"Only the weak need to prepare something like that before they die."
Before his words had faded, the Fish-Man at the head of the charge raised his horse-slaying saber high and brought it down viciously toward Lin Xuan's skull.
Lin Xuan did not even raise his head. Only when the blade was about to touch his hair did his body shift an inch to the left in a strangely unnatural motion.
Whoosh-!
The powerful slash hit nothing, failing to touch even a single strand of Lin Xuan's hair.
The next second, a dull impact rang out.
The rotten wooden sword in Lin Xuan's hand swept sideways without a flourish, slamming straight into the Fish-Man's flank.
Crack.
The crisp sound of breaking bones was particularly grating amid the noisy battle cries.
The Fish-Man, who weighed over two hundred jin, did not even have time to scream. His whole body spun like a baseball sent flying, crashing into the crowd behind him and instantly knocking a swath of them down.
"Too light."
Lin Xuan frowned in dissatisfaction.
This feeling of cutting through them like vegetables did nothing to ease the hunger in his bones.
"Get out of my way! I'll tear him apart myself!"
A savage roar erupted. Arlong shoved aside the men blocking his path, and his signature giant saw-toothed blade, Kiribachi, slashed viciously toward Lin Xuan's shoulder with a shrill whistle through the air.
In both strength and speed, this blow was far beyond anything those underlings could manage.
Nami covered her mouth in horror, instinctively wanting to scream a warning.
Yet faced with a blow powerful enough to cleave rock, Lin Xuan did not dodge. He did not even take a blocking stance.
He merely raised his left arm carelessly. The layer of Armament Haki flowing beneath his skin, which only he had been able to sense, instantly hardened like iron.
Clang-!!!
A deafening metallic crash shook all of Arlong Park.
Sparks flew everywhere.
Arlong's murderous eyes froze instantly.
He stared at the sight before him in disbelief-beneath the serrated edge of his prized Kiribachi, the boy's forearm was completely unharmed. Even the thin layer of fabric had not been cut!
"That's the monstrous strength you're so proud of?"
Lin Xuan slowly raised his head, undisguised disappointment and mockery on his face.
He even yawned. His left arm jolted sharply, sending tremendous force surging back along the blade.
A sharp pain shot through the web of Arlong's hand, and the heavy Kiribachi nearly flew from his grip.
"Since you want to play, I'll get a little serious."
Lin Xuan's figure abruptly blurred.
This was pure physical speed pushed to the extreme, entirely different from the Navy's Soru.
What followed was a slaughter.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
There were no flashy sword moves, no finishing techniques with shouted names.
Lin Xuan charged into the Fish-Men, the battered wooden sword becoming a deadly weapon in his hand.
Every swing was accompanied by the sound of shattering bones and the Fish-Men's terrified screams.
"A monster... he's a monster!"
"Our blades can't cut him! Is this brat's skin made of iron?!"
"Run! Don't go near him!"
The Fish-Man Pirates, who had been clamoring to tear humans apart a second earlier, now collapsed completely.
Watching their companions get knocked flying one after another, watching that boy laugh wildly while covered in blood, the Fish-Men's ferocity gave way to instinct, and they began backing away involuntarily.
Less than a minute passed.
The courtyard, so noisy moments earlier, was now littered with groaning Fish-Men.
Lin Xuan stood amid a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, one foot planted on a broken harpoon. Only half a handle remained of the wooden sword in his hand.
Still unsatisfied, he casually tossed away the handle, turned, and looked at the only figure still standing.
Arlong trembled all over, his prized blue skin covered in cold sweat.
His earlier air of dominance had long since vanished.
As a pirate who had once ventured through the Grand Line, he had seen powerful fighters before, but never a madman who grew excited by slaughter like this.
When Lin Xuan's emotionless eyes swept toward him, Arlong's legs weakened, and he involuntarily stumbled back two steps.
"Don't... don't come any closer!"
Arlong frantically waved the broken half of his blade. His gaze darted wildly before finally locking onto the orange-haired girl standing equally stunned nearby.
"Nami! Nami!"
As though clutching at a lifeline, Arlong's voice rose into a shrill pitch, completely devoid of its earlier teasing. "Make him stop! You're my navigator, right? We... we still have a deal! As long as you make him stop, I won't take that hundred million Beli! I'll give you back the village too! Whatever you say!"
The tyrant who had brought eight years of nightmares to Cocoyasi Village was now humbly begging someone he had once looked down on.
Lin Xuan raised an eyebrow without stopping.
Trash like this, who only bullied the weak and feared the strong, did not even qualify to give him 0.1% unlock progress.
Just as he was about to step forward and crush this vermin for good, synchronized footsteps suddenly sounded outside the gate.
"Everyone, stop-!!"
A thin, sleazy voice broke the strange atmosphere.
Lin Xuan stopped and tilted his head slightly.
