The familiar warmth appeared once again.
But this time, Rook’s expression didn’t change.
Anyone who had spilled blood before knew the feeling.
Just as the hunting instincts buried in the bones of a young beast would awaken once it tasted blood, humans were not so different from wild animals.
The eyes of someone who had taken lives were fundamentally different from those of someone who had never seen blood.
As one life after another slipped away by his hand, a certain psychological barrier inside Rook had gradually disappeared.
Just like a flexible moral boundary—
It could be crossed.
Killing brought adaptation.
Adaptation gave birth to courage.
And the courageous feared nothing.
Rook tightened his grip on the sword.
For a moment, he seemed to savor the lingering sensation of steel cutting through an enemy’s flesh.
Watering his own growth with the lives of his enemies.
There was no longer fear in his heart.
No hesitation.
The sword in his hand was like a newly sharpened fang, ready to tear into its next prey.
Rook grabbed Morton’s corpse and tossed it onto the pile of bodies in the corner.
He stared at them for a moment, closed the door, and walked outside again.
He wondered whether the woman would faint a second time when she woke up and saw everything.
It was still the same street as before.
Unlike earlier, however, there were no pirates nearby.
Farther away, screams and furious curses continued to echo through the town.
The entire settlement seemed to have been transformed into a living hell.
This was what pirates were.
But this was absolutely not the kind of life Rook wanted.
During the days since awakening his previous life’s memories, Rook had already made up his mind.
He needed to leave the Norton Pirates as soon as possible.
Norton wasn’t some exalted Bronze and Fire King.
He was merely a cruel, genuine pirate who couldn’t even establish himself properly in the East Blue.
Destruction.
Pillaging.
The slaughter of innocents.
Pirate crews like this were the most common kind on the seas—
And also the kind with the least future.
They committed countless atrocities without possessing the strength required to withstand the consequences.
They were nothing more than a group of lunatics.
Lunatics already walking down the road toward their own destruction.
And here in the East Blue, there was still one major obstacle waiting at the end—
Smoker of Loguetown.
If the Norton Pirates continued making this much noise, sooner or later they would be finished.
While thinking, Rook followed the sounds of commotion toward another part of town.
His gaze settled on a general store roughly a hundred meters ahead.
Blood had splattered everywhere outside.
A motionless townsman lay sprawled near the entrance.
Inside the shop came the clattering sounds of things being smashed and thrown around, mixed with angry curses.
“Goddamn trash! There’s nothing here!”
“Talk! Where did you hide the money?!”
Rook sheathed his sword and walked over with an utterly harmless expression.
When he reached the entrance, he saw a pirate standing with one foot planted on a middle-aged man.
A deep blade wound had torn open the man’s chest.
He clearly wasn’t going to survive.
“Hey, brother! You’re doing it all wrong!”
Rook suddenly spoke, walking inside with a broad smile.
The pirate turned around with a vicious expression.
But when he saw Rook from the same crew, annoyance immediately appeared in his eyes.
He waved dismissively.
“Fuck off. You’ve been aboard almost a month already. You still don’t understand that whoever gets here first gets the loot?”
Rook’s smile remained unchanged as he stopped at the doorway.
Looking at the pirate three meters away, he put on a helpless expression.
“Brother, interrogation takes technique too.”
“I’m not much of an expert, but I secretly learned a couple of tricks from the first mate. Why don’t you let me show you?”
At the mention of the first mate, apprehension immediately flashed through the pirate’s eyes.
Still, he glanced at Rook’s empty hands and thought about it for a moment before nodding with a dark expression.
“Make it quick. I don’t have time to play around with you.”
Rook’s smile grew brighter.
He walked forward until he stood beside the pirate—and in front of the dying man on the floor.
Looking down at the miserable townsman, Rook clicked his tongue before rolling his wrist.
Then he turned toward the pirate.
“Brother, do you know what people are most afraid of?”
The pirate raised an eyebrow.
His curiosity had clearly been piqued.
“What?”
Rook put on a mysterious expression.
He raised his left fist and extended three fingers in front of the man’s face, gently waving them.
Once the pirate’s attention was drawn to his hand, Rook grinned.
His right hand, hanging at his side, slowly clenched into a fist.
“First—dying before you’ve had the chance to spend all your money.”
The pirate froze.
Then strong agreement appeared in his eyes.
When Rook folded down one finger, the pirate became even more curious.
“What are the other two?”
Rook smiled mysteriously.
Expectation appeared in the pirate’s eyes.
In the next instant—
Rook slid his left foot half a step sideways.
His waist twisted violently.
His right arm whipped around in a powerful hook.
Bang!
His fist slammed into the pirate’s jaw.
The man’s head snapped backward.
His balance vanished instantly, and he crashed heavily into the shelves behind him.
A dull impact rang through the shop.
Rook stepped forward.
Both fists swung inward from either side.
A double strike smashed into the pirate’s temples.
The man groaned as his body went limp.
Rook grabbed a fistful of his thick hair.
Then his knee shot upward.
Crack!
It slammed into the side of the pirate’s neck.
Bone fractured.
Rook immediately hurled him onto the floor and stomped down several more times until the man stopped moving entirely.
A faint warmth rose from deep within his body.
Only then did Rook look calmly down at him.
“Second—you didn’t know I was going to kill you.”
“And third—even though I’m stronger than you, I still ambushed you.”
“Surprised?”
“Didn’t see that coming, did you?”
Rook paused.
“You should count yourself lucky. Unlike the first mate, I don’t have some sick hobby of torturing people to death.”
After speaking, he looked toward the dying middle-aged man.
Rook stared at him silently for several seconds.
Then he reminded himself inwardly:
This is the tragedy of the weak.
Blood leaked from the man’s mouth and nose.
