It all happened far too quickly. From the moment Lorne vanished to the moment Gar's corpse fell into the sea, the entire process took less than five seconds.
On the enemy ship's deck, the dozens of pirates who had been waving their weapons and shouting moments earlier now stood rigidly in place, as though a spell had frozen them.
Their cutlasses and muskets fell onto the deck with a series of sharp clatters.
"The captain... a great pirate with a bounty of 280 million couldn't even last a single move!"
A pirate officer's legs shook violently. A large patch of his crotch instantly grew wet, giving off the stench of urine.
Another pirate collapsed directly onto the deck, clutching his head in both hands and mumbling incoherently, his mind utterly broken.
On the deck of the Fearless, Ryan silently slipped his pocket watch back into his pocket.
"Four point seven eight seconds."
Ryan turned toward Bakel beside him and grinned.
"The boss's normal speed has gotten even faster. What a monster."
Bakel reached up and adjusted his goggles, looking utterly relaxed.
"He did spend two years training on the Island of Misfortune, after all. If he couldn't instantly kill trash like this, those two years of carrying seastone would have been wasted."
Kuina slowly lowered the hand resting on Wado Ichimonji's hilt.
As she looked at the civilian corpses strewn across the pirate ship opposite them, a flash of disgust crossed her eyes.
"The boss is right. Scum who earn their bounties by slaughtering civilians don't deserve to live in this world."
Lorne stood in the center of the enemy ship's deck, the sea breeze whipping his black cloak with a snapping rustle.
He turned his head and coldly surveyed the remaining pirates kneeling around him, begging for mercy.
"Ryan,