Leo stood at the stern of the cargo ship, one hand resting on the hilt of his blade as the sea breeze whipped loudly against his loose garments.
The crew stared at him in astonishment.
"A bounty hunter?" a sailor muttered blankly.
"Right," Leo nodded, then glanced at the flag flying on the warship. "I've never seen a pirate flag like that before. Is it a recent crew?"
The banner bore a chessboard pattern and was covered in colorful chess pieces—a very bizarre design.
Wait, it seemed they weren't pirates after all...
The sailor was momentarily at a loss for words. "Uh, well..."
"Ahem!"
Budoli adjusted his clothes slightly, preparing to speak to Leo, but saw that Leo was already addressing Cade's side.
Leo called out to them, "Hey! What's the captain of your pirate crew called? Come out and face me."
Creak!
As Leo finished speaking, the cabin door opened and Cade stepped out calmly. Though his face was expressionless, he was inwardly astonished, wondering where this character had come from.
Cade walked to the bow of the warship, gave them a few looks, and said, "I am the captain of this pi—bah, you threw me off. We aren't pirates. We are the Maritime Guard from Shajeton in the Grand Line. We're currently on a mission, so I'd ask you not to meddle in other people's business."
With that, nearly a hundred fully armed soldiers appeared behind Cade, all bearing the same insignia as the flag on the ship, looking entirely ready to start a war at the slightest disagreement.
Hmm...
Hearing this, Leo fell silent for a moment, his expression conflicted, before finally squeezing out: "You guys... aren't pirates?"
Cade: ...What a lunatic.
"..." Though speechless inside, Cade still answered Leo's question.
If the opposite side had simply come for the bounty, that would be fine; now was not the time to get distracted by side issues. The mission had to be completed first.
"Oh..." Leo said, sounding extremely dissatisfied and resentful. "Not pirates, but doing a pirate's job? Isn't that stealing other people's rice bowls? How are real pirates supposed to make a living? And you don't even have a bounty!"
How could this be?
How dare he mock me like this!
Cade clenched his fists, a flash of hidden murderous intent in his eyes.
"Hey, what are you talking about? We are the Maritime Guard of Shajeton!" A soldier beside Cade stepped forward and shouted at Leo.
Cade remained silent.
"Shut up! You don't deserve to call yourselves the Maritime Guard!" roared old man Budoli.
Leo looked back in surprise at the furious old man and sailors, frowning slightly.
This seemed to be a matter involving the kingdom's upper echelons. It was a bit troublesome...
He had the feeling of failing to make any bounty money while getting dragged into a messy situation.
Leo turned back to look at Cade and asked, "What kind of mission are you on? Are you going to kill them?"
Cade was silent for a moment, then slowly raised his head. His expression grew playful as he narrowed his eyes and said, "This cargo ship belongs to Shajeton. Kingdom traitors hijacked it and tried to escape. We're merely following orders to arrest them. Is that clear enough, you bounty hunter from the East Blue?"
Just a petty bounty hunter from the tiny East Blue—it wouldn't matter if he killed him, hehe.
"You don't need to emphasize that. I know I'm from the East Blue. Besides, what's wrong with the East Blue?"
Leo's tone was exceptionally rude. Since they had already mocked him, he certainly wasn't going to coddle them. "Do people from the Grand Line all look down their noses at everyone else? Where do you get your confidence? Is it because of some Jeton behind you? I could kill all of you right here and no one would ever know. Tuck your tails between your legs when you're in the East Blue."
Leo's volley of three questions left Cade momentarily speechless, forced to maintain his silence and act like an expert. "Hehehe..."
He kept up a very good surface appearance; at least outwardly, he didn't seem angry after listening to this speech. He crossed his arms and chuckled softly, though the soldiers behind him began verbally tearing into Leo.
At that moment, a graceful figure descended from the sky—it was Lena.
"What is this, Leo? They aren't pirates, so killing them won't get us any bounty. What a letdown." Lena sprouted a pair of white wings, flew to Leo's side, and pouted.
"An—an angel?!"
"Minister!!" cried a sailor anxiously.
Budoli gasped. He clutched his chest with one hand while reaching out into the empty air toward Lena, as if trying to grab something. "Ah, has God come to fetch me? Has my time... reached its end here..."
With that, he fell backward.
"Minister!" The sailor beside him was quick-handed and caught him instantly. If a man of his age really took a fall like that, it would probably be the end of him.
Proppping Budoli back up with some effort, the sailors crowded around him. "Minister, Minister, don't die yet! That's not an angel, that's a Devil Fruit user!"
"Oh, a Devil Fruit user? Is that so? Ahaha." Standing amidst the group, Budoli laughed awkwardly.
Uh...
The sailors were speechless.
Leo replied gloomily to Lena, "Well, it was an instinctive reaction. Pirates generally act like this anyway. Turned out to be pre-pirates with no bounty. What bad luck."
This was sheer sarcasm!
Cade remained outwardly silent. He didn't care about Lena's appearance or the way she made her entrance.
Or rather, he no longer cared about adding one more corpse to the toll, nor did he care what a corpse had to say.
"Are you done talking? Then it's my turn."
Cade raised his head. "You brought this death upon yourselves. Besides, I gave you a chance."
He lifted a hand, looked at Leo, and the corners of his mouth curled up. "Eating a Devil Fruit lets you run wild in the weakest of seas and makes you arrogant and complacent, but you don't know there's always someone better, and Devil Fruits aren't omnipotent. Pay the price for your own conceit. Open fire!"
Amidst the surprised gazes of Leo and Lena, Cade swung his hand down.
Bang, bang, bang, bang...
Just as Cade's voice fell, the guns and cannons of the soldiers behind him poured forth a torrent of fire. Their aim was merciless, all converging on Leo and Lena. An ordinary person would have been turned into a sieve in a single second.
Instantly, the area where Leo stood was filled with drifting smoke and flying sparks. The first round of ammunition ceased only to be immediately followed by the next batch of soldiers continuing the volley. The cloud of dust grew larger and larger, gradually swallowing the stern of the cargo ship.
After a moment, Cade raised his hand, and the soldiers beside him immediately shouted backward:
"Cease fire!"
The sound of gunfire stopped instantly.
"Not dead." Cade still had his arms crossed, a flash of red light crossing his eyes as he used Observation Haki to scan the area. He shook his head slightly. "As expected."
"What are you acting so cool for?" Leo's whisper sounded right beside him.
"What?" Cade was startled and instantly dodged to the side.
Before he could even steady his footing, a female voice rang out from the sky above his head:
"Paper Sheet Spears!"
Followed closely by the sound of rushing air, moving at blistering speed.
Cade's heartbeat skipped a beat. He tried to dodge, but was too late. With a wet *splrit*, a Paper Sheet Spears grazed the side of his body, tearing away a patch of flesh.
Ah.
Cade gritted his teeth against the searing pain, instantly assuming a defensive stance and channeling his entire strength while constantly telling himself inwardly:
A sneak attack. That was a sneak attack. He was only hit because he was ambushed...
"I didn't really want to get involved, and I don't know which of your sides is in the right." Leo's voice came from the roof of the warship's cabin.
He lowered his gaze, one hand resting on his sword, and swept his eyes over the hundreds of soldiers on the deck. His voice was merciless: "But now it doesn't matter whether you're righteous or wrong. You attacked us, which means you are... enemies."
Hearing this, the hearts of the hundreds of soldiers turned ice-cold.