Interrogation, West Blue 24: OPU Chapter 24: Threat?
Interrogation, West Blue “Next time, I’ll kill ten.” As the cold voice fell, the pirates who still clung to a sliver of hope instantly collapsed.
The massive crowd knelt in unison, their trembling fingers pointing at a pale-faced Hal as they cried and begged for mercy.
“It’s him!
He’s the captain!
We’re just underlings!
He forced us to do it!
Spare us, my lord!
Please spare our lives!” “You!
You traitors!” Hal glared at the boy before him, whose eyes were as cold as ice.
His face was as white as paper, and he cursed with false bravado while his feet uncontrollably backed away.
Kain merely looked at him coldly and spoke.
“You, come here.” Hal’s body suddenly stiffened, the fear in his eyes instantly replaced by a desperate ruthlessness.
He suddenly sprang forward, grabbing Nina, who was cowering in her mother’s arms.
His thick arm tightly choked the girl’s throat, and a short knife gleaming with cold light was instantly pressed against her tender neck.
“Don’t come any closer!” he roared with bloodshot eyes, pressing the knife a fraction closer.
Fine beads of blood immediately seeped from the girl’s neck.
“Take one more step, and I’ll kill her right now!” “Nina!
My baby!” Nina’s mother tried to lunge forward like a madwoman, but Hal viciously kicked her in the chest.
She crashed heavily onto the deck, spitting out a mouthful of blood, only able to watch helplessly as her daughter was taken hostage while letting out desperate whimpers.
Looking at the ferocious Hal, who was using the little girl as his final lifeline, Uchiha Kain’s face didn’t show a single ripple of emotion.
It was as if this hysterical farce before him was no different from stepping on a noisy bug.
Beside him, Yashiro and Yakumi exchanged a glance, an undisguised flash of disdain passing through their eyes.
They were veterans forged in the brutal, blood-soaked battlefields of the ninja world.
The enemies who had fallen by their hands numbered in the hundreds, if not thousands.
Taking an unarmed child as a hostage?
Such a dirty trick was laughably childish in their eyes.
Did he really think ninjas who survived the battlefield were soft-hearted saints?
The people of this world took such cheap tricks far too seriously.
Watching Kain continue to walk toward him expressionlessly, Hal’s confidence instantly deflated.
The hand holding the knife trembled uncontrollably, yet he still stiffened his neck and shouted with false bravado, “Hey!
Look closely!
This is a living child!
Are you really going to watch her die?!
Aren’t you afraid— Ah!!” Before he could finish his ruthless threat, a cold gleam pierced through the air.
A chakra-infused kunai stabbed with absolute precision into his exposed eye, sending blood gushing out instantly.
A heart-tearing scream burst from his throat.
He subconsciously released his grip on the girl’s throat, clutching his bleeding eye socket as he rolled across the deck in agony.
Kain didn’t even spare a glance at the shivering girl cowering to the side.
He walked straight up to Hal, bent down, and casually pulled the kunai out of his eye socket.
“Gah—!!
My eye!
My eye!!” The excruciating pain made Hal tremble like a leaf.
His screams grew increasingly shrill as he rolled around on the blood-stained deck, splashing gore everywhere.
Kain looked at Hal rolling on the ground, his brows furrowing slightly as a flash of undisguised impatience crossed his eyes.
The next second, the Tang Hengdao at his waist was unsheathed.
With a flash of cold light, it pierced straight through Hal’s shoulder blade, pinning him firmly to the deck.
“Shut up.” The cold voice dropped down, carrying an unquestionable pressure.
The blade pressed down another fraction, causing Hal to convulse in pain.
“Scream one more time, and I’ll slice the flesh off your body piece by piece and throw it into the sea to feed the fish.” “Yes…
Yes…
My lord…
Please spare my life…” Pinned to the deck and unable to move, Hal was covered in a mixture of blood and cold sweat.
He bit down hard on his back teeth to suppress the screams in his throat.
His voice trembled terribly, his pleas for mercy cracking.
He could clearly feel the icy killing intent radiating from that blade.
If he made even the slightest mistake, he would lose his head the very next second.
Kain looked down at him, his fingertips pressing on the hilt, his tone so calm it lacked a single ripple.
“Next, I ask, you answer.
Dare to speak a word of nonsense, and I’ll gouge out your other eye too.
Understand?” “Un…
Understand!
Ask whatever you want, my lord!
I will tell you everything I know!
I’ll tell the absolute truth!” Hal nodded hastily, terrified that a half-second delay would bring another bout of excruciating pain.
“What is your bounty?
And who is the strongest person you’ve ever killed?” “Huh?” Hal was instantly dumbfounded, his pain-paled face full of astonishment.
He had anticipated countless types of questions, but he never expected the other party to ask something so irrelevant right off the bat.
Failing to react in time, he froze in place.
But his half-second of hesitation had already angered Kain.
The boy expressionlessly gripped the hilt and mercilessly twisted his wrist.
“Ah—!!!” A heart-tearing scream instantly burst from his throat.
The agonizing pain of the blade grinding against his bone made his entire body convulse, splashing another patch of blood across the deck.
“I’ll talk!
I’ll talk!!” Hal cried, tears and snot streaming down his face as he shouted like a madman.
“My bounty is eight million Berries!
I’ve only ever killed a Marine branch lieutenant!
Nothing else!
Spare me, my lord!!” The force in Kain’s fingertips loosened a fraction, no longer continuing to torture him.
He remained silent for a few seconds before throwing out a series of questions, every word striking Hal’s taut nerves.
“Which of the four seas is this?
How many days’ voyage to the nearest island?
Where is the closest Marine base?
Who is the strongest Marine there?” “It’s the West Blue!
This is the West Blue!” Hal scrambled to answer, terrified of suffering more torture if he was a second too slow.
“The nearest island is Lascamp Island.
Following the ocean current, it takes about a month’s voyage!
The closest Marine base is Branch 74.
The one in charge is a Marine Captain.
I really don’t know his exact name or what abilities he has!” He wailed, pouring out everything he knew all at once.
“I’m just someone scraping by in the nearby waters!
I’ve never dared to touch anyone from the Marine branch!
Please spare me, my lord!
Show mercy and spare my miserable life!” “The West Blue, huh.” Kain muttered softly, his fingertips gently rubbing against the cold hilt.
He lowered his eyes in thought for a moment.
When he looked up again, his gaze fell back onto Hal.
“What year is it in the Sea Circle Calendar?
What is the biggest news making waves across the sea recently?”