Those Who Deserved Death

The fire basins around the cages were overturned by the freed slaves. Crimson flames immediately licked up the cage structures all around.

Thick smoke billowed, and flames erupted everywhere!

The fleeing slaves, the guard squads pouring out within the Holy Land—the slave district had descended into complete chaos.

Ye Qiong shielded the three girls beside him as they hung back, charging out of the Holy Land alongside the slaves ahead.

Creak!

A flaming cage frame collapsed, crashing down toward several slaves.

"R!"

Ye Qiong raised a spherical space to block the flames and debris, leading the last group of slaves beside him out.

"Mr. Ye Qiong, over here!" Fisher Tiger shouted from outside. Ye Qiong went over and joined him.

"Hurry and take them away from here! The Navy and the Celestial Dragon guards will react soon!" Fisher Tiger said urgently.

"No! I can't leave yet." Ye Qiong shook his head. He had yet to confirm whether Robin was in the Holy Land. How could he give up and leave halfway through?

He said firmly, "I need to go deeper into the Holy Land and take another look!"

"What! Are you crazy?!" Fisher Tiger cried in alarm. Once the World Government reacted, it would be too late for everything.

"It's fine. I'll definitely make it out unscathed!" Ye Qiong said confidently. With his spatial abilities, if he truly wanted to leave, who could stop him?

This was the confidence he had gained after escaping prison.

"You have to survive!" Fisher Tiger said, staring at him.

Ye Qiong slapped his shoulder with the back of his hand, leaving behind a Space Mark. "We'll drink together sometime. For now, hurry up and get them out of here!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Ye Qiong charged in the opposite direction from the fleeing slaves. Swift as wind and lightning, he plunged headfirst into the sea of fire.

"You!" The three girls beside them cried out in panic toward Ye Qiong's retreating figure, but the flames blazed too fiercely for even his shadow to be seen.

"Alas." Fisher Tiger sighed. He could not understand why Ye Qiong stubbornly insisted on setting foot in the Holy Land again. Once the World Government received the alarm and dispatched powerful fighters, escaping would be harder than climbing to the heavens.

Ye Qiong sped past the slave cages. Flames spread and burned everywhere, and the scorching air made his skin feel faintly seared. But how could ordinary fire hurt him? Ever since his Vajra Body reached the second level, he had gained a certain immunity to natural elemental damage.

Ye Qiong advanced into the Holy Land, practically brushing past the flames.

"There!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunshots rang out. The guards pursuing the slaves had spotted him and decisively pulled their triggers.

Ye Qiong pressed onward, maintaining his spherical space. At such high speed, very few bullets could land on him, and those that did were sent flying away by the repulsive force.

"R!"

The spherical space expanded to envelop the guards. Then, like the bullets from before, their bodies were hurled away. The unlucky ones crashed straight into the inferno.

"Careful, he's a Devil Fruit user!"

"Use Seastone weapons!"

The well-trained and fully equipped guards quickly switched to Seastone net guns, firing nets laced with Seastone to intensify their assault.

Ye Qiong frowned. He teleported away from several Seastone nets lunging at him, landed atop a building, and waved his hand. A sword abandoned by the guards on the ground flew into his hand.

"I was going to let you off as long as you delayed me a little. Looks like I'll have to kill you after all." Ye Qiong said coldly. The sword in his hand glinted with the metallic chill of cold light beneath the firelight.

Then he charged at the guards at extreme speed. The Seastone nets were knocked away by bursts of black sword light, while sharp sword light streaked through the air, dark and cold as the Reaper's scythe.

In an instant, a group of guards were severed from their bodies, heads rolling across the ground as scarlet, warm blood sprayed out. Against the swaying firelight around them, it possessed a strangely bewitching beauty.

Ye Qiong did not stop. He carved a bloody path through them and charged straight into the Holy Land's residential district.

The buildings in the residential district were even more magnificent and prosperous. The retro Western-style houses had red tiles and pink walls, each one noble and majestic like a Western cathedral, luxuriously adorned with brilliant lights and stained glass.

"Hm? Nothing?"

Ye Qiong frowned as he entered the residential district. He could not sense the distinctive Space Mark. His figure flickered as he teleported deeper into the Holy Land.

Inside a luxurious residence in the Celestial Dragon residential district of Mary Geoise's Holy Land.

