The Broken "Hundred Plans," the Wounded Beast

Kuro's eyes instantly widened to their limit, his pupils filled with disbelief and terror.

How was this possible?!

That name... How did he know it?!

This was a past he had spent three years completely erasing!

But he was, after all, a battle-hardened martial artist. At such a life-or-death moment, instinct made him react.

"Silent Step!"

Kuro endured the searing pain in his chest, stomped his foot, and rapidly retreated several meters.

He clutched his bleeding wound, blood staining his pristine white gloves.

The eyes behind his glasses instantly lost all their gentility. The mild-mannered butler's disguise vanished, and he became a bloodthirsty beast ready to devour anyone in his path.

"Who... who exactly are you?!" Kuro roared, his voice twisted by pain.

"Clang—"

Victor unhurriedly drew his longsword, its tip angled toward the ground as he looked at Kuro with a smile.

"Ah, sorry about that. My hand slipped just now. You don't mind, do you?"

Victor tilted his head, his red Sharingan looking especially sinister in the shadows.

"As for who I am? I'm that... filthy, lowly pirate you were talking about."

Before his words had even faded, Victor's smile instantly turned savage.

"Body Flicker!"

"Whoosh!"

Only an afterimage remained in the air.

The next second, Victor appeared directly before Kuro as if out of thin air.

His longsword carried a sharp whistle of wind as it mercilessly thrust toward Kuro's throat!

"What?!"

Kuro's eyes widened behind his glasses. That speed?!

How was that possible?!

"Spoon!!"

Kuro did not dare take it head-on and immediately unleashed his signature technique.

His figure instantly vanished from where he stood, moving at a speed too fast for the naked eye as he tried to circle into Victor's blind spot and strike back.

But beneath the Sharingan's dynamic vision, Kuro's movements looked like a film played in slow motion.

"Too slow."

Victor did not even turn around. He merely twisted his wrist, and his longsword swung hard in a diagonal slash toward the empty air behind him to his left!

"Slash!!"

The sound of steel cutting into flesh rang out clearly.

"Ah!!!"

A shrill cry of pain erupted.

Victor turned his body and put more force into it.

With one swift stroke!

A left arm clad in a black suit flew high through the air amid a spray of blood, then crashed heavily onto the grass.

Kuro staggered into view, clutching the stump of his arm, his face pale as paper.

At that moment, there was no trace left of Hundred Plans' ferocity on his face.

Looking at Victor's red eyes, nothing remained in his heart but endless terror.

"You... how can you see through my movements..."

Kuro staggered back trembling. "Is it because of... those red eyes?"

"It's because you're too slow."

Victor said coldly, with no intention of wasting words.

He sheathed his sword and rapidly formed hand seals. Chakra frantically gathered in his throat as he prepared to end the battle in one blow.

"Fire Release..."

"Ah!!!!"

At that moment, a piercing scream rang out from ahead.

It was Kaya.

Victor's hand seals paused involuntarily.

He had deliberately chosen this secluded corner to quietly deal with Kuro, partly so he would not frighten the young lady.

Yet she had come looking for him herself.

"Good opportunity!"

Though Kuro had lost an arm, the cunning of an old pirate made him seize this sole chance at survival instantly.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

With his remaining right hand, he fiercely flung several throwing knives straight at Victor's face.

Then, enduring the excruciating pain, he used Spoon again, turning into a black shadow as he frantically darted into the dense forest beside them.

"Trying to run?"

Victor was about to give chase when he caught sight of Kaya from the corner of his eye.

The frail, sickly young lady had witnessed the bloody sight of her usually gentle butler having his arm severed. Her eyes widened in terror.

Then her body went limp, and she began to collapse to the ground.

"Tch. Next time, then."

Victor could only abandon the pursuit. He swung his sword, knocking away the throwing knives with several sharp clangs, then used Body Flicker.

"Whoosh."

One second before Kaya hit the ground, he caught her steadily.

[ Ding! Congratulations, Host, for defeating target: Hundred Plans—Kuro. ]

[ Battle Rating: A (clean and efficient, but failed to finish him off). ]

[ Ninja Way Points gained: 400. ]

"Hey! What are you doing!!"

Usopp's furious shout came from the distance.

Right after that, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami hurried over as well.

Nami quickly stepped forward and took the unconscious Kaya from Victor.

She glanced at the severed arm on the grass, then at Victor holding his sword, her eyes widening in shock.

"Victor! Why did you suddenly chop someone up?! That was the butler!"

Victor flicked the blood from his sword and sighed.

"He's no butler.

"If I'm not mistaken, he's the infamous pirate, the former captain of the Black Cat Pirates, Hundred Plans—Kuro."

Victor pointed toward the forest. "He disguised himself as a butler and hid here for three years. He must have had ulterior motives.

"When I exposed him just now, he tried to kill me to keep me quiet."

Luffy held down his Straw Hat and looked at Victor, a bright smile suddenly spreading across his face.

"Oh, I see. Victor, I believe you."

There was not the slightest doubt, only absolute trust.

Zoro, standing nearby with his arms folded, immediately began to think.

"Ah... I remember now. Three years ago, there really was a pirate named Kuro in the East Blue with a bounty of sixteen million Beli."

"But I remember the news saying that he'd already been captured and executed by the Marines, hadn't it?"

"Sixteen million?! That's amazing!!"

Luffy's focus was always different from everyone else's, his eyes wide as bells.

"Th-that butler... really was a pirate?!"

Usopp, who had just arrived, gaped in disbelief upon hearing that.

But when he looked at the severed arm on the ground and Victor's serious expression, he was already more than half convinced.

Then he came to his senses, looked at the unconscious Kaya, and shouted anxiously:

"Anyway, let's get Miss Kaya somewhere to rest first! Her health was bad to begin with!"

"Mm, leave her to me."

Nami immediately carried Kaya onto her back, preparing to take her into the mansion.

As she passed Victor, Nami's steps paused.

She looked at Victor's calm profile and recalled how she had shouted at him without knowing the truth. A trace of guilt welled up within her.

She leaned closer to Victor and said softly, her face red:

"Sorry... Victor. I misunderstood you just now."

Victor gave her a strange look, then tilted his ear as though he had not heard clearly.

"Huh? What?"

"..."

The veins on Nami's forehead instantly bulged, and all her guilt vanished.

"Drop dead!!!"

"Hey! You over there! What did you do to Miss Kaya!!"

At that moment, the mansion guards heard Kaya's scream from earlier and rushed over aggressively with weapons in hand.

Elsewhere.

Deep within the dense forest.

"Hah... hah..."

Kuro, who had fled into the forest, clutched the wound where his arm had been severed, blood constantly seeping through his fingers.

His face was pale, and he limped desperately toward the coast.

His Black Cat Pirates were docked there!

At that moment, his expression was incomparably grim, his features twisted together by pain and hatred.

The way things had unfolded was completely beyond all his expectations.

His originally flawless plan had actually been ruined by that red-eyed brat!

And he had even lost an arm!

"Damn it!! What kind of monster was that!!"

Remembering those red eyes that seemed capable of seeing through everything, Kuro still felt a chill run down his spine.

But the resentment in his eyes only grew deeper.

"Unforgivable... absolutely unforgivable..."

He had to go back!

Gather his old crew!

Launch an all-out attack!

"I'll slaughter that village, along with all those damn brats!!!"

"I'll make you pay the price!!!"

His mad, beastlike growl echoed through the forest.