Assassination

Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 78.

The sun slanted westward. Afternoon sunlight streamed down from the sky, filtering through the dense branches and leaves of the Yarukiman Mangrove and falling upon the emerald grass.

Bubbles occasionally rose from the soil. Under the sunlight, they reflected brilliant, multicolored hues, making the surroundings as dazzling and enchanting as a fairyland in a dream.

Outside Gild Tesoro's house.

"Mmph~!"

"Mmph~!"

"Ah! Wait, not like that..."

Sephiroth carried a large sack of money over his left shoulder. He raised his right hand, intending to knock on the door, but after thinking it over, he lowered it again.

He turned and sat on the stone steps before the door. From inside his blue suit, he silently took out a cigar and lit it. Only after taking a deep drag did he slowly exhale a cloud of white smoke.

Sometimes, having overly sharp hearing was not necessarily a good thing. He often heard things he did not want to hear...

Especially since he was a teenage boy with raging hormones.

Sephiroth did not think he was particularly lustful.

His profession as a doctor in his previous life meant that whenever he looked at a human body, he instinctively dissected it in his mind—muscles beneath the skin, blood vessels, bones, teeth, heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys... all sorts of tissues and organs.

In his previous life, he had dated a girlfriend who was fairly decent in both looks and figure.

Perhaps because he understood the human body too well, or perhaps it was simply an occupational habit.

At the time, he had not been especially interested in that sort of thing between men and women. He had been overly rational about it.

Sometimes, he even felt that playing online games was more exciting than being with his girlfriend...

Gradually, he grew somewhat fed up with the woman who constantly threw tantrums in front of him, babbled endless boring nonsense, and aggressively tried to control every aspect of his life.

When she threw a fit and suggested breaking up, he naturally agreed.

He had even felt relieved, thinking that living freely on his own was actually quite nice...

That was why, when the three Boa sisters had clamored about "loving him," he had remained remarkably calm and had not wanted to simply go along with it.

Sleeping with someone was fine, but falling in love... please allow him to consider it carefully!

After thinking it over, he decided that the chief culprit behind his recent pent-up frustration was that woman, Gion!

That woman strutted around seductively in front of him every day, leaving him all worked up...

Still, he would bet anything that if he confessed to her like Tokikake had, there was a 99.99... percent chance she would reject him without hesitation.

She was only teasing you, and you took it seriously?

Sephiroth figured that woman would definitely say something along those lines to mercilessly mock him...

After he had let his thoughts run wild for half an hour, the sounds inside finally stopped.

Only then did he stand up and knock on the door.

After a burst of somewhat flustered footsteps, Gild Tesoro, dressed only in a set of purple pajamas, opened the door and appeared before him.

"Boss, you're here! Come in, come in!"

Gild Tesoro hurriedly welcomed Sephiroth inside, and the two sat down on the sofas in the living room.

"There's over a hundred million Beli here, along with some treasure. Take it as the Umbrella Corporation's startup capital."

As he spoke, Sephiroth yanked open the sack, revealing the banknotes and glittering treasures inside.

"Wow! Boss, where did you get so much money...?"

"I killed the captain and officers of the Gray Wolf Pirates. Including the money they had, it added up to this much..."

Upon hearing that, Gild Tesoro immediately sucked in a sharp breath and said in surprise:

"Hiss~! Boss, wasn't Gray Wolf Bello a wanted criminal with a 76 million Beli bounty?"

"Yeah. The enemy was unexpectedly weak..."

"..."

Back when Gild Tesoro had desperately needed money, he had also considered becoming a bounty hunter to make quick cash.

Maybe then he could have redeemed Stella overnight...

Unfortunately, his combat ability was only at the level of a street thug, and he was not very good with guns either.

Bounty hunting was a profession where one licked blood from the edge of a blade, with an extremely high death rate.

Coming out of a battle covered in wounds was one thing. If things went badly, he could lose his life. Even afterward, he might suffer retaliation and hostility from other pirates.

Therefore, after carefully weighing the pros and cons, Gild Tesoro could only abandon that unrealistic idea.

As if recalling something, Gild Tesoro suddenly said excitedly:

"Oh, right, Boss! I have a bold idea. I don't know if you'd dare to do it...

"If it succeeds, our Umbrella Corporation can rise with the tide!"

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow with interest.

"Oh!? Let's hear it."

"Just yesterday, the two largest arms dealers in the Sabaody Archipelago got into a shootout on Grove 25 over control of the arms market..."

Late at night, dark clouds obscured the moon.

Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 21, inside a large villa.

More than twenty men in black suits sat on either side of a long table.

At the head of the table sat a mustached man in a white suit. He held up a glass of champagne, his face overflowing with wild laughter.

"Hahaha! After a day of sweeping them out, we've finally wiped out the remnants of the Lawrence Family.

"From now on, our Charlie Family will be the largest arms dealer in the Sabaody Archipelago.

"Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

The minor gang leaders seated around the table also laughed excitedly as they raised their glasses.

The Sabaody Archipelago was a gathering place for outlaws from all four seas. The profits from its underground industries were enormous, and arms dealing was one of its most lucrative businesses.

According to World Government regulations, ordinary weapon shops could only sell single-shot pistols and rifles. They could not sell automatic rifles, grenades, rocket launchers, high explosives... and other such weapons.

In this turbulent age, aside from the havoc caused by pirates, many nations were themselves trapped in war for one unavoidable reason or another...

Some nations started wars because of their kings' greed.

However...

Other nations could only keep waging war in order to pay the exorbitant Celestial Tribute. They reduced their populations and plundered the wealth of other countries to maintain their legitimate status as World Government member states.

To the world's top powerhouses, heavy weapons were not particularly useful. They were even less practical than the swords in their hands or single-shot firearms.

But for ordinary people, heavy weapons were the best choice for defeating stronger enemies and rapidly increasing a nation's military strength.

Thus, in the face of such immense demand, the World Government had always maintained a tacitly approving attitude toward the arms industry.

Of course, they would never openly declare or support it...

Therefore, if the Charlie Family controlled the arms trade in the Sabaody Archipelago, it would gain a position of considerable importance in the Underground World.

Suddenly!

Screech, screech, screech...!

A massive swarm of Black Bats surged in through the open windows and rushed into the room, startling the Charlie Family members into jumping to their feet and drawing the pistols from their coats.

Thick Black Mist rapidly filled the room, obscuring everyone's vision. Even the room's lights were compressed into a corner, unable to illuminate the entire space.

"Ah!"

Bang! Bang...!

"Ah!"

Bang! Bang...!

Gunshots and screams rang continuously through the room. Upon hearing the commotion inside, the gang members standing guard outside the villa rushed in one after another.

But when they entered the villa, they saw a blood-soaked figure standing before them, dressed in a black leather outfit and wearing a black hood. He held a machete in his right hand and an ordinary pistol in his left, his gaze cold and indifferent.

Rat-a-tat-tat...!

Bang! Bang! Bang...!

The gang members hurriedly raised their guns at the black-clad figure and pulled their triggers.

However...

Black Mist spread out. Amid their horrified expressions, the black-clad figure harvested their lives with ruthless speed, as easily as cutting through melons and vegetables...

The next day, Monday.

News spread throughout the Sabaody Archipelago that the two largest arms dealers had clashed, only for the upper ranks of both sides to be nearly wiped out.

Many underground forces recognized the opportunity and poured into the newly vacant arms market, beginning to divide up the pie.

And with his abundant funds, Gild Tesoro quickly recruited a group of people and seized a portion of the market.