The Fall of the Capone Family

"Godfather, you really are incredible!"

In the Capone Family's headquarters hall, the long table was piled with roasted meat and strong liquor. Several empty bottles had already rolled to the table legs, with leftover liquid still dripping from their mouths.

The family members had shed yesterday's tension, each of them beaming as though it were a holiday.

"Watching those two bastards flee with their tails between their legs was so satisfying!"

"What West Blue's strongest assassins? They were nothing but trash before the Capone Family!"

"The Capone Family is invincible! Godfather, why not just form a pirate crew? Maybe we can find that great treasure before those pirates do!"

The man who said that was clearly drunk. An unnatural flush colored his face.

He raised his glass and swayed to his feet, nearly stepping into the plate before him. Yet he was completely oblivious, his eyes blazing with an alcohol-fueled fanaticism.

The others eagerly chimed in. Once the liquor went to their heads, they dared to dream of anything.

Capone Bege sat at the head of the long table. Before him was a plate of steak reduced to scraps. He slowly swallowed the last bite and wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth with a napkin.

"Form a pirate crew... That does sound like a good idea..."

Last night's battle had proven that the Capone Family was the strongest mafia in West Blue.

Of the five families of equal standing, three had been wiped out by those two fiends. The remaining Capone Family had actually managed to drive them back.

There seemed to be no point in staying ashore any longer.

He lifted his wineglass, about to take the final sip of red wine.

Bang!

The tightly shut doors were violently smashed open. The door panels slammed into the wall with a deafening boom.

A blood-covered figure staggered inside. His coastline patrol uniform had been torn into several pieces, strips of cloth dangling from his body. Blood splashed onto the floor with every step he took.

He stumbled to the long table, his knees gave out, and he collapsed to the floor. Using the last of his strength, he raised his head.

"Godfather... something terrible has happened... the patrol was attacked... the culprits are one man and two women..."

The uproar in the hall was cut off within a fraction of a second. Wineglasses froze in midair, chewing jaws stiffened, and everyone's eyes focused on the small figure seated at the head of the table.

Capone Bege slowly set down his glass. Its base tapped against the tabletop with a dull sound.

"Men, prepare for battle!"

He swung his short little legs and jumped down from his chair, walking toward the doors. Behind him, the family members rose in unison, chair legs scraping harshly across the floor.

On the street outside, Lucas walked at the front. Mafia corpses lay strewn haphazardly behind him, while Baccarat and Robin followed at his left and right.

Before long, a fortress standing upon the earth appeared before them.

"Only three people dared come here and make trouble? You must have a death wish!"

As Capone Bege's voice fell, the cannons of his fortress form roared, shells pouring out like a torrential downpour.

Invisible magnetism spread outward with Lucas at its center. The incoming shells abruptly froze in midair, then all turned around at the same instant and flew back in the direction they had come from.

The blanket bombardment destroyed every extended cannon barrel within seconds.

Crack.

Lucas tossed a specially made red pill into his mouth. The instant the Rumble Ball slid down his throat, his body began to change violently.

A pair of crimson bat wings abruptly spread from his back. Their wingspan stretched several meters, blocking the already sparse light from the sky. His pupils turned blood-red, his vertical slits narrowing into thin lines.

Once the transformation was complete, he flapped his wings. The air burst with a dull boom, and the stones beneath his feet were swept into the air by the shockwave. Like a crimson meteor, he flew to the front of the fortress, hovering in midair as he raised his right arm high.

The muscles in his arm bulged, veins protruding beneath his skin like tree roots. Blood-red Haki coiled around his fist.

Boom!

A ring of white shockwaves exploded from the point of impact. The compressed air formed a perfect circular ripple that spread in every direction.

That enormous fortress, weighing who knew how many tons, was sent flying off the ground by that single punch.

It spun through the air in an arc, its walls covered in spiderweb-like cracks.

