Another Devil Fruit

More than a hundred meters from the island, Genghu clung to the side of the pirate ship and climbed upward, swiftly scaling the fifty-meter-long vessel. His enormous eyes glared at the tiny man before him.

The ship suddenly sank sharply, already well past its maximum draft line. It swayed unsteadily, as though it might sink at any moment.

"Slap, slap, slap..."

Genghu alternated his paws as he swatted at Rudifen. Cold sweat covered Rudifen's body as he desperately dodged. With his physique, even the slightest graze would leave his bones and tendons shattered.

Like a game of whack-a-mole, Genghu continuously slapped down with both paws while Rudifen frantically dodged across the deck. Not a single hit landed, while Rudifen's dagger struck Genghu more than a dozen times instead.

However, Genghu seemed to completely counter someone like him, who relied solely on Devil Fruit powers and possessed no offensive ability of his own. The dagger, no more than twenty centimeters long, did not hurt Genghu in the slightest. It could not even pierce his fat layer. And with the sea on all sides, he did not even know where he could run.

Zhong Hao burst out laughing when he saw this. "Genghu, stop playing around. He's too fast for you to hit. Jump into the sea and splash seawater onto the ship."

"..."

Rudifen heard that as well, and his expression instantly became colorful.

Hearing Zhong Hao's words, Genghu let out a wronged whimper. He stopped swatting and looked at Rudifen even more fiercely. His limbs bent and sprang, launching his massive body off the ship. He rolled through the air, then crashed back-first into the sea, sending up a huge amount of seawater that flooded over the ship like a massive wave.

The instant Rudifen was soaked by seawater, his entire body went limp and he collapsed onto the deck. Once the wave receded, he had just recovered enough strength to get up when the sky darkened. A tiger paw descended from above and smacked him back onto the deck.

Genghu turned to look at Zhong Hao on the shore, baring his teeth in a humanlike, smug grin.

"Haha! Well done, Genghu." Zhong Hao did not hold back his praise.

Having received praise, Genghu excitedly wagged his tail again and again, his tiger face glowing with pride. Zhong Hao leaped into the air, using Geppo across the sea before landing on the deck. At his current level, crossing a distance of over a hundred meters was easy.

Still pinned beneath the tiger paw, Rudifen saw Zhong Hao board the ship and shouted indignantly, "If you hadn't deliberately angered me and exhausted my stamina, you never would have caught me! I just didn't expect that you, a swordsman, would be so despicable. You kept grabbing onto someone's inborn flaw and mocking it without restraint. Bah! And you call yourself a Marine?"

Zhong Hao's face immediately darkened as he said coldly, "Then did the civilians on the island provoke you? If you had merely robbed them, I might not have dealt with you so harshly. But you also murdered people for pleasure like some twisted freak. How could I possibly tolerate that? So, no method is too excessive when dealing with trash as deranged as you. As for inborn flaws, I have never looked down on them, nor do I have the right to, because in my eyes, being an orphan is also an inborn flaw."

After a brief pause, he added, "Of course, trash like you, who treats human lives like grass, is an exception. You were right—I do look down on you."

"Damn it—" Rudifen roared as he struggled violently beneath Genghu's paw.

Zhong Hao sneered. He went somewhere Rudifen could not see, took out a bucket of seawater, removed the entire lid, then dragged Rudifen out and stuffed him into the bucket. He used a knife to turn the lid into a shackle, securing it around Rudifen's neck and fixing him to the wooden bucket, leaving only his head exposed.

This is too troublesome. Once I get back, I need to ask Mr. Zephyr for a pair of Seastone handcuffs.

After ordering Genghu to watch him, Zhong Hao entered the cabin and searched room by room, casually cutting down the dozen or so pirates who had hidden away. Then, in the captain's quarters, he found a box. When he opened it, his expression immediately turned strange.

"This is... a Devil Fruit?" Looking at the banana-shaped fruit covered in white patterns in his hand, he carefully recalled the Devil Fruit encyclopedia he had seen at Garp's place. After comparing them, he muttered, "So it's a Zoan-type Snow Wolf Fruit! Rudifen is pretty lucky. Not only did he eat the highly promising Quick-Quick Fruit himself, he even secretly kept a Snow Wolf Fruit."