The rat-faced Navy captain Nami had mentioned charged through the gate with an entire squad of rifle-bearing sailors, looking thoroughly aggressive.
Stroking his little mustache, Captain Nezumi had originally come to put on an act with Arlong and pocket that hundred million Beli while he was at it.
But when he clearly saw the scene before him, he froze on the spot.
Wounded Fish-Men covered the ground, blood was everywhere, and Arlong was kneeling on the ground begging Nami for mercy...
And there was the black-haired boy standing in the center of the Asura battlefield, staring at him as though he were garbage.
Captain Nezumi swallowed with difficulty, and the official spiel he had prepared instantly stuck in his throat.
"The Navy?" Lin Xuan tilted his head, an ambiguous smile on his face. "What convenient timing."
At the sight of the Navy, hope instantly flared in the eyes of the kneeling Arlong.
Abandoning all dignity, he scrambled a few paces toward Captain Nezumi, hoarse cries spilling from his blood-covered mouth.
"Captain! Quick! Kill him!"
Arlong pointed at Lin Xuan as though he had seized his only chance of survival, a crazed light flashing in his eyes.
Chapter 37: A Hundred Million Beli for My Life? You Think You're Worthy?!
"That was originally tribute for Marine Headquarters! As long as you kill him, the hundred million Beli is all yours! Every last treasure in this damned Arlong Park will be yours too!"
Arlong's desperate roar echoed through the shattered courtyard, every word stoking the greed in this Navy branch director's heart.
Captain Nezumi's narrow, slit-like eyes suddenly widened, nothing but glittering money symbols remaining in his pupils.
A hundred million Beli?
Even after all his years of plundering the East Blue, that was still an enormous sum, enough to make his heart race.
With that money, he could grease palms at headquarters and get a better posting, or become a true local despot in these waters.
As for the black-haired boy before him?
Captain Nezumi quickly surveyed the scene.
The boy had no gun, and only half of his wooden sword remained. Though he carried a strange aura, he was ultimately just a green kid of sixteen or seventeen.
Behind Nezumi stood thirty Navy elites armed with muskets.
To him, there was no choice to make.
"Ahem!" Captain Nezumi straightened his back and adjusted his crooked military cap, the greed on his face swiftly turning into feigned authority. "Arlong, although you're a pirate, your willingness to cooperate with the Navy in identifying a criminal counts as a meritorious deed. As for this one..."
He raised a white-gloved finger and pointed at Lin Xuan, who stood amid the corpses, a sneer curling his lips. "Committing violence in public, slaughtering innocent Fish-Men, and even intending to attack a Navy officer. A thug like this needs no trial."
"All men, heed my command! For the peace of the East Blue, execute him on the spot!"
Click, click, click.
Thirty pitch-black muzzles rose in unison, trained on Lin Xuan.
Lin Xuan stood where he was, looking at those dark muzzles with a slight frown, finding them a little noisy.
"I've seen plenty of people throw away their conscience for money." Lin Xuan sighed. "But throwing away your life for it is just too stupid."
"Fire!"
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
At Captain Nezumi's command, flames spat from the muzzles.
A dense barrage of lead bullets shot toward Lin Xuan, instantly blanketing his position.
Gun smoke spread, and dust kicked up by bullets striking the ground swallowed the boy's figure.
"Hahaha! Die! Go die!" Arlong lay on the ground, laughing as he watched the cloud of smoke and dust.
No matter how strong someone was, they could not withstand such a dense volley at this range.
Nami covered her eyes. Her body went limp, and she slid to the ground.
It was over... everything was over.
Yet before the gunfire had stopped, the vicious grin froze on Captain Nezumi's face.
Amid the drifting gun smoke, the boy had not fallen riddled with holes as expected.
A calm voice cut through the gunfire.
"Too slow. Too light and weak."
Whoosh-
A powerful gust erupted out of nowhere, scattering the gun smoke that obscured their view.
Lin Xuan still stood there, without having moved his feet an inch.
He looked down at the dozen or so scorched holes in his training clothes, the only marks the bullets had left.
The skin beneath those holes did not bear even a single white mark.
The lead bullets, powerful enough to pierce wooden planks, had all flattened into iron discs against his Armament Haki-coated muscles, clattering to the ground at his feet.
"What... what kind of monster are you?!" Captain Nezumi was so frightened that his hat fell to the ground, his legs trembling uncontrollably. "A Devil Fruit? You're an ability user?!"
Lin Xuan did not answer. He merely raised his head slowly, the golden light in his eyes growing brighter.
"Done playing? Then it's my turn."
The next second, the ground burst apart.
Lin Xuan vanished from where he stood.
He used no technique, only speed unleashed through a burst of strength.
He crossed twenty meters in an instant and appeared before Arlong.
Before the wild delight on Arlong's face could fade, it turned to terror.
"Wait-I still have money! I still have..."
His voice stopped.
Before you continue