Rings of transparent ripples appeared around the fortress out of nowhere. The Capone Family members hiding inside were forcibly expelled by the ability-negating force. Passing through the ripples, their bodies rapidly returned to their original size in midair, and they fell toward the ground like dumplings tossed into a pot.

The fortress flew several hundred meters before finally crashing down. A thunderous roar split the sky and earth, the ground shook violently, and dust surged into the air, forming a small mushroom cloud.

Capone Bege slowly reverted from his castle form to human form. He lay sprawled on the ground, his once immaculate pinstriped suit torn into beggar's rags. His hat had flown off somewhere, and only a strip of his scarf remained hanging around his neck.

Worse still, the outward-flowing Haki had entered his body through the punch, rampaging through his blood vessels and destroying every organ and every inch of tissue.

At that moment, Capone Bege resembled a container of tomato juice pierced full of holes. Blood poured from his seven orifices, droplets blooming like dark red plum blossoms on the rubble beneath him.

He struggled to lift his head and looked at the bat-winged figure slowly descending from the air. His lips moved, but only blood came out.

The Capone Family members who had been forcibly ejected after their ability user was severely wounded scrambled up in a chaotic swarm like hornets whose nest had been poked.

Led by the two officers, Vito and Gotti, they raised their blades and guns and charged at Baccarat and Robin.

Several hundred people rushing forward together looked rather imposing, and their stomping feet made the ground tremble faintly.

Vito charged at the front. His snake-like tongue extended from his mouth and flicked through the air. He raised his revolver, aimed its muzzle at Baccarat's tall figure, and pulled the trigger.

A charging Capone Family member suddenly slipped. He stepped on a shell casing dropped by a companion, lost his balance, and staggered sideways. The back of his head precisely blocked the bullet that had just left the barrel.

Blood burst forth. He collapsed to the ground, never understanding how he had died.

Vito stared blankly at his still-smoking gun barrel, then at the unlucky man who had blocked the bullet, utterly confused.

He had clearly aimed at that woman, so why had one of his own gone down instead?

He shook his head, aimed again, and was about to fire a second shot.

A burst of white air rippled beneath his feet. Wearing a red gown, Baccarat stepped into the sky with Geppo. She raised her long leg, her high heel drawing a semicircle through the air and stirring the surrounding currents.

"[Rankyaku Ran]"

Dozens of Vacuum Slashes split from the tip of her shoe and rained down upon the crowd.

Under the invisible interference of the Luck-Luck Fruit, nearly all of those slashes struck fatal areas such as throats, hearts, and eyes.

Bloody mist burst repeatedly among the crowd, and screams rose one after another. A charging formation lost a third of its numbers in the blink of an eye.

Seeing dozens of their men fall in an instant, the tall and burly Gotti roared and raised the triple-barreled heavy machine gun mounted on his right arm.

The barrels began to spin with a hum. He aimed at Baccarat in midair and pressed his finger toward the trigger.

Six adult female arms appeared out of thin air on his body. Two gripped his wrists, two locked his elbows, and two seized his shoulders.

"[Rokuren Kuroka: Seesaw]"

A series of crisp bone-cracking sounds rang out from Gotti's body, as dense as a bundle of dry branches being crushed underfoot.

His elbows, shoulders, and knees were twisted backward at the same instant. Like a puppet with its skeleton taken apart, he collapsed to the ground. The agonizing pain tore a heart-wrenching howl from his throat, while the heavy machine gun slipped from his hand and bounced twice on the ground.

Two arms grew from his shoulders, one on each side, and precisely gripped his neck. They exerted force together. The howl stopped abruptly. The light in his wide-open eyes quickly faded.

Gotti's sudden death shattered their morale in an instant. The surviving Capone Family members hesitated, some beginning to retreat as blades and gun barrels trembled in their hands.

Vito opened his mouth, wanting to shout something to restore morale, but he discovered in horror that the blood inside everyone around him, including himself, was surging uncontrollably out of their bodies.

