The traffickers around them immediately drew their weapons and surrounded Rokuya and Shinobu Kocho, their faces vicious.
"Take the children and stand back," Rokuya told Shinobu Kocho calmly, without turning around.
"Don't kill anyone. We're in town," Shinobu Kocho reminded him quietly. Then she took the little girl by the hand, sheltered the other children behind her as well, and retreated to the side of the street.
Rokuya rolled his neck, producing a series of crisp cracks. He did not draw the Shura Blade at his waist. Using a blade on scum like this would only dirty his weapon.
"None of my business, huh? Fetch a good price, huh?" A cruel smile curved Rokuya's lips as he lowered his stance slightly. "There's nothing I hate more in this world than you bastards who sell people like livestock!"
Before he had finished speaking, Rokuya shot forward in a blur.
The bald man saw something flash before his eyes. Before he could swing his blade, a fist was already swelling to fill his vision.
Bam!
Rokuya's heavy straight punch slammed squarely into the bald man's nose. The snap of his nasal bone was clearly audible, and his face caved in instantly as two streams of blood gushed from his nostrils like fountains. The tremendous impact sent his nearly two-hundred-pound body flying backward and crashing into a stall of rotten vegetables beside the street.
"Boss!" The other traffickers cried out in terror at the sight, then raised their cleavers and slashed at Rokuya.
But to Rokuya, their movements were as slow as a sloth taking a stroll.
Rokuya turned sideways to evade a blade coming straight down at him, caught the man's wrist with a backhand grab, and twisted hard. With a crack, the man's arm bent at an unnatural angle, and his