Bloodlust Syndrome

"I'll kill you!!!"

Krieg suddenly lunged forward, swinging the War Spear in his hand at Mark.

Unhurried, Mark used the Mountain-Splitting Axe in one hand to block the War Spear.

"How is this possible?"

Krieg strained with both arms, but the hand holding Mark's Mountain-Splitting Axe did not move in the slightest. Terror surged through Krieg's heart.

His strength was known as monstrous in the East Blue. He could lift a small sailboat, and wielding the one-ton War Spear was as easy as playing around. Yet Mark before him had blocked his full-force strike with one hand without budging at all.

Cold sweat streamed down Krieg's forehead.

Mark slightly exerted his arm. With a crack, a shattering sound came from the War Spear, and the Mountain-Splitting Axe carved a clearly visible fracture into it.

"My War Spear!!!" Krieg cried out in alarm.

Whoosh!

A bright crescent-shaped flash swept past, and the massive head was severed by the Mountain-Splitting Axe.

"What a haul!!!" Feeling the abundant life energy within him, Mark's lips unconsciously curled upward.

He opened the Combat Bracer and took a look.

Still a little short!

Mark turned to look at the dozen or so pirate ships floating around the sea. They were desperately turning away. The moment Krieg died, they had realized something was wrong. None of them thought of avenging Krieg now; they only wanted to escape as quickly as possible.

"Boss, do you need me?" With no more cannonballs raining down, Chiu Chiu flew over from the Moss and volunteered eagerly.

He was extremely enthusiastic about fighting now, all because his bounty of 10 Beli was far too eye-catching. It was insulting to birds. What kind of pirate had such a low bounty?

But Mark's next words extinguished his enthusiasm.

"No need. Just cover me from the side!"

How could Mark possibly hand these little experience packets over to someone else?

Black energy rose from Mark's body. He targeted a pirate ship, and as an Attraction Force appeared, Mark instantly flew onto its deck.

"Mark is here! Helmsman, hurry up! Faster, faster!!!" The helmsman wished he could grow two more arms, but even that could not stop Mark's arrival.

After flying onto the pirate ship, beneath the terrified gazes of the crowd of pirates...

Silent Step activated!

"No, no, no!"

"Damn it, we can't see him at all!"

"We can't even hear him! What kind of power is this?!"

"A devil, he's a devil!!!" Some pirates were so frightened by Mark's elusive methods that they became delirious.

The axe blade in Mark's hand became an afterimage, taking down one little experience packet with every swing.

In an instant, blood flowed like a river.

Bone fragments pierced through flesh and embedded themselves in the deck. Entrails mixed with brain matter covered the boards, and the blood-soaked pirate ship became a crimson world.

When Mark killed the final person aboard that pirate ship, an even more powerful aura erupted from his body.

Constitution: ★★☆

His energy had also changed from green to a faint cyan.

He had become even stronger!

Mark was thrilled. There were still more than a dozen pirate ships full of little experience packets. He wondered how much life energy he would gain after this battle...

With that thought, Mark leaped toward the next pirate ship.

Before the pirates could react, Silent Step activated. The same scene unfolded aboard this pirate ship.

Axe shadows, blood!

Blood dyed the entire sea red. Daisy watched Mark's frenzied slaughter with some concern. Though Mark had never shown mercy to his enemies before...

There were thousands of people here.

Even pirates who jumped into the water to escape were pulled back with his power and then cut down.

Daisy truly feared that Mark would be blinded by slaughter and become a bloodthirsty butcher.

"Boss Daisy, the boss is fine. You don't need to worry about him so much. Why not think about what we'll eat later? I'm a little hungry..." Chiu Chiu said carelessly beside Daisy.

Daisy shot him an annoyed glare, then turned back to continue watching Mark worriedly.

After his Constitution broke through, Mark could use a stronger Attraction Force. Its range now exceeded five hundred meters. Combined with his killing speed, only the final ship managed to escape his control.

But...

Crack!

Although the last pirate ship had sailed far away, reaching a distance of eight or nine hundred meters from Mark, it still failed to evade his axe.

While pursuing that pirate ship, Mark suddenly had an idea: could he use seawater as the medium for his Attraction Force?

Unexpectedly, it actually worked.

By using the Attraction Force to pull a mass of seawater, much like Donquixote Doflamingo used his String-String power to pull on clouds, he kept changing his target points and achieved a form of flight.

At first, Mark found it unbelievable. Water was not solid, so how could it serve as a medium? But then again, the pirate world was full of unbelievable things.

Clouds were not solid either, yet Donquixote Doflamingo could use them to develop the Sky Path ability!

However, seawater was ultimately a flat surface. After multiple pulls, Mark could only manage low-altitude flight, and he even risked touching seawater. At this stage, he could only use it for short periods.

Unless he could develop his power to a range of ten thousand meters and pull on clouds in the sky, using a Sky Path like Donquixote Doflamingo's, that would be true flight.

Even so, this attraction ability was incredibly powerful!

Using Black Hole, Mark sucked the dozen or so pirate ships into the dark space, then flew back to the Moss.

"Mark, are you okay?" As soon as Mark returned, Daisy stepped forward and asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. What's wrong?" Mark asked in confusion.

Daisy stared into his eyes for a long while, only breathing a sigh of relief after confirming that he was fine.

"Mark, do you know that I really thought you had Bloodlust Syndrome just now?!" Daisy said.

Mark stood stunned for a moment.

Bloodlust Syndrome was an illness that gave its sufferers an excessive obsession with blood. Slaughter was as commonplace to them as eating and drinking, and whenever they did not kill or see blood, they would feel uncomfortable all over.

Those afflicted with this condition generally had reddened eyes and a faint bluish tint around them.

Thinking of the scene of his massacre just now, Mark reassured Daisy, "Daisy, you don't need to worry about me. That condition could never appear in me!"

Daisy said, "But just now, you..."

Mark said softly, "Actually, I have an ability that lets me grow stronger by killing enemies."

He decided to reveal this information to Daisy and Chiu Chiu. After all, he would need to obtain more little experience packets in the future. Telling them early would keep them from overthinking it.

Chiu Chiu's eyes widened as he listened from the side.

"What?!" Daisy was astonished. "Growing stronger by killing people? What a strange ability..."

She did not doubt Mark, because she believed he would not lie to her.

"This power awakened after I ate the Dark-Dark Fruit. I don't know what's going on either..." Mark did not mention the Combat Bracer, leaving the matter vague.

"Could it be an innate ability of the Dark-Dark Fruit?" Daisy fell silent. "But the Devil Fruit Compendium never mentioned that the Dark-Dark Fruit had such an ability..."

"Maybe the Devil Fruit records you read were incomplete?"

"Maybe..."