Let the bullets fly a little longer

"Drip!"

Blood dripped onto the deck beneath his feet, quickly staining it red.

Everyone aboard watched with wavering eyes, shaken to the core.

"You hit me."

"But you seem surprised."

River grinned. In Rob Lucci's eyes, the smile on his face looked strange and sinister.

Someone had actually faced a vicious attack without making the slightest attempt to dodge, letting himself be wounded.

The blood was warm, and even the feel of the flesh inside the man's body was real.

"Squelch!"

Rob Lucci pulled out his finger, retreated a few steps, and looked up at him.

"What is this supposed to mean?"

River grinned and laughed. "What does it mean?"

"It's simple."

"Even if you hit me..."

As he spoke, the bloody hole in his body began healing rapidly. In the blink of an eye, it vanished without a trace.

"You still can't hurt me."

Rob Lucci's pupils contracted. He stared at River in shock, momentarily speechless.

He had unquestionably wounded the man, yet he still couldn't inflict any damage.

"Compared to me, or to the world, your strength is nothing more than a drop in this vast blue sea!"

"Insignificant. Utterly unremarkable!"

The very next second, a gale rushed toward his face, and a fist slammed into his abdomen.

"Boom!"

The tremendous force passed straight through his body, making the air behind him shudder and whipping up a fierce wind.

"Only when you see how vast the world truly is will you understand yourself clearly."

"And realize what it is you truly need!"

Rob Lucci's entire body jolted. He doubled over and fell to his knees with a thud, blood spurting from his mouth.

He hadn't been able to react to that blow at all, much less dodge it.

"I'll spare you all for today!"

"The next time we meet, I hope you'll have given my offer some serious thought."

River withdrew his fist and spoke softly.

Every member of CP9 heard him. Their hearts trembled slightly as they stood there, stunned.

Did that mean he was letting them go?

"Why?"

Rob Lucci forced back the blood welling up in his mouth and asked.

"I admire all of you, and I look forward to working with you!"

River said.

He paused, then seemed to remember something.

"Oh, and pass a message along to your superior for me!"

"I'll pay him a visit soon, once I have some free time!"

Lucci fell silent, studying the man before him.

Powerful, mysterious, and possessed of a strange personality that bordered on madness.

He clearly had the strength to crush and kill them all, yet he had spared them and even expressed a desire to recruit them. Without question, they owed him a debt.

"Th-thank you!"

Kaku's voice trembled.

Tonight had left him with a darkness he could scarcely put into words, one that would haunt him for the rest of his life. He had come within a single step of death.

Their figures flickered, and they immediately disappeared from the warship.

A moment later, the sea breeze swept past, and the night fell quiet once more.

"Get back to resting."

River smiled.

"Were they your targets?"

Crocodile's eyes flickered as he asked curiously.

At the same time, his strength filled River with profound wariness and awe. CP9 were certainly no weaklings. At the very least, even he would have found the fellow with the pigeon on his shoulder extremely troublesome.

Yet against the man before him, they had still been crushed with ease.

Just how strong was this guy?

"They're a team with tremendous potential. With a little honing, they'll shock the world."

"They've just taken the wrong path."

River spoke softly.

The CP squad led by Rob Lucci was unquestionably formidable. He also knew that before long, they would suffer defeat in the battle at Enies Lobby.

Afterward, they would find themselves in serious trouble, hunted by World Government personnel.

But two years later, Rob Lucci would turn things around against all odds and return with an even higher position.

That also meant that by then, this man would have become even stronger.

"Then you shouldn't have let them go!"

Crocodile said gravely.

"Let the bullets fly a little longer. We might reap an even greater reward."

River's eyes glinted as he spoke with a soft chuckle.

He was waiting for this squad to eat their Devil Fruits. Once that happened, they would undoubtedly gain even greater power.

Then all he would need to do was wait quietly and reap the fruits of victory.

Afterward, River turned and entered the cabin.

"Now that the trouble's settled, I can finally get a good night's sleep!"

Watching him leave, Crocodile's eyes kept flickering behind his Ghostface Mask.

He looked out over the sea ahead, watching the boat speeding away, and slowly exhaled.

"What exactly are you planning?"

"Recruiting people like this is certainly not something a Marine should be doing!"

He was almost certain now that River possessed ambitions beyond ordinary imagination.

He had founded Void Night twenty years ago, subdued Crocodile in Impel Down twenty years later, and begun recruiting again as soon as he got out.

Sparing the CP9 squad after their nighttime assault and deliberately taking their leader's attack were both gestures of goodwill.

At the same time, he had used his overwhelming strength to suppress and intimidate them.

Displaying both ruthless power and goodwill was unmistakably an attempt at recruitment.

It was easy to imagine that, with most people, once trouble struck and River appeared, he would be able to bring them into his ranks without any resistance.

"And you seem to know secrets that ordinary people could never uncover!"

As he murmured, Crocodile's gaze grew deep.

River's goals were clear. He knew exactly whom to choose and whom to bring under his command.

It was as though he knew them extremely well.

This man undoubtedly harbored secrets outsiders could never fathom.

Meanwhile.

Beneath the night sky, a lone boat cut through the water, speeding toward Water 7.

Silence filled the boat. The entire CP9 squad remained quiet.

The brief battle had utterly shattered their former confidence and pride.

They couldn't erase that man's figure from their minds.

"Lucci, who exactly is he?"

Kalifa drew a deep breath and looked down at her right calf, finally unable to hold back the question.

The livid purple bruises were clearly visible, distinctly shaped like five fingers and a palm. They were the marks that man had left on her body.

"Can you still not tell us? We've clearly been reduced to pawns on this mission!"

"They must have known we were no match for someone like him!"

Kaku growled through gritted teeth.

The fear born of that soul-deep, oppressive presence still refused to fade.

"Lucci, compared to those rotten bastards, our target this time actually seemed friendlier toward us."

"He wants to recruit us, doesn't he?"

Jabra asked gravely.

Rob Lucci sat there, listening to his companions. Only after a long while did he finally raise his head.