Pirates' Cruelty (Please Bookmark and Recommend)

On the beach at the island's edge, Genghu was too large and conspicuous, so Zhong Hao left it in the sea and ran alone toward the thick smoke.

The island was not large, with only a single town at its center. Farmland surrounded the town, and the wheat, which reached an adult's thighs, had yet to ripen. Green as an ocean, it rippled in the wind.

Zhong Hao ran along the narrow dirt paths through the fields, heading toward the town.

At the center of the town stood a circular plaza over a hundred meters in diameter. In the plaza was a crude two-meter-high platform, and atop it sat a large redwood chair. A short, thin man in a red pirate coat lounged in it with his legs crossed, looking down on the densely packed crowd below. Nearly two hundred pirates armed with sabers and muskets encircled the crowd.

A worried-looking middle-aged man dressed like a farmer ran down the main road and into the plaza, clutching a gray cloth sack.

"Daddy! Daddy!" A boy in a woman's arms cried out from within the crowd. The woman looked anxiously at the middle-aged man as well.

"Wife, son, don't worry. Everything will be fine soon," the middle-aged man called out to reassure them. Then he handed the sack to a fierce-looking pirate below the platform. "This is all the money I have. Please don't hurt my wife and child."

The pirate took the sack and weighed it in his hand before dumping its contents onto the table. After picking through it, he said disdainfully, "There's only four hundred thousand Beli at most? That's not enough to buy your whole family's lives."

The middle-aged man swallowed and could not help glancing at the pile of corpses in the corner. They had all been killed because they did not have enough money. Taking a deep breath, he said in a trembling voice, "I... I know. Two hundred thousand Beli per life. Y-you can kill me, then. I only ask that you don't hurt my wife and son."

"No... no! Don't kill my husband!" The woman immediately burst into tears. The boy in her arms stretched both hands forward desperately and cried, "Daddy... I want Daddy..."

"Shut up, all of you! Who dies and who lives is for me to decide!" the pirate roared. He drew his sword and licked its spine, then laughed wickedly. "I think I'll kill that brat. He's been crying nonstop since the beginning. He's annoying the hell out of me."

"Don't... don't hurt my son. Take my life instead, please..." The middle-aged man lunged forward, threw himself in front of the pirate, and hugged his leg.

The pirate looked down at the man beneath his feet, then at the woman and boy not far ahead. With a mocking look, he gestured with his saber as though selecting pork at a butcher shop.

At that moment, the short, thin man on the platform spoke lazily. "Desman, stop playing around. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can set sail. We can't be late for the Elqi Pirates gathering Cat Taber called in the back hills."

"As you command, my dear captain." Desman answered respectfully, kicked the middle-aged man two meters away, and walked toward the woman and boy. He did not forget to mock the man as he went. "Who dies is still up to me. Hahaha!"

He stopped before the woman, looking down at the terrified, trembling mother and son. With a wild laugh, he raised his hand and prepared to slash them.

The woman held her son tightly, turned around, and exposed her back to the descending blade.

"No!" The middle-aged man's eyes nearly split with rage as he roared and pounced forward. He wedged himself between them, shoved his wife and son away with his right hand, and raised his left arm to block Desman's blade.

"Pfft!"

With the middle-aged man's scream of pain, the arm blocking the blade was severed at the elbow and fell to the ground. He collapsed as well.

"Husband!" "Daddy!" Two heart-wrenching cries rang out at once.

"Ah..." Desman tilted his head back and moaned, a twisted look of pleasure on his face. He laughed loudly. "Hahaha! If I say I'm killing this brat, then I'm killing this brat."

With that, he strode toward the mother and son lying on the ground. The surrounding pirates burst into laughter and shouted their approval. Even the pirate captain on the platform looked over with interest.

Seeing this scene, the residents surrounded by pirates wore expressions of shared sorrow. Their teeth clenched as fury burned in their eyes.

The town was small. Everyone knew one another, and many were related. The middle-aged man's family's tragic plight filled them with grief and rage. The men held their families close, shielding them with their bodies, their breathing growing heavy as they stirred restlessly.

They had finally understood. These damned pirates had demanded two hundred thousand Beli for a life only to make them hand over their money willingly. They had never intended to spare them from the start.

Desman stood before the mother and son with his blade raised high. He deliberately paused for several seconds, watching mockingly as the middle-aged man struggled to rise and stand in front of them again. Only then did he swing down.

The middle-aged man's other arm was severed as well and fell beside him.

"Captain, if his hands are gone, doesn't he still have feet? It's more fun to cut him slowly. Don't kill him all at once." Rather than making the other pirates recoil, the splattering blood excited them into hysterical laughter and howls.

