Xun

Watching his master, who had stopped breathing yet still wore a smile, Werther did not grieve or weep any longer.

Instead, he slowly carried his master onto his back and murmured, "Master, let's go home." Then he slowly walked toward the Sword Hall. His thin silhouette was not imposing, yet it gave off a sense of strength.

After returning to the Sword Hall and seeing the blood-soaked ground, Werther paid no attention to the enemies' corpses. Instead, he carried the bodies of his master, senior brother, and Senior Sister An to the back mountain.

He carefully cleaned the blood from their faces and changed them into clean clothes. Then he buried his master in front, with his senior brother and Senior Sister An behind him. It was like the first time he had met all three of them, standing together in the Sword Hall and smiling at him. He did not carve gravestones. Instead, he planted his master's and senior brother's blades before their graves. As for Senior Sister An, Werther planted her curved blade before hers.

After finishing, Werther did not remain on the back mountain. He returned to the Sword Hall, changed clothes, and brought only a bag and a bottle of wine, with Blood Scorpion strapped to his back.

He went to the storage room and took out two large barrels of highly flammable oil, then splashed it all over the Sword Hall's buildings and courtyard.

Standing outside the Sword Hall, Werther recalled the day he had first arrived there. He remembered meeting his master, his senior brother, and Senior Sister An for the first time.

"Farewell, my family." With that, he threw the lit metal lighter in his hand into the Sword Hall's courtyard.

The flames immediately spread. Beneath the morning sun, the Sword Hall that had given him so many memories burned fiercely.

Returning to the back mountain, he poured some wine before the graves of his master, senior brother, and Senior Sister An. He took a sip himself, then sat on a large rock before their graves, thinking of all they had shared.

From the bag he carried with him, Werther took out a round wooden object. It was oval, hollowed out inside, with one large air hole at the top and six holes on the front. It was the piece of Adam wood he had obtained during his first mission. Later, he had made it into an instrument—an instrument that only he in this world knew how to make: a Xun.

Picking up the Xun, Werther played a song he had loved in his previous life, a somewhat sorrowful melody.

The mournful sound of the Xun drifted across the back mountain, filling the air with sadness.

A young man with a short ponytail, dressed in a black trench coat, sat atop a huge rock before three graves, playing a strange instrument. The morning breeze stirred the hem of his coat. Though he was still young, he gave off a weathered air, as if he had already experienced life and death, reunions and partings.

When the song ended, Werther looked into the distance, then walked toward Loguetown without looking back.

Werther did not turn back or bid farewell to his master, senior brother, and Senior Sister An, because he was afraid he would lose control and cry. But his master had once told him, "A man must not cry."

Along the way, Werther thought of many things. The deaths of his master, senior brother, and Senior Sister An had long been expected. Even if he himself had died last night, it would have been perfectly normal. They were assassins, after all. If an assassin lacked the resolve to be killed by others, how could he dare risk his life on mission after mission?

"Master, Senior Brother, Senior Sister An, don't worry. I, Werther, will definitely live a wonderful life." Werther muttered to himself as he walked.

When he arrived in Loguetown, Werther did not wander around. Instead, he went to a shipyard to collect a ship that had been completed a year ago.

Upon arriving at the shipyard, he ignored the fat owner's strange expression due to his foul mood and asked directly.

"Where is the custom ship I ordered? It should have been finished long ago. Have it moved to the dock for me."

However, the shipyard owner wore an awkward smile and hesitated. Rather than answer immediately, he called over a worker and whispered something to him.

"I'm sorry, sir. Since you hadn't come for so long, your ship was sold to another customer. How about I give you a different one?" The fat owner grinned slyly as he tried to brush Werther off.

"Do you want to die? If I don't see my ship within five minutes, I'll make sure there isn't a living person left in this shipyard. I'm in a very bad mood right now." Werther's black pupils contracted as he stared at the fat pig before him. It seemed that if the man did anything else to anger him, Werther would immediately show everyone present what despair meant.

The fat owner felt the young man's entire aura change. If Werther had been a dispirited youth just moments ago, he now seemed like an evil ghost shrouded in red mist. If the owner said even one wrong word, that ghost would choose someone to devour. His legs had already begun trembling uncontrollably.

"I-I'll take you to see the ship right away. Please follow me." The fat owner was terrified and did not dare say anything more, afraid of angering Werther.

"Kid, I've taken a liking to your ship, so you can get lost. A ship made of Adam wood is really rare. Its design is just too strange, though, and it'll have to be dismantled. Besides, it's too small." A burly man approached with a group behind him. His face was full of arrogance, and he even had his own pirate flag tattooed on his chest, as if afraid others would not know he was a pirate.

Werther had no desire to waste words on trash like him. He drew his sword and split the pirate's head open from the mouth with one strike. Then he flicked the blood from his blade, sending it arcing onto the ground.

"Anyone uninvolved, get lost. Otherwise, I'll kill you too." Werther calmly looked at the petrified group before him.

"Run! The boss was killed with one strike! This guy is too strong!"

"Wait, the boss's body! Take the boss's body with us!"

"Why worry about that guy? Saving our lives comes first!"

The lackeys shouted over one another, but their feet were anything but slow. Before long, they had run far away.

The fat owner did not run. It was not that he did not want to, but that fear had made his legs go weak. He wanted to run, but he could not move.

"Keep walking, or you'll never be able to walk again." Werther threatened the fat owner. Werther only killed people who displeased him. Though this fat boss was despicable, he knew how to read the situation.

"Y-Yes, yes. I'll take you to the ship immediately." Startled by Werther's threat, the fat owner barely regained strength in his legs and tremblingly led Werther to the ship he had ordered.

They had not walked far when a strange wooden ship appeared before them.

The ship was over ten meters long and five meters wide. Was it large? No.

There were no sails on the entire ship. Half was deck, and half was cabin.

The deck had leisure items such as reclining chairs, parasols, fishing rods, and a fishing platform.

The cabin had three and a half levels. The bottom half-level was a huge cold storage room for preserving food.

The level above it, flush with the deck, was the cockpit. Inside were a steering wheel and a small control panel. Beside the cockpit were the dining room and kitchen.

The second level contained a bathroom and bedrooms, while the third level had a training room and storage room.

The ship's power came from more than a dozen large batteries that Werther had acquired at great expense on the black market. The entire ship ran on electricity, so it had no sails.

At first, Werther had only come to the shipyard to ask whether electricity could be used as a ship's power source. The owner said it could, but there were no batteries large enough. The distances between islands were too great, and there was nowhere to recharge at sea, so a ship powered by electricity could not reach the next island.

But the ship Werther had ordered was powered by electricity. This way, even he alone could control it. Eight wooden propellers were installed on each side of the ship. At full speed, it was several times faster than an ordinary sailing ship.

As for the problem of not being able to recharge at sea, Werther could solve that easily, because he himself was a mobile power bank.

After boarding, Werther went straight to the cockpit. Beside the steering wheel was a hidden compartment that could be opened. Inside was a golden metal sphere. Werther placed his hand on it and began charging the ship.

Because he could control the flow of electricity, it took Werther only ten minutes to fully charge it. He immediately drove the fat owner off the ship and sailed toward Loguetown's docks.

Sitting in the cockpit, Werther no longer felt so despondent. Perhaps because he was about to set sail, he had gained another kind of conviction, a determination to persevere.

Once I settle this last matter, I'll head out to sea. Where should I go first? Forget it, no need to think about it. I just need to head toward the New World. How could I not go to such an interesting place?

Werther docked the ship at Loguetown's harbor. After disembarking, he walked in a certain direction.