A Fateful Encounter; A Merciless Pirate Hunter

Navigation was dull, but it was also essential in this world. Nearly ninety percent of the world of pirates was ocean, with very little land, so if he wanted to surpass himself in battle and realize his ambitions, he had no choice but to go to sea.

While using the Eternal Pose to maintain his course, he began planning his future.

If he wanted to travel far, he had several choices. First, he could join the Marines. Second, he could join a Pirate Crew. Third, he could get a ship of his own.

The Marines were fairly decent overall. They maintained order throughout the world, and it was only because of them that this world had not truly become a den of evil.

However, the Marines were not a one-man show. With factions everywhere, a newcomer without any backing like him might be ostracized and suppressed. His life there might not be very pleasant.

On top of that, there was the World Government and the Celestial Dragons. To put it harshly, the Marines were the Celestial Dragons' dogs. Besides, that species was precisely the existence he most wanted to exterminate.

The World Government's regime had already begun rotting from within. Unless it could turn its blade inward and reform itself, its downfall was only a matter of time. Unfortunately, that could never happen.

Thus, he eliminated the Marines first.

The second option was joining a Pirate Crew, but that was not a good choice either. Pirate Crews varied greatly in quality, and most pirates were lawless, vicious criminals. People like the Straw Hat Pirates from the original story were truly rare!

If he joined one at random without knowing anything about it, and happened to end up with a crew full of villains, that would go against his original intentions. After considering everything, he was temporarily left with only one path.

Get a ship and go to sea on his own. That was the best choice for him. He could use his Golden Finger to rapidly increase his strength.

The next issue was his crew. First, a navigator; second, a cook; third, a doctor; fourth, a shipwright.

However, the more people he had, the more likely they were to become burdens. He could actually unlock those few skills one by one through his Golden Finger.

As for what he would ultimately do, he still needed to weigh his options according to the actual circumstances.

His most urgent task was getting a ship that could sail through the East Blue.

Seeing a News Coo flying across the sky, Dongze raised his hand and greeted it. The News Coo flew down.

Dongze pointed at its document pouch and then stuffed one hundred Beli into its hands.

He flipped through it casually and glanced at the latest news before setting it aside.

The most eye-catching article concerned pirates. A Pirate Crew known as the Iron Wolf Pirates had broken into a village called Sunflower Village in the East Blue and slaughtered everyone there. By the time the Marines arrived, they had already fled. As a result, the Marines placed a large bounty on every member of the crew.

The second article concerned the Devil Child, Nico Robin. It claimed that she was vicious and evil, and that any organization or individual who sheltered her would face indiscriminate annihilation by the Marines.

The third was about Shimotsuki Village. According to the report, Shimotsuki Village appeared to have been attacked by vicious pirates and had suffered heavy casualties.

The rest were mostly pointless topics, largely concerning the World Government and the Marines. Most of them were words of praise, glorifying the Marines' achievements.

Whether it was fate playing tricks on him or his halo taking effect, Dongze unexpectedly discovered that the shadow of a ship had suddenly entered his field of vision not far ahead.

At a time like this, even someone thinking with their butt would know that the ship was nothing good.

The Marines absolutely would not appear here. They worked regular shifts!

Dongze narrowed his eyes and released his Observation Haki, locking onto the ship ahead.

It was a massive two-masted sailing ship. A pirate flag hung from its spread sails, bearing the image of a huge wolf's head and two crossed blades.

"They're pirates!"

However, the ship looked rather battered. Its sails were riddled with holes of all sizes.

A large section of the port side had also been blown away, as though they had just endured a battle.

As a matter of fact, the ship had indeed just escaped from a battlefield.

They were the Iron Wolf Pirates. After committing such an outrage, it would have been strange if the Marines had spared them.

In the Four Blues, the strongest force was not the pirates or the Revolutionary Army, but the Marines. Under the Marines' pursuit, they had nearly been wiped out in one attack.

With nowhere left to run, they had seen in the newspaper that powerful pirates were active near Shimotsuki Village. They decided to try their luck, perhaps drawing the Marines' attention elsewhere and escaping their current predicament.

However, it seemed their luck was not particularly good either. On the way, they encountered Dongze, who had only recently gone to sea.

"Are the tools coming?"

Dongze chuckled and used Geppo to approach the sailing ship in the distance.

There were twenty people aboard, equipped with four cannons and twelve rifles. There were no women, only men.

Aside from one person standing watch at the lookout, everyone else was snoring away in the cabins.

As he approached the ship, Dongze got a general picture of the situation aboard. The stench of blood on these people was overwhelming, so he could conclude that there were no innocents among them.

Before, Dongze probably would not have boarded so openly. But now that he had mastered Armament Haki, he no longer had his previous concerns.

In the East Blue, no sniper could threaten him anymore. Of course, that excluded retired old-timers who had returned from the Grand Line and mastered advanced Armament Haki.

Dongze moved extremely fast, and the pirate on watch did not notice him. Only after Dongze stepped onto the ship did he react. Naturally, this was also intentional on Dongze's part. After all, his purpose in boarding this ship was not entirely pure.

A burst of shrill ringing woke everyone aboard from their sleep.

"Luji! Could the Marines have come again?"

"We only killed a few people, didn't we?"

"Those lunatics have been chasing us for two days and two nights!"

"Damn it! We might as well fight them!"

"We're the Iron Wolf Pirates! And now we've practically become stray dogs!"