What they did not notice was that a figure had suddenly appeared on a rooftop overlooking the plaza.

What twisted humanity. This must be the true face of most pirates. When Zhong Hao arrived, he took in the entire scene and quickly deduced what had happened. His eyes narrowed, his right hand hovering over Sea Fang's hilt as he leaped down into the plaza.

In the plaza, Desman laughed for a long while before stopping. Gripping his sword with both hands, he raised it high and opened his eyes wide with cruel delight. "Hurry! Stick out your foot! If you can entertain me, I'll give your son a quick death! Ahahaha!"

Just as he was about to swing, a deep-blue flash abruptly appeared before his eyes. He froze for a moment, suddenly feeling an emptiness in his arms, as though he could no longer exert any force. Then came the clang of metal hitting the ground.

Sensing something was wrong, Desman did not look down. Instead, he raised his head and saw that both his hands were gone below the elbows, blood pouring from the stumps.

Before he even had time to feel pain, a soft chant like the call of a soul reaper drifted into his ears, belatedly arriving: Iaijutsu: Iai Slash

Zhong Hao sheathed his sword, reached into his clothes, and took out medicine for external wounds and bandages from his space under the cover of his clothing. Handing them to the woman, he asked, "Do you know how to bandage wounds?"

"I... I do! Thank you! Thank you!" The woman hurriedly got up, took the medicine and bandages, and thanked him repeatedly in a trembling voice. Then she began treating her husband. Seeing him shake all over in pain and break out in cold sweat, her heart twisted as tears streamed endlessly down her face.

The pirate captain abruptly rose from his large chair on the platform and said in a low voice, "Who are you? How dare you injure an officer of my Quick-Quick Pirates?"

Zhong Hao did not even glance at him. He turned to the boy, who had stopped crying at some point. The boy looked six or seven years old, and hatred filled his eyes as he stared fixedly at Desman, who lay on the ground shrieking in agony.

A vein bulged on the pirate captain's forehead. His eyes gleamed coldly as rage surged within him. The surrounding pirates gripped their weapons tightly, waiting only for their captain's command to rush forward and hack this brat to death.

Seeing that the pirates' attention was focused on Zhong Hao, several strong adult men from the town exchanged glances and understood each other's intentions. Every muscle in their bodies tensed as they slowly moved toward the pirates encircling them, preparing to seize weapons when the opportunity arose.

Zhong Hao paid no attention to the others' movements. If this child's hatred isn't given an outlet, he'll probably go down the wrong path. He understood negative emotions like hatred all too well. With that thought, he softly asked the boy, "Do you feel powerless? Do you want... revenge?"

The boy first looked up at Zhong Hao in confusion, then quickly understood and nodded fiercely.

Zhong Hao picked up Desman's sword, held it upside down, and offered the hilt to the boy. His tone grew heavier. "If you want to protect your family, you need strength. Take this sword—the sword that hurt your father—and kill him. Avenge your father, and use your enemy's blood to temper your heart. Become a real man."

As the woman bandaged her husband's severed limbs, part of her attention remained on her son. Hearing Zhong Hao's words, she opened her mouth, wanting to say something.

The middle-aged man endured the pain and shook his head at her. Then he looked at his son, his expression deeply conflicted. He was expectant, yet reluctant. He did not want his son to face such things so young, but he knew Zhong Hao was right. As a man born into this cruel world where pirates ran rampant, one needed a ruthless streak to protect one's family.

The boy looked at his father and found encouragement in his eyes. Gritting his teeth, he grasped the hilt with both hands. He tried several times but could not lift the sword, and its weight nearly made him stumble.

Zhong Hao gripped the blade and helped him raise it, holding it suspended in the air.

Desman, once arrogant and cruel, was now nothing more than a pig awaiting slaughter. Seeing this, he barely suppressed the agonizing pain and struggled to flee.

Zhong Hao planted a foot on his chest and shouted at the boy, "Kill!"

The boy swallowed several times, afraid, but the image of his father's hands being cut off made hatred gush from his heart. Suddenly, he swung down with all his strength. Zhong Hao released the blade at the right moment and subtly adjusted its path, aiming it directly at Desman's neck.

"Bastard!" the pirate captain on the platform roared. He drew a dagger from the belt around his waist and vanished from where he stood. His speed was even faster than Zhong Hao's Soru, and without the slightest hesitation.

Soru

Noticing the pirate captain's movement, Zhong Hao's pupils contracted. In an instant, he appeared behind the boy. Sea Fang left its sheath and blocked the pirate captain's dagger.

So fast. He's actually faster than my Soru...