Titan Makes His Move

Hades glanced dismissively at the pirates blocking his path.

Their feeble auras made the very idea of dealing with them himself an insult.

Their clothes were filthy, and they stank. The reek of their bodies mingled with heavy fumes of alcohol and the tang of blood.

Some of the blood on them had dried long ago. Rather than wash it off, they had smeared it across their clothes in strange patterns, as though it were a badge of honor.

These dregs of the sea made him sick.

Though he, too, was about to become a pirate, they were nothing alike.

Piracy was a mire. Once ordinary people sank into it, they could never climb out. Many bore that label all their lives, unable to tear it away.

Whether or not they had taken that first step willingly.

Hades had never intended to be a pirate for the rest of his life.

In fact, he had never considered himself one at all.

Was it really so difficult to have a bounty withdrawn?

"Do you have a death wish?"

The pirate captain before him sobered up. He tightened his grip on his long blade, anger rising as he roared at Hades.

Hades made no effort to hide the contempt in his eyes. He looked at them as though they were sewer rats or mangy dogs fighting over scraps.

That lofty gaze instantly enraged not only the pirates surrounding them, but many of the onlookers as well.

For people like them, criminals who lived in the shadows, there was nothing more hateful than that look.

It was what they had once feared most. But after becoming pirates, they no longer held anything back. The sight of a noble only stirred their urge to kill.

How could they possibly endure it?

The turn of events was that sudden. One look from Hades had caused such an uproar.

It had struck a nerve with countless criminals.

They wanted to torture Hades and Titan to death, seize their treasure, and savor their cries of pain.

Hades clearly sensed the waves of twisted, agitated fury coming from them.

Yet he felt nothing in response.

What pitiful pride.

"Tch."

Hades curled his lip and turned to one side.

"Titan, deal with them. Leave none alive."

As Hades spoke, his gaze sharpened. His voice was cold, carrying an authority that brooked no argument.

"Yes, Your Highness!"

Titan was ready. He hefted his great hammer, anger flashing in his eyes as his mouth spread into a cruel grin.

Their deaths had been certain from the moment they chose to act. Now there was one more charge against them: they had affronted the King's authority.

Hades was a born king!

How could he let this pack of arrogant fools challenge him?

What was it, if not arrogance, when the weak challenged the strong?

Titan was beginning to understand what those words meant.

If Zoro had been here, he would already have drawn his sword and charged.

Disrespecting His Highness alone was reason enough to cut them to pieces.

And now Titan wanted to kill them all. Every last one!

"Get them! Kill them!"

"Take their treasure!"

"I'm chopping his head off!"

"I'll gouge out his eyes!"

"Cut him into scraps and feed him to the rats."

Titan's aura was formidable, but it did not frighten them. Hades's words had only provoked them further.

They wanted to kill this noble from who knew where, along with his bodyguard.

His innate air of nobility and arrogant manner gave them ten thousand reasons to tear Hades apart.

Hades had not expected his simple baiting scheme to turn out like this.

His treasure was not the cause. It was the jealousy buried in their hearts.

But that suited him perfectly. The bigger the commotion, the better.

This was his first real step onto the seas and into this era.

With his Observation Haki spread outward, he had already detected figures who seemed to be intelligence agents watching from nearby or making their way over.

Even on an island crowded with people, Hades pinpointed their locations.

He had no interest in who they were or which faction they served. All that mattered was that they spread the news.

He suppressed the urge to use the Death-Death Fruit to reduce this scum to dried bones.

He had to admit that a desire for battle and destruction had always lurked deep within his body and heart.

Things he could never have done in his previous life no longer gave him pause.

The evil in the human heart stirred.

Before the pirates could make a move, Titan struck.

His enormous, heavy body was not especially fast, but his explosive power over short distances was astonishing.

The sky seemed to darken as Titan appeared before the pirates who had first set their sights on Hades and him.

He raised his arm high, gripping a gigantic iron hammer that seemed to have appeared from nowhere.

Its shaft was a meter and a half long, and the head of the Drum-Beating Urn-Gold Hammer was a meter across. It swept through the air with unstoppable force, like a meteor falling from the heavens.

The pirates froze in shock. None of them wanted to be struck by a hammer like that.

But Titan was too fast. They had no time to react. The great hammer fell, tracing a beautiful arc through the air and bringing death with it.

"You're too damn loud! Die, all of you!"

Titan had no desire to listen to this trash prattle in his ear. He bellowed, and the muscles in his arm swelled like balloons.

As though he had sensed what Titan's blow might do, Hades leaped lightly onto a rooftop beside the street.

He watched with interest to see what would happen next.

BOOM!

The great hammer struck, accompanied by the crack of shattering bones.

The ground split inch by inch. Dense cracks spread outward in every direction like a spiderweb.

With the descending hammer at its center, the terrifying force drove the ground down across an area a hundred meters wide, forming a small basin.

The hammer's brutal collision with the ground unleashed a spreading shockwave, sending a violent torrent of air rushing outward.

The pirates and criminals surrounding them had no hope of resisting such power. The shockwave hit them head-on and hurled them into the sky.

Their bodies trembled, blood pouring from their mouths and noses. Many were badly injured by the blast, while some lost consciousness altogether.

Those closest to Titan suffered the worst. The dreadful impact crushed their bodies out of shape and shattered their bones.

The few pirates struck directly by the hammer were smashed into bloody pulp, leaving only lumps of flesh.

The instant it hit them, their heads and upper bodies exploded.

Blood and flesh sprayed everywhere. The sight was horrific.

The overwhelming destructive force had demolished two entire streets.

Only a handful of people remained standing.

Even the house beneath Hades's feet was only half intact, though it had not collapsed.