one was patient enough, success was not actually as difficult as it seemed.
Click.
The light suddenly came on.
Maud's eyelid twitched, and he saw Sunny's reflection in the mirror.
Sunny had turned on the light.
He had been so focused on his thoughts that he had not noticed Sunny coming downstairs.
Looking at Sunny in the mirror, Maud said apologetically, "Did I wake you?"
Sunny shook her head. "I wasn't asleep."
"It's already this late, and you still haven't slept?"
Maud was somewhat surprised.
Sunny suddenly fell silent and looked at the mask and armband on the sink.
The mask in particular might have been mistaken for Arthur's work mask if one did not look closely.
Seeing Sunny examining the mask and armband, Maud turned around and discreetly blocked her view. At the same time, he changed the subject and teased her:
"You're still awake this late. Don't tell me you were waiting for me to come back?"
"Yes."
Sunny seemed to lack the reservedness expected of a girl and directly admitted it with a nod.
Maud froze, then burst out laughing and teased, "Good heavens, don't tell me you've fallen for me?"
Sunny immediately rolled her eyes at him and walked straight toward the kitchen.
"I'm hungry. Make me something to eat, and make an extra portion too. Saul might be back soon."
"You go ahead. I'll be there in a moment."
Maud smiled and agreed, intending to take the mask and armband upstairs to his room first.
Mad Hat Auction House.
The black smoke had dispersed, leaving the scene in complete disarray.
Gang Bege was surrounded by a group of subordinates, a half-eaten Devil Fruit in his hand.
Because of its indescribably awful taste, his features were slightly twisted.
At his feet lay a middle-aged man who had been shot several times.
"Begg!"
The middle-aged man laboriously raised his head and glared at Begg. "A bastard like you who made his fortune through bootlegging..."
While coldly looking at the middle-aged man, Begg swallowed the other half of the Devil Fruit.
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