Pirates: I Became a Legend After Seeing Proficiency

"Actually, this is about a friend of mine from Fish-Man Island!"

Dongze raised an eyebrow.

"Octopus Hachi?"

Rayleigh froze again. Dongze didn't look very old, yet he seemed to know such closely guarded secrets like the back of his hand.

"So you really do know!"

"Back in the East Blue, I let him off. I hadn't planned to leave a single one of those fish-men alive!"

At the thought of what those fish-men had done in the East Blue, a murderous intent unconsciously seeped into Dongze's voice.

In the next instant, that killing intent burst forth like a floodgate that could no longer hold back, sweeping over everything.

From the East Blue until now, the pirates who had died beneath Forgotten Dust were beyond counting. Before he awakened Sword Intent, Dongze had raised his proficiency by grinding away at pirates.

Of course, there had also been sea beasts and Sea Kings.

At first glance, it might not have seemed like much, but when he calculated it carefully, the thought of those skills in the hundred-thousand and million-level range alone was enough to make his scalp tingle.

The killing intent accumulated from all that was even more intimidating than Conqueror's Haki.

Thus, the instant it leaked out, every pore on Rayleigh's body turned cold of its own accord, his hair standing on end as he swiftly retreated from Dongze.

Enel was even more cunning. The moment he sensed something was wrong, he flashed away. His speed was so fast that even Rayleigh clicked his tongue in amazement.

Robin, who had been following directly behind Dongze the entire time, suffered the most. The killing intent had burst out without warning, and that bone-chilling aura, which seemed capable of freezing her blood, was like an invisible hand clamping around her throat.

Even drawing a breath felt like a luxury. In only a moment, all the strength drained from her body. Her legs went weak, and she fell forward.

Her chest pressed against his back. At that moment, Robin gave the phrase a whole new meaning.

Apparently sensing the movement behind him, Dongze snapped out of his memories. The tidal wave of killing intent receded like the tide, rapidly withdrawing back into his body.

Seeing Robin sprawled limply across his back, Dongze sighed softly, crouched down, and carried her onto his back.

"Sorry!"

"It's fine. I'm a little sleepy. I'll sleep for a while first!"

Without caring about Dongze's reaction, Robin turned her face, found a comfortable spot, rubbed against it twice, and promptly fell into a deep sleep, a smug smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Hey, hey! Boss! Did you really hate those fish-men that much?"

"What they did was just like what those Celestial Dragons in Sabaody Archipelago did—they enslaved more than twenty towns around them!"

Hearing Dongze's words, Rayleigh frowned. "Young man! What's going on?"

Dongze glanced at Rayleigh. His eyes were filled with doubt, as though he was puzzled about something.

Dongze's thoughts turned, and he said, "Back then, the Sun Pirates fell apart after Fisher Tiger's death. Without a leader capable of uniting all the fish-men, they split into two groups. One consisted of fish-men who intensely hated humans. Most of them became twisted inside and took pleasure in brutally killing humans."

"The other consisted of fish-men who inherited Queen Otohime's will. They sought peaceful coexistence between fish-men and humans. They were the ones who yearned for peace."

"Arlong belonged to the radical faction. Because of his extreme actions, he was captured by Kizaru at the time. Jinbe later bailed him out by taking the position of Shichibukai. After that, Arlong gathered a group of fish-men who hated humans, founded the Arlong Pirates, and established themselves in the East Blue!"

"Perhaps because of Garp, the powerful pirates in the East Blue were either captured or killed. That place became a paradise for fish-men!"

"On top of that, some rotten elements in the Marines covered things up and colluded with Arlong's group. They enslaved nearly twenty villages around them, following the exact same system as the Celestial Dragons!"

"They were extreme racists who believed fish-men had always been superior. Anyone who couldn't pay the ransom would be killed!"

"The people there had nowhere to turn, no one to pray to. I happened to pass by at the time, so I killed those heinous fish-men one by one!"

After hearing Dongze's explanation, a trace of understanding surfaced in Rayleigh's eyes. After pondering for a moment, he said, "So that's how it was!"