He stared at Rook with eyes filled with confusion—
And hatred.
Rook pursed his lips.
His gaze moved across the shelves.
He noticed a section containing candy.
After taking a packet of crystal candies, he turned and left.
The hunt continued.
The wicked Rook began using the familiar face of a fellow “crewmate” to select his targets.
Twenty minutes later, he eliminated another pirate who had either wandered off alone or simply been overly confident in his own strength.
Rook now carried an additional bundle.
Inside were bloodstained Berries, gold ornaments, and silver jewelry.
Worth at least a million Berries.
After every raid, the pirates were required to hand forty percent of their loot over to Captain Norton.
If someone returned to the ship empty-handed, not only would they be mocked, their standing and treatment aboard the ship would also fall sharply.
And the money Rook had gathered would serve another purpose.
It would be his bargaining chip for freeing himself from the first mate.
After all, he still needed to “repay” the kindness the first mate had shown when he saved his life.
Another half hour passed.
Rook’s brows furrowed repeatedly.
There were almost no lone pirates left.
The raid had already been underway for quite some time.
When a town like this encountered pirates, one of the first things its residents would do was call the nearest Marine base through a Den Den Mushi.
And the Marines would almost always respond.
Especially when dealing with a pirate crew like the Norton Pirates, whose specialty was burning, killing, looting, and committing every crime imaginable.
The Marines kept a close watch on crews like them.
For that reason, the Norton Pirates rarely allowed a raid to last longer than two hours.
More importantly, there was a Marine branch located on another island not particularly far from this town.
Rook climbed onto the roof of a three-story wooden building.
He surveyed the surroundings.
Under the increasingly dim sky, the deeper parts of the town had already become mostly quiet.
The outer areas, however, sounded almost like some kind of wild celebration.
Rook looked toward the noisier outskirts.
He climbed down and headed in that direction.
Ten minutes later, he reached the outskirts of the town.
The number of his “companions” suddenly increased.
They were conducting the final sweep.
The sounds of smashing and destruction came from nearly every house in the area.
They were like a swarm of rabid locusts.
Rook approached one house and stepped inside.
A pirate immediately noticed him and cursed angrily.
“Get the hell out! This is Squad Six’s territory. Don’t you know the rules?”
Under the dimming sky, Rook glanced inside.
There were at least five pirates there.
He calmly nodded and left without saying anything.
Some time later, Rook arrived outside another house.
The sounds of rummaging and destruction were coming from within.
He pushed open the half-closed door, crossed the courtyard, and entered the building.
Two pirates were overturning cabinets and searching through boxes.
When they saw Rook, both men turned around.
At first they looked confused.
Then their expressions became hostile.
“Don’t you understand the rules?”
Suddenly, he grinned.
“Brothers, this house is pretty big. Adding one more person shouldn’t make much difference, right?”
Anger appeared in both pirates’ eyes.
But this wasn’t unusual.
If two groups wanted the same location during a raid, strength decided who got it.
One of the pirates gripped his sword and walked forward.
He stopped directly in front of Rook, their faces almost touching.
Two streams of foul-smelling breath blasted from his nostrils.
“Kid, don’t fucking push your luck.”
“Don’t think I don’t know what kind of pathetic bastard you are. You really trying to act tough in front of me?”
Rook narrowed his eyes.
The other pirate was standing off to the side, clearly enjoying the show.
Rook suddenly grinned.
“And what the fuck are you supposed to be?”
The pirate in front of him exploded with anger.
His hand shot toward Rook’s collar.
At that exact moment—
Rook drove his knee upward.
Thud!
It slammed brutally into the man’s groin.
The pirate’s face instantly turned crimson.
A shrill scream erupted from his mouth.
Rook shoved him aside.
Then, taking three steps in the space of two, he charged directly at the pirate who had been watching.
The sudden turn of events left the second man stunned.
He hadn’t expected Rook to be this ruthless.
There was an iron rule aboard the ship forbidding crewmates from seriously injuring one another.
Rook closed the distance.
The pirate hurriedly shouted,
“Stop! We’ll give up this place!”
Rook’s answer was the iron sword being drawn from his waist.
His blade flashed.
The pirate clutched his throat.
His eyes widened in disbelief.
Rook kicked him hard in the chest.
With a heavy impact, the man flew backward, slammed into the wall, and collapsed onto the floor.
Rook spun around.
He rushed back toward the pirate who was kneeling on the ground clutching his groin.
His leg whipped out like a footballer’s full-power shot.
Bang!
His foot smashed into the side of the man’s face.
The heavy impact sent the pirate tumbling sideways across the floor.
Amid his screams, Rook closed in again.
He stomped repeatedly on the back of the pirate’s neck.
With the sound of cracking bone—
The man’s life came to an end.
Rook exhaled.
Two faint currents of warmth rose from deep within his body.
Once again, familiar system notifications appeared directly within his consciousness.
[Notice: Your Hand-to-Hand Combat proficiency has reached the maximum value of Untrained — 10/10. Hand-to-Hand Combat will automatically advance.]
[Notice: Your Hand-to-Hand Combat has advanced from Untrained to Beginner!]
[Notice: Hand-to-Hand Combat — Beginner: 0/100. Next Rank: Proficient.]
Combat memories entirely different from those of Swordsmanship surged from deep within Rook’s consciousness.
Various fundamental fighting stances—
Footwork.
Punching techniques.
Kicks.
Throws.
Grappling methods.
One after another, they appeared in his mind.
At the same time, subtle adjustments occurred throughout his muscles and bones.
The distribution of muscle across his body became tighter and more coordinated.
And as Rook fully grasped the fundamentals of Hand-to-Hand Combat, even his physical senses seemed to become slightly sharper.