Lucci grunted, then collapsed to the ground himself. After three grueling days, he had reached his limit just as surely as Ye Chen had.
They lay side by side, snoring like thunder, both sleeping like the dead. Even in his sleep, though, Ye Chen wore a smug smile.
Lucci woke first at daybreak. Seeing Ye Chen still asleep, he wanted to kill him on the spot. But he had promised they would leave together.
Ye Chen might play dirty, but Lucci would not break his word. He got up, walked over, and kicked Ye Chen squarely in the backside. Ye Chen sprang up like a rabbit. "Hey! Couldn't you be gentler?"
"Don't worry. When you die, I'll be gentler."
Lucci snorted and headed into the woods. He could have worn Ye Chen down and killed him on this deserted island. Yet when Ye Chen suggested leaving together, he had agreed without a second thought.
Lucci had not even considered that, once they were at sea, Ye Chen could easily kill him. Lucci had a Devil Fruit power, after all.
Still, he trusted Ye Chen not to attack him at sea. The trust came as naturally as it would between brothers. He did not even have to think about it.
Lucci had always been the one declaring he would kill Ye Chen. Ye Chen, for his part, had never truly tried to deal him a fatal blow.
Together, they built a Small Boat. Though the island had no tools, Lucci's craftsmanship made Ye Chen give him a thumbs-up. "Are you a shipwright?"
"I'm an assassin," Lucci corrected coldly.
"Let's not get into that now. We agreed to wait until we'd left before fighting."
Ye Chen waved it off and slung an arm around Lucci's shoulders with a grin. Lucci promptly threw