Gluttony

Mid-August.

Mafia Federation Kingdom, a large seaside estate.

"Waaah~~~ Waaah~~~"

A baby's piercing cries echoed through the villa belonging to the old-established mafia Fabricio Family...

No.

It would soon be the villa that had "formerly" belonged to the old-established mafia Fabricio Family.

"There, there, Altair."

Brad kissed the baby girl's forehead, soothing her as he stepped over one shriveled mafia corpse after another and approached the bedroom at the end of the corridor.

Inside the bedroom.

The aged mafia boss Kaiser lay sick in bed. He had long heard the blades, gunfire, and fighting outside, but there was nothing he could do. Now that it had gone quiet, he laboriously gestured for his butler to help him sit up. His clouded eyes stared steadily, without a ripple, at the bedroom door as he awaited fate's judgment—would the Fabricio Family repel its enemies once again? Or would the Fabricio Family perish here and now?

The answer disappointed Kaiser.

Tap, tap, tap~

Crisp footsteps drew nearer and nearer.

Creeeak~~~

The door opened.

"Hello, Mr. Kaiser. We meet again." Brad greeted him with a smile, then casually sat down on a sofa near the head of the bed.

Kaiser's voice remained hoarse, rough, indistinct, and weak. He lowered his posture considerably and sighed faintly. "Brad Hyman... How has the Fabricio Family offended you, sir? I hope you can enlighten this old man. Before this, I applied to the Hunter Association to hire you. I believe I gave you every courtesy and paid every reward due. I dare say I did not slight you in the slightest! If you were still dissatisfied and felt the Fabricio Family had been stingy, this old man is willing to apologize and offer a generous additional gift with both hands. Why did it have to come to this?"

"Not bad for a mafia big shot who's seen every storm there is. Impressive." Brad clicked his tongue, praising Kaiser's composure, calmness, and intelligence in the face of danger. He smiled. "I admit that when you hired me, you did give me ample courtesy and compensation. But I also believe I owed you nothing. I fulfilled our employment contract! Once that contract ended, we had nothing to do with each other. Yet you're using it to imply that I'm retaliating against you for lacking a hunter's professional ethics. That seems rather inappropriate."

Kaiser admitted frankly, "It is inappropriate. This old man was wrong! But if we have nothing to do with each other, why did you attack the Fabricio Family?"

"I'm a private hunter, after all!" Brad waved a hand.

Bege, a cigar clenched between his teeth, swaggered over to stand before Kaiser and removed his top hat. "Greetings, Mr. Kaiser. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Capone Bege. Perhaps you've heard of me."

"So you're that recently risen 'Madman'? I know of you. You've taken the heads and wealth of several gang leaders. You've made quite a stir, leaving everyone on edge... Cough, cough, cough~~~" Kaiser suddenly broke into a violent coughing fit. The butler beside him hurriedly patted his back. Only after coughing up several mouthfuls of bloody phlegm did he breathe heavily and look from Bege to Brad. "He hired you? Don't try to fool me."

Even though Bege tried his best to hide his reverence toward Brad, he could not deceive the sharp instincts of the crafty Kaiser. The mafia was among the organizations that valued hierarchy most. As a mafia boss, Kaiser had been able to tell whether someone was loyal to him or afraid of him just by observing their expressions and mannerisms since before he was fifty.

"Hehe." Brad smiled and shook the baby girl in his arms. "Fine, it's actually because of her! I adopted her and treasure her beyond measure. I want her to be happy, so naturally, I have to erase everything that makes her unhappy. Your slave trade caused her to lose her parents and family..."

"Lies!" Kaiser furiously interrupted Brad. The price of his agitation was another wrenching fit of coughs. "Cough! Cough cough~~~!!!"

After a long while.

Kaiser calmed down. His gaze drifted to the strange weapon Brad had been gripping in his other hand from beginning to end, the one not holding the baby girl. His tone was certain. "You simply wanted to kill a few people and test your new toy."

"Was it that obvious?" Brad asked in surprise.

Kaiser mocked, "Your truly innocent smile gave away your intentions."

"My apologies. Children are always a little excited when they get a new toy." Brad apologized with apparent sincerity.

Kaiser murmured, "In all my life, this old man only learned to be cautious. Especially toward monsters like you who wield such powerful strength—I would never dare underestimate even a ghost like you in the slightest, for fear of inviting misfortune. But... forget it. I have no regrets."

"You know that since I've acted, there's no way I'll let you go. Yet you're still rambling?" Brad said.

"I simply don't want to die a fool," Kaiser replied slowly. "This old man wishes to die understanding why."

"Mm."

Pfft~ Pfft~

Sharp weapons pierced flesh, leaving behind two shriveled corpses.

Brad efficiently disposed of a generation's mafia boss and his butler. Turning back, he said, "Clean this up, Bege. The Fabricio Family's territory is yours."

"Yes, Godfather." Bege's fat cheeks trembled as he suppressed his panic.

Brad, meanwhile, examined the thing he had materialized with Nen—

Black, about three feet long, as thick as a thumb, hollow, and shaped like a syringe needle.

Its name: "Gluttony."

It was Brad's ingenious imitation of a mosquito's piercing-sucking mouthpart.

Through Nen's restrictions and vows, Brad had bestowed it with two abilities—"Defense Break" and "Voracity."

Defense Break: Ignores the defensive properties of any living matter in its normal state (without the use of Haki, chakra, Nen, and so on).

Voracity: Upon striking living matter, it automatically and rapidly steals the victim's life energy. (The life energy stolen by Gluttony could not be transferred to Brad. He was currently working on overcoming this issue. Once he did, he would not be far from turning his Materialization-type Nen into Specialization-type Nen.)

It was worth mentioning Nen's restrictions and vows.

By setting rules, swearing them in one's heart, and strictly adhering to one's promises, one could unleash greater power the more difficult the rules and harsher the vows were. This was Nen's restrictions and vows. Conversely, violating one's established rules or sworn promises would result in backlash from Nen, with terrifying consequences.

For abilities like those Brad had granted "Gluttony," if he violated the rules he had established or the promises he had sworn, the consequence would be sudden death.

Restriction: It could only attack living matter.

Vow:

First, once "Gluttony" was used, blood had to be spilled in exchange for the special ability applied to "Gluttony": "Taotie."

Second, he could mortgage his life in exchange for the special ability applied to "Gluttony": "Defense Break"... His life could only buy that much. He had wanted to exchange it for the ability to ignore any defense, but it had no effect. That meant his life was not worth enough.

Retracting "Gluttony," Bred lounged crookedly on the sofa, letting his thoughts go blank.

After a while.

"Joanna? Should we move too?" Bred asked.

Mosquito Girl froze. "Huh?"

PS1: Please vote with recommendation tickets. I took a reader's suggestion—the Seven Deadly Sins series. What do you think? I forgot which reader suggested it. I deleted yesterday's standalone chapter, but anyway, thank you for the suggestion. It gave me inspiration.

PS: Thanks to readers [Qianjinzhe] and [Huadieya] for their 100-point coin donations. Thank you.