What a naive thought.
For pirates, especially those living in this Lawless Zone, losing the ability to move was often more terrifying than death.
Without the ability to protect themselves, their former enemies, rivals, and even passing vagrants would devour them like a piece of rotten meat until nothing remained.
Sometimes, living was more painful than dying.
Still, Saint Dio could not be bothered to correct her naivety. Leaving things this way was more intimidating.
By then, the fighting in the street was nearly over.
Sandersonia and Marigold slaughtered the last wave of pirates. Severed limbs and dark red blood littered the street, and the heavy stench of blood filled the air.
Just then, another band of pirates charged over, shouting noisily. Their leader was a vicious-looking brute whose voice arrived before he did. "Get the hell out of my way! My bounty is a hundred and eighty million-"
He never finished.
A silver flash streaked past, and his head left his neck, flying into the air with disbelief still written across his face. Blood gushed from the stump like a crimson fountain.
Saint Dio slowly drew Jörmungandr back, its blade covered in fresh blood.
He could no longer be bothered to waste time and energy tangling with these small fry.
He held Jörmungandr horizontally before him and said flatly, "Jörmungandr, crush them."
The sword in his hand instantly twisted and expanded, becoming a gigantic silver-white python. It opened its bloody maw and surged toward the pirates like a green torrent.
The pirates did not even have time to let out a full scream before the enormous snake swallowed them in one gulp, leaving not even a scrap of bone.
After swallowing the pirates, Jörmungandr rapidly shrank, turning back into a sword and obediently flying into Saint Dio's hand.
Carrying the still-dripping head, Saint Dio walked to the weapons shop's entrance and tossed it in front of the owner, who had collapsed to the ground in terror.
The head rolled twice before stopping beside the owner's feet, its unclosed eyes staring straight at him.
"A hundred and eighty million." Saint Dio looked down at him, his voice flat. "Exactly the price you quoted."
The weapons shop owner sat slumped on the ground, his face as white as paper. His lips trembled for a long while before he managed a smile uglier than crying.
He knew he had picked a fight with someone he could not afford to cross-someone who could crush him completely.
Saint Dio stopped looking at him and extended his hand. Jörmungandr obediently coiled around his arm and turned back into a sword.
He called out, "Sonia, take all those weapons. We're leaving."
Sandersonia answered and hoisted the packed crates of weapons from the shop onto her shoulders, one after another. She followed Saint Dio as the group strode away, leaving a street full of wreckage and corpses.
Dragging his weak legs beneath him, the weapons shop owner struggled to stand. Looking at his empty shop and the corpses covering the ground, he wanted to cry but had no tears.
He knew that what awaited him next was the towering fury of the boss behind him.
With so many weapons and hired thugs lost, he would certainly be held accountable.
He gritted his teeth and bent down to pick up the head worth a hundred and eighty million, a ruthless gleam flashing through his eyes.
Rather than stay and wait to die, he might as well take this head to a Marine Branch, collect the bounty, and run.
With a hundred and eighty million Beli in hand, where in this vast world could he not go?
Chapter 47: Target selected-the Pocket-Pocket Fruit user
"What a shame. No Devil Fruits."
Saint Dio expressed some regret.
His reason for coming to this Lawless Zone, aside from wanting to shop without paying, had been to bait people into offending him.
He had wanted to see whether any clueless pirate who had eaten a Devil Fruit would approach him and help Saint Dio expand his Devil Fruit collection.
Unfortunately, not a single one had eaten a Devil Fruit.
Still, Saint Dio did not dwell on it.
He led the group away from the wrecked street, the clamor and bloodshed gradually receding behind them.
He had no interest in what the weapons shop owner chose to do afterward. Whether he fled or faced retaliation had nothing to do with him.
He walked along the bubble-covered streets unique to the Sabaody Archipelago. Thick mangrove aerial roots formed the road beneath his feet, while transparent bubbles drifted overhead, refracting rainbow colors in the sunlight.
Just then, a palm-sized bat came wobbling through the air from afar.
Countless bubbles floated above the Sabaody Archipelago, making it a less than friendly environment for flying creatures.
