"That is the enemy."
Leo's cold words fell like a death sentence, weighing heavily on their hearts. The soldiers had been thoroughly shaken by that display; in mere seconds, their own commander had almost been cut down. Morale plummeted drastically in an instant, and Cade, seeing this, knew he couldn't let it stay that way.
He steadied his posture and shouted in a deep voice, "They're just mere people from East Blue! What kind of formidable figures could possibly come out of East Blue? That was just a sneak attack; in a head-on fight, I will never lose!"
With a fierce glare, he continued, "Besides, there are only two of them, and we have hundreds! We can't lose!"
Cade held a high standing in the hearts of his soldiers, and his command was met with a chorus of hundreds:
"That's right, we outnumber them! We won't lose!"
"Once this mission is over, I'm going home to marry Lilia."
"Yeah, I—"
They all spoke at once, and suddenly morale surged.
"Playing the numbers game?"
Leo offered an enigmatic smile. "Just in time to test out a new move I've mastered."
With that, Leo reached behind his back, gripped the hilt of the Executioner's Blade, and slowly drew it, revealing a small stretch of the blade.
Is it coming?!
Alarm bells rang fiercely in Cade's head. Dismissive as he was of East Blue in words, their brief clash earlier had stripped away most of his regional prejudice.
The slaughter is about to begin...
Budori's withered, tree-bark hands gripped the ship's railing tightly, excitement bubbling up inside him. This sliver of hope had been pushed right to him by that bastard Cade.
*Gulp...*
At this sight, many of the soldiers couldn't help but swallow hard.
Even Lena glanced sideways at Leo, unaware of what was happening and wanting to see what this new move was.
"Hmm..." Leo furrowed his brows slightly, brewing momentum for a moment as subtle movements rippled through his body.
Cade's pupils shrank sharply: *Damn it, it's coming, it's coming!*
Budori couldn't conceal his excitement: *Great, it's coming, it's coming!*
Suddenly, Leo let go of the hilt, scratched his head, and laughed awkwardly, "Hold on a second, experiencing a bit of a glitch."
I'm done for...
Budori tipped straight backward in one motion.
"—You're toying with me?!"
Cade's eye twitch was uncontrollable. Deciding he couldn't care anymore, he clenched his teeth and roared, "Fire!"
The soldiers snapped out of their stupor and immediately opened fire on Leo.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...*
A red glow flickered in Leo's eyes, and his body moved in sync. Nearly a hundred bullets whistled past his sides, not a single one hitting him.
*Haki...* Cade grew inwardly cautious, not daring to act rashly. There was also a woman with Devil Fruit abilities at his side; if he made a move, they would likely end up caught in a pincer attack. He thought to himself, *An East Blue native who can actually use Haki? No wonder he dares to be so arrogant, but—*
"Leo, what on earth are you doing?!" Lena, completely unconcerned with Cade's wariness, shouted at Leo as he dodged back and forth.
Clearly, Lena had been thoroughly let down by Leo's damp squib of a performance.
"Just wait a second, let me find the feeling," Leo replied to Lena while dodging bullets.
"—Whatever makes you happy," Lena said speechlessly.
...
*Swish!*
A bullet grazed the corner of Leo's eye, and a flash of red crossed his gaze—not the red of Observation Haki, but a deep crimson, carrying the feel of fresh blood.
Found it...
An alternative usage of Ghost Man Transformation: Killing Intent Projection!
*Clack!*
Leo halted his movement, grabbed the Executioner's Blade behind him, and turned to face the crowd.
Yet Cade and the soldiers paid him no mind at all, mocking him of their own accord:
"Still going? Are you playing around?!"
"I won't be fooled by you again!"
"You're just putting on a bluff."
...
Leo raised his eyes and murmured softly, "Killing Intent Projection."
*Hum—*
A crimson hue surged from the small exposed section of the Executioner's Blade on Leo's back. Immediately afterward, it broke all bounds, gushing forth like a tidal wave crashing down upon the soldiers.
From the outside, it looked like a massive blood-colored dome enveloping all three ships, exuding a bizarre and bloody aura that distorted even the air.
