Chapter Seventeen: The Krieg Pirates

"Mission: Eliminate Krieg

Mission Rank: C

Reward: 500 Mission Points, one Eternal Chakra Fruit, Shadow Clone Technique, Taijutsu: Leaf Dragon God."

This was not a mission from the Mission Hall, but a genuine mission issued by the system. Its rewards could be said to rival those for capturing Ace last time.

The Krieg Pirates?

Wasn't that the pirate crew that had entered the Grand Line only a week ago, then been hunted back to the East Blue by Hawk Eyes?

They seemed to call themselves the largest pirate crew in the East Blue. Five thousand men had been cut down by Hawk Eyes alone.

It made sense. A weakling who wasn't particularly strong, bringing five thousand cannon fodder with him to face the world's greatest swordsman, obviously wouldn't have any ability to resist.

So how had Hawk Eyes crossed the Calm Belt in a tiny boat by himself?

Could it really be that he had simply rolled up his sleeves and used Supreme Grade Great Sword, Black Blade Night as an oar?

Otherwise, there was no way to explain his source of propulsion.

After Krieg witnessed him rowing across the Calm Belt, his aloof image was ruined, so he had decided to kill him to silence him. Or perhaps he had seen something even more private. There was definitely more to it than that. So, you unlucky bastard Krieg, what exactly did you see?

Rodney traveled with a merchant fleet while carrying out an escort mission. The current Krieg Pirates were not yet as large as they would be later, so they definitely did not have five thousand men, but he still had no idea how many they had. He would have to formulate a plan on the way.

"Should I go to Loguetown first and call Smoker over?" He stroked his chin and decided that it might work. Smoker was miserable, but he could barely count as a fifty-fifty fighter. He could exchange a couple of blows with anyone, yet couldn't beat anyone either. His template was rather similar to Kakashi's.

He had left Marine Branch 153 two or three days ago, and Loguetown was still a long way off. But after checking the location, he discovered that the Krieg Pirates seemed to be not far away.

So... should he infiltrate, launch a surprise attack, or fight them head-on?

He would fight them head-on first. If he couldn't win, he would infiltrate and assassinate them, becoming an unqualified assassin.

Sigh, not everyone was a Grand Assassin. Not everyone could wield a greatsword and wear heavy armor, hand over someone's head at the slightest disagreement, and gnaw on you when they got hungry.

The difference between a real assassin and a fake assassin was immediately obvious!

He stopped daydreaming and continued training. Training made him happy!

Three days later, on this bright and sunny day, Rodney was fully prepared to set out. His ninja footwear, leggings, White Fang, Shuriken, kunai, Explosive Tags, and a series of other tools were all ready.

He discovered that the Krieg Pirates were approaching this merchant ship. Using Chakra attached to the soles of his feet, he reached the watchtower and opened his Sharingan, gaining an extremely distant field of vision. On the far horizon, a fleet was slowly approaching.

The pirate symbols on every ship were identical: a skull with an hourglass painted on either side.

The huge sailing ship at the front had the shape of a black panther at its prow. It radiated menace and brimmed with aggression.

The Krieg Pirates!

Rodney smiled, but first he needed to notify the merchant ship's owner to retreat.

"What? Pirates?" The fat and oily merchant immediately said without fear, "I hired you precisely because there are pirates. Otherwise, why would I need you? Leave these fellows to you guards."

"I can't protect this many people."

"That's none of my concern. You have to think of something. Pirate Hunter Jonathan J. Rodney, this is your problem, not mine. I hired you, so you have to figure it out."

He pointed at Rodney with a thick finger like a carrot, his eyes full of disdain.

Are you insane?!

Rodney really wanted to smash his slipper into that basin-sized face. He glared, and the genjutsu of his Sharingan immediately took control of the man, making him issue orders to stop the fleet.

He shook his head and walked out of the room. Under the fat merchant's orders, the fleet stopped.

The merchant fleet consisted of more than one ship. More ships followed behind, transporting goods every day, including local specialties, tobacco, wine, and other items. This merchant was fairly decent and had not touched any illegal goods.

