While Hua Ye and Rocks were still sailing across the sea, a small incident occurred back on Hachinosu…
“Submit…
or die!”
Inside a dimly lit tavern, the atmosphere was unusually tense.
A large number of people were present.
Some wore grim expressions, while others watched with uncertainty.
Most, however, remained seated around the edges of the room.
At the center of the tavern, shattered tables, chairs, and broken bottles covered the floor.
Everyone’s attention was focused on two men.
One was on top of the other.
More precisely, one man was straddling the other and forcibly pinning him against the broken floorboards.
The man on top looked unbearably arrogant.
The one trapped underneath him was furious.
“What happened?
They were drinking normally a minute ago.
Why’d they suddenly start fighting?”
“Wasn’t sudden.
I know those two.
They’ve had bad blood for a while.
It just finally exploded today.”
“This isn’t their first fight, right?”
“Hey, Basad!
Didn’t that guy beat your ass not long ago?
You came back for revenge already?”
“Hahaha!
Nine, get the hell up and fight!
What are you doing, idiot?
You really gonna let Basad sit on your head like that?!”
‘These bastards!’
The man named Nine clenched his fist.
The instant Basad noticed, he didn’t hesitate.
BAM!
BAM!
Several punches crashed into Nine’s face.
Nine screamed, his head spinning from the blows.
“Hey!
Remember what happened a while back?” Basad glared down at him.
“You stole my money!”
Nine finally recovered enough to snarl back.
“So what?!
If a pirate isn’t going to kill people and rob them, why the hell go out to sea?
Go home and play pretend instead!”
“That’s exactly right!”
Basad suddenly burst out laughing.
“You were stronger than me, so there was nothing I could do about it.”
His grin widened.
“Now I’m stronger than you.
So…
are you willing to die?”
“If you’re going to become a pirate…”
Nine spoke slowly, but his eyes secretly shifted toward the hand Basad had planted against his chest.
Basad’s sleeve had been rolled all the way to his shoulder, exposing a heavily muscled arm.
But that wasn’t what caught Nine’s attention.
Around Basad’s right wrist was a thin silver chain, wrapped several times around his arm.
Nine had no idea what it was.
A decoration?
Then why couldn’t he resist at all?
Just a few days ago, Basad had been weaker than him.
When they’d run into each other in the tavern today, Nine had been ready to throw out a few mocking remarks and humiliate the loser whose money he’d stolen.
But after a single exchange, the world suddenly spun around him.
The next thing he knew, he was flat on the floor.
“Why did you get so much stronger?!” Nine finally demanded.
“A dead man is talking.”
Basad’s right hand clamped around Nine’s throat.
His left hand reached to his wrist.
He didn’t seem to use any force at all.
He simply pulled outward.
WHOOSH!
A mass of deep blue light suddenly illuminated the tavern, washing over every face in the room.
A bow.
A massive blue bow had appeared from nowhere.
BANG!!
Nine’s head burst apart like a watermelon.
Blood and pale fragments splattered across the floor.
Where his head had been, a blue arrow now stood buried halfway into the wooden boards, its shaft stained red with fresh blood.
The tavern went completely silent.
Everyone stared at Basad’s vicious expression.
Nobody spoke.
They had seen everything clearly.
Basad had somehow summoned a bow and arrow, then killed Nine with it.
People died in every corner of Hachinosu.
Taverns were especially common places for that sort of thing.
Nine’s death itself meant nothing.
The power Basad had used was what caught everyone’s attention.
Basad kicked Nine’s corpse aside and stood.
He slapped at his clothes, though the bloodstains were obviously not going anywhere.
He had come here for revenge.
Now that Nine was dead, there was no reason to remain.
“Hey, kid.”
Basad had just taken his first step when someone called out to him.
He turned his head toward a shadowed corner of the tavern.
Someone was sitting there, watching him.
That presence alone made Basad instinctively cautious.
“…What?” he answered casually.
“That power of yours looks familiar,” a deep, hoarse voice said from within the darkness.
“Does it?”
Basad offered no real reaction.
“Hachinosu hasn’t been peaceful lately.
More people have been dying than usual.
Someone trying to do something?”
“What’s that got to do with me?
I just came here to kill somebody.”
Basad shoved both hands into his pockets and walked out without another glance at anyone in the tavern.
After a short silence, the room gradually became noisy again.
The pirates now had a fresh topic of conversation besides their usual drunken boasting.
Most still didn’t think much of it.
In the darkness, however, the man who had spoken to Basad pulled out a lighter.
Click.
A small flame appeared and briefly illuminated his face.
He wore an expensive black suit and sat in a wide chair with one leg crossed over the other, polished leather shoes resting on the table.
He extinguished the lighter, placed a cigar between his lips, and began smoking.
A moment later, someone quietly approached from behind.
“Boss.
We finished gathering information.
According to our investigation, there have recently been multiple cases of pirate crews absorbing one another, revenge killings, and thefts across the island.”
“Normally none of that would matter.
But there’s one strange detail.”
“Most of the people leading these incidents share the same trait…”
The subordinate lowered his voice.
“They all fight with bows and arrows.”
The man in the black suit said nothing.
Something flickered in his deep-set eyes.
Bows?
Compared with firearms and artillery, bows were hopelessly outdated.
The only famous group that still used them on a large scale was probably Amazon Lily.
Coincidentally, the Rocks Pirates did have a woman from that kingdom among their ranks.
But…
Basad was a man.
He’d never heard of any famous male archers fitting this pattern.
Could someone be deliberately framing another faction?
“Organize every piece of information we’ve collected and report it to the Godfather,” the suited man ordered.
“Yes!”
The subordinate left.
The man remained seated alone for a while.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt currents moving beneath the surface.
Someone hidden in the shadows might be preparing something.
Hachinosu was not going to remain calm much longer.
* * *
“Come out!”
Basad suddenly stopped in the middle of the street and shouted behind himself.
Several seconds later, a handful of people stepped into view.
The moment Basad saw them, irritation flashed through his eyes.
“I’ve already told you.
I prefer working alone.
I’m not joining you, Erin!”
“Maybe that’s true…”
The woman leading the group spread her arms and smiled.
“But we’re all Quincy.”
“So what?
Is that supposed to be some kind of honor?” Basad snapped.
“Don’t forget how we got this power.”
The woman’s expression stiffened.
How had they gotten it?
Did that even need to be said?
They had been beaten into the ground by that existence, threatened, and left with no real choice but to accept.
She didn’t even dare think his name too clearly in her own mind.
The slightest thought of him made her blood tremble.
“Ahem!
The process doesn’t matter!
The result is that we gained power!”
Erin raised one hand.
A blue Reishi bow appeared in her grip.
The people following her did the same.
Fanatical expressions spread across their faces.
“The Quincy are the strongest race!
Our power surpasses Devil Fruits and Haki!
We’re the same kind now.
Other pirates are the enemy!”
“Our numbers are expanding rapidly.
Before long, nobody will be able to ignore our existence!”
Her smile widened.
“…Even Hachinosu will belong to us!”
Basad sneered and opened his mouth, ready to mock these idiots.
Then a shout from the distance interrupted him.
“ROCKS IS BACK!!!”
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