Upon a double bed inlaid with jewels and made from the finest silk in dazzling colors.

A Celestial Dragon noble around thirty years old pinned down a young black girl, his fat flesh heaving as he thrust relentlessly.

The Celestial Dragon noble was naked, his pale fat rolls exposed. Overnourishment had made him bloated and round-faced, while a body hollowed out by drink and lust had been driven to madness by drugs. A hateful, twisted expression covered his face as he repeatedly violated the delicate black girl beneath him.

The girl looked no older than thirteen. Tears streaked her childish face, while her hair and clothes were in disarray. She struggled desperately, weeping and crying out meaningless pleas for mercy.

The more fiercely the girl struggled, the greater the Celestial Dragon's satisfaction became.

He instinctively tightened his grip around the black girl's throat, and the flushed, tender skin on her face gradually turned blue...

By the time he stopped abusing her and got off the bed, the black girl lying there was a ruined mess beneath him, covered in blood. Her heartbeat and breathing had already stopped. Her slightly bluish face still bore open gray eyes, unwilling to close even in death.

The Celestial Dragon's eyes held contempt and disgust as he muttered coldly, "What a useless lower-class slave! You couldn't even endure that. Still, the young ones feel better. Looks like I'll have to buy a few more playthings."

When he turned around to find his clothes, he saw a young man in a white robe holding a longsword standing behind him. He had no idea when the young man had appeared, silent as a ghost.

Bright red blood still ran down the blade in Ye Qiong's hand, dripping onto the noble and immaculate carpet in a horrifying sight.

His expression was frosty and indifferent, the cold light in his eyes nearly solid. The hand gripping the sword tightened continuously, crackling as though he might crush the refined steel hilt in his grasp.

"Who are you?! Don't you know this is my home? Guards! Someone, get in here!" The Celestial Dragon was startled, but quickly recovered. He thrust out his bulging belly and said arrogantly, "Kneel down! Lick my toes! If I'm in a good mood, I might let you die quickly."

Their status as World Nobles, long elevated above the masses, along with the fear and respect they received from everyone, had made them forget basic humanity and even the meaning of fear.

Ye Qiong remained expressionless. Without saying a word, he raised his sword and brought it down. A flash of cold light severed the left arm of the arrogant Celestial Dragon noble before him.

The arm fell onto the carpet, scarlet blood splattering everywhere alongside the Celestial Dragon's piglike howl.

"Aaaahhhhh!!!!"

He clutched his wound and collapsed onto the floor, his naked fat trembling and convulsing nonstop. Tears and snot poured out together through the agony, making him utterly revolting.

"You know pain too?" Ye Qiong sneered. With a sweep of his sword, countless fine, razor-sharp sword energies covered the Celestial Dragon's body on the floor.

Ssh! Ssh! Ssh!

Flesh and blood flew apart inch by inch, blood spraying everywhere. The agony of being sliced alive tore through the Celestial Dragon's obese body. His face twisted as he howled in pain a few times, then rolled his eyes back and actually passed out from the agony.

"Trash!" Ye Qiong spat, then slit the throat of the Celestial Dragon on the carpet, whom he considered worse than an animal. Blood continued to stain the luxurious carpet red.

His gaze fell upon the black girl who had died from abuse, and he let out a long sigh. He had still arrived too late, unable to save the girl on the bed in time.

Though the black girl before him was not Robin but a stranger, Ye Qiong still could not suppress the rage rising in his heart at such an inhumane, horrifying sight.

Ye Qiong did not hesitate in the slightest over killing a Celestial Dragon. He simply did as his heart desired.

Celestial Dragons deserved to die!

No matter what power the Celestial Dragons possessed, or how great the trouble after killing them might be, those who deserved death should be killed!

Ye Qiong picked up a blanket from the bed and covered the girl's corpse. Just as he was about to leave the palace, his gaze swept across the lavish room. This Celestial Dragon's collection was extraordinarily abundant—crystal-clear, radiant jewels and jade; strange and ingenious artistic treasures; colorful, exquisite silks and fabrics, and more. Everything was tremendously valuable. If the somewhat greedy Crow King were here, he would probably go wild with excitement.

No one would turn down money, and the future Akatsuki organization would need plenty of funds to get started. Ye Qiong waved his right hand, and those items abruptly vanished into thin air, as though they had evaporated.