Increasing the Number of Quincy

Over the following days, Kaya continued wandering around Hachinosu as though he were sightseeing, taking in the scenery while making sure to recruit people.

What he had to do was actually very simple: find people, anyone at all, and then share his Quincy powers with them.

And that was exactly what he did.

"Submit or die."

In a valley, corpses and blood lay strewn across the ground. A pungent stench hung in the air, and all was quiet except for faint groans of pain.

Some of the surviving pirates trembled before Kaya and hurried to their knees to beg for mercy. Many more were gravely wounded, yet did not dare scream too loudly.

After they submitted, Kaya continued sharing his power, creating Quincy in large numbers.

The power of a Quincy would make these people much stronger. Once they received it, they would also be pleasantly surprised and become less resistant to obeying Kaya.

Of course, some might wonder why Kaya didn't just tell them at the start that he would give them greater power. Why go straight to killing?

Kaya couldn't be bothered to explain, and they wouldn't believe him anyway. He was essentially forcing them to become his subordinates.

As for this causing his subordinates to submit on the surface while fear and hatred grew in their hearts, leaving them with no real loyalty to speak of...

That mattered even less.

"Who's that?" Kaya suddenly turned around.

Hearing him, the pirates who were experiencing their Quincy powers followed his gaze. At some point, a figure had appeared nearby.

He was a bare-chested, powerfully built man with exceptionally developed muscles and a square face marked by determination.

But he had only one arm. An iron plate covered the stump at his other shoulder, and he carried a giant sword as tall as a man on his back.

"My lord, his name is Sege. He's a swordsman. They say his one-handed swordsmanship is no weaker than other people's two-handed swordsmanship," a pirate said, crawling over with a fawning expression.

"You're... Kaya?" Sege recognized Kaya as well, his brows furrowing deeply.

"What happened to your arm?" Kaya asked.

"None of your business," Sege replied bluntly. "You've been secretly recruiting people from other pirate crews to expand your forces. That's already a violation of Pirate Island's rules."

"A place like this has rules? Are you their defender?" Kaya asked.

"I'm just giving you a warning." Sege had no intention of getting involved and seemed to have only been passing by. With that, he prepared to turn and leave.

"I heard he lost his arm in a contest of swordsmanship," the pirate beside Kaya added.

"Is one arm more useful, or two?" Kaya asked in a casual voice, looking at his back.

Sege stopped and asked without turning around, "How many legs do you need to walk? Why don't you try hopping on one foot?"

"I can fly," Kaya said calmly.

That left Sege speechless. He turned and stared at Kaya. "Pirate Island allows pirate crews to absorb one another, as long as they can beat their opponents into submission. But they have to do it openly."

"Rules are one thing, enforcing them is another. What pirate would be that naive?" Kaya pressed his palms together, then pulled them apart with force.

He gathered the surrounding Reishi between his palms and, amid a mass of blue light, formed it into a giant arrow.

No, judging by the way he threw it, it was more like a spear.

The attack suddenly came hurtling toward him! Sege's pupils quaked. He immediately drew his sword with his one arm and raised the door-shaped greatsword before him. It collided head-on with the Heilig Pfeil, and an explosion followed.

The tremendous impact drove Sege back dozens of meters, his feet plowing two furrows into the ground.

"Can you hold your sword with one hand? Or would two give you a steadier grip? I can give you back your second arm," Kaya's voice rang out again.

The other pirate lackeys understood what was happening now. Kaya had spotted Sege and was taking the opportunity to recruit him.

"Why don't you hurry up and surrender, Sege?"

"This lord's power is beyond anything you can imagine!"

"Just accept his power, and even an arm that's been cut off can grow back! It's simple."

"What reason do you have to refuse?!"

The pirates' words shocked Sege deeply, but when he looked at Kaya, whose expression was calm as though this were nothing, he couldn't help but be somewhat convinced.

Incredible as it was, he had the feeling that none of it amounted to much before this man.

He raised his greatsword again and asked in a low voice, "What do I have to give up?"

"Everything you have," Kaya replied.

Sege thought it over and decided to give it a try. Others said his one-handed swordsmanship could match a two-handed swordsman's, but only he knew how painful it was to have lost an arm.

"I'm willing to serve you," Sege said without hesitation.

Kaya handed him a cup of blood wine, plainly indicating that he should drink it.

Sege hesitated briefly. What if Kaya had poisoned it...? He almost laughed at the thought. Kaya wouldn't need to go to any trouble to kill him, so what would be the point of going to all that trouble to poison him?

He raised the cup and drained it. At that instant, a blood-washed Quincy Cross was firmly etched into the depths of his soul.

He felt extremely hot, as though his whole body were inside a furnace. He itched all over, so badly that he could barely resist scratching his skin raw.

A miracle soon occurred before everyone's eyes.

The armor covering Sege's shoulder and severed arm split open, and several heavy iron plates crashed to the ground.

Several small buds of flesh emerged from the neatly severed stump of his right arm, as though it had been cut off by a guillotine. The buds intertwined like branches, then grew at an unprecedented speed, as if they had been given fertilizer.

Before long, an arm appeared, its skin so pink and tender that it resembled a newborn's limb, looking entirely out of place on the dark-skinned, muscular man!

"Th-this is..." His voice trembled as he instinctively tried to exert strength and move the arm.

He clenched his fist, opened it, clenched it again, and opened it again.

The flow of blood, the movement of his muscles, the flexibility of his joints—he had complete control over all of it!

It had really grown back! A brand-new arm!

At the sight, everyone's breathing grew heated, and their gazes burned as though seared by fire.

"My lord!" Sege hesitated no longer. He bowed his head to Kaya, wholeheartedly declaring his submission.

Kaya looked at Sege and the pirates gathered there, then gave an order. "Do everything you can to recruit people. Quality doesn't matter; the more, the better."

"Should we do it openly, or...?" Sege asked cautiously.

"As you like." Kaya turned and walked away. "There's no need to contact me. Use your own judgment. You have my permission to go to sea too."

Kaya left without another word to them, looking as though he hardly cared whether they made an effort to carry out his orders.

Because he really didn't care how these people acted in his name, whether they did good or evil, or what his reputation on the seas would become.

Who they killed, or who ultimately killed them... no matter what happened, he wouldn't take it to heart.

Once Kaya had disappeared from sight entirely, Sege lowered his head and looked at his hands, one dark and one pale, their contrast unmistakable.

He suddenly clenched his fists tightly. Feeling the surging power flowing through his body, he realized that this man who had recently appeared on Pirate Island was bound to stir up towering waves across the seas.

Those waves would surely swallow everything! And they had already been half-forced aboard this ship.

"Sege, what do we do next?"

Hearing someone ask, Sege raised his head and looked around. Aside from those who had died, quite a few pirates were still present.

But asking them to use their heads and act according to Kaya's wishes was a little too much for them.

For now, they were all standing there like fools. Some scratched their heads, while others were still playing with their Spirit Bows, like young children who had just received new toys.

Sege suddenly clenched his fist. Blue Reishi visible to the naked eye gathered in his palm, and under his instinctive control, it formed a silver chain.

He glanced at it and flicked his hand, wrapping the chain around his wrist. As he raised his hand, a silver-white pendant, a cross set within a ring, dangled from it.

"From now on... we are Quincy!"