*Urgh...*
The soldiers who had been raising their guns and firing the very previous second rolled their eyes back and lost consciousness the next. A chain reaction followed; like falling dominoes, soldier after soldier lost consciousness and collapsed to the deck.
*Tap, tap, tap!*
*Thud!*
"How is this possible?!"
Cade's legs went weak as he stumbled backward, colliding with the ship's railing. His pupils trembled uncontrollably, his gaze fixed on Leo as if he had seen a ghost: "Conqueror's Haki?! How is that possible..."
"Eh, they've all passed out? Young people really are frail these days. Time for you old fogies to go back and retrain!" Budori put his hands on his hips, looking dissatisfied at the sailors lying on the deck.
They had just been helping him walk a second ago, and now they were fast asleep right away—who was supposed to be the old man here?!
With that, Budori pulled a bottle of heart medication from his pocket and swallowed a pill.
Shifting the view to Lena:
"Ah!!!" Lena let out a piercing shriek, pointing a trembling finger at Leo and transforming into a broken record: "You, you, you, you... Conqueror's Haki??!"
Lena couldn't even control the pitch of her voice anymore: "I didn't even notice!! You have Conqueror's Haki?!"
"Hmph hmph!"
The corners of Leo's mouth hooked into an exaggerated arc. If it weren't for the overcast weather, Leo's mouth might have flown right up to play cards with the sun and moon.
Leo crossed his arms, stood coldly, and lifted his chin: "Obviously, I'm full of hidden depths."
"Your mouth is about to split all the way to the back of your head," Lena flew over to Leo's side.
"Mind your own business." Leo reached up and wiped his face.
"You actually have Conqueror's Haki." Lena looked Leo up and down as if meeting him for the first time, clicking her tongue: "Though, how should I put this... your Conqueror's Haki has a bit of a... smell to it..."
"What kind of smell?" Leo was puzzled.
Since it was fake to begin with, Leo naturally wanted to know how it differed from the real thing. Who doesn't love Conqueror's Haki as a supreme tool for showing off?
Lena pondered for a long time: "It's a bit pungent."
What the hell kind of pungent?!
Leo placed a hand over his chest, suppressing the urge to vomit blood. Such a cool display of Killing Intent Projection, the way Lena described it, made it sound like he had just stunk people unconscious! It made it completely worthless!!
"This isn't Conqueror's Haki, it's just an alternative application of my swordsmanship, understand?" Leo said in an irritated tone.
Hearing Leo's explanation, Lena sized him up once more and tilted her chin up slightly: "Don't understand."
"You really didn't need to make that 〈I knew it〉 expression quite so obvious."
"Mind your own business."
Leo felt quite depressed. The 〈fake〉 Conqueror's Haki he had managed to pull off after spending a little over a day... thinking about it that way, it seemed—
Leo raised an eyebrow. Actually, it wasn't bad.
The inspiration for this killing intent projection came from his swordsmanship exchange with Mihawk at the Baratie. He had gotten genuinely heated during that fight and unleashed the full 〈Ghost Man Transformation〉—simply put, it was killing intent coating.
And what had he seen? Some ordinary people had actually been frightened unconscious by his leaking killing intent!
Moreover, that was just a tiny bit of intent escaping from his 〈full-body killing intent coating〉, yet even that small bit was enough to leave ordinary people unable to resist and losing consciousness. So if he released all the killing intent of the 〈Ghost Man Transformation〉 in one massive surge, the power would undoubtedly be even greater—perhaps even rivaling Conqueror's Haki!
This move gave people without Conqueror's Haki the ability to flex!
Of course, probably only Leo could pull it off.
"That's even more terrifying!"
Having heard Leo's explanation, Cade's mental state collapsed, and he cried out in a hoarse voice, "Just pure killing intent alone can produce power comparable to Conqueror's Haki?! What on earth are you, anyway?! Why are you still in East Blue?!"
Minister Budori, who had needed to pop a heart pill to keep from fainting, suddenly noticed something and widened his eyes: "Wait, could you possibly be the 〈Ghost Man Great Swordsman〉 of East Blue?"