"[Higanbana]"

Blood spikes pierced through their skin and spread outward from their hearts. The spikes ruptured into blood, carrying Life Energy out in one overwhelming rush.

Their bodies rapidly shriveled within seconds. Their muscles atrophied, skin clung to bone, eye sockets sank deep, and lips cracked dry.

One after another, like toppled dominoes, they thudded onto the rubble-strewn ground.

After dealing with the others, Lucas did not immediately kill Capone Bege. He lifted the mafia godfather, who had already lost the ability to resist, from the ground and tied him to a large tree.

Lafitte elegantly stepped over a dried corpse, walked up to Lucas with the aid of his cane, and gave him a bow.

Then he began rotating his cane. The instant Bege's bewildered eyes met those ripples, they completely lost focus.

He opened his mouth and began revealing, one by one, the secrets locked deep within his heart in a flat, emotionless voice.

Only after Lafitte closed his notebook and confirmed that no valuable information had been missed did Lucas press his palm against Bege's chest.

Blood surged from Bege's heart, and he turned into a dried corpse.

Lucas accepted the fruit Baccarat handed him and transferred the Lineage Factor extracted from the blood mist into it.

Capone Family headquarters, study.

Lucas sat behind the long table that had originally belonged to Capone Bege. He looked through the information on the four major mafia families' businesses and financial statements that Lafitte had compiled. Once he had gained a rough understanding, he handed the entire stack back.

"Your next task is to consolidate these businesses and create a financial group. Call it the Eternal Financial Group."

Eternal meant that he possessed eternal life.

Lucas could not go robbing people every time he ran short of money. Having a stable source of funds was necessary; without money, nothing could be done.

He still had too few capable subordinates. Handing such a large operation over to a former law enforcement officer left him uncertain as well.

These were the only cards he had, so he had to play them. If Lafitte managed to make something of it, then after "acquiring" the God of Fortune Financial Group in the future, he could continue leaving it in Lafitte's hands.

In any case, all these businesses had been stolen. Even if he failed, it would merely mean throwing back what he had stolen. There was no reason to feel bad about it.

Lafitte lowered his head and looked at the heavy stack of documents in his hands, then raised his head to look at Lucas.

"I can give it a try."

Lucas nodded, took a small blood-red booklet from his coat, and casually handed it over.

"Just do your best. Take this as well. Find time to practice it with Daz."

Lafitte accepted the booklet and opened to the first page. His fingers froze.

Insights into training Busoshoku Haki. Insights into training Observation Haki. Complete training insights for Rokushiki.

As he turned page after page, every word was written neatly, with the common mistakes at every stage and methods for correcting them clearly noted.

Lafitte's breathing suddenly quickened. His eyes widened several times beyond their usual size on that pale face.

The hands holding the booklet trembled faintly, like a lecher suddenly handed a photo album of peerless beauties, or a beggar who had starved for three days suddenly seated before a full imperial feast.

In this world where strength reigned supreme, the value of this manuscript far surpassed the business documents worth billions of Beli from earlier.

"Thank you for your reward."

Lafitte pressed the blood-red booklet to his chest and bowed deeply. Then, clutching the booklet in one hand and the stack of financial reports under the other arm, he left the study with steps so light they were nearly floating.

TO BE CONTINUED

(PS: A brief discussion of Lafitte's character.

Although Shiryu was featured as Blackbeard's second-in-command in one color spread, Lafitte actually held the same position within the Blackbeard Pirates that Zoro held among the Straw Hats.

Of course, this only referred to status, not strength.

Characters with this sort of role in the pirate world shared a common trait: once they pledged loyalty, they were absolutely and completely loyal. When Avalo Pizarro jokingly said he wanted to become captain, Lafitte immediately threatened him.

Daz also followed Crocodile to the very end. In short, investing in people with this kind of absolute loyalty was never a problem.

The reason Bege was written off was that, in the original work, his loyalty was not absolute. You really could not keep a subordinate like that.)