"I'll kill you!!!"
Krieg suddenly lunged forward, swinging his War Spear at Mark.
Unhurried, Mark raised his Mountain-Splitting Axe with one hand and blocked the War Spear.
"How is this possible?"
Krieg strained with both arms, but Mark's hand gripping the Mountain-Splitting Axe did not budge in the slightest. Terror filled Krieg's heart.
His strength was known as monstrous in the East Blue. He could lift a small sailboat and wield a one-ton War Spear as if it were a toy. Yet this Mark before him had blocked his full-force strike with one hand—and remained completely unmoved.
Cold sweat streamed down Krieg's forehead.
Mark exerted a little force through his arm. With a crack, something shattered within the War Spear, and the Mountain-Splitting Axe cleaved a clearly visible fracture into it.
"My War Spear!!!" Krieg cried in shock.
Whoosh!
A bright crescent gleam flashed past, and the enormous 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 across the surrounding sea. They were desperately turning away. The instant Krieg died, they had realized something was wrong. None of them thought of avenging him now; they only wanted to flee as quickly as possible.
"Boss, want me to do it?" With no more cannonballs raining down, Chiu Chiu flew over from the Moss and eagerly volunteered.
He was extremely enthusiastic about fighting now, all because his bounty of ten Beli was far too eye-catching. It was an insult to birds—what pirate had a bounty that low?
But Mark's next words crushed his enthusiasm.
"No need. Just cover me from the side!"
How could Mark hand over these precious experience bags to someone else?
Black mist rose from Mark's body as he targeted a pirate ship. With a burst of Attraction Force, Marco instantly flew onto the pirate ship.
"Mark is here! Helmsman, hurry up! Faster!!!" The helmsman wished he could grow two more arms, but even that could not stop Mark from arriving.
After landing on the pirate ship, amid the terrified looks of the pirates...
Silent Step unfolded!
"No, no, no!"
"Damn it, I can't see him at all!"
"I can't even hear anything! What kind of power is this!!!"
"A demon! He's a demon!!!" Some pirates were so frightened by Mark's ghostly movements that their minds went blank.
The blade of Mark's axe became a blur, one experience bag with every swing.
In an instant, blood flowed like a river.
Bone fragments pierced through flesh and lodged in the deck. Entrails mixed with brain matter covered the planks, and the blood-soaked pirate ship became a world of crimson.
After killing the last person aboard that pirate ship, an even more powerful aura burst from Mark's body.
Constitution: ★★☆
His energy had also changed from green to a faint cyan.
He had become even stronger!
Mark was overwhelmed with excitement. There were still more than a dozen pirate ships full of experience bags. He wondered how much life energy he could gain after this battle...
With that thought, Mark shot toward the next pirate ship.
Before the pirates could react, Silent Step unfolded. The same scene played out aboard this ship.
Axe shadows, blood!
Blood dyed the entire sea red. Daisy watched Mark's frenzied slaughter with some concern. Although Mark had never shown mercy to his enemies before...
There were several thousand people here.
Even pirates who jumped into the water to escape were dragged back by his ability, then cut down.
Daisy was truly afraid that Mark would be blinded by slaughter and turn into a bloodthirsty butcher.
"Boss Daisy, the boss is fine. You don't need to worry so much. Why not think about what we're eating later? I'm getting hungry..." Chiu Chiu said carelessly beside Daisy.
Daisy shot him an annoyed glare, then turned back to watch Mark anxiously.
After his Constitution broke through, Mark's Attraction Force had become stronger as well. Its range now exceeded five hundred meters. Combined with his slaughtering speed, only this final ship managed to escape his control.
But...
Crack!
Though the last pirate ship had sailed far away and was eight or nine hundred meters from Mark, it still could not escape his axe.
While chasing that pirate ship, Mark suddenly wondered whether he could use seawater as a medium for Attraction Force.
To his surprise, it worked.
By using Attraction Force to pull a stretch of seawater, just as Donquixote Doflamingo used his string ability to pull on clouds, he continuously switched 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, there were plenty of unbelievable things in this world.
Clouds were not solid either, yet Donquixote Doflamingo could use them to develop his Sky Path ability!
But seawater was ultimately a flat surface. After repeatedly pulling himself along it, Mark could only manage low-altitude flight, with the risk of touching seawater. At this stage, he could only use it for short periods.
Unless he could develop his ability to reach ten thousand meters away and pull on the clouds in the sky, using a Sky Path like Donquixote Doflamingo's—only then would it be true flight.
Even so, this pulling ability was incredibly powerful!
Using Black Hole, Mark sucked the dozen or so pirate ships into Dark Space, then flew back to the Moss.
"Mark, are you okay?" The moment Mark returned, Daisy rushed forward and asked anxiously.
"I'm fine. What's wrong?" Mark asked in confusion.
Daisy stared into his eyes for a long while, only sighing in relief after confirming he was all right.
"Mark, do you know that just now, I really thought you had Bloodlust Syndrome!!!" Daisy said.
Mark stood frozen for a long moment.
Bloodlust Syndrome was an affliction that gave people an excessive obsession with blood. Killing was as commonplace to them as eating and drinking, and whenever they did not kill or see blood, they would feel unbearably uncomfortable.
People suffering from it generally had reddish eyes, with a faint bluish tint around them.
Thinking of the scene of his recent massacre, 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 acquire more experience bags in the future. Telling them early would keep them from overthinking it.
Chiu Chiu's eyes widened as he listened.
"What?!" Daisy exclaimed. "Getting stronger by killing people? What a strange ability..."
She did not doubt Mark, because she believed he would never 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 and deliberately kept his explanation vague.
"Could it be an ability inherent to the Dark-Dark Fruit?" Daisy fell silent. "But the Devil Fruit Compendium never mentioned the Dark-Dark Fruit having such an ability..."
"Maybe the Devil Fruit records you read were incomplete?"
"Perhaps..."