First Blood (Please Bookmark and Recommend)

On Pus Island, in the shadow of prosperity, within a chaotic slum.

"Duo Long—damn it, wasn't this bastard tied up? Where did he get a knife?" The boss roared furiously. The scar running across his cheek twisted grotesquely. The one whose head had been cut off was his younger brother—his biological younger brother!

"Looks like you were very close. I think the relatives of all those people you killed before were just as angry. What about you?" Zhong Hao held his long blade slanted toward the ground and slowly walked toward the kidnappers.

"Bastard, I'll slaughter you to avenge Duo Long! Everyone, move!" The boss drew a serrated broadsword and charged Zhong Hao first. The others behind him also drew their blades and raised their guns, aiming them at Zhong Hao.

The serrated broadsword came crashing down, carrying all his rage.

Iron Body.

What kind of strength could thugs and bandits who operated on an island in West Blue possibly have? This was the perfect chance to test Iron Body's defense and see how far he had mastered it.

Clang!

The serrated broadsword struck Zhong Hao's shoulder, instantly slicing open his clothes. Beneath the tear was perfectly intact skin, without the slightest wound.

"No, impossible! It can't be that I can't cut through you! I can split even rocks in half! Monster, monster! I don't believe it! Die, die, die..."

The boss's arm shook violently, as though he had struck steel. Still unable to believe a human could achieve such a thing, he thought he had encountered a monster and could not help but panic. When ordinary people were afraid, they either turned and ran or lacked even the strength to flee. But the boss, accustomed to fighting and killing, became even more vicious and slashed three more times.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The three strikes only made three more tears in Zhong Hao's clothes. Other than that, he remained completely unharmed.

Zhong Hao took the three blows head-on, feeling only a faint itch where they landed. He had roughly tested the strength of his Iron Body—it could withstand a full-force slash from himself when he had first arrived in the One Piece world, though that was without using a famed blade.

"You've done your best." A flash of azure blade light sent the boss down the same path as his brother. Three seconds later, his head flew into the air and rolled beside the other severed head.

"Next are you lot. Come on, let me see your strength." Zhong Hao spread his arms and looked at the remaining six men.

The six were trembling all over. Their boss's full-force strike had not even broken Zhong Hao's skin, so they stood no chance. Clang, clang, clang—three knife-wielding thugs had become so frightened that their hands went limp, dropping their blades to the ground.

"E-even if you're a monster, you can't block bullets with your body. Die!" However, the other three, who carried guns, still clung to a shred of hope. They believed bullets were far more powerful than blades. Bang! Bang! Bang! Three shots rang out.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Three sounds of leather being punctured.

"Bullets can't be completely blocked yet." Zhong Hao frowned and reached out with his left hand, digging the three bullets embedded in his muscles out and tossing them to the ground. As for the wounds, a big meal after returning would have them healed by tomorrow.

"H-how is that possible..." The sight before them crushed the last trace of hope in the three gunmen. Together with the other three, all six dropped to their knees and repeatedly kowtowed, tears and snot streaming down their faces. "I was wrong, I know I was wrong! Please... please spare me..."

"Earlier, I asked whether you would let me go after extorting money from me. You answered, 'No.' And that happens to be my answer as well." Zhong Hao walked closer step by step, then suddenly stopped, as if he had thought of something amusing. With a curl of his lips, he said, "Only one of you can live."

With that, he turned and walked toward Nico Robin in the corner. The crying behind him abruptly stopped. Seeing Zhong Hao's back turned toward them, one man suddenly scrambled to his feet and ran toward the warehouse exit.

He was not far from the door and quickly reached it.

The moment he stepped outside, sunlight shone brilliantly upon him like holy light from heaven. He could smell freedom, the scent of being alive.

But just as a smile of escape and survival appeared on his face, his body suddenly stiffened. A streak of golden light shot out through his throat and, without slowing, pierced into the wall ahead.

His body fell backward. Clutching his throat and clinging to his final breath, he struggled to look at the wall, wanting to see what had pierced his throat.

Once the dust settled, the wall was revealed, along with a gold coin embedded halfway into it. Under the sunlight's reflection, its golden gleam carried a trace of vivid red.

The remaining five gulped hard, staring at the fallen corpse before glancing involuntarily at the bloodstained gold coin in the wall.

