The crowd watched Fushawen walk out of the meeting room, their interest piqued.
"I wonder how long that intruder can last? I bet not more than three minutes!"
"Fushawen is famously cruel; he'll probably torture that intruder to death slowly. I bet five minutes!"
There were five Captains present in total; besides Fushawen, who had just gone to deal with the intruder, there were three men and one woman.
Aside from The Wolf of the Black Wolf Pirates and Fushawen of the Rapier Pirates, the other three on the scene were also great pirates with bounties of twenty to thirty million.
One was a bald man with crisscrossing scars on his face, while another was covered in bandages, seemingly a Devil Fruit user as well.
The only female pirate had a glamorous face and wore revealing clothes, with a large expanse of fair skin nearly bursting from beneath a few scraps of fabric. Her name was Honei, Captain of the Fragrant Wind Pirates, a Paramecia-type Fragrance-Fragrance Fruit user with a bounty of twenty-one million.
Seeing Fushawen leave, Kiki felt relieved and put the matter of the intruder out of his mind. He looked at the pirate Captains present, a curve forming at the corner of his mouth.
These great pirates were the connections he had built up during this period. They had secretly helped him find many slaves, bringing in countless profits.
In the future, they would surely create even more revenue for his chamber of commerce!
A moment later, the group heard a deafening roar coming from outside.
Hearing this, The Wolf looked surprised and exchanged glances with the other three pirates.
"If I remember correctly, that sound seems to be Fushawen's strongest move, right?"
"Yes, I remember it too."
The bald man also responded, clearly understanding the meaning behind that sound—
'That intruder from who-knows-where can actually fight Fushawen to this extent?'
The group became interested and immediately prepared to walk outside.
They were curious about what kind of intruder could fight Fushawen, a fellow great pirate of the West Blue, to such a degree.
Suddenly, a booming sound echoed.
Boom!
The meeting hall doors, which Fushawen had just closed behind him, were smashed open. A figure crashed through like a meteorite, embedding deeply into the wall of the meeting hall.
Wasn't that Fushawen, who had just gone out to solve the trouble?!
Clang.
The only remaining rapier in Fushawen's hand fell to the ground. His face no longer held its previous relaxed confidence; his eyes were rolled back, and blood gushed uncontrollably from his mouth.
His signature top hat was nowhere to be seen, and his chest and body were covered in a mess of deep, crisscrossing blade wounds.
With his head slumped, Fushawen's life or death was uncertain. He had fainted on the spot, completely stripped of any ability to fight.
Including Kiki, everyone watched this scene with mouths agape, unable to believe what they were seeing.
Fushawen, Captain of the Rapier Pirates with a bounty of twenty-six million, had actually been knocked unconscious?!
The remaining four Captains looked grim and suddenly rushed out of the meeting hall.
Coming into the brightly lit main hall, they saw that everything around looked as if it had been struck by a gale, left in a complete mess. The iron cages that had originally held the slaves they worked so hard to collect were empty; the slaves inside had vanished.
Seeing this, Kiki's expression became extremely ugly, turning completely dark.
The slaves he had worked so hard to collect, intending to sell them to the Sabaody Archipelago, were just gone like that?!
A figure appeared before them, presumably the culprit who defeated Fushawen.
Different from the powerful enemy they had imagined, the sword-wielding figure was actually a boy who looked only eleven or twelve years old.
Kilo, who had followed The Wolf here, frowned as he examined the longsword in his hand that he had seized from the Marines on Ohara.
The edge of the blade was already cracked; this weapon that had accompanied him for a while was now scrapped.
He tossed the longsword aside and picked up Fushawen's dropped rapier.
Looking at the four stunned Captains, their familiar faces matching their bounty posters one by one, a hint of surprise appeared on Kilo's face.
"Oh? You're all wanted pirates, aren't you?"
Finding that the imagined powerful enemy was just a young boy, the scarred bald man immediately relaxed and laughed loudly.
"Hahaha, kid, since you know we're all great pirates, why haven't you run away yet?"
The Wolf also showed disdain and grinned. "I knew Fushawen was a fraud, couldn't even beat a little brat."
Behind the four, Kiki's heart was practically bleeding as he looked at the missing slaves. He barked out an order.
"Gentlemen, kill this reckless little thief!"
"I'll add another two million Berries for each of you!"
The group naturally wouldn't let such easy prey slip away. They immediately agreed, their expressions composed, clearly no longer taking Kilo seriously.