Dongze continued, "It seems you've figured things out by now, Mr. Rayleigh!"

Rayleigh's expression shifted. "It seems you've guessed it too, young man!"

Dongze chuckled. "It wasn't hard to guess! The only person connected to you was Octopus Hachi, and he was also the only one connected to those fish-men. To be honest, he was the only one I didn't attack that day. I severely wounded the others and threw them into the sea. Without outside help, not one of them would have survived!"

"After seeing what happened, that octopus naturally sought help. Thinking it over, the only person he could have gone to was you!"

"Yes. That day, he told me that his companions had been killed and asked me to help him avenge them. But the young man disappeared only a few days later, so the matter was forced to a stop!"

"Now that I've met you again, I was rather surprised. That was why I wanted to meet you and see what kind of person you were, and what had really happened back then!"

"Then, Mr. Rayleigh, what do you think I should have done at the time?"

"You did well to kill them! If it had been this old man, I probably would have been even more thorough—cut them in two and bury them in a pit!"

The sixty-ninth chapter: So It Was You All Along!!

"Hey! Isn't that kid the new Shichibukai?"

As Dongze walked along the road, people quickly recognized him. As a newcomer who had been making waves these past two days, he was especially eye-catching in the first half of the Grand Line.

"I heard he became a Shichibukai through the back door!"

"The back door?"

Hearing their companions, several pirates who usually led rather debauched lives seemed to think of something and shuddered.

"Whose back door did he use?"

"I'm not sure. I heard it was through Admiral Aokiji and Garp the Hero."

"Gulp~"

Hearing this, the pirates gulped twice and swallowed hard.

Upon hearing that, several lurid images flashed through their minds. They quickly shook their heads. The scene was too beautiful to imagine further.

Seeing their strange gazes, their leader finally came to his senses. He had been talking himself hoarse, yet they had been playing to deaf ears!

The next moment, fists rained down on their heads like a violent storm.

"Damn it, you bunch of old perverts! You'll die between a woman's thighs sooner or later!"

Although those men thought they were far enough away that Dongze and the others couldn't hear their conversation, they didn't know that the world contained a type of Haki called Observation Haki. Every word they said had entered Dongze's ears without omission.

Dongze often heard people gossiping about him, but this was the first time he had heard something like this. His expression darkened. "Enel!"

Enel rubbed his head. He had naturally heard those filthy remarks as well. He had originally planned to watch the show, but after hearing Dongze's command, he helplessly replied, "Understood!!"

In the next instant, his entire body transformed into a bolt of lightning and shot toward the pirates who couldn't keep their mouths shut.

A Thunderclap exploded. Amid flashing lightning, several miserable screams tore through the sky. Enel clenched his hand, making the lightning even more dazzling, and finally reduced the entire group of pirates to nothing before stopping.

Ever since he had started following Dongze, he had adopted a finishing-off strategy. Whenever an opponent was knocked down, he no longer casually threw out a Raigo and left them to fend for themselves. Instead, he output at maximum power, turning them to ash before stopping.

In Dongze's words, "If you don't pull up the roots when cutting weeds, they'll grow again when the spring breeze blows!"

At first, Enel hadn't believed it.

But after one pirate had been ground into the dirt countless times by Enel, taken a Raigo to the face, and then crawled back up half an hour later, Enel had stopped being so confident in his own lightning.

He had personally experienced the tenacity of those pirates' lives.

So afterward, he only stopped once he had reduced his opponents to ashes. In his own smug words: "Heh~~ Try crawling back up now! If you've got what it takes, do it! From now on, this god will call himself your father!"

"That young man certainly acts viciously!"

Seeing what had happened to those people, Rayleigh narrowed his eyes, his tone turning somewhat stiff.

"Forgiving them is God's business. Redeeming them is Buddha's business. As for us? We're merely mortals! We're only responsible for sending them to hell!"

Dongze replied solemnly.

As for pirates, he had seen quite a few since setting out to sea. The Straw Hat Pirates were practically the only exception.

