Samael's Crazy Idea

[Master, Mammon awakened Haki!]

"Huh?"

Dimon stopped walking, his face full of surprise.

[Not only that, he took Zephyr as his teacher. Zephyr will leave for Punk Hazard in three days.]

Dimon was about to ask more when he heard footsteps behind him and couldn't help laughing.

All he could say was that the lawless zone lived up to its name.

"Hey, brat, put down that valuable sword! I just lost it!"

"This one?"

Dimon turned around and drew Shusui. "What makes you say it's yours? If you call its name, will it answer you?"

The Blue Bandana pirate was baffled.

One of his underlings reminded him, "Boss, he's messing with you!"

The Blue Bandana pirate flew into a rage. "Bastard, how dare you mess with me!"

"I'm not messing with you. If it answers you, I'll admit it's yours."

"Hmph, as if it'll answer when you call it!" The Blue Bandana pirate raised his pistol, aimed it at Dimon's forehead, and sneered. "Times have changed. Who still uses swords these days? Famous Swords are just decorations! I'll sell it for some cash!"

Dimon smiled. "Go, Shusui. Kill them."

"Yes, master."

An eerie voice came from the blade, leaving the pirates staring in shock.

"Th-the sword talked?! Boss!"

One of them murmured in terror.

The next moment, Shusui flew from Dimon's hand, flashing past like a streak of black light.

Times had changed?

How had times changed?

Times hadn't changed!

Chapter 48: Samael's Crazy Idea

Shusui attacked faster than sound.

The instant it left Dimon's hand, it had almost already crossed the distance between them. It flashed past like a streak of black light and returned to his palm in the blink of an eye.

Only then did the Blue Bandana pirates, who had been shouting so loudly, stand frozen in place. At a certain moment, their heads parted from their bodies, and blood gushed out.

The sudden sight drew cries of alarm from passersby.

"What happened? How did those guys suddenly get beheaded?"

"It was that black-haired swordsman. No, that master swordsman! He moved so fast I didn't see a thing!"

"Aren't those guys... members of the Blue Bandana Pirates? Their captain's a Supernova with a bounty over a hundred million!"

The onlookers quickly backed away, afraid of getting caught up in trouble.

Everyone who spent time in the lawless zone understood one thing: even watching the excitement required strength.

In the blink of an eye, everyone around them had cleared out.

Dimon walked over to the corpses and took a close look at the leader's head.

An unfamiliar face... he confirmed the man wasn't a bounty target.

He did, however, recognize the blue bandanas on their heads.

They belonged to one of this year's Supernova pirate crews, the Blue Bandana Pirates. Dimon had seen their captain's wanted poster back on Farn Island.

The captain was nicknamed Blue Bandana, and his real name was Bururuku. His bounty was 113 million Beli.

He didn't have much cash on hand now. Most of his money had been exchanged for black gold notes used on the black market; he only had twenty or thirty million in actual Beli banknotes.

The man's head would come in handy...

But there was no rush. He was more concerned about Mammon's situation.

"Ain, give me a detailed report on Mammon."

Dimon put Shusui away and left. As for the corpses, professional "corpse collectors" would naturally take care of them.

In the Sabaody Archipelago, even corpses were a commodity.

After he left, a tall, thin woman with short black hair stepped out of a liquor store along the street.

She carried a barrel of rum on her shoulder and couldn't help taking a couple of looks as she passed the corpses.

"What a fast sword. He killed sixteen people in an instant. What an impressive swordsman!"

Without lingering, the woman carried the rum back to area 13.

Across a wooden bridge stood Shakky's Rip-off Bar, the secluded little bar she ran.

The woman pushed open the bar door and turned to see an old man lying in a chair, reading the newspapers from the past couple of days.

"Still reading about that? Weren't you nearby when the fighting broke out that day, Rayleigh?"

The fighting had broken out in area 14, not far from the bar in area 13.

Rayleigh smiled. "With a commotion that big, I didn't dare go over. If the Marines spotted me, things would get troublesome again."

After a pause, he added, "The Seven Deadly Sins... Shakky, have you heard of them? What do you think they're trying to do? Are they after a place among the Four Emperors?"

"Who knows?"

