The Celestial Dragons's miserable screams resounded throughout the World Government official ship at that moment.
In the cabin, the woman, covered in whip marks and blood, lay in a pool of blood, staring blankly at the screaming "god," her mind a blank.
The Marines... actually injured a Celestial Dragons.
No!
He tried to kill a Celestial Dragons!
Is he crazy? Or is he just suicidal?
Any action that offends the Celestial Dragons, no matter who the perpetrator, will invite the World Government's furious retaliation, and even the Navy's Admiral will be mobilized for the task. This is a restricted area that no one on the sea can surpass.
"You're too noisy," said Daren, frowning and waving his hand impatiently.
With this movement, two steel bars rose from the cabin floor and whistled out, piercing the feet of Saint Xildes like sharp blades and nailing them to the wall.
Dripping blood kept gushing from his pierced hands and feet, dripping onto the ground and pooling into a shocking pool of blood in less than a few seconds.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
"You're dead! Daren!"
The unbearable pain made Saint Xildes scream again, and he almost fainted from the pain.
He was a Celestial Dragon born on top of a mountain, a "god" in this world, and a descendant of the Creator.
He had been pampered since childhood, and had never even bumped into anything, let alone suffered such a serious injury.
"I thought the blood of a god would be golden. I never imagined he was no different from ordinary people. In that case, the Celestial Dragons aren't gods either."
Daren said with a smile.
Saint Xildes's eyes were bloodshot as he stared at him.
That damned smile again!
A hypocritical, mocking smile, as if he didn't even take god himself seriously.
It was this smile that made Saint Xildes-sama look down on Daren.
What annoyed him the most was that he couldn't see the familiar fear in Daren's eyes.
The fear that the lowly, despicable commoners should have for the Noble of the World made his heart fill with endless rage.
"Aren't you afraid of retaliation from the World Government for what you've done? Do you think you can get away with it?"
Saint Xildes panted heavily, letting out a low growl like a beast.
"Retaliation?"
Daren laughed.
"Who would know it was me who did it? Not to mention..."
He pointed at the mountains of gold and silver treasure piled up in the cabin.
"At least in the eyes of everyone on Batia Island, I, a scum of the North Blue Marines, was flattering the great Saint Xildes-sama by giving him a large sum of money."
"Who would have thought that a Marine would dare to lay a hand on a Celestial Dragons?"
Upon hearing Daren's words, Saint Xildes's pupils constricted.
He gritted his teeth as he fought against the dizziness caused by the heavy blood loss.
"Daren, I don't understand, why did you lay your hands on me..."
Suddenly, as if he had realized something,
"It was that little girl?"
From Daren's silence, Saint Xildes got a definite answer.
"Just because of a civilian!?"
His face was full of disbelief.
"A lowly civilian! Why did you have to go to such lengths!?"
Daren quietly looked at the grim-faced Celestial Dragons in front of him, the blood on the floor having spread under his military boots.
"That wasn't just a civilian," he said suddenly, "that was a civilian under my jurisdiction."
Saint Xildes roared,
"What business is it of yours whether a civilian lives or dies!?"
"Besides, don't think I don't know. What kind of a good person do you think you are?"
"Who in the entire North Blue doesn't know that you have amassed your wealth by supporting the mafia and exploiting the lowly commoners!?"
"In the final analysis, you are no better than me!"
Daren suddenly laughed.
He snapped his fingers.
The steel that was wrapped around Saint Xildes's right arm suddenly strangled and constricted with great force.
Pop!
A bloody severed arm rose into the air.
"Aaahhhhh!"
Saint Xildes writhed in pain, and yellow urine gradually seeped from the crotch of his luxurious silk robe.
"You're right. I'm not a good person—that's exactly why I'm here,"
Daren said flatly.
"If I were, I probably wouldn't have had the guts to show up."
"Of course... I didn't really want to come either. I sure as hell don't want to deal with disgusting Celestial Dragons like you. I just want to live a quiet life and build up the North Blue Fleet."
"But I took money from that father and daughter."
"T-Took money?"
Saint Xildes gasped in pain, eyes bulging as he writhed.
"How much did she pay you? I'm a Celestial Dragon—I have more money than you can imagine!"
"Just let me go, and you can name your price! Not just money, anything you want!"
"Women? Not just humans, I can get you women from other races too..."
"Power? I can get you promoted to Vice Admiral right away!"
"Whatever you want—I can give it to you!"
Daren suddenly let out a sigh.
"You can give me anything I want?"
The Celestial Dragon wheezed, his face lighting up with hope. He nodded with a smile.