Pirates were called pirates not merely because they opposed the World Government and the Marines. More importantly, what they pursued was lawlessness.

Slaughter, betrayal, ruthlessness, exploitation, and greed—those were their main themes.

Dongze rarely felt pity for them.

Besides, everyone had their own position. By choosing to become pirates and choosing this sea, they had already prepared themselves for the consequences.

Dongze was no different. However, with his current strength, the odds of such a thing happening to him had already fallen to almost zero.

After all, even if he couldn't win, he could still run.

Thinking of the Water-Walking technique, the corners of his mouth curved upward. Even Kizaru probably wouldn't know what to do if he encountered Dongze, considering that even Garp couldn't catch him when he went all out.

"Young man, I investigated you before as well. You came from the East Blue, and you never leave a blade of grass standing when facing pirates. Few survive! Some people even say you're a second Akainu, independent of the Marines."

"But I want to tell you that there are heroes and men of honor among pirates as well. You can't lump them all together!"

Dongze stopped walking. "How do you know I'm looking at them through colored glasses?"

"Are you saying you aren't?"

The atmosphere instantly grew tense.

Dongze narrowed his eyes. "If I were, an old pirate like you would already be a ghost beneath my sword!"

Rayleigh met his gaze head-on. "Young man, you're not very old, but your mouth is quite bold!"

Dongze patted Robin's full figure with his right hand, waking her.

Then he continued, "I'm just telling the truth! Don't tell me you don't know what those people are really like?"

After a long pause, Rayleigh replied, "They have committed misdeeds, but they're also a powerful force capable of overthrowing this decaying world!"

Dongze chuckled. "So what? Roger set this era loose?"

Rayleigh answered with endless emotion, "At that time, he had no other choice!"

Hearing this, Dongze fell silent, his expression darkening. He knew this was what Rayleigh had really wanted to say.

After a long while, Dongze stood atop a mound of earth and sighed softly.

"If Mr. Roger chose to entrust that hope to the new era, why does Mr. Rayleigh refuse to believe in it?"

Rayleigh gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "As expected, you even know about this?"

"But your actions in the East Blue had this old man constantly on edge. One person's strength isn't enough to overthrow this decayed world. It still needs those new forces!"

"This beautiful young lady is Nico Robin, isn't she?"

"Hello, Mr. Rayleigh!"

"Young man, although Roger didn't meet with this old man in the end, we understood each other's thoughts long ago."

"I know that the person he was waiting for wasn't you!"

As Rayleigh spoke, his gaze gradually became resolute.

Dongze's eyes turned distant. "The Pirate King?"

"You have your plans, and I have my own path! If my path truly conflicts with yours, I'm sorry, but I won't yield!"

"Besides, what I'm doing isn't simply an act of justice. Sometimes, I'll resort to any means necessary to achieve my goals! I'm not a good person!"

"Haha!"

"Young man, you certainly are carefree!"

Dongze suddenly asked, "Do you want to know my dream?"

Seeing the look in Dongze's eyes, as though it might pierce the heavens, Rayleigh showed interest. "I'd be glad to hear it!"

Dongze set Robin down, removed the sword case slung over his shoulder, and gently tapped it. With a click of its mechanism, it revealed the seven long swords inside.

"I've placed everything here!"

When Rayleigh saw the seven swords—or rather, the first three long swords, Forgotten Dust, Long River, and Thunderclap—a glint flashed through his eyes. He sensed the aura from that day here.

"So it was you all along!!"

The seventieth chapter: Aokiji's Illegitimate Son?

When two powerful people confronted one another, ordinary reasoning generally didn't work. Dongze had understood this long ago, which was why he ultimately chose his sword when communicating with Rayleigh.

Well, as long as they fought once, everything would make sense.

Just like Garp, who had hammered a thoroughly respectable third-generation marine into the Pirate King. Fate truly enjoyed playing tricks on people.

Of course, there was also a decent chance that he would be the one getting beaten up. But let's not forget—he had also awakened an undefeated Sword Intent: Non-Contention Sword Intent.