In the commercial street in Water 7...
More than forty pirates of the Watson Pirates were wantonly looting valuable things right in front of them on the street: money, food, women...
At this moment, they seemed to be beasts in human skin, with the flames of desire in their hearts burning fiercely. Those who dared to resist would be mercilessly killed by them.
"Hey! You scumbag pirates...!
Your captain, Watson Logan, with a bounty of 35 million berries, was killed by me...
Who else among you has a bounty on their head?
Come out and face your death obediently!"
As he spoke, Sephiroth, still in his vampire state, dragged Watson Logan's body and flung it into the central square of the commercial street. A wanton and crazy smile spread across his face.
The pirates who were looting stopped in their tracks as soon as they saw their captain's body. The flames of desire in their hearts seemed to be doused by a bucket of cold water.
However...
In the crowd of pirates, a man holding two guns, wearing rimless glasses, and with a slicked-back black hairstyle, his eyes suddenly lit up after hearing the silver-haired boy's words.
His gaze instinctively shifted to the distance, and to his delight, he found that Andrew Bass was also dead!
The glasses man was George Dean, the third-in-command of the Watson Pirates, serving as both the advisor and the navigator, with a bounty of 5 million berries.
To be honest, he had long been fed up with Watson Logan, the first mate, and Andrew Bass, the second mate. These two were nothing but reckless brutes.
They always relied on brute force and acted willfully without using their brains. Just like this looting operation.
He had already advised them that although Water 7 had a well-developed waterway and they could use the power of the transparent stealth fruit to sail their pirate ship directly to the commercial street.
But...
When they retreated, the navy, familiar with the terrain, wouldn't let them go easily. They would definitely find a way to block the waterway and give them a hard time.
That stupid and damned captain, with such a convenient fruit ability, could have easily looted merchant ships at sea and made a fortune. Instead, he had to come ashore and court death!
Now, both fools were dead!
If he could kill Sephiroth right now...
Then, he might be able to take the opportunity to rally the other pirates and become the new captain!
Moreover...
George Dean knew that Watson Logan had actually hidden a Devil Fruit in the treasure chest in the captain's quarters. That guy had always kept it secret, probably planning to take it to the auction house in Sabaody Archipelago to make a fortune...
If he could eat that Devil Fruit, he would surely gain the same powerful abilities as Watson Logan!
Thinking of this, George Dean almost burst out laughing, but he managed to hold it back in the end.
"Guys, stay calm!
He's all by himself. There are more than forty of us. If each of us fires a shot, we'll turn him into a sieve!"
After saying that, the glasses man raised his two guns and pulled the triggers, shooting at Sephiroth.
Bang!
Bang!
Hearing this, the pirates felt relieved. Moreover, this was an order from the third-in-command on the ship, and they had no reason not to comply.
Bang, bang...!
Continuous gunshots rang out, but Sephiroth remained undaunted. There was even a faint glint of excitement in his eyes.
Amid the hail of bullets, the silver-haired teenager, relying on the Observation Haki he had just awakened, moved like a swimming fish and predicted every bullet that was about to hit his body.
Suddenly!
A bullet shot straight towards his forehead. Following the strange feeling in his heart, Sephiroth quickly swung the Autumn Leaf Sword in his hand.
Swish!
The sharp blade struck the bullet spinning at high speed as it advanced, splitting the bullet in half instantly, as easily as cutting through butter.
As sparks flew, the two broken bullet fragments flew past his body.
Sephiroth's extreme evasive actions stunned the pirates. They couldn't believe that the other party had managed to remain unscathed under such intense firepower. Moreover... it seemed that he had just cut the bullet in half with his sword, right?
When the pirates fell into confusion again, Sephiroth had already rushed in front of George Dehn.
At close range, the man wearing glasses pulled the triggers of his two guns in quick succession, but the teenager dodged very easily. He forcefully swung the Autumn Leaf Sword and cut into the man's neck.
Blood immediately splashed out!
In the world of the Pirate King, people were so tenacious that they might not die even after being stabbed several times. So when Sephiroth attacked, he basically aimed at vulnerable and fatal parts like the throat.
If someone didn't die even after having their throat cut and the carotid artery in their neck struck, he would have no choice but to stab them in the heart a couple more times.
Seeing this scene, the pirates beside George Dehn all showed expressions of horror. Their hands holding the weapons even trembled.
And before they could react, Sephiroth swung his sword again and knocked down two more pirates.
"The Navy! The Navy is coming!"
"Run for your lives!"
Overwhelmed by fear, one of the pirates shouted and turned around, running away at full speed.
This shout was the final straw that made them lose it.
The pirates had lost their leader, and with the arrival of the Navy, they instantly lost their will to fight. Like cockroaches scurrying for cover, they fled in a hurry, diving into the alleys around them.
