Mud Swamp Island (Please Follow! Please Follow!)

Mud Swamp Island had once been a little island that nobody paid any attention to. But over the past few days, the arrival of a group of people had brought life to the uninhabited island, despite its harsh environment.

"They actually fled to a godforsaken place like this. They really know how to make trouble."

A female pirate, two and a half meters tall and covered in muscle, stepped off the ship. More burly than any of the men around her, she frowned in disgust.

She was the captain of the Black Wind Pirates, Jacqueline the Twin Axes, with a bounty of 27 million Beli!

In the North Sea, she was one of the most notorious pirates around.

She had once slaughtered every woman in a village, then taken all the remaining able-bodied young men into her harem. If she was even slightly displeased, she would hack the people serving her to pieces.

She was so cruel that even the hardened men behind her shuddered at the thought of her, always afraid she might take a fancy to them and drag them off to torment them.

Fortunately, Jacqueline understood that one shouldn't prey on one's own people. She rarely laid a hand on her crew, so there had never been a mutiny.

She had come here after discovering that the idiots who had openly put a Devil Fruit up for sale in the underground black market were in the area. She had followed their ship all the way here.

Jacqueline knew she wasn't the only one targeting the group, so she planned to finish things quickly.

But there was one condition: she absolutely couldn't let them get desperate and eat the Devil Fruit. Otherwise, all their efforts would be for nothing.

"Captain, there are a lot of footprints this way. Those guys must have headed inland."

"Heh. They think they can shake us by using the island's complicated terrain? Dream on!"

Jacqueline spoke with disdain.

Just a moment ago, she had sent people to search the ship moored on the shore. They had found nothing inside except some food and fresh water.

So she guessed the group had another ship hidden somewhere around the island.

The ship they had found was just a decoy to draw attention!

"Go after them! Don't let them get away!"

Jacqueline shouted her orders, and dozens of people immediately set off.

But, just as Jacqueline had expected, the terrain here was not only complicated, but dangerous too.

There were swamps everywhere, along with swarms of pesky venomous insects.

One careless step could send someone sinking into the mud or leave them bitten by a poisonous bug.

Fortunately, Jacqueline had brought plenty of people, and they were advancing in a single-file line, each person spaced a short distance apart.

That way, if someone up front fell in, the people behind could grab them at once and pull them out together.

So most of the journey was a case of near misses. A few unlucky souls weren't rescued in time or were killed by insect bites, but the rest grew more and more practiced, and their pace quickened.

But as they passed another mud pit, a little larger than the others, everything suddenly changed!

A gaping maw burst from the swamp and, faster than the eye could follow, clamped down on one of Jacqueline's arms.

"Ah!!!"

Jacqueline let out a scream, but the attack only brought out her vicious side.

She immediately raised the sharp axe in her hand, ready to chop off the crocodile's head.

But she failed to notice the mocking, almost human look in the crocodile's eyes.

Death Roll!

The crocodile that had ambushed Jacqueline used the buoyancy of the swamp to suddenly twist its body counterclockwise, spinning wildly like a horizontal whirlwind!

In the blink of an eye, the arm in its jaws was wrenched clean off.

It dragged Jacqueline, helpless and battered, into the depths of the swamp.

The indescribable pain made her whole body tremble, and her mind went blank for a moment.

As she began to struggle for breath, a shadow had already appeared behind her.

It had all happened in an instant, leaving everyone stunned.

Then, at last, they snapped out of it.

"The captain's been attacked!"

"Everyone, watch out! Get ready to fight!"

"Come with me and rescue the captain!"

With Jacqueline dragged into the swamp and her fate unknown, the remaining crew were thrown into confusion.

Some wanted to kill the enemy first, others wanted to rescue her, and still more stood frozen, at a loss.

But someone quickly made the choice for them.

"Kill them all!"

At some point, a group of savage-looking men had surrounded them. They aimed their guns at their targets and began spraying bullets wildly!

Bang, bang, bang.

In the blink of an eye, a large number of Jacqueline's men had fallen.

Without the advantage of time, terrain, or numbers, they couldn't mount any effective resistance.

Then a humanoid monster with a crocodile's head emerged step by step from the swamp, dragging a mangled corpse behind him. The little morale they had left collapsed in an instant!

"The captain's been killed!"

"Run! I don't want to die!"

"Aah! Monster! I'll fight you to the death!"

Before long, the one-sided slaughter was over.

After the corpses had been thoroughly looted, they were thrown into the swamp, where they slowly sank to the bottom and vanished without a trace. It was the perfect way to dispose of the evidence.

"Ha ha ha! Boss, you're incredible! Who else could've come up with a way to fish for prey like that? I bet those idiots never figured out who the real hunter was, even as they died!"

The first mate was thrilled after counting their spoils, showering his captain with shameless flattery.

The captain of the Fierce Crocodile Pirates, Rekedu, had already returned to his human form. He was clearly enjoying the praise.

His square face was full of smug satisfaction, and his narrow eyes gleamed with approval. Seeing that, the first mate laid it on even thicker.

"One hundred million Beli for my Devil Fruit? I spit on that offer!"

"If nobody's willing to buy it in good faith, and you're all just trying to get a bargain, then don't blame me for robbing the robbers!"

"On this island, anyone who comes here is going to die!"

Rekedu laughed arrogantly.

He was a Devil Fruit User who had eaten the Zoan Crocodile-Devil Fruit, and he could lie in wait in muddy swamps.

That made Mud Swamp Island the perfect place for him to use his powers.

Once he caught an enemy by surprise, even opponents with higher bounties would meet their end at once, unable to fight back.

Jacqueline the Twin Axes had suffered a particularly frustrating defeat.

If they'd fought somewhere else, one on one, she might still have lost, but she wouldn't have gone down so quickly.

"First, hide the ship we captured in its usual spot. Then have someone take our ship out for a spin and see if we can catch any more fish."

"After a few more jobs, it won't matter whether we sell this Devil Fruit or not."

At those words, greed flashed in the first mate's eyes.

Since Captain Rekedu was already a Devil Fruit User, if they didn't sell the fruit, the person most qualified to eat it was undoubtedly him!

Whatever powers it gave him, he'd be more than happy to eat it!