Caught Red-Handed

"Cover Story: East Blue, Part 1: 'Should I Eat It or Not?'"

"As she peeled the orange, the chestnut-haired girl muttered the same question every time she popped a segment into her mouth. 'Eat it? Don't eat it?' Soon she had eaten the whole orange and still hadn't made up her mind. She turned to stare at the spiral-shaped fruit on the windowsill and sighed..."

Whoosh!

A gale of sword energy instantly demolished the entire luxurious mansion.

More than a dozen bodyguards in black flew away screaming, powerless to resist. They lay scattered across the ground, dead or wounded.

Vito, who had been standing behind them, had barely turned to flee when a strong hand seized the back of his neck and slammed him into the ground.

Then a fist crashed into his chest.

Crack!

Bones snapped, and a huge crater several meters wide split the ground.

At its center, Vito spat a mouthful of blood. Every bone in his body felt broken, and for the moment he couldn't even muster the strength to get up.

He could only watch as the tall figure approached him, step by step.

"Y-you dare kill me?"

With death looming over him, Vito propped himself up on his elbows and shuffled backward, hissing through clenched teeth:

"Don't say I didn't warn you, brat! The Corleone Family is a partner of the Beasts Pirates. Lay a hand on us and anger Lord Kaido, and you won't survive his revenge..."

He was bluffing, of course.

The Corleone Family had only just established contact with the Beasts Pirates, and Vito had never even met Kaido. But with death staring him in the face, it was all he could say.

Yet Noah couldn't be bothered to answer.

He grabbed Vito by his shirt collar, ignored his curses,