"Yes, just say the word. Anything!"
Typical Celestial Dragon.
"There is something I do want."
Daren looked at Saint Xildes, tilted his head, and a cold smile curled at the corners of his lips.
"I want to kill you."
Saint Xildes froze. But in the next second, he burst out laughing maniacally.
"Kill me... and you'll die too!"
"Daren, you didn't see this coming, did you?"
"All World Government ships are equipped with hidden surveillance Den Den Mushi!"
"Right now, the World Government is watching everything happening here!"
"You're dead! Hahahaha!"
His crazed eyes locked onto Daren, desperate to find panic or fear in his expression.
But he saw none.
Just a smile.
That same irritating, calm smile remained on the Marine Captain's face.
A wave of dread surged in Saint Xildes's mind, making his heart pound wildly.
"Saint Xildes, compared to the rest of the Celestial Dragons, you're supposed to be the smart one," Daren said with interest.
"I'll give you a chance."
Without making a single move, the steel restraints binding Saint Xildes suddenly released.
The Celestial Dragon slumped to the ground like a sack of rotting flesh, panting heavily.
Daren pulled out a military Den Den Mushi and casually tossed it over.
"Try it. If you can get a signal, go ahead."
Faced with the Marine Captain's half-smiling, half-threatening gaze, Saint Xildes felt a chill run through his heart.
He gritted his teeth and stubbornly tried to dial the Den Den Mushi.
One second,
Two seconds,
Three seconds...
The military Den Den Mushi remained silent.
No response.
The color drained from Saint Xildes' face, leaving it ghostly pale.
The signal had been blocked.
"Impossible..." he murmured, eyes vacant.
In that moment, it felt as if his soul had been ripped from his body. He stood there, dazed and empty.
"The Den Den Mushi's signal... completely jammed. How could this be..."
If the signal was blocked, then whatever happened on this official ship—no one in the world would ever know.
Saint Xildes began to tremble. Despair finally surged in his eyes.
Daren watched him in silence, phantom arcs of electricity flickering between his fingers.
He wasn't some hot-headed fool who acted on impulse.
From the moment Saint Xildes refused to show him any respect and insisted on taking the little girl away, he had already decided—this repulsive pig had to die.
So during the "arrest," he secretly slipped his Vivre Card into the girl's hand.
That way, he could trace Saint Xildes' route.
And through the handover of the security assignment, he had also obtained intel on the CP members involved in the escort mission.
That left only one last problem in eliminating Saint Xildes:
Surveillance.
World Government ships typically had surveillance Den Den Mushi installed to ensure the safety of the Celestial Dragons.
But against his ability, that meant nothing.
With the level of mastery he had over the Jiki Jiki no Mi, he could generate a magnetic field with a radius of about a hundred meters, centered on himself.
Within that field, Den Den Mushi signals were completely blocked.
That range was enough to cover the entire ship.
He had gotten the idea from Doflamingo's Birdcage.
And this... was the greatest reason Daren dared to lay a hand on a Celestial Dragon.
"No!! Why!? If you knew I was stalling for time, why didn't you just kill me!?"
Saint Xildes suddenly looked up at Daren, screaming in rage.
He didn't understand.
This man clearly had the strength to kill him easily, and had already seen through his plan—so why didn't he just do it?
Daren narrowed his eyes, a mocking smile curling at his lips.
"Because killing you quickly... would be letting you off too easy."
As he spoke, the desperate expressions of that father and daughter on Batia Island flashed through his mind.
"At the very least, before you die, I want you to feel... what true despair tastes like."
With that, Daren slowly pulled out his pistol.
In the Celestial Dragon's hopeless, lifeless gaze, the muzzle of the gun gently pressed against his forehead.
"—No!!"
Terror unlike anything he had ever known filled Saint Xildes' eyes as he shrieked:
"I'm a Celestial Dragon! If you kill me—"
Bang!
The shot rang out.
Daren didn't hesitate.
The bullet pierced straight through his forehead and exited out the back, blowing a gaping hole through his skull.
A fan-shaped spray of blood and brain matter splattered across the cabin wall.
Saint Xildes' body gave a final twitch as the light in his eyes faded.
"Damn it... took the money... just for a...pariah..."
He collapsed slowly to the ground.
His face froze in a grotesque mixture of confusion, disbelief, horror, and fear—a surreal, tragic portrait of the end.
He was dead.
Daren stood over the corpse of the Celestial Dragon, looking down with a calm voice.
"You took the money, so you do the job."
"That's the rule in the North Blue."
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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