The frail boy endured the agony churning through his abdomen and struggled until he managed to stagger back to his feet.
"Let... let go of... Jieming!"
Shaman Gong froze for a moment, then burst into even more unrestrained laughter.
"Commoner, don't you want to save him? Come on!" She crooked a finger at him scornfully.
"With that body of yours, ready to fall apart at any moment? Your tenacity is truly revolting."
Shaman Gong turned to look at the other boy, whose foot she had planted on him with her high heel.
"Jesse, don't worry about me, or you'll die too!" Jieming roared with all his strength.
Shaman Gong's smile grew even more cruel.
"How touching. Truly touching." Shaman Gong sighed, her voice full of mockery.
"The affection between slaves is always so cheap and ridiculous."
With a vicious grin, Shaman Gong raised her pistol and aimed it at Jieming beneath her foot.
"Someone, hold that commoner down for me!"
Two Cipher Pol agents in black suits hurried over behind Jesse.
They seized the boy by the shoulders from either side and held him in place.
"N-no! Don't shoot!" Jesse struggled with all his might, pleading desperately.
"Please, Lady Shaman Gong, we'll do anything! Please don't kill him!"
Shaman Gong ignored him.
Click—
The sound of a bullet being chambered rang out, crisp and cold.
Shaman Gong savored the moment.
Watching slaves suffer, break down, and despair filled her with a twisted pleasure that welled up from the depths of her heart.
She took pleasure in tormenting slaves—watching them struggle and resist, then crushing every last bit of hope.
To her, it was the greatest delight.
Every life she watched fade before her eyes, every desperate wail she heard, made her feel the power of her absolute authority.
Life and death were hers to decide with a single thought.
Jieming, pinned beneath her foot, suddenly roared and lifted his head with the last of his strength.
"Come on! Kill me! I've had enough!
But Jesse is innocent! Let him go!"
Shaman Gong arched a delicate brow. "Oh? Begging for your companion's life on the verge of death? What a foolish display of self-sacrifice."
Her finger slowly curled around the trigger. She wanted to prolong the two slaves' terror as much as possible, savoring every moment of their despair.
"No! Help us! Can anyone save us—" Jesse was overcome with despair.
But in this world, who would challenge a Celestial Dragon for the sake of two slaves?
Who would oppose the World Government for two insignificant lives?
No one. No one ever had.
Jesse closed his eyes, ready to hear the gunshot that would kill his younger brother and face the death that would soon follow.
They would be tortured to death, their bodies thrown into the sea without a trace.
As if they had never existed, like a pair of ants.
Humm—
An invisible force swept over them like a tide, instantly enveloping the entire ship.
Space froze in that instant.
Time seemed to stop flowing.
Everyone on deck found themselves unable to move.
The World Government flag, fluttering in the wind, came to an eerie halt in midair.
Even though Shaman Gong had pulled the trigger and the bullet had already been fired, it stopped in midair.
Tap, tap, tap...
Unhurried footsteps sounded from the shore by the dock.
Everyone on the ship turned their eyes toward the sound.
A young man stood there, black-haired and red-eyed, his features cold and stern.
He wore a black coat open at the chest, its hem fluttering despite the still air.
A long black blade hung at his waist, and a suffocating aura radiated from him.
The man walked toward them one step at a time, each footstep heavy. Dark-red Haki crackled and flashed around him like lightning.
And he was holding something in his left hand.
Looking closely, it was a plump figure, bruised and swollen, with all four limbs broken.
It was a Celestial Dragon.
A Celestial Dragon being carried like a dead dog.
Luo Tian reached the shore and stopped. His figure vanished, then reappeared in the middle of the deck.
He looked at Shaman Gong, a red glint flashing in his eyes.
Swish! Swish!
The next moment, Shaman Gong's right hand, the one holding the pistol, was cleanly severed at the wrist. The silver pistol and her severed hand fell onto the deck together.
At almost the same instant, her left foot, which had been crushing Jieming, was severed at the ankle. Her high heel and foot rolled aside.
A brief moment later, blood gushed from the clean cuts.
"Ahhh—!"
Shaman Gong let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Having lost a foot, she lost her balance and crashed onto the deck.
The frozen space began to flow again in that instant.
Luo Tian casually tossed the middle-aged Celestial Dragon he had been carrying onto the deck like a piece of trash.
"Th-that is Saint Roz?!" The CP0 guard in a white suit and white mask stared in shock.
Impossible!
Wasn't Saint Roz supposed to be at the royal palace, guarded closely by two other CP0 agents? How could he have ended up here?
And in this state, with his limbs clearly broken cruelly, his face bruised and swollen, one eye so puffy he couldn't open it, and blood foam spilling from the corner of his mouth.
Worse still, this once-arrogant World Noble had just been carried around like a dead dog, stripped of all dignity.
It was over. It was all over.
The CP0 guard's mind raced, but he felt nothing but a bone-deep chill.
This man had not only gravely wounded Shaman Gong, but had also beaten Saint Roz into a pulp and dragged him here like a piece of trash.
What were the two agents guarding Saint Roz doing...? How had they failed to notice he had been abducted?!
Or... had they already...
The CP0 guard didn't dare think any further.
"CP0! H-hurry and save me! Kill that commoner—!!"
As if clinging to his last lifeline, Saint Roz summoned all his strength and screamed.
He struggled to crawl toward the CP0 guard, but his legs were ruined. All he could do was writhe helplessly on the deck, leaving streaks of blood behind.
In his eyes, Luo Tian was nothing less than a demon.
He had shown no regard for the Celestial Dragons' status, broken Saint Roz's legs and crippled his arms... His methods were unspeakably cruel.
In Luo Tian's hands, Saint Roz had truly felt the terror of death—the fear that he might be beheaded the very next second.
Before this man, the words "Celestial Dragon" seemed to have lost all meaning.
"Bastard! Release Saint Roz at once! Otherwise, you and your family, friends, companions, and everyone connected to you will all be sentenced to death by the World Government!"
The CP0 guard suppressed his fear and shouted furiously.
His fists were instantly covered in black Armament Haki. With his Observation Haki fully activated and his mind intensely focused, he assumed the most guarded stance possible.
No matter what, he had to save Saint Roz first.
That way, even if he returned to Mary Geoise, perhaps his punishment would be less severe.
As for Shaman Gong, her injuries were serious, but with immediate treatment, she should survive.
The most important thing now was to stabilize the situation, wait for reinforcements, or... find a chance to survive.
Before you continue