“Oh my~ You still noticed me?
I thought I’d hidden myself pretty well!”
A few seconds after Hua Ye spoke, another voice suddenly came from behind him.
Hua Ye turned around.
Someone was climbing over the steep outer wall of the skull-shaped rock formation, using both hands and feet like an enormous spider.
The newcomer wore a top hat wrapped with a strip of golden velvet and a pair of brown sunglasses.
A roguish smile hung on his face.
“I’m impressed you managed to hang out there,” Hua Ye said.
“Hahaha!
This is the highest point on Hachinosu.
The view’s pretty good too.”
The man dusted yellow dirt off his clothes.
Hua Ye had sensed him the moment he came up here.
He simply hadn’t bothered paying attention.
The man had spent the entire time clinging to the nearly vertical rear face of the skull mountain and had heard Hua Ye’s conversation with Kaido from beginning to end.
“Hey, hey!
I wasn’t spying on purpose!
Pure coincidence!” The man spread his hands in defense.
“I come up here to scout all the time.
I’m the Rocks Pirates’ gunman, after all!”
Hua Ye glanced at the two pistols in his hands and recognized him.
Gill Bastar.
A full-fledged member of the Rocks Pirates and the current user of the Paramecia-type Hollow-Hollow Fruit.
He possessed exceptional marksmanship and specialized in fighting with pistols.
“Gill,” Hua Ye said.
“So you’ve heard of me.”
Gill shoved both hands into his pockets and struck a pose that was obviously supposed to look cool.
“I saw you that first day too, back when you were still a kid.
I thought you’d eaten some kind of Grow-Grow Fruit.”
So Gill had been present when Hua Ye first met Rocks and the others.
Hua Ye hadn’t noticed him at all.
“Blut, Reishi…
never heard of any of that before.” Gill grinned.
“You’re sure those aren’t Devil Fruit powers?
And you’re really fine with telling Kaido how your techniques work?”
“You listened very carefully.”
Hua Ye’s expression remained as still as water.
“Whether Kaido knows or you know doesn’t matter.
The information itself is almost meaningless.”
Gill’s mouth twitched.
Fair enough.
Knowing an enemy could use Observation and Armament Haki didn’t magically make the enemy easier to beat.
In the end, you still had to face them head-on.
“Recruiting Kaido while dangling an offer that tempting in front of him…” Gill changed the subject.
“That kind of thing could cause trouble inside the Rocks Pirates.”
“You really are a competent scout.”
Hua Ye looked directly at him.
“…So what?”
“Trying to undermine the Rocks Pirates doesn’t even register as a problem to you?
You’re a scary guy.”
Gill grinned.
Then he suddenly swept one hand outward.
A white, translucent spirit with its tongue hanging out floated into existence and flew straight toward Hua Ye.
A ghost?
Faced with Gill’s sudden attack, Hua Ye only found it amusing.
He already knew that Gill was the Hollow-Hollow Fruit user of this era.
“Aha!”
Gill raised both arms at once, aiming his pistols directly at Hua Ye.
Hua Ye glanced toward the approaching ghost.
So Gill had summoned it first to draw his attention and create an opening to shoot.
Unfortunately for him…
He had chosen the worst possible opponent.
POP!
In a single instant, the ghost abruptly swelled like a bubble and burst apart in midair.
Gill’s eyelid twitched.
Before he could even fire, his arms lost their steadiness.
His mouth opened and a thick stream of blood sprayed out.
“How…
is that possible?!”
Gill dropped to one knee.
Behind his sunglasses, his eyes were filled with shock.
That ghost had been produced by his Devil Fruit.
It possessed no physical body and couldn’t normally be touched.
Gill had become extremely skilled at using ghost-based feints to distract opponents before shooting them.
The tactic was simple, but a technique didn’t need to be complicated if it worked.
Yet what had Hua Ye done?
He hadn’t moved.
He had only looked at the ghost once.
And with that one glance, the ghost had been destroyed.
“Pathetic, Gill.”
A pair of boots entered Gill’s field of vision.
He forced his head upward and saw Hua Ye standing directly in front of him.
Hua Ye looked down at the man who had foolishly attacked him and immediately paid a severe price for it.
“Attacking me with a ghost?
Interesting.”
The quiet words made Gill’s entire body turn cold.
It felt as though he had suddenly fallen into an icy abyss.
“W-Wait!
I was wrong!
Can we call it even?!” Gill immediately begged.
“Kaido doesn’t want the job, but I do!
I’ll become the strongest gun in your arsenal!”
“Oh?”
Hua Ye’s eyes shifted slightly.
“Yes!
Exactly!
The Sternritter, right?” Gill began talking at an incredible speed.
“I’m not even joking, Boss.
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve dreamed of becoming a royal knight!”
According to Gill, when he was a child, he had once seen a procession of knights escorting the king of his homeland.
They rode white horses and wore magnificent silver and golden armor.
Crowds worshipped them wherever they passed, and they looked unbelievably impressive.
The sight had left a profound impression on young Gill.
From that day forward, he dreamed of becoming just as cool one day.
When he grew older, he joined the military.
Because he trained diligently, his marksmanship became outstanding and his physical qualifications easily met the required standards.
But before he could officially take his post, someone stole his identity.
Another man used Gill’s name and became one of the king’s personal knights in his place.
Gill angrily tried to expose the truth.
Instead, he was framed.
They accused him of colluding with pirates, stealing and robbing throughout the kingdom, committing every crime imaginable…
And even violating a female sheep.
With no other choice, Gill fled his homeland.
His dream shattered, he gave up on himself and became a pirate.
Later, the pirate crew he joined was defeated by Rocks, so Gill simply switched sides and joined him.
Gill told the story with such heartfelt emotion and sincerity that he almost managed to convince even himself.
“Is that really what happened?” Hua Ye asked.
He could clearly tell the man was inventing half the story on the spot, but he didn’t bother exposing him.
“Uh…
Even if a few details might’ve been slightly embellished, I’m definitely standing right here!” Gill laughed awkwardly.
“Boss Hua Ye, there’s no future in following Rocks.
Take me instead!”
Hua Ye smiled.
“Very well.
Since you yearn so deeply to become a knight, I’ll grant your wish.”
“Thank you!
Thank you, Boss!”
Gill finally relaxed.
At least his life seemed safe now.
Submit first.
Survive first.
Anything else could be dealt with later.
He couldn’t even tell exactly what Hua Ye had done to him.
All he knew was that he was in horrible pain—pain that seemed to penetrate all the way into his soul.
Then Hua Ye did something Gill hadn’t expected.
He produced a wine cup from somewhere and used the silver five-pointed star pendant tied around his wrist to cut his palm.
Blood dripped into the cup.
Gill’s heartbeat quietly accelerated.
He asked cautiously,
“Boss…
my loyalty is clear to heaven and earth.
We can probably skip that part, right…?”
“People who live outside the law are supposed to value brotherhood, aren’t they?”
Hua Ye handed him the cup.
“Drink this blood wine.
From this day forward, your soul will remain with mine.”
Gill had no choice but to accept it.
Between staying alive while feeling miserable and simply dying on the spot, he knew perfectly well which option to choose.
A pirate’s greatest virtue was knowing when to bend with the wind.
He stared at the blood wine for a moment, gritted his teeth, raised the cup, and drank it all.
Deep within his soul—somewhere Gill himself couldn’t perceive—a Quincy Cross formed from blood.
And upon that cross, a single letter was carved deeply into place…