Gild Tesoro saw Werther rush up to him. His expression changed, and he sprang backward.
Too late. For a Devil Fruit User like Gild Tesoro, letting a Great Swordsman like Werther get close was a nightmare.
There was a gap in their strength, too. It was like a level-sixty mage letting a level-one-hundred warrior get within striking distance.
Werther gave the panicked Gild Tesoro a cold smile.
"Electromagnetic Barrier: Thunder Ball."
Several fist-sized thunderballs burst against Gild Tesoro before Werther even reached him.
Crackle! Blue-white arcs raced across Gild Tesoro's body, paralyzing him instantly.
"Goodbye."
Slash!
A blade cut flesh; a sword cut the soul. A flash of steel swept across Gild Tesoro's neck.
With a thud, his headless body fell. It twitched twice, then lay still.
"Stella." Even after losing his body, Gild Tesoro's flying head managed to murmur her name.
Stella was Gild Tesoro's lover from his youth. They had met at a human auction house, where she was already a slave when he first saw her.
In the end, it was one of the Dragon People who bought Stella, not Gild Tesoro. He had never had enough money to buy her freedom, and he regretted it for the rest of his life.
That misfortune was why Gild Tesoro valued money so highly.
Back then, money truly could have bought him happiness.
"Stella, I'm coming to see you."
Gild Tesoro's vitality was astonishing. Even after being beheaded, he had not lost consciousness at once.
But however tenacious he was, he soon fell silent. For some reason, his face was full of smiles when he died.
Perhaps Gild Tesoro's heart had died the moment Stella was bought. Everything that followed had been hell for him.
Shooting one of the Dragon People, being captured, becoming a slave—those were merely stages