The moment Krieg saw the wanted poster, he nodded frantically.
“That’s him! That bastard hid behind a fake mustache and an eyepatch, but it’s definitely the same guy!”
Mr.
9 compared the poster with Bane again.
The resemblance was unmistakable.
His face gradually went pale.
Then, without warning, he raised his baseball bat and smashed it down on Krieg’s other leg.
Crack!
“Aaargh!”
Krieg screamed as his second leg broke.
“Why?! Everything I told you was true!”
“I know.”
Mr.
9 looked down at him.
“That’s exactly why you’re useless now.”
He had originally planned to use Krieg as leverage against Bane.
But if Krieg meant nothing to Bane, then all Mr.
9 had accomplished was making a fool of himself.
Bane’s voice drifted over from nearby.
“Wow. That hurts.”
Mr.
9 turned.
Bane was looking toward Krieg with exaggerated disappointment.
“Just a few days ago, I saved your life.”
“And now every other word out of your mouth is ‘bastard,’ like I’m the one who wronged you.”
Since his identity had already been exposed, Bane saw no reason to keep pretending.
He peeled off his fake mustache, removed the eyepatch, and tossed both aside.
Krieg glared at him from the ground.
“Look at me!”
His face twisted with pain and hatred.
“Isn’t all of this your fault?!”
“My fault?”
Bane raised an eyebrow.
“I’m pretty sure Mr. 9 is the one who broke both your legs.”
He paused.
“Oh, right. You still don’t know what’s going on.”
Bane gestured casually around Whiskey Peak.
“This isn’t some friendly town that loves pirates.”
“All those welcoming locals? Bounty hunters.”
“They lure pirates in, make them lower their guard, drug the food and alcohol at the banquet, and wait until everyone passes out.”
“Then they turn in anyone with a bounty and sell the rest.”
He looked down at Krieg.
“So tell me again—how exactly did I do this to you?”
“I warned you earlier that something felt wrong.”
“Did you listen?”
Krieg stubbornly shouted back.
“So what?!”
“If you knew something was wrong, you should’ve told me clearly!”
“If you’d explained everything, do you think I would’ve stayed here?!”
Bane stared at him.
Then he shrugged.
“Fair enough.”
“What else can I say?”
He smiled.
“Good luck.”
Bane immediately activated the Krieg Pirates’ faction ability.
[Bait]
[Effect: Designate a companion to cover your retreat. Enemies have a high probability of prioritizing the designated target.]
And who better to choose than Krieg himself?
Bane designated him without hesitation.
“Wait!”
Krieg’s expression changed as the surrounding bounty hunters turned toward him.
Weapons were raised.
Hostile eyes locked onto him.
“Bane!”
Fear finally broke through his anger.
“Save me!” This story is hosted at novelping.com.
“I was wrong! I’ll give you the entire Krieg Pirates! Everything!”
“Just save me!”
Krieg genuinely believed Bane would come back.
After all, Bane had already saved his life once.
Why would someone risk so much to rescue him if he didn’t still have some use for Krieg?
Surely Bane would save him again.
Unfortunately, Krieg had misunderstood one crucial detail.
The first rescue had happened because the System offered Bane a quest.
This time, there was no quest.
No reward.
No reason to interfere.
“Don’t kill me!”
Krieg desperately looked around.
“Aren’t you bounty hunters?!”
He pointed toward Bane.
“Kill him instead!”
“His bounty is thirty million Berries! That’s worth more than mine!”
“Bane!”
Krieg’s voice turned vicious.
“I hope you die horribly!”
Nothing worked.
The bounty hunters ignored his shouting.
Then the weapons came down.
Krieg’s screams tore through the night.
They grew weaker with every passing second.
Until finally—
Silence.
When the bounty hunters stepped away, Krieg’s body had been mangled beyond recognition.
Only his head had been left intact enough to identify him for the bounty.
At the same moment, System notifications began appearing in front of Bane.
[Big Brother Krieg has died.]
[Trust Value reset to 0.]
[The Captain of the Krieg Pirates has died.]
[Remaining faction membership is below the required threshold.]
[Faction: Krieg Pirates officially disbanded.]
[Compensation Reward: C+ Grade Legacy Chest x1]
Bane immediately opened it.
[C+ Grade Legacy Chest opened.]
[Reward Acquired: Title — Overlord of the East Blue (Pseudo)]
[Title: Overlord of the East Blue (Pseudo)]
[Effect: Spirit +5.]
[Additional Effect: Exerts an intimidating effect on weak-willed targets.]
[Regional Bonus: While within the East Blue, the intimidation effect is doubled.]
Bane blinked.
He hadn’t expected much from Krieg’s Legacy Chest.
But this was surprisingly useful.
A permanent five-point increase to Spirit was already equivalent to five free Attribute Points.
And if he ever returned to the East Blue, the title’s intimidation effect would become even stronger.
Not bad at all.
Krieg had somehow managed to be useful one final time.
Bane almost felt grateful.
Almost.
Bang!
Bang!
Bullets came flying toward him.
Bane disappeared with Silent Step, avoiding the shots before reappearing beside Mr.
9.
His saber flashed.
“Come on!”
Mr.
9 immediately launched himself backward.
“Hot-Blooded No. 9—Backflip Strike!”
It sounded impressive.
In reality, he simply performed a backflip and swung his baseball bat with all his strength. New chapters come out on g.com first.
Mr.
9 had clearly anticipated that Bane would target him.
Unfortunately, anticipating an attack and being capable of stopping it were two very different things.
Bane’s blade met the bat.
Armament Haki reinforced his strike.
Clang!
The baseball bat was knocked clean from Mr.
9’s hands.
Before he could recover—
Slash!
A flash of steel passed across his throat.
Mr.
9 froze.
His hands flew to his neck.
Then he dropped to his knees.
Bane looked around at the remaining bounty hunters.
“Anyone else?”
Silence.
“Anyone still feel like dying for this?”
That was enough.
The bounty hunters scattered.
Some dropped their weapons.
Others simply ran.
Whatever they were being paid, it wasn’t worth getting killed over.
Bane didn’t bother chasing them.
There were too many to hunt down one by one, and he didn’t have unlimited stamina.
But after resisting their attempts to lure, drug, and overwhelm him, Bane had already put himself in a position where escaping was easy.
No one left here could stop him if he decided to leave.
“You can’t kill me!”
Bane turned toward the voice.
A man wearing a top hat had been trying to sneak away.
Bane walked over and kicked him to the ground.
The man immediately lost his nerve.
“Wait! Please!”
He raised both hands.
“I’m an Officer Agent of Baroque Works!”
“Our boss is incredibly powerful!”
Bane looked down at him.
“Baroque Works?”
He tilted his head.
“You have a codename too?”
“Yes! Yes!”
The man nodded rapidly.
“I’m Mr. 11!”
Bane raised his saber slightly.
“I already killed one Officer Agent.”
“Killing Mr. 11 too won’t make much difference.”
“If your boss wants revenge, he can come find me himself.”
“Wait!”
Mr.
11 nearly shouted.
“I can cover up Mr. 9’s death!”
Bane paused.
Mr.
11 saw the hesitation and hurried to explain.
“The organization only cares about results.”
“As long as the money keeps coming in, the deaths of a few agents aren’t important!”
“There are two hundred candidates waiting to replace Officer Agents like us!”
He swallowed.
“So if I give them a believable explanation and our profits aren’t affected, there’s a good chance no one will investigate too deeply.”
Bane remained silent.
Mr.
11 leaned forward eagerly.
Seeing that he had Bane’s attention, he quickly continued.
“Actually… I have an even better idea.”