Chapter Nineteen: There Was a Reason His Luck Was So Bad

"I know who he is now! The recently risen pirate hunter, Jotaro J. Rodney!"

Rodney turned around with what he thought was a kindly smile, though it was actually a murderous one, and said, "Oh? You know me? Very good. Anyone who doesn't want to die, put both hands on your head and face the side of the ship."

"Bang—"

Ghoul Jin Akin drew a Fire Gun and fired straight at him!

A wooden post was left standing where Rodney had been. He used Shunpo to appear behind Akin, then brought White Fang straight down.

Whether you're Ryokugyu or not, I'll kill you first and worry about the rest later.

Ghoul Jin Akin was a cold-blooded and heartless pirate. Even if an enemy cried and begged for mercy right in front of him, he would still kill them without hesitation. He valued loyalty and friendship, but that wasn't a reason for Rodney to spare him.

Rodney shook the blood from White Fang. Just then, the sound of rushing wind came from behind him. Iron Wall Bala actually charged over without fear of death, swinging the shield in his hand heavily at Rodney's face.

Rodney leaned backward, dodging the attack while casually sticking an Explosive Tag onto the shield. Then he immediately withdrew.

Boom!!

Iron Wall Bala staggered backward again and again. The fat between his two massive shields trembled from the explosion. It felt as though he had been struck by a heavy hammer, leaving him in considerable pain.

"Mr. Bala!"

"Commander! Chief Krieg! The commander, he..." Seeing that Ghoul Jin Akin had already lost all signs of life, the pirates stared at Krieg in panic, hoping to find some sense of security from him.

"I saw it. Jin, that useless bastard! Bala, get up there and fight him. That guy can't break through your defenses at all. I'll support you from the side." Krieg spat disdainfully. If he had known that bastard would die, he should have simply used that move to kill him from the start. Damn it, loyal fighters like him were hard to find.

"Understood, Chief Krieg. Honestly, I can't believe the commander was killed by you. But I'm Iron Wall Bala, the shield man of the Krieg Pirates! I'm Mr. Bala, the shield of the Iron Wall!"

He proudly struck the two shields in his hands together, producing an unpleasant clang.

"Iron Wall? I wouldn't say so. The shields are decent, I suppose. But I'll make sure you die here." Rodney was somewhat surprised that the Explosive Tag hadn't blown the shields apart.

"Make me die here? Hahahaha!" Bala roared with laughter, as though he had heard the funniest joke in the world. He raised one finger and said, "I've fought in twenty-seven battles, and I've never once been injured or shed blood in any of them. Even the Marines' cannonballs have no effect on me. You think you can kill me? If you can, I'll eat my shields right here!"

Rodney said, "You'll be dead. How will you eat them?"

"Of course I won't die! You're the one who'll die!" Iron Wall Bala charged forward with a vicious expression, like a mad bull.

His weakness was obvious, though. He merely possessed brute strength and nothing else. To put it bluntly, he was just a background character. There was no need to worry too much about him.

Rodney dodged to the side and leaped onto the mast. Krieg immediately took up a stance, and more gun barrels emerged from his golden armor. A dense hail of bullets shot toward Rodney.

"Danger, danger."

Rodney dodged again and plunged into the mass of pirates. Like a tiger among sheep, he wantonly trampled the group of weaklings, throwing the scene into chaos.

Bang!

A smoke bomb suddenly exploded. Several pirates were sent flying, and one landed at Bala's feet. Bala felt a sharp pain in his heel, then toppled toward the pirate who had just fallen.

The pirate flipped over and rose to his feet with a sly grin. He threw out another smoke bomb, and smoke immediately billowed up. Bala felt his throat go cold, and he could no longer rise.

"What happened? Where is that guy?" Krieg asked.

"I don't know. Did Rodney get away?"

"I think I just heard Mr. Bala scream."

"I heard it too."

"Where's Mr. Bala?"

"He's here, Chief Krieg... Chief Krieg, Mr. Bala... Mr. Bala is dead."

When the smoke cleared, everyone saw Bala lying there with his throat cut. One severed foot still stood upright on the ground, dripping with blood. It was a horrifying sight.

Rodney had vanished like a ghost. At any moment, he might appear and harvest their lives.

For a moment, no one knew what to do.

