Grow Stronger

Capone Bege saw Werther's attitude and stopped wasting words. He directly transformed his body into a castle, several small gates appearing on his chest and other parts of his body. His subordinates, armed with guns and cannons, stood inside.

Just as Capone Bege was about to order an attack, Werther suddenly vanished. Out of the corner of his eye, he vaguely caught a pale blue flash, then felt a heavy blow strike his head.

The moment Capone Bege activated his Fruit power, Werther charged forward. His right leg, coated in Armament Haki and lightning, kicked Capone Bege in the head at a speed he could not react to.

Capone Bege was sent flying by Werther's kick and lay twitching on the ground, his heart filled with despair. What kind of person was this? How could he be this monstrously strong?

Judging by the twin swords at his waist, he was probably a swordsman. Yet he had not even drawn his swords, and Capone Bege had already been taken down with a single kick. What level of strength was that?

Werther slowly walked up to Capone Bege. Looking at the fallen rookie and recalling his earlier arrogance, he stepped on Capone Bege's head, intending to crush it.

However, to Werther's surprise, his right foot, already coated in Armament Haki, only made Capone Bege's head crack and deform slightly. It did not burst. It seemed the Castle-Castle Fruit was indeed quite good. At least he would not have to worry about getting his head blown off.

Capone Bege felt that he was about to die. He could no longer spare any thought for anything else and painfully activated his power, releasing all the subordinates inside his body in preparation for an escape.

In truth, Capone Bege had planned to release his subordinates the moment he fell. But Werther's kick had been far too heavy. By the time he had recovered a little, he had been firmly stomped again. The fact that he could release his subordinates now showed that Capone Bege's endurance was exceptional.

Seeing the room instantly fill with people, Werther went all out and began clearing out the fodder.

This time, no one in the room could see Werther's movements clearly. Just over a minute later, the ground was covered with people, some dead and some wounded.

Capone Bege had only crawled a short distance before completely giving up. Before an enemy of this strength, escaping had become nothing more than a fantasy.

Werther came before Capone Bege again, looked at his left hand reaching for the door, and stomped it apart. It seemed his head was still tougher.

"Hehehe, hehehe. A rookie like you who can't even use Haki, yet you're this arrogant? In the New World, at best, you'll just be some major power's dog." Without waiting for Capone Bege to respond, Werther viciously stomped on his head again.

Another crack rang out. Capone Bege's head was truly tough. Werther had stomped on it twice with all his strength, yet it still had not shattered.

That made Werther doubt his kicking technique. It seemed he had been right to become a swordsman. His legwork really was not much good.

At the same time, Werther became interested in Capone Bege's head. This thing was truly hard. Could his skull have a structure similar to a castle roof? Perfect mechanical principles?

Werther refused to believe it. He stomped down with all his strength again, and another crack sounded. Capone Bege's head had been flattened into an oval, but it still had not broken.

Werther grabbed Capone Bege by the head and examined it carefully. He was completely convinced.

Capone Bege was somehow still conscious, but he felt as if he were in hell. He knew he had encountered a madman today and only hoped that Werther would kill him quickly.

After stomping on his head three times, this madman had actually stopped. Then he grabbed his head and began admiring it, occasionally even knocking on it a few times.

"Kill... kill me. If you've got the guts, kill me. No matter how you torture me today, I won't submit." Capone Bege stammered those words, then closed his eyes and waited for death.

For the first time, Werther looked at Capone Bege seriously. Though this guy was not very strong and his character was not much better, he had guts.

"Hehehe, hehehe. You've got guts, and I admire that. Back home, we had a saying: never more than three times. I'll let you go today.

Grow stronger, then come seek revenge on me. Killing you now would be too boring, so I'll leave a mark on you to urge you to grow stronger." Werther drew his broken sword with one hand.

He threw Capone Bege onto the ground and made him lie faceup. Then, using the broken sword, he carved a deep cross-shaped wound into Capone Bege's chest, nearly covering his entire torso.

Werther then motioned for Capone Bege's surviving subordinates to get the hell out with him. Before leaving, Capone Bege used all his strength to shout a sentence.

"I'll definitely come back for revenge. Just wait. Today's humiliation, I'll repay it a hundredfold."

After shouting that, his terrified subordinates carried Capone Bege away.

"Farewell, loser. But I'll be waiting for you, rookie." There was no anger in Werther's voice. Instead, he sounded as though he were seeing off a friend after bullying him, his tone full of teasing.

"Now then, let's continue our previous topic, Old Mister Tie Yi." Werther casually found several corpses on the ground, piled them together, and sat down on them.

Ferdinand was already drenched in cold sweat. He had long known that Werther was somewhat deranged in battle, but he had never expected him to reach this level.

Not only did he torture enemies who had lost the ability to fight, he even let them go afterward, carved a mark onto them, and encouraged them to come back for revenge.

Ferdinand tightly gripped Six's hand and stood in front of her. Even if he died today, he could not let her be harmed. At the same time, he deeply regretted offending Werther in the first place and regretted even more bringing him here.

Six had been frightened senseless, her face deathly pale. If Ferdinand had not been holding her hand, she would already have collapsed to the floor. Having lived on the island her whole life, when had she ever seen someone as brutal as Werther? The fact that she had not fainted already showed that she had strong nerves.

At this moment, the silent Tie Yi spoke.

"May I ask how to address you, sir? You came here to have two swords forged, correct?" The smile had vanished from Tie Yi's face, because the events just now had shown him exactly how insane the young man before him was.

"My name is Werther. Old Mister Tie Yi, I do indeed want two swords forged, but I have some additional requirements regarding the forging. We can discuss those later.

If you agree to forge my swords today, I won't cause trouble.

If you can forge famous blades for me, I, Werther, can promise to protect your family from being destroyed by outside enemies. If you encounter a powerful enemy, you can contact me.

If a genius in swordsmanship appears in your family, he can also come find me. I will guide him.

If you want money, just name an amount. As for my reputation, you can ask Ferdinand." Werther knew what two top-tier swords would mean to him, so he was extremely generous with his promises to Tie Yi.

"Mr. Werther, the payment you offer is indeed very generous, and I am deeply tempted. If you had come earlier, I would have forged swords for you without hesitation. But I have already laid down my hammer and sworn never to forge weapons again." Tie Yi's words faintly conveyed his refusal.

"Oh? So, Old Mister Tie Yi, you're refusing me?" The smile vanished from Werther's face as he looked at Tie Yi expressionlessly.

The moment Werther said that, the other three people in the room aside from Tie Yi immediately tensed up. Especially the muscular man: he had only just recovered from the fright earlier when an even greater crisis arose. Tears actually began to gather in the eyes of that unnamed burly man.

Who would have thought that such a heavily muscled giant would possess the heart of a young maiden?

Werther was genuinely disgusted by the sight. He turned his head away, refusing to look any longer as he waited for Tie Yi's answer.