Marine Branch G-51, harbor.
The Kingdom of Nysmal's royal merchant ship, the Ekyorn, remained quietly docked.
A grand banquet had already begun inside the branch. The Marines and the merchant ship's managers were enjoying fine food and wine.
Meanwhile, on the merchant ship's deck.
"I'm so jealous. I heard Manager Mantar prepared a hundred thousand Belly in red envelopes for every Marine soldier this time."
One of the Kingdom of Nysmal's guards sighed. "Especially Colonel Aster. I heard the treasure the kingdom secretly gave him was worth this much."
He held up his hand to indicate a number and clicked his tongue in amazement.
"You don't understand."
The older guard beside him chuckled when he heard that. "Colonel Astah is no ordinary man. Earlier, when Manager Mantar was transporting a shipload of slaves, something happened at Master Port. Several slaves escaped and went to the Marine Branch for help."
"One of the slaves was a woman, a special commodity from the Blooming Race—that was premium cargo!"
At that, the guard beside him looked shocked as well.
The Blooming Race—a special race in the vast sea.
On the surface, they looked like ordinary humans, but their bodies gave off a floral fragrance, and approaching plants made them grow. Their sweat was also one of the finest flower honeys in the world.
Female members of the Blooming Race commanded prices no lower than female mermaids. At Sabaody Archipelago, their starting auction price was fifty million Belly.
It was easy to imagine that if such cargo escaped, Manager Mantar would certainly be in trouble.
But—
"It was Colonel Astah who returned those slaves to the manager and destroyed all the related rescue documents."
The older guard chuckled. "Now you understand, right? The Marines are our important 'protective umbrella.' Of course Manager Mantar has to give them enough benefits!"
Hearing that, the young guard became even more envious.
But the older guard soon changed the subject. "You don't need to be too jealous. We made quite a haul this time. Manager Mantar will give us some rewards."
At that, the young guard perked up.
"Isn't that the truth? Who could have expected such a great beauty to be hiding in a fishing village on a small island? In the end, a Celestial Dragon took a fancy to her and bought her."
As he said this, he swallowed hard.
The older guard nodded as well. "Yes. That World Noble offered a Devil Fruit and two hundred million Belly in exchange. Counting the other slaves this time, we made five hundred million Belly altogether. Hm!?"
He had only gotten halfway through his sentence when his expression suddenly changed.
At that moment, both guards discovered that their legs, necks, bodies, and hands had all been firmly restrained.
Before they could struggle,
two short blades pierced through their bodies from behind, one each.
"Six—no, seven intruders?"
The older guard rapidly determined the number of intruders in his mind before collapsing heavily.
The seven intruders then quickly dragged the two fallen guards into a corner and stripped off their clothes.
After finishing, all seven intruders began panting heavily.
A closer look would reveal an astonishing fact.
The seven intruders who had infiltrated the ship all looked exactly alike. They were none other than the young pirate named Alan.
There was no need to say more.
They were naturally Alan himself and his remaining six Slice Clones.
"Keli, she..."
At that moment, Alan's low voice sounded as if he were about to grind his teeth to pieces.
From the conversation between the two guards, he had naturally already learned Keli's fate.
"N-no, I can't panic. Grandpa and the others are still in the hold. I have to rescue them first..."
But he quickly suppressed his anger for the time being. Two of his clones then put on the guards' clothes.
"In fifteen minutes, it'll be time for the guards to change shifts. The hold will open then. I can take the opportunity to sneak in and rescue Grandpa and the others."
He went over every detail of his plan in his mind.
That was right.
Ever since he had claimed to be a pirate and written that threatening letter, forcing the merchant ship to stop at Master Port, he had watched everyone on the ship from a distance, waiting for the plan to begin.
"At that time, only four guards will remain in the hold for a brief period. I'll ambush and kill two first. As for the other two, I'll use my life to fill the gap!"
At that thought, Alan couldn't help recalling the strange Navy Captain his discarded "sacrificial pawn" clone had encountered earlier.
For some reason, the other man had seemed to know his plan. Every one of his remarks had struck directly at Alan's weak points.
"But according to the information synchronized from the clone, he doesn't seem to have returned to the harbor. Could it have only been a bluff to deceive me?"
At that thought, Alan violently shook his head.
Things had come this far. He no longer had time to overthink.
He knew his own strength very well.
