Black Gun

"What did it matter if he survived? I could just kill him again!"

Smoker had already fallen unconscious and completely lost the ability to resist. Mark slowly stepped forward, the Mountain-Splitting Axe in his hand gleaming with a chilling light.

Just as he reached Smoker and raised his massive axe to bring it down, a black spear shot toward him from afar.

It was incredibly fast. Mark dodged the black spear in a flash and looked up to see a beautiful figure rapidly approaching.

"Pirate, drop the weapon in your hand!"

With long pink hair, a Marine cape, and red clothes, she was Tina, a colonel from Marine Headquarters.

As Tina arrived, Marines dressed in white came one after another behind her.

"This is bad!"

A sense of danger flashed through Mark's heart. It was not only Marine Colonel Tina; every Marine behind her gave him a deadly sense of danger.

These people were definitely not Marines from the East Blue.

"Marines from Headquarters!!!"

He had to leave immediately. If they got tangled up with these people, even if he did not die, he would be seriously injured.

With that thought, Mark swung the Mountain-Splitting Axe straight down at Smoker.

Before leaving, he had to eliminate this future threat.

But...

Three pitch-black spears instantly stabbed into the ground around Smoker in a triangular formation, blocking Mark's attack.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The Marines behind Tina raised their guns and fired at Mark, bullets pouring down on his upper body like raindrops.

"Damn it..."

Mark's expression darkened with anger. Tina had chosen the perfect moment to intervene. Combined with the Marines behind her, he had no choice but to retreat immediately.

"Smoker... you got lucky this time. You won't be so lucky next time!"

He activated Silent Step, pushing his speed to its limit as he rushed toward the shore.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bullets poured down like raindrops.

Although those Marines could not see Mark, Tina, who had awakened Observation Haki, could detect his position.

She directed the Marines to fire toward the alley entrance while black spears appeared in her hand and shot toward Mark.

The Black Guns created by the Bars-Bars Fruit were incredibly tough.

Combined with the Marines' bullets, they instantly inflicted tremendous damage on Mark.

Armament Hardening!

Mark pushed Silent Step to its limit, while Attraction Force accelerated him further. Even so, having lost most of his stamina, he could not evade the attacks of so many Marines and could only cover his vital areas with Armament Haki.

Ssh! Ssh! Ssh!

Bullets pierced the parts of his body not covered by Armament Haki. At that moment, the side effect of the Dark-Dark Fruit revealed itself.

The pain from being attacked was more than twice what an ordinary person would feel. Cold sweat poured down Mark's forehead, and his teeth chattered.

Pain might be the necessary path for a man to become tough, but extreme pain was exceedingly dangerous.

Just like Mark now, he was already struggling to use the powers of the Dark-Dark Fruit and Armament Haki.

He could only rely on instinct to dodge some bullets. Fortunately, the Dark-Dark Fruit's devouring power remained within his wounds. As black energy surged through them, the bullets lodged in his wounds were swallowed, and his injuries rapidly healed.

After I escape, I have to develop an ability similar to elementalization. Otherwise, I'm far too passive against this kind of group attack.

Fortunately, Silent Step was extremely fast. At full speed, he was even slightly faster than Kuro's Shakushi, and he soon reached the mouth of the alley.

When he saw that the Moss was unharmed, Mark let out a sigh of relief.

Tina and the Marines had arrived too suddenly. He had feared that his pirate ship might have been destroyed, but it seemed that worry had been unnecessary.

Then, his Observation Haki suddenly sensed a deadly danger.

Whoosh!

A black spear suddenly shot straight at Mark's chest—at the position of his heart.

Damn it...

The attack had come too suddenly. Mark could only twist his body slightly to avoid his vital point, but the Black Gun still struck him.

His right arm was pierced by the Black Gun!

Blood ran down the spearhead.

Mark felt his head grow dizzy as searing pain swept over him.

"Mark!" Daisy appeared at the bow.

The moment she saw Mark's arm pierced through by the Black Gun, tears instantly fell from her eyes.

"Boss!" Chiu Chiu cried out. His body turned into a golden bolt of lightning as he rapidly arrived at Mark's side.

Another black spear came flying over. Electricity flickered across Chiu Chiu's wings as he knocked the Black Gun away, then grabbed Mark by both shoulders and swiftly took flight.

Mark turned back and coldly glanced at Tina, who had launched the Black Gun, then allowed Chiu Chiu to carry him out of the alley.

"Big Sis Daisy, help the boss recover from his injuries! I'll start the ship!!!"

With that, Chiu Chiu turned and entered the cabin.

Daisy wiped away her tears and quickly brought Mark into the cabin.

The Moss soon set sail—

Tina and the Marines reached the entrance of the alley, but the Moss had already left the alley and was sailing toward the Red Line.

The Marines could only fire at the increasingly distant Moss while Tina took a hard drag from her cigarette.

"Rescue Smoker first. We need to reassess the danger posed by the Moss Pirates."

A squad of Headquarters Marines, led by a Marine colonel, had actually allowed the enemy to escape.

And he had been alone.

He had even beaten Smoker into a near-fatal condition. This Mark was far too dangerous.

On the Moss, Daisy pulled the Black Gun from Mark's upper arm.

The hollow wound was horrifying to behold.

Daisy placed both hands over Mark's wound. Green light emerged from her palms and gradually flowed into his injury.

A power that acted upon the body from the depths of the soul emerged. The flesh around the wound seemed to come alive, new tissue writhing as blood gathered into veins. The process was not very fast.

Ten minutes later...

The terrifying wound on Mark's upper arm had vanished. In its place was new skin, somewhat pale and out of place against the bronze skin around it.

He moved his arm and found that it still felt somewhat strange. The newly grown flesh probably had not fully fused with his upper arm yet. It would be fine after some time.

"Mark, how are you feeling now?" Daisy asked uneasily.

Mark slowly sat up and looked at Daisy reassuringly. "I'm fine now!"

He rubbed Daisy's hair and smiled at her fondly. "Thank you so much, Daisy!"

Daisy threw herself into Mark's arms. "It's good that you're okay."

Mark gently held Daisy, his gaze growing somber.

He still was not strong enough. If he had Whitebeard's strength, he could have wiped out those Marines with a backhand. How could something like this have happened?

Mark could still faintly feel pain throughout the places where bullets and Black Guns had pierced his body.

He would remember this lesson...