He stored the Snow Wolf Fruit in his space. After confirming that there were no survivors, Zhong Hao returned to the deck, took out the chains he had obtained from the submarine last time, and tied them around Genghu. "Genghu, pull this ship to the dock."

Genghu always carried out Zhong Hao's orders without hesitation. Although he occasionally acted cute and disobedient, that was merely his way of expressing affection.

The moment he received the order, he jumped into the sea and pulled the ship forcefully in the direction Zhong Hao indicated.

The battle in town had already ended. The townspeople gathered the bodies of their relatives, while the doctor hurried to treat the injured residents. As for the pirates' corpses, the townspeople carried them outside the town, piled up dry firewood, and prepared to burn them. They had no saintly compassion for pirates they hated to the bone, much less any desire to bury them properly.

On the main road outside the town, the burly man who had been the first to resist stood there supporting a trembling old man. The boy Zhong Hao had saved earlier stood beside them. The three craned their necks, staring toward the end of the road.

The boy was named Shanmi. After waiting for a long time without seeing Zhong Hao return, he could not help tugging the burly man's hand and asking worriedly, "Uncle Regan, why hasn't big brother benefactor returned yet? Nothing happened to him, right?"

Regan firmly denied it. "Absolutely not. Our benefactor is incredibly strong. He lured the pirate captain away earlier because he was confident he could handle him. Just wait a little longer. He'll definitely return. Definitely!"

The old man Regan was supporting spoke up then. "Wait another ten minutes, Regan. If our benefactor still hasn't returned after ten minutes, take some people and search the island carefully. He saved our entire town. Even if this old man has to die, I cannot let anything happen to him!"

Regan respectfully replied, "Yes, Father. Nothing will happen to our benefactor."

Shanmi also shouted, "Mayor Grandpa, I want to go find big brother benefactor too."

The mayor stroked his head and smiled kindly. "Good child, you were very brave today. All of us are proud of you."

After the townspeople finished dealing with the bodies and wounded, they gradually gathered around the three. Before long, everyone in town had arrived. Not a single person spoke. They all waited silently, full of hope.

In the distance, a gigantic white tiger ten meters tall and thirty meters long burst out from behind the mountain and appeared in everyone's sight. Its massive body made a dull thud with every step, advancing step by step with overwhelming pressure and causing the townspeople to stir in panic.

One townsman cried out, "Heavens! H-how can there be such a huge tiger? Where did it come from? It... it's coming toward us!"

Another young woman clutched her head and said tearfully, "How could this happen? Why... we just defeated the pirates... we just won..."

The tiger drew nearer and nearer, and the king character on its forehead became clearly visible.

Regan tightened his grip on his sword and swallowed hard. He stepped forward, preparing to call upon the town's men to defend against the enemy.

Suddenly, he noticed that there seemed to be someone sitting on the white tiger's head. He widened his eyes and looked carefully again. Once he finally made out the man's face, his solemn expression immediately relaxed. He turned around and shouted to the panicked townspeople, "Don't worry, everyone! Isn't the person sitting on the tiger's head our benefactor? That tiger must be his pet!"

At those words, the crowd instantly fell silent and all looked toward the tiger's head. Once they saw the man clearly, enormous cheers erupted.

"That's wonderful! I knew it! I knew it!"

"Haha! As expected of a powerhouse who wiped out the pirates so easily. Having such a massive tiger as a pet is incredible!"

"Long live! Long live!"

On Genghu's head, Zhong Hao held the wooden bucket with one hand. Seeing the crowd outside the town, he happily muttered, "Hehe! Looks like the battle in town is already over. Seeing that they're safe puts me at ease. At least all that effort wasn't wasted."

Rudifen, soaked through with seawater and curled up weakly inside the bucket, could not help saying when he heard Zhong Hao's words, "I only passed by this island because Wildcat Tabor invited me. You'd better release me. Otherwise, once he notices that I'm missing, he'll definitely investigate to the end."

Zhong Hao's heart stirred at that, though his face showed confusion. "Wildcat Tabor? Who is that?" He truly did not know who Wildcat Tabor was, but he had Zephyr's Den Den Mushi and could call to ask at any time.

"..."

Black lines appeared over Rudifen's head. He did not even know who Wildcat Tabor was—this threat had no force at all.

Zhong Hao did not care when he saw his expression. He smiled faintly. "Looks like you still have some remaining value."