Although the Devil Fruit he had eaten when he was young had granted him a special ability,
he was ultimately just an ordinary boy from a fishing village. The only reason he hadn't been captured and made into a slave like the others was pure luck—he simply hadn't been in the village at the time.
Even if he and all his Slice Clones attacked together, they might not be able to defeat three kingdom guards head-on.
Therefore, he had only one chance.
"I have to focus! Focus!"
Just as he thought this,
"Tweet!"
A sharp whistle shattered the merchant ship's silence, coming from behind him.
Alan turned around in disbelief.
He saw that the two guards he had stabbed through had already struggled back into sitting positions.
"Kid. First time killing someone?"
Blood was still flowing from the older guard's body, but he grinned viciously.
"You were nervous. With such short knives, you could only stab our heads, hearts, or vital organs. But you didn't hit any of them! Idiot!"
As he spoke, dozens of guards rushed out of the hold after hearing the whistle.
"An intruder!"
"Why invade now? There's no treasure left on our ship."
"Forget it. Capture him first!"
"Wait, these intruders... Seven Twins?"
After seeing Alan and the two wounded guards, they immediately understood what had happened.
At that moment, Alan's face had gone deathly pale.
Just as he had said before—he had only one chance.
But clearly, that chance was already gone.
The next moment, he heard the older guard say, "Don't kill him. They're not Seven Twins—this guy should be an Ability User. He's valuable cargo! Take him alive!"
Hearing this, Alan's pale face suddenly flushed red.
He tightened his grip on the short blade.
"You bunch of bastards. I..."
He would not become a slave—even if he had to die, he would never submit!
With that, he and his six Slice Clones gripped their short blades and lunged fiercely at the guards.
But clearly, it was meaningless.
In just two minutes, Alan and several of his clones were already lying on the deck, covered in blood.
"Which one is the real body?"
"Who cares? Capture them all."
"We're rich! Ability User slaves are very popular!"
As they spoke, several guards grinningly approached and reached out to seize Alan.
"Damn it. Damn it..."
Alan tried to resist from the ground, but he was immediately pinned down and rendered unable to move.
But at that moment—
"Boom!"
He suddenly heard the sound of something tearing through the air.
Then he clearly felt the force holding him down vanish, replaced by warm liquid splashing across his body.
He struggled to look ahead.
The guards who had been glaring ferociously at him were gone.
In their place was a huge hole in the deck.
Through it, he could see the blood and corpses of the guards below. They were the source of the warm liquid on his body.
"Who!?"
"What's with this hole?"
"What happened?"
"Look! In the sky!"
Then he heard the guards' wary voices.
He instinctively raised his head.
What he saw next was a scene he would never be able to forget for the rest of his life.
The full moon hung high in the pitch-black sky.
Moonlight spilled over the waves, casting a silvery gleam.
At the same time, a figure stood in the center of the moon in the sky.
A Rooster Mask covered his face as he slowly withdrew his fist.
"Who's that guy? An accomplice of the intruders?"
"He can fly? Is he an Ability User too?"
"Quick! Shoot him down!"
The guards raised their weapons and discussed the matter in confusion.
But some of them had already noticed that something was wrong.
For example, the older guard Alan had stabbed. He noticed that the figure was indeed standing in midair, but upon closer inspection, the figure's feet were making faint stepping motions.
"That is..."
As a seasoned veteran who had seen and heard much, the older guard had heard of this technique. Combined with the punch that had just shattered the deck,
"No! No!"
The older guard immediately began shouting orders.
"Retreat! Hurry and notify Manager Mantar and Colonel Aster! That guy is a monster!"
But clearly, it was already too late.
"Whoosh!"
With speed nearly invisible to the naked eye and a violent roar of displaced air, the figure in the sky vanished.
"How wonderful."
The next moment, a lowered voice reached the older guard's ears.
"For my first operation to run into scum like you... You're going to let me hunt to my heart's content!"
As the low voice sounded, the older guard felt his vision soar high into the air.
Then he saw his own body.
That was when he realized that it wasn't he who had flown up, but only his head.
And in that brief remnant of consciousness,
the older guard saw the figure wearing the Rooster Mask charge into the crowd like a ghost, without the slightest pause.
Screams and battle cries echoed through the night.
High in the pitch-black night sky, the full moon hung overhead.
Moonlight spilled across the deck, seeming to take on the color of blood.
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