However, out of respect for Fushawen's crushing defeat, they chose to be somewhat cautious, surrounding Kilo in the center. It was clear that all four intended to strike simultaneously to kill this intruder right here.
Four pairs of eyes stared intently at Kilo's every move. No matter how they thought about it, they couldn't understand how Kilo dared to break into this base alone.
Kiki looked at Kilo, who was trapped in the encirclement, and shook his head.
It was fortunate that he had gathered five pirate Captains today; otherwise, Kilo might have actually been able to escape.
Yet, Kilo, standing in the middle of the four-man encirclement, did not show the panic they expected.
On the contrary, he casually flourished his new sword, his gaze sweeping over the four pirate Captains one by one.
"Is that everyone?"
The four were stunned, somewhat puzzled.
They were the four people besieging this arrogant brat, yet the opponent still had a look of calm confidence.
Is he crazy?!
"Don't think that just because you beat a fraud like Fushawen, you can be compared to us. You'd better worry about yourself!" The scarred bald man and the others all started laughing.
Kilo remained unhurried, looking at the four and Kiki.
"So, there are only you few people here?"
The Breathing Style circulated in his mouth, and invisible gusts of wind began to swirl around Kilo as the center.
As experienced great pirates with plenty of combat history, the four realized Kilo was about to act. With a single thought, they struck together in unison.
"Die!!" The Wolf, positioned directly in front of Kilo, had already transformed into a massive black wolf. His hind legs shattered the stone slabs beneath his feet as he pounced like a wild beast, his claws flashing with a sharp, cold light as they left afterimages, lunging at Kilo.
At the same time, the scarred bald man at Kilo's side turned into a blur. A ferocious-looking spiked mace appeared in his hand at some point, bringing with it a powerful gale as it swung toward Kilo with the force of a thousand pounds.
Meanwhile, the bandaged man, who had appeared behind Kilo at an unknown moment, turned his bandages into countless grayish-white sharp arrows. They surged forward like a gray torrent, piercing out like countless steel needles to block any angle Kilo might use to dodge.
Finally, Honei waved her hand, scattering a cloud of pink fragrant wind toward Kilo, leaving a glamorous and strange color wherever it passed.
Thus, although the four had not communicated, they had instantly sealed off all possible angles Kilo could take.
Feeling the sharp attacks coming from all sides, Kilo thought to himself.
As expected of the great pirates who almost dominated the West Blue, any one of these attacks alone was not something those small fry Kilo had seen before could handle.
And this current siege was something Kilo probably wouldn't have been able to resist if he hadn't deduced the Breath of Gale.
But for the current him...
Kilo raised the longsword in his hand; this sword from Fushawen was of high quality, much better than his previous one.
Facing the aggressive onslaught, he assumed a familiar starting stance.
[Breath of Gale, Fifth Form: Cold Autumn Mountain Wind]
A defensive move within Wind Breathing that builds a wall of wind to parry enemy attacks.
A tall wall of wind composed of cyan-green astral wind rose out of thin air, enveloping Kilo's figure within.
The group's attacks crashed into the wind wall, creating ripples. After losing most of their power, they landed in the center.
But Kilo was already nowhere to be seen.
A gale erupted on the field, and a fierce wind from nowhere swept through. They couldn't help but squint their eyes, feeling their vision obstructed.
Dust flew before them, and visibility was extremely low; everyone lost sight of the opponent.
Realizing something, the scarred bald man's face changed drastically. He reacted instantly and shouted loudly, "Careful, don't let him separate us and pick us off!"
The others also realized Kilo's plan and moved toward the bald man's voice to regroup. But when they finished gathering, they found only three people: The Wolf, the bald man, and Honei.
The bandaged man was missing!
The three looked grim as they watched the wind curtain howling around them.
They could only hear the faint sound of sharp metal clashing from behind the wind curtain.
As the gale gradually subsided, they could clearly see their surroundings again.
Splurt!
Kilo's figure emerged, blood dripping from the long blade in his hand.
Behind him, the headless body covered in bandages collapsed with a thud. The bandages that had been as hard as steel just moments ago were now scattered on the ground, severed.
[Killed a pirate with a twenty-million-level bounty, Points +8]
Kilo pointed the tip of his sword diagonally at the ground and looked at the remaining three, whose faces were filled with shock and amazement. His excitement was palpable.
"Did you hear that?"
"How pleasant the howling of the gale is!"