Time to Put My Drawing Skills to the Test!

"...You interrupted someone's training just like that. I was this close to awakening Haki."

Dimon was a little angry. He reached out and gripped Shusui's hilt, picked up Jijue with his other hand, and shot toward the enemy.

Meanwhile.

"Those reactions are ridiculous! Is he even human?"

Through his sniper scope, Bururuku saw that his target had not only deflected the bullet but also pinpointed his location at once. He was awestruck, and the sight even struck him as absurd.

As a top-class sniper, he had deliberately chosen to shoot from close range, intending to kill his target with a single shot.

Yet, unexpectedly, he had failed!

"Captain! That guy's coming this way!"

The men beside him turned pale with alarm.

They had sailed all the way from the North Blue, and this was the first time they had seen their captain miss a shot.

Bururuku stayed calm and quickly put away his gun.

"Keep him busy. I'll get some distance and take another shot!"

With that, he turned and ran.

Seeing this, his men pulled out their guns and opened fire on the charging Dimon.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunshots rang out in a chaotic barrage, the bullets not even aimed at the target.

But with so many shots being fired, a few lucky bullets were bound to land in Dimon's path.

"Soru."

Dimon stepped rapidly, his figure flickering as he easily dodged the hail of bullets with a burst of speed beyond what ordinary eyes could follow.

A mere two kilometers would take him only twenty or thirty seconds.

"Can this guy teleport!? I can't see him move at all!"

"He's too fast! Isn't the captain going to do something?"

"I'm out of bullets!"

The Blue Bandana pirates began to panic.

By the time they realized they might need to retreat, Dimon was already ten meters away.

There was no need for any more words. The moment the gunshots rang out, it became a fight to the death.

A black blade flashed, and Shusui mercilessly reaped lives like stalks of wheat.

The pirates there immediately tried to turn and flee, but the act of turning alone was their countdown to death.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Heads slipped from necks, the cuts as smooth as works of art.

Dimon did not kill them all. He left one alive.

The man's legs went weak with fright, and he fell to his knees on the spot, too terrified to even beg for mercy.

"How did you find me?"

Dimon withdrew Shusui and walked up to the man with the sword in hand. "I can take a guess at why you attacked me, but how did you know where I was?"

"I-it was the human traffickers! They capture slaves all the time and have people who keep watch on their prey! We bought information about you from them!"

"So someone happened to see me when I went out today?"

"Y... yes."

The pirate swallowed and stammered, "My lord, please spare me..."

A blade flashed, and his head fell to the ground.

Dimon gave his sword a flourish, flinging the blood from its blade. "Your captain abandoned you. What's the point of begging for mercy now?"

After sheathing Shusui, Dimon asked Ain.

[Bururuku is fleeing toward area No. 13.]

"No. 13?"

No. 13 was right next to No. 14. If he remembered correctly, that was where "Dark King" Rayleigh lived in seclusion.

"Monster! That guy's a monster!"

Clutching his sniper rifle, Bururuku fled wildly toward area No. 13.

He really hadn't meant to abandon his men, but the enemy was too strong. He was good at assassination, but in a head-on fight, he could never be a match for him.

The bounty of over a hundred million on his head had been earned by assassinating the king of a World Government Member State.

He could only apologize to his men. He still had to enter the New World and find the One Piece left behind by the Pirate King. He couldn't die in a place like this.

"Damn it, I never should've tried to avenge Landon and the others!"

"That's right. When I asked the weapon shop owner, I should've listened to his advice. Landon brought that trouble on himself. There was no need to avenge him!"

"I'm such an idiot!"

Cursing himself inwardly as he fled in panic, he accidentally ran into a woman by the side of the road.

"Out of my way!"

Bururuku roared and kept running without looking back.

The woman he had struck stumbled several steps, and the vegetable basket in her hand was knocked to the ground.

"Ah... Rayleigh's lunch."

Shakky looked up expressionlessly at Bururuku as he ran away with his back to her, the corners of her mouth turning down slightly. "Pirates these days are getting ruder and ruder."

As she spoke, she picked up a vegetable leaf and flicked her wrist.

Whoosh!

The leaf flew from her hand like a throwing knife and struck Bururuku squarely in the ankle.

Bururuku cried out in pain and pitched forward, landing flat on his face.

"Who was that?"

He turned around angrily and saw Shakky take a pack of women's cigarettes from her pocket and walk slowly toward him as she lit one.

