"Horo horo horo~"
Perona's smug laughter still echoed across the square.
It formed an absurd contrast with Aramaki, the former member of the God's Knights kneeling at her feet, wallowing in self-pity and radiating despair.
Suddenly.
Shing!
The crisp sound of a sword being drawn rang out!
"Whoosh!"
Before the sound had even faded, a figure had already kicked off the ground and shot forward!
He did not leap high into the air. Instead, he skimmed the ground in an ultra-fast, low-altitude rush!
He moved so fast that his figure almost stretched into a thin, blurry black line, leaving only dust swirling in the fierce wind behind him!
"Perona, watch out!!!"
Tesoro's alarmed shout rang out almost the instant the figure moved.
He manipulated gold to intercept him, but the ambush was too sudden, and its timing too perfect!
Perona had not even fully understood what the sound of the sword being drawn or Tesoro's warning meant.
She merely turned around on instinct, with a trace of confusion and a newly stirring unease...
Then.
Reflected in her widening eyes was a face strikingly similar to Red-Haired Shanks's.
Shamrock, a member of the Holy Knights!
And the slender rapier in his hand, its tip already less than half a foot from her throat!
Too close!
Perona's mind went blank. Against a surprise attack from someone this powerful, her body had no time to react.
Even her fear had not fully formed. There was only the sword, growing rapidly larger in her pupils!
There was not a flicker of emotion in Shamrock's eyes.
From the outset, his goal had been to kill her in a single strike...
The rapier slashed toward Perona's pale neck, its lethal trajectory as smooth as slicing silk!
Decapitation!!
"CLANG!!!!"
No sparks flew. Only a ring of violent