The little bat kept dodging the bubbles drifting toward it, its wings beating with some difficulty.
It was clearly searching for someone. Its small eyes scanned the crowd below until it finally located its target, adjusted its course, and swooped down.
However, just as it was about to reach Saint Dio, a passing bubble happened to envelop it.
Trapped inside the transparent bubble, the little bat fluttered its wings in vain. No matter what it did, it could not fly out and could only spin around inside.
Noticing the movement overhead, Saint Dio looked up and saw the bat trapped in the bubble.
He recognized it as the bat Stussy used to send messages.
He raised his hand and lightly flicked his index finger.
The air bullet from his Flying Finger Pistol struck the bubble precisely. With a soft pop, the bubble burst, freeing the little bat.
It shook its wings in midair, then landed steadily on Saint Dio's outstretched finger. It squeaked twice, as though expressing thanks, or perhaps passing on a message.
Looking at the little bat on his fingertip, Saint Dio knew Stussy had found a suitable pirate crew to target.
"Lead the way," he said softly.
As though understanding him, the little bat took flight and flew at an unhurried pace ahead of Saint Dio, guiding them through streets and across bridges formed from mangrove aerial roots.
Before long, they reached the edge of Area 27.
Saint Dio stopped, his gaze passing over the sea ahead to the neighboring area.
It was a field of ruins. The ground had broken apart, enormous cracks spreading like a spiderweb. Seawater seeped through the fissures, flooding some of the low-lying ground.
The buildings that had once stood there had all collapsed, leaving only ruined walls standing forlornly above the water.
That was Area 26.
Several months earlier, Saint Dio had bought Hancock and her two sisters there. It was also during that battle that the entire island had been shattered, ultimately leaving it completely abandoned.
Now, that area had become a forbidden zone within the Sabaody Archipelago, with almost no one active there anymore.
Hancock's gaze also drifted involuntarily toward the ruins.
A complicated emotion flashed through her eyes. That place had been the turning point in her fate, where she had gone from being a slave to what she was now.
She could not say whether she hated those ruins or felt something else. Simply looking at that broken land sent an indescribable ripple through her heart.
Noticing her unusual reaction, Saint Dio reached out, pinched her chin, and turned her face toward him.
He looked down into her black eyes and asked teasingly, "What's wrong? Want to go back and have a look?"
Hancock froze for a moment, then shook her head and said firmly, "No. There's nothing there worth seeing anymore."
For Hancock, although the past in which she had been sold was too painful to revisit, she was not someone weak enough to wallow in self-pity.
What had happened could not be changed. Rather than dwell on the past, she would be better off focusing on the present and future.
Besides, after spending this past month by Saint Dio's side, she had discovered that this white-haired boy did not treat her as a mere plaything or tool, unlike the Celestial Dragons she had heard about.
He had never done anything truly excessive to her. At most, he had made her fight, train, and fight again.
Honestly, the intensity was not that different from her time on Amazon Lily. There was simply a little more pressure and somewhat stronger opponents.
In exchange, however, she enjoyed resources at Saint Dio's side that she could never obtain on Amazon Lily.
High-quality food, fine weapons and equipment, all manner of training resources to improve her strength, and that man's occasional lessons with a stick.
Moreover, even without her bringing it up, Saint Dio had explicitly stated that he would let her return to Amazon Lily in four years.
So she had no need to worry about the future. She only needed to focus on the tasks before her.
With the little bat leading them, Saint Dio's group soon reached their destination.
The little bat flew a short distance ahead, then landed on a young woman's shoulder and affectionately rubbed against her cheek.
The woman was sitting at an outdoor café table, leisurely holding a steaming cup of coffee.
She was not wearing that signature white Cipher Pol Aigis Zero uniform, having changed into casual clothes instead.
In a loose cream-colored shirt, light coffee-colored shorts, a wide-brimmed sun hat, and fashionable sunglasses perched on her nose, she looked like an ordinary wealthy young woman vacationing in the Sabaody Archipelago. There was no sign at all that she was actually an elite member of the World Government's highest intelligence agency.