There were guards aboard the ships every day, but judging from Rodney's assessment, they probably couldn't beat him. In other words, these people were just there to freeload.

A merchant ship was unlike a passenger ship. It wasn't packed with people. Aside from the main staff, there were only the guards. Altogether, there were just over a hundred people, and if a real fight broke out, he might not be able to protect all of them.

Rodney nodded, jumped off the ship, and arrived on the violently surging sea.

His body rose and fell with the waves as he walked across them. The Sea Kings seemed to have gone extinct this time. Not a single one had ambushed him along the way, leaving him rather frustrated.

He had originally thought he could catch a Sea King and use it as free labor, but unfortunately, he had been disappointed.

Still, he was fully prepared, and the distance gave him plenty of room to maneuver.

"Water Clone!"

The seawater condensed into three clones. An Explosive Tag fell into each of their hands, and they charged toward the distant fleet.

The Sharingan in his eyes had already been deactivated to avoid unnecessary consumption.

Although the Sharingan was perfectly compatible with his body, a major battle was about to break out. When it came to Chakra, he had to conserve it wherever possible.

Drill Dagger Saber

This was the large sailing ship ridden by the self-proclaimed Pirate Admiral Krieg. Most of his elite forces were gathered aboard this ship.

Krieg wore heavy golden armor. He had light purple hair, with a headscarf tied around his head. He was fairly ordinary-looking. The people of the One Piece World were either exceptionally beautiful or exceptionally ugly. Their appearances were extremely polarized, while those with average looks were... relatively rare.

Perhaps being a little uglier made them easier to draw... and gave them more individuality...

Yes, far too much individuality...

"Men, isn't there anything fun to do?" Krieg propped up his head with one hand and spoke in boredom.

Sailing was a rather dull and tedious activity. Boredom often outweighed the so-called excitement.

"Chief Krieg, there's a merchant fleet stopped in the distance." On the watchtower, the lookout shouted while holding a telescope.

"Oh? A merchant fleet?" Krieg immediately perked up and laughed loudly. "Men, get ready. Notify the people on the other ships. We're going to have a big haul today."

"Ohhhhh!!"

The pirates aboard the ship raised their weapons and cheered happily.

The adviser of the Krieg Pirates, Ediman, asked, "Chief Krieg, should we do it the usual way?"

By "the usual way," he meant disguising themselves as the Marines and making the other side lower its guard so they could easily succeed. He often did things like that—disguising himself as a Marine, pretending to surrender, and then killing the other side in a counterattack. As long as he could achieve his goal, he would do anything. He truly stopped at nothing and knew nothing of gratitude. He was a thoroughly irredeemable scoundrel.

"No. Go straight over. I've grown tired of using those tricks all the time. This time, we'll do it openly! An open robbery!! Hahahaha!" His laughter was extremely unpleasant.

As he laughed, the pirates throughout the ship began laughing as well. Chief Krieg was right. Using those despicable tricks every time really wasn't very interesting. How satisfying would it be to rob them openly!

How could the merchant fleet's guards possibly be a match for the Krieg Pirates?

They were the overlords of the East Blue—the pirate crew under Krieg. How could they fail to rob a tiny merchant fleet?

Just as they were brimming with confidence, the lookout's voice came again. In shock, he said, "Chief Krieg, there's... there's someone running across the surface of the sea, and he's coming this way at incredible speed!"

"Hey, did you get drunk? What nonsense are you talking about? How could anyone run across the water? This is the sea! The sea, understand?" A pirate with some status cursed angrily upon hearing this.

How could anyone run across the sea? Didn't he even have that much common sense?

The lookout spoke again. "Damn it, Beck, I haven't been drinking! I can see it clearly. There are four people, and all four of them look exactly the same?! He's looking at me?!"

Krieg's expression did not change. "They should be Devil Fruit users. There's nothing worth caring about. We're the Krieg Pirates! The overlords of the East Blue! How could some insignificant Devil Fruit user possibly be my match? They're all landlubbers, so they can't be invincible! We only need to push him into the sea and it'll be over! Snipers, take him out!"

"Yes, Chief Krieg!"