The Sissy

Earlier, the man Leiyin had interrogated had not told him where Capone Bege was. Instead, he had led him to another wanted criminal with a bounty of over fifty million.

Back to the present.

Leiyin stood in front of the girl. With the middle and index fingers of his right hand, he drew a white energy ripple through the air. The white energy, sharp as a slash, instantly killed everyone charging toward them.

Glancing at the dozen or so bodies sprawled on the ground, Leiyin turned around and looked at the still-shaken girl. "Can you tell me what happened?"

The girl had run out of this place and was then hunted down by so many people. Something had definitely happened.

The girl still looked terrified, and her voice trembled. "W-Who are you?"

Leiyin thought for a moment. "Don't be afraid. My name is Balamark. I'm a pirate hunter. I only kill pirates with bounties on their heads."

By now, Leiyin had used the E-rank Substitution Technique to transform into a different appearance. Balamark was the name he had given this identity.

Seeing that he meant no harm, the girl told Leiyin everything.

Girl: The people who captured her belonged to a pirate crew. Their captain was named Tyler, with a bounty of 52 million Beli. He had been the one who slaughtered more than a hundred residents in a residential district at night some time ago. He was also responsible for the disappearance of dozens of young girls, and she was one of them. Not only was he powerful, he was also extremely lecherous, seeking out the girls he had captured every night for his own enjoyment. The Marines had led several attempts to capture him, but all had ended in failure. She could no longer stand Tyler's perversion, so she had tried to escape.

Hearing the girl's story, Leiyin remembered the two pirates mentioned in the latest newspaper.

One was the "Gangster" Capone Bege, a Paramecia Castle-Castle Fruit user with a current bounty of 78 million Beli.

The other was this Tyler. Yet judging from the girl's description, he was completely different from the information in the newspaper.

He had searched everywhere without success, only to stumble upon him without any effort at all.

"Right, do you know what kind of ability he has?" Leiyin asked the girl.

Girl: "I saw it once. One time, one of his subordinates angered him by mishandling a task. Tyler suddenly turned into a green rope and strangled that pirate to death."

Leiyin: "A green rope? He strangled him? Was it an ability related to a Rope-Rope Fruit?"

Girl: "I'm not sure either."

After that, Leiyin asked the girl for Tyler's exact location, gave her some money, and helped her escape.

Following the location the girl had given him, Leiyin went there.

He arrived in front of a large residence. The gate was made of iron and was firmly shut despite it being broad daylight.

A closer look revealed that the place had been built like a small fortress. Even if an army arrived, it would probably take quite some time to break in.

Seeing this, Leiyin could not help laughing. This guy is really cautious. No wonder the Marines have failed to capture him several times.

As he thought this, blue spiraling energy gathered in Leiyin's hand. A powerful force built up before suddenly bursting forth.

Great Spiral-Rasengan!

With a thunderous boom, the blue spiral struck the iron gate, blasting a huge hole through it.

After opening the gate and entering, he discovered that the place was larger than he had imagined. Many pirates, startled by the loud explosion, rushed over with all kinds of weapons, like frightened birds.

"Where did you come from, brat? How dare you come here looking for death?"

Leiyin said flatly, "If you don't want to die, get out of my way and tell Tyler to come out!"

"Are you tired of living?"

"Brothers, chop this brat into mincemeat!"

"Grrr!"

Seeing the people charging at him, Leiyin stomped on the ground and leaped into the air. His hands blurred as he completed a series of seals.

Fire Release—Great Fireball Technique!

A searing fireball plunged straight down and exploded amid the crowd, engulfing the pirates in a sea of flames.

When Leiyin landed on the ground again, a raging fire had already erupted behind him. He walked ahead of the flames, looking incredibly imposing.

The commotion Leiyin had caused had long since alerted the people inside. Soon, a somewhat thin man led several pirates out.

Some of the pirates saw the flames behind Leiyin that had yet to die down and could not help sucking in a breath of cold air. "Is that a fire-based Devil Fruit ability?"

Leiyin sized up the thin man leading them. "Are you Tyler?"

Unexpectedly, Tyler raised his pinky and spoke in a coquettish voice. "Oh my, you little brat, you actually killed my people—"

Huh?

Was this guy a sissy?

No wonder his behavior was so lecherous, and he had built his residence like a fortress, as though he were terrified the Marines would catch him.

Fine, he was a sissy. But he was also so lecherous. Just imagining what he had done to those young girls made Leiyin break out in goosebumps.

Forget it. Whether he was a sissy or not had nothing to do with him.

As Leiyin was thinking, Tyler spoke. He pointed his raised pinky at Leiyin. "Hey, brat, who are you? We have no grudge against each other, so why are you doing this?"

Leiyin smiled faintly. "This young master is Balamark, a pirate hunter. I've come to take your worthless life and earn some pocket money."

"Oh my, I'm so scared."

Although Tyler's tone and appearance did not resemble those of a vicious criminal, his heart was extraordinarily cruel and twisted. Otherwise, he would never have slaughtered more than a hundred innocent residents or kept young, beautiful girls for his own use.

One could paint a tiger's skin but not its bones; one could know a person's face but not their heart.

I should deal with these nuisances first.

With that thought, Leiyin activated another ninjutsu.

Earth Release—Earth Dragon Bullet Technique!

As soon as his voice fell, a massive earth dragon rose from the ground, frightening the pirates into trembling. Leiyin merely waved his right index finger, and the earth dragon opened its maw and spat out mud bullets the size of footballs. The bullets rained down on the pirates. They had no ability to defend or fight back and were beaten to death amid terrified expressions and desperate screams.

Looking at the colorful carnage covering the ground, Leiyin released his hand seal, and the earth dragon vanished.

Huh? Where had Tyler gone?

Just as the thought flashed through Leiyin's mind, something blue-green wrapped tightly around him.

What was this?

There was no mistake. This was Tyler's ability.

Leiyin was bound so tightly that, when he struggled to turn his head and look behind him, he saw a hideous, terrifying face.

This guy did not possess the so-called Rope-Rope Fruit ability the girl had mentioned. Rather, he was—