"Only one of you can live." Zhong Hao never looked back. He merely repeated the words softly.

"I don't want to die! I don't want to die! Please... please die instead! Die!" One of the five broke down first. He picked up a knife from the ground and stabbed it into the stomach of the companion beside him. Before he could even celebrate, bang, a bloody hole appeared in his forehead.

Infighting, slaughter, and screams lasted less than ten seconds.

By then, Zhong Hao was crouching on the ground before the girl, who watched him with a face full of wariness and fear. He gave a soft laugh and cut her ropes.

"Come with me." With that, Zhong Hao took the lead toward the exit.

A man covered in blood lay sprawled on the ground and weakly said, "O-only... I'm the only one left..."

"Yes. Congratulations, you survived to the end." With that, Zhong Hao walked away without ever looking at him.

As they walked through the alley they had come through, Robin seemed to want to speak several times but held herself back. When they reached this point, she finally said, "That man was too badly injured. He won't survive."

Zhong Hao stopped, turned, and looked at her. "I know. I don't care."

Robin asked again, "If he hadn't been injured, would you have killed him?"

Zhong Hao answered, "No. My word is a promise."

A mocking expression appeared on Robin's face. "Then you would kill him tomorrow, or have someone else kill him?"

Zhong Hao shook his head. "No. That's just a word game, nothing more than deceiving others and deceiving yourself."

Robin fell silent for a moment before saying softly, "I don't believe you."

Zhong Hao turned and walked toward the street, his back facing her. "It seems you've been deceived many times. But I have no reason to deceive you, and I'm not short of eighty million Beli."

After thinking for a moment, he added, "That man was already terrified. Then, in order to survive, he killed his companion. Even if he doesn't die later, he'll live in nightmares. That way, the sole survivor will be the one suffering the most."

The two remained silent the rest of the way. They went straight into an inn, where Zhong Hao rented a room with good soundproofing because he wanted to ask her some questions.

There were two chairs in the room, and each took one. Zhong Hao looked at her, pondering how to begin. After hesitating for a long time, he said, "Um... was your nose born like that? It's so well-defined."

The instant he said it, Zhong Hao turned his head away and awkwardly scratched his cheek with his index finger. He had been a loser for twenty-three years in his previous life, then drifted through endless spacetime for countless years. When facing a woman, he still did not even know how to speak.

It was not that he was a pervert who could not move whenever he saw a woman. He simply felt instinctively uncomfortable and restless, perhaps due to habits from his previous life.

If she had been an enemy, he could have swung his blade without the slightest hesitation. But Robin was not an enemy. In fact, he had quite a favorable impression of her.

Robin suddenly burst out laughing. Of course, she could tell that this cold boy did not like her; he simply was not used to talking with girls.

During her seven years of wandering, she had encountered not only people greedy for her bounty, but also thugs coveting her beauty. Yet she had cleverly evaded each of them. Through one escape after another, her emotional intelligence had risen sharply. That growth gave her an eye for seeing through people's hearts. The more clearly she saw through them, the more she understood the wickedness within human hearts. Coupled with betrayal after betrayal and relentless pursuit, a solid wall had long been built around her heart.

Originally, Zhong Hao had been a cold and prematurely mature boy in her eyes. He killed without blinking, enjoyed lying and manipulating people's hearts, and was someone she absolutely could not approach.

Yet his earlier words, along with the unconcealable awkwardness and embarrassment on his face, instantly made him seem human and real to her.

Robin found it amusing and was about to speak when Zhong Hao suddenly stood up. Leaving behind the words, "I'll come again tomorrow," he hurried out. Robin was left alone in the room. She stared blankly for quite a while before she finally reacted, her shoulders trembling violently as she clutched her stomach and collapsed onto the bed.

"Hehehehe~~" Light laughter rang through the room.

Fortunately, the room was well soundproofed, and Zhong Hao had already gone far away, so he did not hear it.

He swore he had never been this embarrassed before. Sister Kurenai Yuhi had cared for him like an older sister since he was little. Ji Mei was a younger sister who needed his care. As for Hina, they had known each other for half a year, but the two had never truly spent time alone together. Only with Robin did he feel that he would never be able to hold his head up before her again.

The next day, after composing himself, Zhong Hao went to the inn, only to be told that Robin had already left. He clicked his tongue in displeasure, though he also felt a trace of relief.