Shakky put down the rum and began her little trick of watering it down.

Her bar specialized in ripping off pirates. Not only were the prices exorbitant, but the drinks tasted awful too.

"On my way back, though, I saw someone interesting. A young man with excellent swordsmanship."

Dimon returned to his inn in area 70.

Along the way, Ain had already reported everything about Mammon's situation from beginning to end.

"Well done, Garp!"

Dimon made himself a cup of coffee and silently gave Garp a thumbs-up.

Praise Garp!

"Zephyr will leave for Punk Hazard in three days. I have to seize this opportunity."

Dimon stirred his coffee as he considered his next move.

After a moment's thought, he asked:

"Where are Samael and the others now?"

[Master, they've reached the Red Line.]

The Wave-Breaking Warrior, punishment room.

Cracker, who had been unconscious for a long time, finally woke up. The moment he came to, he realized how weak he was.

"Seastone?!"

Cracker's expression changed as his memories gradually returned.

All he remembered was that, before he lost consciousness, the human-faced will-o'-the-wisp had suddenly turned into a huge golden fireball. He had been caught in the explosion and blacked out afterward.

"Damn it, he's that strong? That bastard was playing with me the whole time!"

The more Cracker thought about it, the angrier he got. But with his powers sealed by Seastone, he was too weak to do anything.

"You're awake?"

Suddenly, a familiar voice came from beside him.

Cracker turned and saw his younger sister's face. "Lola?"

"Don't struggle. As long as we stay here obediently, they won't do anything to us."

Lola, a longtime captive, tried to reassure her brother, her voice full of resignation. "They've already made a deal with the family. They'll send us back for a ransom of two Devil Fruits."

"There's no way Mama would agree to that!"

Cracker didn't believe it. When had the Big Mom Pirates ever suffered such humiliation?

"I understand now. That bastard has the Logia Flame-Flame Fruit, and he's even developed it to the level of Awakening!"

"It's only natural I couldn't beat an awakened Logia user. Even Katakuri might not be a match for him if he were here."

Cracker calmed down. Since he couldn't do anything now anyway, he might as well gather more information.

"Lola, what do you know about the Seven Deadly Sins?"

"I don't know anything."

Lola looked utterly bewildered.

Cracker frowned. "Haven't you been captured for a long time?"

"I've been locked up here the whole time..."

Meanwhile.

The Wave-Breaking Warrior, deck.

Ship Zuizui suddenly appeared on the mast. "That biscuit kid's awake."

"Got it. Ignore him."

Samael pointed a hand formed of flames at the Red Line not far away. "Bird, can you pull the ship over it?"

"Samael, my name isn't Bird. It's Big Eye. I'm only staying in this paper airplane for the time being."

The paper airplane flapped its wings and hovered in midair. He looked up at the Red Line, which towered into the clouds, and couldn't help shaking his head repeatedly.

Samael crossed his arms. "Master sent you to assist me, not question me, Bird."

"Fine, call me whatever you want."

Big Eye didn't want to argue with him. "But I'm just a paper airplane. I'm not strong enough to pull a ship up there."

"Then what do we do? How about I just make a hole in it? Hehehe, that sounds like fun!"

Samael grinned, eager to give it a try.

The Red Line divided the Grand Line, forcing pirates who wanted to enter the New World to dive ten thousand meters beneath the sea and pass through the great undersea cavity at the very bottom.

The survival rate for that dangerous journey was less than ten percent.

If he made a hole in the Red Line at sea level, pirates all over the world would thank him and chant the name of "the great flame god Samael"!

The thought of the whole world's adoration made Samael so excited that his flames blazed brightly.

"Wait, I don't think Master would agree."

Big Eye immediately stepped forward to stop his crazy idea. "I can use my ability to teleport the ship to the sea on the other side."

With that, he flew up high and used his ability on the entire Wave-Breaking Warrior.

"Close-Up Storyboard!"

With a click, the image was recorded.

Then Big Eye flapped his wings and soared toward the top of the Red Line.

"Once I reach the other side, I'll teleport you over. Wait a bit."

"Hurry up, Bird! Don't keep me waiting."

Samael shouted after the paper airplane, watching it disappear into the clouds.