Amid a storm of curses, the remaining twenty-one people—no, twenty people—filed out of the cabins. The captain wearing a hat quietly hid in the shadows, observing the scene outside.

However, he did not know that every movement aboard the ship had already fallen within Dongze's Observation Haki.

"What are you doing, Luji?"

"Exactly! You woke all of us up over one little brat!"

"Luji?"

"Luji?"

"Luji, where the hell are you?"

Still groggy, the pirates called out several times without receiving a response. They could not help cursing.

Dongze expressionlessly pointed at the body lying on the ground. "Are you looking for this fellow?"

Looking at the headless corpse on the deck, the twenty men who had emerged from the cabins felt a chill rush up their spines.

After the panic came burning rage. The person before them was merely a half-grown boy. Compared with them, a group of adults, he was still just a brat who had not even grown all his hair.

One pirate holding a rifle glared coldly at Dongze and asked, "Did you kill him?"

The other pirates drew their weapons one after another, staring at him with equal bloodlust.

If Dongze said the wrong thing, these people would probably attack at once.

Yet Dongze's expression remained unchanged. Their presence did not frighten him. Back when he had slaughtered the Bandits' lair, he had already overcome that discomfort.

"Which of you is the navigator?"

"Brat, I'm asking whether you killed Luji!"

The rifle-bearing pirate's eyes widened as he thrust his gun forward. He was clearly on the verge of exploding.

"Who is the navigator?"

Dongze's expression remained unchanged. His formidable strength gave him the calm to remain unmoved by anything.

"Bang!!"

A gunshot shattered the silence. The pirate had fired.

Unfortunately, the shot missed. Not only that, but in that instant, everyone also lost sight of Dongze.

"Gah!!"

Before they could recover, a head flew into the sky. It belonged to the pirate who had fired just now.

"Killer!!"

As his body crashed to the deck, everyone saw Dongze standing behind Killer!

"What the hell!"

"Impossible!"

"Who is the navigator?"

The same question rang out again. This time, however, it brought immense pressure upon the pirates. They finally understood that the man before them was someone they could never defeat.

A man slightly shorter than the others stepped forward. His hand began trembling as he held his rifle.

Dongze had used Shave just now. A technique like Shave was enough to become a trump card in the East Blue. Wasn't Hundred Plans Locke from the original story able to slaughter an entire Marine ship with ease using this very technique?

How could low-level pirates like them have any chance to come into contact with such abilities? Faced with the unknown, everyone instinctively felt fear!

"Sword-Draw Technique!"

"Kill him!!"

Knowing they would not survive, the pirates chose to die together without hesitation. A string of gunshots rang out, leaving ten bullet holes in the deck.

Then a full moon became their final memory.

Aside from the navigator, these utterly depraved pirates had reached the end of their lives.

The navigator looked at the rifle in his hands, which had become useless. His legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the deck. He stared at Dongze, who had appeared among them at some point, as if he were looking at a demon.

"You killed them?"

"Didn't you see?"

"What? You're still not showing yourself?"

Dongze ignored him and instead turned around to look toward the corner of the second floor.

"Brat! Don't push your luck!!"

The captain of the Iron Wolf Pirates was not a fool. He had watched for some time from above. He knew that he could not deal with Dongze's unpredictable methods, so he had stayed upstairs.

He had hoped Dongze might not know he was there and would leave. He had not expected Dongze to expose him with a single sentence. Clearly, Dongze intended to wipe them all out.

"I hope you can help me raise my proficiency a few points!"

Dongze immediately sprang upward. A fierce slashing attack tore through the air. Though it lacked Koshiro's destructive power, it was more than enough to deal with this wooden sailing ship.

He had originally thought the Iron Wolf Pirates could bring him some gains. But after killing the first pirate on watch, he discovered that his proficiency had not increased at all.

Only then did he remember that, if he wanted to grind proficiency now, these small fry were no longer useful.

Therefore, he did not waste any more words and sent the remaining nineteen people to the underworld.

From the beginning, he had sensed that this captain was different. That was why he had not killed him immediately, instead intending to test how many points he was worth.

"Arrogant brat! You've angered me!!"

As the smoke cleared, a massive monster appeared before Dongze. It resembled a wolf, but not quite.

"I ate the Hyena Wolf Fruit and became a Hyena Wolf-Man! Your attack is no better than a tickle!"

Hearing this, Dongze chuckled.

"Is that so? The last person who said my attacks felt like tickles probably has grass a yard high growing on his grave by now!"

With that, Dongze activated Shave and flashed behind him.

"Sword-Draw Technique!!"

A full moon, accompanied by a slashing attack, shot through the air.

The head was hard as bronze and the forehead as tough as iron, but the waist was soft as tofu!

He remembered that the weakness of wolves was their waists.

Before the attack even reached him, the Hyena Wolf-Man felt a chill pierce his very soul. The fear of death spread through his heart.

The sword-light flashed. Dongze had infused this attack with Armament Haki. In the end, the Hyena Wolf-Man was only a Zoan user, not an invincible type. This slash sent him down the same road as the rest of the Iron Wolf Pirates.

He did not even have time to beg for mercy.

His death was particularly gruesome, as Dongze had cut him in half at the waist.

"Captain!!"

From the moment Dongze boarded the ship until the battle ended, less than ten minutes had passed. The notorious Iron Wolf Pirates had been completely wiped out, aside from the navigator.