Encountering Law on Leviathan Island was... unexpected.
At this point, Maude had no intention of focusing his attention on Doflamingo just yet.
No matter the plans he had in mind, they'd have to wait until his new ship was completed.
Securing mobility was a prerequisite for acting freely.
After leaving the tavern, Maude pulled out the 30,000 berries he had set aside and handed it to Benny as payment for his work as their guide.
Benny accepted the money with evident excitement.
Half a day's work had earned him enough to cover about ten days of living expenses, leaving him elated.
What's more, as Maude indicated, he could continue guiding them the next day.
"Brother Maude, where should I meet you tomorrow?"
"Where's the biggest and most expensive hotel in the city?" Maude replied with a question of his own.
Without hesitation, Benny answered, "North Street, the Purple Orchid Hotel."
"That'll do."
"Got it!"
After setting a meeting point, Benny said his farewells and departed.
Once Benny was out of sight, Gaya turned her gaze toward Maude.
"What's wrong?"
Sensing her look, Maude raised an eyebrow.
"We're out of money, aren't we?" Gaya asked hesitantly.
"Yep." Maude nodded without a hint of concern.
"Then… why are we staying at a hotel?"
"Because we can," Maude said casually, his eyes trailing two men walking past nearby.
The two men seemed to feel his gaze and quickened their pace to leave.
"Gaya, in a place as chaotic as this, there's never a shortage of people willing to deliver money straight to your door," Maude added, a faint smirk playing on his lips.
"Hoho, you've got a point," chimed in Lafitte, motioning toward a specific direction with his cane.
Half an hour later.
In a secluded alley on East Street, dozens of bodies lay scattered across the ground.
Sitting atop one of the corpses, Maude calmly counted the stack of bills in his hands.
"About a million. That should cover today."
"The weapons lying around can fetch a bit of money too," Lafitte remarked, gesturing with his cane at the bloodied swords and guns strewn across the ground.
Jim turned to Maude and asked, "Should we pick them up?"
"No need," Maude replied, rising from the corpse.
"If we run out of money, we'll just take more. No point in making extra work for ourselves."
"Understood," Jim replied simply.
Nearby, Gaya silently wiped the blood off her axe blade.
With cash in hand, the group headed straight to the North Street and checked into the Purple Orchid Hotel.
...
Later that night.
Maude and Lafitte walked side by side out of the Purple Orchid Hotel, heading toward the chaos-ridden East Street.
Before completing their transaction with the Thomas Shipyard, Maude had no intention of lying low.
Among the many pirates lured to the island by the beast-fighting tournament and Devil Fruits, there were bound to be suitable targets for his hunt.
...
The next morning.
Several spots on East Street now bore the aftermath of another night's bloodshed—nearly a hundred more corpses.
Word spread quickly, but the locals of East Street remained indifferent.
In this lawless zone, where even the military dared not intervene, death was as common as the air they breathed.
On the second day.
Another hundred corpses joined the growing tally on East Street.
A subtle tension began to take hold among the locals.
By the third day.
The body count surged to over two hundred.
This time, the victims included a well-known pirate crew that had recently arrived on Leviathan Island.
Only now did the residents of East Street begin to sense something was amiss.
On the fourth day.
Over two hundred more bodies were added to the grim count, most of them pirates.
Upon noticing this pattern, pirates who frequented East Street began to panic.
"Is it Bacardi Maude?"
The question echoed throughout East Street as rumors spread.
Despite the suspicion, no one dared to confront Maude directly.
By the fifth day.
The body count dropped to around eighty, but the tension only grew tighter.
"Is Maude behind this?"
Discussions about the mysterious killer spread like wildfire.
On the sixth day.
Eighty more bodies were added to the list, bringing the total death toll over six days to nearly eight hundred.
This series of heinous killings finally drew the attention of the Ahab Kingdom's military.
Although they typically ignored East Street, an incident of this magnitude was bound to have some negative repercussions.
The military acted swiftly, identifying Maude as the prime suspect.
However, under the watchful eyes of onlookers, the soldiers—without a word—retreated.
"What just happened?"
"Is that it?"
The residents of East Street were left dumbfounded as the military took no further action.
What they didn't know was that Maude was currently the largest client of the Thomas Shipyard and a significant benefactor to the Ahab Kingdom.
As long as Maude didn't cross certain lines, the military had every reason to turn a blind eye.
Moreover, the people Maude killed were mostly pirates, meaning their deaths brought a windfall of bounty rewards to the kingdom.
Pirates' opinions were of no concern to the Ahab Kingdom.
As a nation bold enough to cater to pirates, its confidence was well-founded, backed by its advantageous geographic position and unshakable clientele.
By the seventh day.
The killing spree under the cover of night continued unabated.
With the military's inaction, pirates and bounty hunters who once thrived on East Street began scattering to other parts of the city.
Within a single week, East Street descended into a state of terror, its once-bustling flow of people reduced significantly.
...
Meanwhile.
Back in the Purple Orchid Hotel, Maude cheerfully tallied his week's spoils.
Over the past few days, he and Lafitte had prowled East Street, eliminating nearly eight hundred targets.
Among them, only around thirty were notable enough to be recorded in his notebook.
Despite the effort, his physique had only improved slightly, with negligible growth in his swordsmanship and Haki.
The stronger he became, the higher the level of his prey needed to be for meaningful progress.
On the hotel room's table lay piles of cash, most of it in low-denomination bills.
"Thirty-six million," Maude remarked, setting down the last stack of cash.
"Preying on our own kind really is the fastest way to make money."
"Hoho," Lafitte chuckled softly.
Gaya glanced at Maude, her amusement tinged with resignation.
During their trip to East Street yesterday, people had looked at them as if they were ghosts.
Although there was no concrete evidence, most of them had already concluded who the culprit was.
Gaya could only smile helplessly at the thought.
...
As the beast-fighting tournament loomed closer, East Street's death toll surged by nearly a thousand.
In a once-bustling tavern now eerily quiet, Arthur drank alone, eavesdropping on conversations about the mysterious killer plaguing East Street.
"Could it be Maude?"
Arthur pondered the question silently.
At another tavern on East Street, Law sat with his legs crossed, pondering the same mystery.
The killings had stirred up a buzz before the tournament even began.
If not for the steady influx of newcomers into Dick City, East Street might have already turned into a ghost town.
"So, was it Maude?" Law mused.
-------
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