Gunfight

Thud! Thud! Thud!...

Footsteps suddenly echoed from the upper level of the ship's cabin, drawing closer and closer, as though someone was about to come down the stairs.

The sudden change caught the four standing in the corridor off guard.

Hancock was the first to react. She quickly gestured for the other three to press themselves against the wall beside the stairway.

Clearly, she intended to ambush whoever came down.

Soon, a bald, burly man standing over seven feet tall entered their field of vision. He held a mop in one hand and a wooden bucket in the other, seemingly coming down to clean.

The instant the bald man stepped down, Hancock raised her right leg and kicked hard at his crotch.

A bat's hearing was six times sharper than that of an ordinary human. Having eaten the Zoan-type Bat Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Vampire Form, Sephiroth possessed this animal trait as well...

The next moment.

Splat!

Sephiroth heard the sound of something breaking with startling clarity. A chill ran through his own crotch, and he instinctively clamped his legs together.

"AAAAAHHHH!!!"

The black-haired girl's deadly kick to the groin was highly effective. With a thud, the bald man collapsed into the corridor, clutching his crotch and letting out a shrill scream.

However...

Hancock did not stop there. She ruthlessly followed up with another kick to the bald man's temple, knocking him unconscious.

"Something happened below! Go see what's going on!"

"Quick! Move! Bring your weapons!"

Chaotic footsteps came from the upper level of the cabin. Sephiroth could even hear guns being cocked and blades being drawn.

In his previous life, he had merely been an ordinary person living in a peaceful country. The original owner of this body had never even been in a fight.

Facing the battle that was about to come, the boy was tense to the extreme. He could clearly feel his heartbeat accelerating without stop.

In contrast, the three girls displayed the combat instincts expected of qualified female warriors of Nine Serpent Island.

Hancock was the first to rush up the stairs and engage the first group of enemies. Sandersonia picked up the mop as a staff, while Marigold grabbed the wooden bucket.

The three girls faced the coming battle without the slightest fear!

Hearing gunfire from above, Sephiroth gritted his teeth and prepared to rush up as well.

Hiding behind women and seeking their protection while letting the three girls fight and kill was something his pride as a man simply would not allow!

Just as the boy was about to step over the bald man's body and climb the stairs, his steps suddenly halted.

Ever since Sephiroth had awakened, his body had developed a craving for blood, stirring an urge to drink it.

He knew that he needed to drink blood to completely awaken the Vampire Fruit's abilities!

With that in mind, Sephiroth, who urgently needed to increase his combat strength, did not hesitate. The moment he opened his mouth, two sharp fangs sprang from his upper teeth.

Then, he grabbed the bald man's right arm and bit down viciously.

Sizzle~!

Vampire Fangs pierced through skin and muscle. The instant he drew in blood, a burst of crimson light exploded around his body.

Immediately afterward, both his figure and appearance changed!

The boy grew nearly a foot taller, shooting up from just over five feet three to six feet seven. His eyes turned blood-red, his ears became long and narrow, sharp nails grew from all ten fingers, and a pair of fleshy wings sprouted from his back. Fine bony joints lined the wings, and with the slightest flap, they generated enough lift to carry him into the air.

The fleshy wings were useless inside the cramped ship's cabin. He did not need them...

With a thought, the fleshy wings instantly retracted, leaving no trace that they had ever existed.

After drinking blood, the weakness and exhaustion caused by hunger vanished from Sephiroth's body in an instant. Strength surged endlessly through his limbs and bones, filling him with the urge to unleash it without restraint.

Meanwhile, after the bald man had his blood and Life Force drained by the boy, his entire body shriveled up. His skin became covered in wrinkles, and his face aged by more than thirty years in an instant, turning him completely into a dying old man.

This was the terror of the Vampire Fruit. Its user could plunder the Life Force of others to keep their own body forever in its healthiest and most peak condition.

In his Vampiric Transformation state, his strength and speed rose once more. In the blink of an eye, he rushed to the upper level.

Sephiroth swept his gaze across the room and found a spacious storage area piled with water, food, and miscellaneous supplies. Two corpses already lay in pools of blood.

The three girls had taken long blades and guns from the two bodies and were hiding behind cargo crates.

The moment Sephiroth rushed out from the stairwell, four dark gun barrels at a doorway on the other side of the cabin fired at him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!...

In haste, he twisted sideways and ducked behind a pile of cargo crates.

While dodging, a bullet grazed his left arm. His nerves first felt a searing stab of pain, but six or seven seconds later, the sensation vanished completely.

Sephiroth raised his right hand and wiped his left arm. His palm was smeared with blood, but the wound on his arm had already healed completely.

The Vampire Fruit consumed the Life Force he had absorbed, allowing his body to regenerate at extreme speed.

As long as he had enough Life Force, he could continuously repair bodily injuries!

Even if someone mastered the Life Return derived from the Marine Six Styles to the pinnacle, it could not compare to such terrifying recovery.

As the gunfire gradually died down, Hancock, positioned across from Sephiroth on the other side of the room, threw him a pistol.

After catching it in a panic, Sephiroth carefully examined the pistol. From its appearance, it looked very much like a flintlock pistol, but it actually used fixed ammunition. Bullets could be loaded through the grip, and it held six rounds when fully loaded.

He opened the magazine and checked. There were still five bullets inside.

Two were dead here, one was unconscious below, four were outside the door across from them, and two others were nowhere to be seen...

Sephiroth listened carefully to the sounds outside the door but still could not detect the other two.

Faintly, he seemed to hear the sound of a magazine being ejected... They were reloading!!!

Realizing this, the boy quickly reached out and poked his head out for a glance. He found that two men were still peering in and aiming into the room.

Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger twice in succession.

Bang! Bang!

Three gunshots rang out almost simultaneously.

Then, a thud came from outside the door—the sound of a body hitting the floor.

"Kevin!... Kevin!... You bastard, I'm going to kill him!"

"Calm down!"

"Don't be reckless!"

"The captain will be here soon. Calm down!"

On the other side, Sephiroth crouched entirely behind the cargo crates, the corner of his eye twitching as he looked at the wound on his wrist.

Just now, when he fired, an enemy on the other side had shot him as well.

Seeing this, Boa Hancock frowned, concern written across her face.

"How is your injury?"

"It's not too bad... It just hurts so much!... Hiss~!"

Sephiroth clenched his teeth. Extending the index finger and thumb of his left hand, he drove his long nails into his wrist and forcibly dug out the bullet lodged inside.

As the bloodstained bullet fell onto the deck, he slumped weakly against the cargo crate.

With Life Force rapidly being consumed, after only a dozen or so seconds, the wound on the boy's left wrist had completely healed. The pallor that pain had brought to his face quickly returned to a healthy flush.

I can regenerate at extreme speed, but it really hurts!... Sephiroth muttered inwardly as he reached up to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.