Here they come!
The Hell Pirates.
Laffitte’s appearance did not cause Hawkins’s expression to change drastically.
He had a premonition, guessing that he might be targeted; news reports said that the Hell Pirates previously specialized in hunting down fellow pirate factions in West Blue and South Blue.
Aside from high bounties, there were also some rookies.
His pirate crew was now beginning to gain a modest reputation in North Blue as well.
“Quite composed.
Do you know that you won’t die?” Laffitte teased.
All around, Hawkins’s subordinates successively drew their weapons and took up fighting stances.
Laffitte did not make a rash move.
Instead, he cast his gaze in a certain direction.
Following his line of sight, Hawkins caught sight of the legendary Demon Swordsman, Skyler.
The Captain of the Hell Pirates.
Skyler was walking over unhurriedly…
Even separated by a great distance, that intangible sense of oppression still caused Hawkins to frown slightly.
“What price needs to be paid for you to let go of my crew members?” Hawkins glanced at Laffitte.
His divination results showed that everyone except himself would die.
The outcome was irreversible, but he still wanted to try.
“No.
There are some inferior fruits on your ship that need to be cleared out, whereas you are different from them.
You are a potential individual who has not yet matured, yet emits an alluring fruity aroma.
Moreover…
I can’t call the shots on this kind of matter.” Laffitte shrugged at him and laughed.
Fruits?
Hawkins was suspicious inwardly.
“There are still many pirate crews in North Blue whose strength surpasses ours.
Why not go after them?” Hawkins asked again.
“I’ve worked very hard to understand our Captain, but I’m sorry, sometimes even I cannot fathom some of his thoughts.
As for why we are looking for you, naturally it’s because you are different…
This is our Captain’s amusement, a tiny little quirk of his.” Seeing that Skyler had already arrived close by, Laffitte immediately bowed respectfully.
“Captain, run quickly!”
Several officers on Hawkins’s ship said in deep voices.
Standing on strict guard.
Even if death was already predestined, they had to die a worthy death, at least buying time for the Captain to let him escape.
“It’s useless.”
Hawkins said, while simultaneously glancing at Laffitte.
Flipped over a card in his hand.
Win rate: 41%!
Success rate: 8%!
Too low.
He originally thought that he would not die, so no matter what happened, he didn’t need to worry about his life and safety.
Since that was the case, he could attack Demon Sheriff Laffitte to see if he could kill the other party.
Setting aside the factors of the current situation, if he and Laffitte fought one-on-one, the win rate was only forty percent, which indicated that the other party’s strength was slightly higher than his.
And if he launched a sudden sneak attack right now, the success rate would be less than ten percent!
After all, Demon skyler would not sit by and do nothing.
Hum.
As he was thinking, abruptly, Hawkins’s full head of long golden hair whipped up with a gust of wind, fluttering behind his head.
Time and space seemed to have frozen.
A slash of sword light full of murderous intent swept horizontally across.
Even his torso was brushed past.
Hawkins’s body trembled, and he still sat motionlessly on the stone steps, but beneath his clothes, the flesh and skin spewed out a straw doll emitting black smoke, palm-sized, which dropped to the ground.
Just a moment ago, he had already died once.
Killed with a single blade stroke.
The air grew quiet, and the pirates who were ready to make a big move just a second ago all died suddenly.
Without even letting out a scream.
Hawkins looked at his companions’ corpses and remained silent.
For these crew members, the fortunate thing about this method of death was that there was no pain, because Skyler’s blade was too fast.
Such a slash was enough to show that Demon skyler was a master swordsman he could not match.
At least for now.
“Straw-Straw Fruit…
A pretty good ability.
At your current level, the number of substitute bodies you have shouldn’t be many.
Ten?
Or twenty?”
Finally, Skyler stood firmly in front of Hawkins and spoke.
“You can’t kill me.”
The blonde man pinched another divination card in his hand.
Mortality rate: 0.
The result of the re-divination made Hawkins feel certain inside.
Upon finishing his words, Hawkins’s physical body suddenly began to expand, his physique growing against the wind and gradually enlarging, the flesh, skin, bones, and tendons beneath his clothes all turning into withered straw branches, vividly resembling a giant scarecrow.
However, before he could successfully complete his transformation and stimulate his ability, Hawkins’s vision was flooded with streaks of dark light, unable to see anything clearly…
Skyler’s blade slashed onto his body again and again; every time a cut just appeared on the scarecrow’s body, it would eerily recover as before.
Merely setting aside the sharp blade, the power erupted from each of Skyler’s slash attacks was like a large hammer striking Hawkins’s body, making him unable to stop retreating repeatedly.
Clack, clack!
In less than half a minute, a large number of scarecrow substitute dolls burned down and fell to the ground, landing near his feet.
Bang!
While Hawkins was still unable to gather strength to counterattack, Skyler directly kicked out, causing the former to crash into the plaza’s stone platform, kicking up a cloud of powder and debris.
This time, Hawkins let out a painful muffled groan.
“It seems your substitutes are gone.”
The voice sounded, and the Teigu Black Blade was hurled flying out, precisely piercing Hawkins’s lower abdomen.
“Ah!”
The tall, terrifying scarecrow screamed, and strands of straw retracted one by one, changing back into Hawkins’s original form.
“The result of your divination being 0 is because I temporarily don’t want to kill you, not because some mishap will occur and someone will come to save you…
Don’t get it wrong.” Skyler walked over slowly, lowering his head to examine Hawkins lying on the ground, and instructed in a commanding tone: “Bring your pirate crew to the New World to find me.
I will only give you five years.
When the five-year time limit ends, if you can’t do it, I will come to find you, to kill me, or be killed by me.”
Hearing this, Hawkins’s expression changed slightly.
What does that mean?
The reason this man sought him out was precisely to have him kill him one day?
Lunatic!
Hawkins muttered inwardly.
Snap.
Having spoken, Skyler pulled out the long blade stuck in the latter’s body, flicked the bloodstains off the blade, and turned to leave.
“Please do not live down our Captain’s expectations.
In the near future, a new Emperor will appear on this vast sea, an absolute overlord…
The only hope for you and the others to survive is to head to the New World.
As long as you remain a pirate and strive to grow stronger, sooner or later you will reach the second half of the Grand Line…
I must remind you here, even if you shed this outer garment of a pirate and choose to escape, once the time limit arrives, you will still die…
and you will die even more miserably.”
Seeing Laffitte, who had bright red lips, also say a sentence with a chuckle before walking away with Demon skyler.
He couldn’t help but fall into deep contemplation.
Others?
Emperor of the Sea…
referring to the Hell Pirates, who currently consisted of only two people?
How could that be!
Too arrogant.
Thinking this, Hawkins laborantly propped up his body with his hands, covered his wound, and walked in the opposite direction.