A Pirate: My Proficiency Made Me a Legend-Chapter 5

Two drunken men swaggered over, lurching from side to side as they traded vulgar jokes!

The gist was that one of them was boasting that he felt ready for action again, bragging about how mighty he had been before and how he could shoot three zhang into the wind, among other things.

As Dongze listened to their conversation, his eyes narrowed, and a trace of killing intent surfaced in them. He had more or less guessed what they were talking about.

His long sword slid from its sheath. The sound of steel scraping against the scabbard made the two men not far ahead shudder all over. They were far too familiar with that sound.

"Who's there?!"

The two of them did not think in that direction. After all, no one had resisted them for so long that they had developed the habit of treating themselves as supreme.

Unfortunately, they had miscalculated this time. The answer was not a voice, but a sharp flash of sword light.

A curved streak of brightness flashed before their eyes. The next moment, everything went dark. Dust returned to dust, earth returned to earth.

"Beneath an avalanche, not a single snowflake is innocent! It seems tonight is destined to be sleepless!"

When he saw the two men, Dongze's gaze suddenly turned cold. He knew that this world was chaotic, but witnessing it with his own eyes was another matter entirely.

Because of the darkness, Dongze failed to notice that the faint line of text on the light screen before him had quietly changed. His Sword-Draw Technique proficiency had risen from 1/10000 to 21/10000.

The night deepened. Dongze's figure silently melted into the darkness, and a quiet massacre began.

"Ah~~~"

Dongze beheaded another bandit, then let out a soft sigh. There were fewer and fewer stragglers left. Most of the survivors had gathered together, making it difficult to act without alerting the others.

Still, he had already sent more than half the bandits in this Bandit's Lair to their graves. The pressure from the remaining ones had been reduced by more than half.

The scream shattered the silence of the night, but it did not stop Dongze from striking again. Before the bandits could recover, he killed another group of them.

That naturally included the only bandit king carrying a gun.

He had yet to master Armament Haki, and he had not eaten a Devil Fruit either. To him now, firearms posed the greatest threat. Once he knew he could no longer lie low, he naturally had to eliminate the greatest threat first.

Although the bandit king was the leader of this group, his actual combat strength was not much higher than that of an ordinary bandit. He was merely a leader who still needed a gun to secure his position.

Still, that saved Dongze a great deal of trouble. If he were in the Grand Line right now, not to mention bandits—even ordinary civilians would have firearms and ammunition.

As for why, it was naturally for self-defense.

The Grand Line had not only extremely harsh weather, but was also a paradise for pirates. In such circumstances, it was hardly strange for people to carry weapons.

If there had been more than fifty guns here, he would definitely have fought in an entirely different way. He had only just awakened his Golden Finger; he would never put himself in an irredeemable predicament.

At this moment, he could count himself lucky. There was only one gun in this bandit lair, which made taking his revenge much easier.

Chapter 8: The Sniper in the Dark Night, the Marvelous Use of Mantra

"Second-in-command!"

"Boss, he's dead!!"

A terrified scream spread across the entire courtyard, making the remaining bandits grow nervous. The bandit king had always wielded tremendous authority. Now that even their boss had been killed, how could they not be afraid?

The crowd instantly erupted into chaos.

At that moment, a tall figure walked out. His face was savage, and a scar nearly ran across its entirety. His unshaven face radiated brutality.

His shirt hung wide open, exposing two enormous crossed scars across his abdomen.

He held a Spiked Club in his hand, a trace of madness in his eyes.

"Shut your damn mouths!"

His violent aura swept across the entire courtyard, silencing the surrounding underlings.

"Who knows what happened? Explain it to me!"

Unfortunately, the underlings had all been jolted awake from their sleep. How could they know what had happened? All they could see were corpses covering the ground and smell the stench in the air.

When no one moved, the man narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze around.

It was not difficult to guess what had happened. They were bandits who rampaged through the area, committing every evil under the sun—burning, killing, looting, and pillaging. If someone had come to enforce heaven's justice, he would not have been surprised.

The problem was that he still had not discovered where the attacker was, and that irritated him.

Without even seeing the culprit, more than half the people in the camp had died, and their boss was dead as well. The bandit king's gun had been enough to contend with him. Yet he had been killed without a sound. Did that not mean the enemy also possessed the strength to take him down?

After a while, the surroundings remained deathly quiet. The man slammed his Spiked Club against the ground and shouted, "Get out here, you piece of trash!"

Now, where was Dongze at this moment?

It turned out that after the slaughter, Dongze had unexpectedly discovered that the Sword-Draw Technique he had unlocked was beginning to skyrocket in proficiency.

By now, his proficiency had reached 501/10000. As it surged, he could feel the technique's power multiplying at a startling, leaping pace.

That was why he had been able to behead the bandit king with a single slash.

After all, there had been nine people in that hall!

Dongze was currently standing in the corner of a room, comprehending the essence of the Sword-Draw Technique. He had naturally seen what was happening outside, but he was in no hurry to go down. Instead, he examined the gun in his hand.

This was no ordinary gun, but a sniper rifle. Considering that the bandit king had been able to control more than a hundred people with a single gun, he was probably a sniper. Otherwise, one gun alone would not have been enough to restrain these hardened criminals.

He then raised the rifle and aimed at the bandit underlings in the courtyard.

"Bang!"

The resounding gunshot was especially piercing in the silent courtyard. Amid the crowd, one underling's head burst open.

Panic seized the bandits once more, and the crowd began to stir uncontrollably.

The surroundings remained deathly silent. To them, the pitch-black night was like a man-eating beast.

The unknown threat and lethal killing intent placed ever-increasing pressure on them as time passed. At last, someone could not bear it any longer and broke down.