In a short while, the pirates had completely disappeared...
Sephiroth let out a long sigh of relief, cancelled the vampire state, and sheathed his long sword.
Looking at the five Navy officers running towards him on the street in the distance, he couldn't help but mutter softly:
"So fast! But there are a bit too few of them..."
Soon, he saw the man in the lead. It was a bearded man... the captain officer he had met when he went to sign up for the Navy.
"Hey!? Is it you, kid?"
The bearded man looked surprised. He sized up the bloodstained teenager in front of him and then glanced at the pirate bodies lying nearby.
"George Dern, with a bounty of 5 million berries! Watson Logan, with a bounty of 35 million berries!!!"
"Did you kill them all?"
Sephiroth scratched his head and said in surprise,
"Ah! So that glasses-wearing nobody has a bounty too!
No wonder he was so arrogant..."
The bearded captain gave an expression of utter disbelief and looked at the silver-haired teenager. He murmured to himself,
"This guy will definitely have a bright future and might even become a general-rank officer. I have to curry favor with him quickly and mustn't offend him!"
With that in mind, the bearded man coughed lightly and said in a somewhat obsequious tone,
"Ahem! Well, Sephiroth...
Do you need us to take all these corpses of the wanted pirates back to the Navy base?
Later, you can go directly to the base to claim the bounty...
Oh, by the way, according to regulations, we Navy have to seize the pirate ship...
However, since you defeated these pirates, we can't let you suffer.
How about this! All the treasures on the pirate ship are yours. After you've taken all the treasures, we'll take the pirate ship back to the Navy base, okay?"
"Yeah! Then I'll trouble you."
Sephiroth nodded and agreed to the other's proposal.
The bearded man arrived at the scene so quickly because he was nearby. He was investigating and reviewing the background information of the new recruits who signed up to join the Navy.
The pirate attack was sudden, but he couldn't just ignore it.
After calling for support from the Navy base, he rushed to the scene in a hurry, planning to stall for time until the support troops arrived.
But he never expected that Sephiroth would single-handedly wipe out all the cadres of the Watson Pirate Group. The remaining forty-odd pirates were so frightened that they fled in all directions and left the scene.
Huh!?... Later, they still had to hunt down the fleeing pirates throughout Water 7.
Thinking of this, the bearded captain felt a headache coming on and silently cursed, "Damn, what a pain in the ass!"
On the other hand, Sephiroth had already boarded the brigantine and was rummaging around inside for valuable items.
When he passed by a locked cabin with a sign that read "Captain's Cabin" hanging on the door, his eyebrows twitched slightly.
He transformed his body into a vampire state, tensed the muscles in his legs, and kicked hard at the cabin door.
"Bang!"
After a loud noise, the wooden door fell to the ground as expected.
Sephiroth stepped on the wooden door and walked into the captain's cabin.
The furnishings in the cabin were very simple: an office desk and chair, a large bed, a big wardrobe, and two rifles hanging crosswise on the wall...
With a quick sweep of his eyes, he spotted a locked treasure chest quietly placed in the corner.
The silver-haired teenager rummaged around the captain's cabin but couldn't find the key to the lock. He figured that the key to open the treasure chest should still be on Watson Logan...
However, he had a better way to open the lock!
Sephiroth reached out and took a rifle from the wall. He pulled back the bolt and found that it was already loaded with bullets.
As he pointed the muzzle of the gun at the iron lock on the outside of the treasure chest and pulled the trigger, after a loud "Bang!", the iron lock was instantly forced open.
Sephiroth excitedly opened the treasure chest, but to his disappointment, he found only a small pile of gold coins, three stacks of banknotes, and a small wooden box...?
"Huh? What could be so troublesome that it's even packed in a separate box..."
The silver-haired teenager muttered to himself and casually lifted the lid of the unlocked small wooden box.
After he clearly saw the green gourd - shaped fruit covered with circular spiral patterns inside the small box, his heart skipped a beat.
"Is this... a Devil Fruit?"
In this world, the price of Devil Fruits ranges from 100 million berries to 5 billion berries, and they are in short supply and hard to come by.
In actual auctions, as long as the fruit's ability isn't too useless, it can generally be auctioned for over 1 billion berries.
When ordinary people obtain a Devil Fruit, they usually hesitate. Should they choose to eat it and gain unknown abilities, or should they choose to sell it at auction, make a fortune, and live the rest of their lives as wealthy people.
Only those wealthy and prodigal Celestial Dragons would be willing to feed Devil Fruits to slaves for entertainment...
Sephiroth carefully recalled, but he still couldn't find any memories related to this Devil Fruit.
Finally, he decided to collect this Devil Fruit first. It won't be too late to deal with it after he gets a Devil Fruit encyclopedia and learns its effects...