Seeing Saint Dio approach, Stussy set down her coffee cup, removed her sunglasses, and gave him a faint smile. Then she gestured with her lips toward a spot nearby. "Master, the targets are over there. I've already checked. They're the Pocket Pirates, one of this year's rising pirate crews that only recently entered the New World. Their captain, Blamenco, is a Pocket-Pocket Fruit user. Their ship is docked at the harbor over there, and they're buying supplies. It looks like they're preparing to head for the Grand Line."
Having finished, she lifted her coffee cup and took a small sip.
"A Pocket-Pocket Fruit user?" Saint Dio stroked his chin, thoughtfully repeating the name.
He had some recollection of that fruit. In the original story, it should have belonged to one of the Whitebeard Pirates' division commanders.
However, at this point in time, the Whitebeard Pirates' influence had not yet expanded to its later extent. Whitebeard probably had not taken this Captain Blamenco in as a "son" yet.
In that case, he would gladly help himself to this Pocket-Pocket Fruit.
Chapter 48: The Pocket-Pocket Fruit, secured!
"Let's go. Get ready to board." Saint Dio called out and strode toward the harbor.
At that moment, aboard the pirate ship, a group of pirates gathered along the side, watching the coating craftsman apply the final layer of resin to the hull.
Several pirates leaned against the railing, drinking rum and boasting.
"Once we reach the New World, the captain will definitely defeat Whitebeard and become one of the new Four Emperors!"
"What are the Four Emperors worth? Our captain's the man who'll become the Pirate King!"
Surrounded by his men, Captain Blamenco was short and fat, his round belly exposed beneath his open coat. His appearance had a somewhat comical air.
Hearing his men's flattery, he grinned, revealing uneven teeth, his eyes gleaming with smug satisfaction.
"Lulululu! Once I become the Pirate King, I'll make sure you're all well rewarded!"
He patted his round belly and was about to say something in response to his men's praise.
Just then, several figures descended from the sky and landed steadily on their deck.
"Who's there?!"
The pirates reacted fairly quickly, instantly snatching up nearby weapons and surrounding the uninvited guests.
However, when they saw who had arrived, their hearts sank.
A white-haired boy, two absurdly tall women carrying blades, a black-haired girl of otherworldly beauty, and a little girl carrying a flintlock.
No matter how they looked at it, this group did not seem to have come for tea and conversation.
After landing, Saint Dio looked past the pirates surrounding them and fixed his gaze directly on the short, fat figure among the crowd. That was Blamenco.
Once he had confirmed his target, he did not spare him a second glance. Turning his head, he instructed Hancock beside him, "That one is yours."
Then he turned to Sandersonia and Marigold and ordered, "Apart from the helmsman we need, throw all the others into the sea to feed the fish."
Hancock did not hesitate at all. The instant the order fell, she shot forward like an arrow released from its bow.
Blamenco's reaction was not slow either. A rising pirate who had made a name for himself on the Grand Line did, after all, possess some ability.
The curtain-like skin pouches on either side of his cheeks suddenly opened. He thrust a thick arm inside and actually pulled out a wooden mallet larger than his entire body.
This was the power of the Pocket-Pocket Fruit. It allowed him to store objects of any size in an alternate space inside his body and retrieve them whenever he needed.
"You little brat! You're asking for death!" Blamenco roared, swinging the enormous mallet down toward Hancock's head with a howling rush of wind.
Hancock's gaze did not waver. The instant the mallet fell, she leaped lightly upward, flipping in midair. Her long right leg rose high, and a fierce whipping kick struck the side of the enormous mallet.
"Perfume Femur!"
The surface of the mallet where her kick landed instantly turned grayish white. Petrified patterns spread rapidly outward from the point of contact, covering the entire mallet head.
Immediately afterward, cracks emerged from the center of the petrified area, spreading like a spiderweb. Then it shattered with a bang, scattering countless stone fragments across the deck.
Blamenco's eyes widened as he stared in disbelief at his weapon, now reduced to half a handle in his hand.
Before he could recover from his shock, Hancock lightly stepped against the empty air with Geppo, placing herself directly above him.
She gently pressed a finger to her full lips, planted a kiss on it, then slowly drew it away. A pink, heart-shaped bubble formed between her fingertip and her lips.
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