Slaughter! Moria's Ambition

Bounty was strength!

This was the most basic value held by pirates across these seas.

The higher your bounty, the greater your fame.

Pirates who sailed the seas also desired higher bounties from the Marines.

"Fierce Leopard Pirates, Fierce Leopard Plov!"

The moment Lin Ye saw the pirate captain's appearance, he recognized him.

Devil Fruits were truly rare on the seas. Over the past year, Lin Ye had traveled almost the entire Grand Line with Moria, yet they had encountered only a few Devil Fruit users. Only two had dropped Fruit ability traits, and one of those traits had even been a weakness.

Namely, the weakness that Devil Fruit eaters feared seawater. Lin Ye had been so annoyed that he directly shattered the trait.

"Brat, you actually know this captain's great name!"

Hearing Lin Ye call out his name, Plov burst into laughter. Fur rapidly grew across his body, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed into a leopard-man.

"I'll take your life first, then go find your captain."

Like a leopard, Plov turned into an afterimage as he leaped back and forth.

The surrounding pirate grunts were instantly overjoyed at the sight, raising their swords and cheering.

Lin Ye curled his lip.

Before transmigrating, when he watched anime, he had thought that people in this pirate world were emotionally fickle and easily swayed. It had seemed utterly ridiculous.

But after spending a year in this world, he had discovered that it was actually true.

It was especially obvious among pirates.

They clearly knew Thriller Bark was right behind them and could crush their ship at any moment, sending them to their deaths in the sea.

Yet now, seeing their captain make a move, they seemed to have forgotten all about it and began raising their blades and guns to cheer for him.

"Brat, you got distracted!"

Plov suddenly roared. His figure instantly appeared behind Lin Ye, and he raised an enormous claw. After Beastification, he stood nearly three meters tall, and his massive paw was almost half the size of Lin Ye's body.

Splat!

The huge beast claw stopped beside Lin Ye.

A sword wrapped in Armament Haki stabbed backward into the leopard-man's chest, piercing straight through his heart.

"Impossible!"

The powerful vitality granted by a Zoan Fruit kept him from dying immediately, even with his heart pierced.

Terror filled the leopard-man's eyes as his towering body slowly reverted from Beastification.

Expressionless, Lin Ye pulled the sword from his heart.

[Picked up Armament Haki: Level 1]

[Picked up Cat-Cat Leap: Level 1]

Oh, a drop!

The notification appeared in his mind, and Lin Ye's eyelid twitched as he turned to look at the burly man slumped on the ground.

In the past year, he had never encountered anyone like Gol D. Roger, who had dropped five traits at once.

The most had been a great pirate with a bounty of 210 million who had died beneath Moria: Two-Color Haki and a kicking technique.

Most pirates dropped nothing. A few dropped one trait, and very few dropped two, though one of them might be a garbage trait.

Drawing back his gaze, Lin Ye swept his eyes around.

The pirates who had been cheering just moments ago were now filled with terror. Some even wore ecstatic expressions, their swords and guns still raised overhead.

Lin Ye lightly tapped the deck beneath his feet, and the longsword in his hand became a reaper's scythe.

Dark sword flashes streaked through the air, and the pirates on the ship died without a sound.

"Run!"

After twenty or thirty people had died, someone finally came to his senses and shouted.

But this was a ship, and beneath it lay the sea of the New World.

Abandoning the ship and jumping into the sea meant certain death.

Run? Where could they run?

On Thriller Bark, a pirate took out a spyglass and watched what was happening aboard Lin Ye's pirate ship.

"Ah, the captain's started again."

"At this rate, there probably won't be anyone left alive on that ship."

As soon as those words were spoken, the surrounding pirates nodded in agreement.

They had originally thought that after coming aboard, Lin Ye would become a shipwright and handle chores such as scrubbing the deck.

But Lin Ye had never done such work. Instead, in only a short time, his status aboard the ship had risen rapidly.

All of it came from strength.

"I think the captain can easily deal with those great pirates worth one or two hundred million now. It's just a shame the captain is too strong."

A pirate sighed with deep emotion.

"Cut the nonsense. Get closer, and don't ram the ship over again. Otherwise, the treasure onboard will fall into the sea."

While the pirates aboard Thriller Bark discussed the situation, they also began to move.

Meanwhile, Lin Ye's silent slaughter had ended.

Not a single person on the ship remained alive.

"Thirty-two?"

Lin Ye was not very satisfied.

Some higher-quality traits could be dismantled into two or three Blank Traits, yet these hundred-odd pirates had given him only this many.

He did not know whether it was just his imagination, but he felt that the probability of these people dropping traits was decreasing.

But since there were too few, he would simply continue.

Lin Ye bent his knees slightly and used the Cat-Cat Leap he had just acquired.

His legs instantly tensed, and their strength nearly tripled.

His legs violently coiled, shattering the deck beneath his feet. Lin Ye shot a hundred meters into the sky, then shifted twice in midair before landing on another pirate ship fleeing at full speed.

"I'm delivering goods to Lord Kaido—"

Seeing someone leap directly onto his ship, the man who appeared to be the captain hurriedly shouted before he could even make out Lin Ye's face.

He intended to use Kaido's name to intimidate Lin Ye.

But before he could finish speaking, Lin Ye's sword pierced his throat.

Lin Ye felt not the slightest psychological burden in killing these pirates. Every last one of them deserved death; not a single one would be wrongfully killed.

The slaughter continued.

The weapon that was about to evolve into a Black Blade harvested the lives of pirates aboard the ship with its dark, muted gleam.

Lin Ye was reaping his harvest.

Elsewhere, Moria cleaved his opponent in two with a single slash. Without looking at the trembling pirates, he turned toward the pirate ship where Lin Ye was.

His Observation Haki had clearly captured Lin Ye's actions just now.

Clean and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

"That brat has gotten stronger again."

Moria's sharp teeth ground together, producing a piercing scraping sound.

Moria had watched with his own eyes as Lin Ye transformed from a complete rookie into what he was now.

Previously, Moria had believed Lin Ye posed no threat to him, so he had been delighted to have such a capable subordinate.

But now, unease had begun to rise in Moria's heart.

That kid was only eleven this year.

On the seas, he was unquestionably a monster among monsters.

But forget it. It was still far too early for the brat to threaten his position.

It was not as if Moria himself had failed to grow stronger.

After all, his goal was to become the Pirate King.

And next, he would defeat one of the rulers of the New World.

Kaido of the Beast Pirates.

Those people had actually been delivering goods to Kaido, and Kaido was in Wano Country.

A fierce glint flashed through Moria's eyes.

Moria, who had roamed the seas freely, believed Kaido had merely set sail earlier and gained fame earlier.

He was absolutely no weaker than Kaido.

He wanted to sit in the seat of ruler of these seas as well.