"Ah~~~"

"We're going to be killed!"

"Help!"

"Run!!"

"Shut your damn mouths!!"

Another furious roar rang out, but this time it did nothing. The bandits' nerves had already collapsed beneath the pressure of that unseen enemy.

"Who the hell are you? Get out here, you piece of trash!!"

"Bang!!"

Another gunshot answered him. Another bandit collapsed to the ground.

The gunshot was like a slap striking the second-in-command across the face, driving him into a frenzy as well.

"Ah~~"

"You brat! I don't care who you are. I'll personally butcher you today!!"

His voice turned vicious as he said to the men beside him, "You few, go bring me those stinking women!"

Seeing the second-in-command's bloodshot eyes, the underlings felt as though they had swallowed a chunk of ice in the dead of winter. They shuddered, instantly snapping out of their fear.

The men swallowed hard twice before answering in trembling voices, "Yes!!"

The second-in-command's voice had been extremely loud. The underlings had heard it, and so had Dongze in the distance.

His thoughts raced, and Dongze immediately understood what the other man intended. The man had apparently run out of options and planned to force him out by using those hostages.

"Not a bad idea. But do you really think it'll work?"

"Bang, bang, bang...!!"

A continuous barrage of gunfire rang out. The underlings who had just been about to move toward the hostages instantly dropped dead.

Before Dongze, who possessed Mantra, gunshots were like the trumpets of the god of death. Not a single shot missed.

After that, Dongze did not stop. He began firing rapid single shots.

In only a few minutes, no one remained standing in the courtyard except the second-in-command.

Finally, he tried shooting at the second-in-command. The result was exactly as he had expected—the man did not care in the slightest.

His body suddenly swelled. His clothes tore apart, and a black-furred gorilla stood in his place.

With agility completely at odds with his size, he dodged the shot, then sprang into the air and charged straight toward the room where Dongze was hiding.

"A user of an ability!"

Dongze's expression darkened. He had expected this man to be difficult to deal with, but he had not expected to encounter a user of an ability here.

Devil Fruits were known as the treasures of the sea, granting those who consumed them various abilities.

They were divided into Logia, Paramecia, and Zoan. Their powers varied in strength. The strongest were like natural disasters—such as the Ice-Ice Fruit, Magma-Magma Fruit, Glint-Glint Fruit, and Rumble-Rumble Fruit. Their users were walking calamities.

Paramecia Devil Fruits governed by rules, such as the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, possessed even greater potential.

There were also Mythical Zoan abilities such as Buddha Form and Dragon. These were akin to the domains of gods.

One level below those were ordinary Zoan Devil Fruits, but even their users possessed advantages beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Just like this Gorilla-Gorilla Fruit user Dongze had encountered, he possessed astonishing regenerative power.

"Brat! I found you!"

The words, filled with killing intent and fury, came from the gorilla. Immediately afterward, the Spiked Club smashed toward the room where Dongze was.

Seeing this, Dongze casually tossed aside the gun in his hand. Then, lightly touching the floor with his toes, he shot backward.

In three steps reduced to two, he dashed out of the room. His long sword slid from its sheath, and he watched the enemy before him cautiously.

When the second-in-command sensed Dongze retreat from the room, he leaped down from the second floor of the bandit camp.

"What's wrong, bastard? You're not going to keep hiding?"

The words were filled with rage. Even with his back turned, Dongze could feel the man's fury.

Dongze paid it no mind. Fortunately, he had been cautious enough. If he had truly let his blood run hot, convinced that he could conquer heaven and earth, and openly challenged the man from the start, he might have been undone by a careless mistake. He had never expected to encounter an ability user in a bandit lair like this.

Once the second-in-command had steadied himself and turned around to look at the person before him, a trace of astonishment appeared in his eyes.

"It's just a brat!"

"Brat! Who are you? State your name!"

Chapter 9: The Hundred-Pace Flying Sword Finally Leaves Its Sheath

The two men stood facing each other, their builds worlds apart. Compared to the other man's nearly three-and-a-half-meter height, Dongze really was just a brat.

Dongze's expression did not change as he replied coldly, "The man who's going to kill you!"

The second-in-command burst out laughing when he heard Dongze.

"You?"

"I've crushed countless brats like you to death! This is the first time I've heard such arrogant words!"

"What shameless boasting!"

"Brat! Come and die!!"

The enormous Spiked Club seemed weightless in the second-in-command's hands. He swung it at an exaggerated speed, sweeping it across with a move that could wipe out an entire army. The fierce force of the blow bore down on Dongze. Yet Dongze was not afraid. His Mantra was the confidence that allowed him to remain here.

The Three Types of Haki: Armament Haki, Observation Haki, and Conqueror's Haki!

Armament Haki could increase one's defense and attack power, and could also capture the flowing body of a Logia user.

Observation Haki sharpened the five senses, allowing one to sense the presence of surrounding creatures and changes in their emotions. It could also be used to predict and evade danger.

Conqueror's Haki was the rarest, known as the "Haki" of those chosen by fate, with only one person in several million possessing it. It represented the "qualifications of a king," the ability to stand above others.

It could neither be learned through training nor inherited innately. Whether one possessed it depended solely on their destiny. Even if Conqueror's Haki could be controlled freely, it could not be strengthened through training. It could only grow with the wielder's own personal development.

Although Observation Haki seemed the weakest, that was only in comparison with the Grand Line. In the East Blue, it was still a terrifyingly powerful force.

As the Spiked Club came crashing down, Dongze's eyes lit up. He twisted his heel, sliding his body 1.2 meters backward. The Spiked Club flew past the tip of his nose, and he narrowly evaded the attack.