Embarrassing Past

"Aren't they the same? How could you save people without killing anyone?!" Rogge casually shattered the weapon in a pirate's hand, then drove a punch into his head. It burst like a watermelon.

"It was indeed the same principle." Cook thought for a second and nodded.

They were all adults. Having boarded the pirate ship, he had quite a high level of resolve. In a situation like this, he could not retreat. Instead, they would gather together and cooperate like a pack of wolves, hunting down their enemies.

So what if it was a pirate crew of seven thousand? Rogge and the others did not care. Their blood was even beginning to boil.

"The officers are here."

After killing who knew how many people, Rogge was already covered in blood. The Chop-Chop Fruit's power was simply too absurd. Rogge felt that this Fruit ability was at least in the same class as the Tremor-Tremor Fruit and the Float-Float Fruit.

There were many Paramecia Fruit abilities, but Rogge divided them into four types. The first type was Luffy's Gum-Gum Fruit and Bellamy's Spring-Spring Fruit, which changed the user's own body through their Fruit powers.

The second type was Donquixote Doflamingo's String-String Fruit and Katakuri's Mochi-Mochi Fruit, which could create other objects.

The third type was Fujitora's Gravity-Gravity Fruit and Shiki the Golden Lion's Float-Float Fruit. They belonged to the ability-release category, applying their power to other objects. These Fruits possessed tremendous destructive power, and the Chop-Chop Fruit belonged to this type.

The fourth type was somewhat terrifying. Foxy's Slow-Slow Fruit and Sugar's Hobby-Hobby Fruit were practically unsolvable, belonging to the realm of mysterious powers. The Slow-Slow Fruit was a law-type ability that could slow someone down for thirty seconds. Who knew what terrifying things a person could do with such an ability? The Hobby-Hobby Fruit was the same, erasing someone from the world.

The third type of Paramecia Fruit possessed astonishing destructive power. Rogge had not expected his luck to be so good. As long as he made good use of this Fruit's ability and kept working hard, his future achievements would definitely not fall below those of the Shichibukai.

On Thousand Lake Island, the slaughter continued, and the Bloodhand Pirates' officers also appeared.

There were seven of them. Their appearances varied greatly, and each looked highly distinctive. One was extremely tall and carried a massive shield. One was fat and tall, wielding a single-bladed great axe. One was a stunning woman whose weapon was a whip. Another was a short man under four feet seven, holding two daggers and wearing a face covering. Of the remaining three, one carried a cannon, one held a long-barreled musket, and one carried a rapier.

"The Bloodhand Pirates' officers—the Seven Slayers regiment commanders." Ham stopped punching and looked at the three of them.

"Seven Slayers regiment commanders? What a domineering name," Rogge said.

"They have quite a reputation. These seven men were once pirate captains in the West Blue, but Brian subdued them. The seven became his officers, each commanding a thousand subordinates," Ham said.

"They look pretty strong." Rogge stared at the seven men and smiled.

"Be careful. Every one of them has a bounty over ten million. The big guy with the shield is called Shield Mountain. That shield weighs five tons. One hit from it would crush you to death." Jelly smiled.

"Five tons? I happen to be lacking training equipment. That thing looks pretty good." Rogge's eyes gleamed as he stared at the shield.

"You could just smash it and find a blacksmith to forge it into something," Ham said blandly.

"The one with the great axe is Morman, the woman is Obadaya, the short one is Ali, the one carrying the cannon is Dubois, the one using the musket is Jones, and the guy with the rapier is Taote. Long time no see, Taote." Jelly often frequented the black market and clearly knew these people. He named them one by one, and when he got to Taote, he deliberately greeted him.

"You're that brat Jelly from back then, right? I didn't expect a guy like you to still be alive," Taote said as he looked at Jelly.

"Well, I couldn't get by over there anymore, so I could only follow the captain," Jelly said with a smile.

"Tch. A defeated loser." Taote looked disdainful.

"Pfft, hahaha! I didn't expect you to have a history like that. You actually lost before." Rogge could not help laughing.

Seeing how familiar Jelly seemed with him, Rogge had thought they had some kind of relationship. He had not expected Taote to have once defeated Jelly.

"Shut up, you trash captain!" Jelly snapped furiously, turning to curse Rogge.

"Alright, alright, I won't—pfft, hahaha." Rogge could not stop laughing.

Jelly was a smug guy, like Sanji with a rapier—narcissistic, arrogant, confident, and conceited. All those traits could be seen in him. He had confidence in everything, yet such a self-satisfied person had this kind of past. Rogge simply could not hold back his laughter.

Ham was laughing too, though not as exaggeratedly as Rogge. Cook did not understand what the two of them found so funny; after all, he had only joined this pirate crew a few days ago.

However, Rogge, Jelly, and Ham had known each other for several months and were already very familiar with one another.

"I was only fourteen when I lost to that guy! That was ten years ago!" Jelly shouted.

"I heard you." Rogge dug at his ear and smiled.

"Arghhh!" Jelly was enraged. He was an extremely proud man, and having his companions learn about his past defeat—even a defeat from when he had been underage—was a tremendous humiliation to someone who pursued perfection.

"Taote, get out here! I'm going to kill you this time!" Jelly drew his rapier and walked toward Taote.

"Ggg, go, Jelly!" Rogge happily waved from behind him.

"Shut up, you bastard!" Jelly turned back and cursed at Rogge.

Taote likewise drew his rapier and stepped forward. The others made space for them, though the ground was covered with far too many corpses—more than a hundred in total. The two stared at each other as they stood atop the bodies.

"You're in the way." Taote kicked several corpses away from beneath his feet and held his rapier as he looked at Jelly.

"I lost our duel ten years ago, but I won't lose to you in strength now," Jelly said.

"No matter how many years pass, the outcome will not change." Taote spoke calmly, looking utterly confident. Even the mustache over his lips seemed stern.

"Oh, really? Then die!" Jelly charged forward and thrust his blade.

"It seems you no longer have the spirit of a knight. You do not even observe basic etiquette." Taote flicked his arm and assumed a standard rapier-dueling stance, raising his blade before his face.

Splat!

The sharp blade passed through his head, piercing through his forehead.

"Uh..."

Everyone present gaped in disbelief at the sight.

"To hell with etiquette. We're pirates now." Jelly held his long blade. He was still five or six meters away from Taote, but his hand had stretched out. His arm had turned into vines, and by using their extension, Jelly had caught his old rival—the one who had once defeated him—off guard and killed him.