"Pay up, young man. I just bought those vegetables. I'll give you a discount: ten million Beli."

"Huh? Are you crazy, woman?!"

Anxious, Bururuku raised his gun, aimed it at Shakky's head, and pulled the trigger through gritted teeth:

"Die!"

Bang!

After the shot rang out, the bullet was caught between two slender fingers.

Bururuku stared blankly at the woman before him as though he had seen a ghost.

Shakky held the bullet between two fingers of her left hand and a slim cigarette between the fingers of her right. She gently blew a smoke ring and said in an even tone:

"Who are you trying to kill with a toy like that?"

Just then, Shakky's expression froze. Her Observation Haki had detected a fierce presence.

She jerked her head up and saw a sharp blade fall from the sky like divine punishment, striking Bururuku precisely where he lay.

"No! Help-"

Bururuku screamed in terror, only to fall silent the next instant.

The blade pierced his head with overwhelming force. His eyes remained wide open in death.

Shakky stared at the scene, then slowly turned around. A young man was walking toward her from far away.

"Did you do that?"

Dimon studied the "former world's most beautiful woman," unable to see what was beautiful about her.

The young Shakky was the protagonist who had ushered in the great era of repression, a woman who could make the hearts of Roger, Rocks, Kaido, Whitebeard, and many other powerhouses race.

That had all been thirty or forty years ago.

As he thought, he greeted her softly:

"Good morning, Ms. Shakky."

Chapter 60: Time to Put My Drawing Skills to the Test!

The fleeing Bururuku had happened to run into Shakky on her way back from buying vegetables. It could only be said that this calamity had been his fate.

Dimon wasn't surprised at all to encounter Shakky in area No. 13. After all, she and Rayleigh were hiding here.

"You know me?"

Shakky, however, looked surprised. "I think I've seen you before. What's your name?"

She vaguely remembered him. She instinctively turned back to look at Bururuku, who had been killed by the blade, and realization dawned in her eyes.

He was the young swordsman she had seen the last time she went out to stock up on rum, though she had only seen him from behind then.

Dimon walked over to the corpse and pulled Jijue from Bururuku's head. Only after giving it serious thought did he give his name.

"My name's Zoro. I'm a bounty hunter. I've heard stories about you, Ms. Shakky."

"Really? How come I didn't know there were stories about me?"

Shakky raised an eyebrow. She had a feeling she knew what Dimon was going to say, and he proved her right.

"'Idol' Shakky, the world's most beautiful woman who once stirred up the Grand Line, former captain of the Kuja Pirates and empress of Amazon Lily."

Dimon bent down and picked up Bururuku's corpse, speaking casually as he did so.

Shakky smiled and fixed an interested gaze on him.

"Idol? What a nostalgic title. I'm old now, and it's been a long time since anyone called me that. Little Zoro, are you a fan of mine? If you want an autograph, where would you like me to sign?"

Who's your fan, you old woman?

Dimon grumbled inwardly. The woman was probably sixty by now, and besides, he wasn't one to follow celebrities.

"What's wrong? Are you shy?"

Seeing him fall silent, Shakky couldn't help but smile slightly. "I'm joking. You weren't even born back when I was called an 'idol,' were you?"

After a pause, she asked with a hint of curiosity, "But how did you recognize me? I've lived on this island for a long time. Even the Marines don't know I'm here."

"I saw your wanted poster before, though you were very young in it."

"And you say you're not my fan! I was in my twenties on my wanted posters... I see, your father was my fan?"

What kind of crazy logic is that? Can a beautiful woman really stay this confident even after she gets old?

Dimon suddenly thought of the Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock, the current world's most beautiful woman. There was a subtle similarity between the two women's personalities.

Without dwelling on the subject of fans, Dimon picked up Bururuku's corpse and prepared to leave.

"I was hunting him down. Now I'm going to collect the bounty."

With that, he pulled a hundred thousand Beli from his chest and tossed it to her. "That's compensation for your groceries. Goodbye, then."

Shakky caught the money and instinctively counted it. "Wait, little fan. Would you like to come to my bar for a drink? My treat. It's just up ahead."

"Perhaps if fate brings us together." Dimon waved and left without looking back.

"Interesting kid. That sword strike just now..."

Shakky watched him leave, recalling what had just happened.

A sword strike that had fallen from the sky.

An ordinary swordsman would send out a flying slash to kill an enemy from a distance. This was the first time she had seen anyone throw the sword itself.