Krieg roared and fired at the pirate who had first discovered Bala's corpse. That pirate died without ever understanding why he had been shot. Perhaps Krieg suspected him. Or perhaps Krieg simply wanted to kill someone to vent his anger.

Regardless, he was dead.

"Men, get ready!" As he spoke, Krieg removed the golden disk from his shoulder and gripped the mechanism behind it with one hand. The front of the disk bore the emblem of the Krieg Pirates. The skull on it opened its mouth, revealing a hole about the size of an apple.

The pirates around him turned pale with terror when they saw his posture.

"That... that's..."

"MH5!!"

"Chief Krieg's most terrifying poison weapon!"

"Get your masks on! Hurry!"

"Where's my mask?!"

"A mask! Ah, where's my mask?!"

"Chief Krieg, we're still on the ship!"

"Yeah, Chief! Could you encourage us a little first?"

MH5 was the poison gas bomb Krieg had prepared. An ordinary person would be poisoned just by taking a whiff and would certainly die within ten minutes. Of course, that applied to ordinary people. Those with powerful bodies would recover after some time, while even stronger people would be completely unaffected.

Krieg said disdainfully, "What are you talking about? This is a battle! Anyone who dies is simply unlucky. I don't care what methods I use, so long as I win! Hahaha! Once I enter the Grand Line, I'll definitely find the Great Treasure and become the Pirate King!" He put on a gas mask, then pressed the switch.

At once, thick purple smoke sprayed from the skull's mouth and spread across the deck.

In the darkness, Rodney could only think that this guy was an idiot. A poison gas bomb? How lame. Look at Magellan. He treated that stuff like cigarettes every day, and everything he ate and drank was poisonous.

See? He was perfectly fine, wasn't he? He only happened to spend a lot of time with toilets, and his chrysanthemum was often in full bloom.

Rodney put on a mask he had snatched from one of the pirates, then walked through the poison gas with White Fang in hand.

"Ah!"

"Ghk..."

"No, I... ah!"

"Please, spare me!"

Screams rang out from within the poison gas, and Krieg staggered backward in fright.

He hurriedly searched for Rodney through the eyes of his mask. Unfortunately, he could only see a blurry shadow flash past before another pirate collapsed.

This guy... this guy was toying with him?!

Toying with him like a cat playing with a mouse?

Once he confirmed that thought, Krieg let out a furious roar. Completely disregarding the lives of his men, he used the golden disk like a machine gun, firing its spikes as bullets and shooting wildly in every direction.

"Ah! Chief Krieg, why?!"

"No! I don't want to die yet!"

"Mom, I want to go home! Waaaah, the sea is too terrifying!"

Some people were so frightened that they immediately jumped overboard. Along with the others, they went down like dumplings into a pot. It had been an incredibly eventful day. The Krieg Pirates' main fighting force had been wiped out by one man, leaving only the pirate admiral, Krieg. And that man was still attacking indiscriminately, utterly unconcerned with whether his own subordinates lived or died.

When the poisonous mist dispersed, Krieg had already donned a cloak covered in spikes.

The Sword Mountain Cloak!

Rodney held his sword and wore a gas mask as he looked at Krieg, who was fully armed. He tilted his head, then threw a kunai with an Explosive Tag attached to it.

Boom!

The effect was extremely impressive. Krieg was sent flying, and the Sword Mountain Cloak was blown to pieces.

The golden armor on Krieg's body was also shattered, and he was injured in several places. Struggling to his feet, he picked up the two golden disks that were still mostly intact and joined them together.

He pulled out a gunshaft. At the same time, a sharp spearhead emerged from the center of the disks.

The Great War Spear!

Krieg's strongest weapon weighed more than two thousand pounds. Upon striking its target, it triggered an explosion, and the greater the force with which it was swung, the more powerful the explosion became.

Looking at Krieg in this state, Rodney finally understood why the man had encountered Hawk Eyes only a week after entering the Grand Line and had been driven back in disgrace, with his five-thousand-man fleet reduced to just a few hundred men.

There was a reason his luck was so terrible!

Of all the things he could have done, he had chosen to become a spearman!

Could someone as unlucky as him really wield a spear?

Even Europeans who became spearmen would turn into Black Uncle, all right?

His terrible luck wasn't a joke!