Hua Ye walked through the streets of Hachinosu.
The island truly deserved to be called Pirate Island.
Chaos could be found practically everywhere.
He hadn’t even been out of the tavern for long before witnessing at least three separate fights to the death.
Pirates were impulsive by nature.
Starting a battle because of a single disagreement was completely normal here.
The island had become something resembling the natural world, governed by the same brutal and honest rules as a wilderness filled with beasts.
The strong won.
The weak became rotting corpses tossed into the sea.
Thinking about it that way, a place like Shakky’s tavern, where everyone was forced to obey at least one rule, actually had some value.
It could almost be considered a small patch of neutral ground.
Ahead of Hua Ye, another group had gotten into an argument.
A massive wooden barrel had been smashed apart.
Liquor flowed across the ground, soaking into the dirt.
Every gust of wind carried the strong scent of alcohol through the air.
“Kaido!
Don’t get too damn arrogant!
You’ve only been with us for a few years, and you already dare disrespect Lord Red-Eye?!”
“Exactly!
You spilled his alcohol, so get on your knees and apologize!
You think you can just pretend nothing happened?”
“And don’t think anybody’s afraid of you just because you’re close to Charlotte Linlin!
You’re nothing but a bastard who climbed up by clinging to a woman!”
Several pirates shouted from the crowd as they surrounded a single man, apparently demanding an explanation.
Kaido was extremely tall, standing out from the crowd immediately.
Hua Ye spotted him at a glance.
Kaido wore an impatient expression that suggested he was about to start swinging.
‘Young Kaido?
Interesting.’
At only twenty years old, this Kaido was little more than a juvenile version in Hua Ye’s eyes.
He couldn’t compare to the monster he would become decades later.
“Huh?
You idiots have been yapping forever.” Kaido rested a kanabo across his shoulder.
“At the end of the day, you just want to fight me, don’t you?!”
Hua Ye’s thoughts suddenly wandered in a completely different direction when he saw the weapon.
If he remembered correctly, Kaido had basically used a kanabo from childhood all the way into old age.
Had that same iron club really followed him for his entire life?
And if Hua Ye destroyed it right now…
What would Kaido use instead?
Would the future Emperor suddenly become a swordsman?
“Kaido, you really are one disobedient little brat.”
A huge, heavily built man stood up.
He wore a mask that revealed only a pair of scarlet eyes.
Two streaks resembling bloody tear marks ran down the mask, giving him an especially sinister appearance.
A pair of spiked steel gauntlets covered his fists, their surfaces gleaming with a metallic sheen.
He was even a head taller than Kaido.
“Hahaha!
Lord Red-Eye is pissed!”
“Kaido, you’re finished!”
“You still aren’t apologizing?!”
“Get on your knees and call him ‘Lord’!
Maybe he’ll let you live!”
The surrounding small fry immediately became excited.
At the same time, they very sensibly backed away and cleared space for their boss.
Hua Ye found the scene rather amusing.
Kaido really hadn’t commanded much respect in his younger days.
Some random pirate nobody had apparently felt comfortable provoking him.
Then again, even Katakuri, Charlotte Linlin’s second son, had been bullied and mocked when he was young.
Pirates truly did live however they pleased.
Say whatever you wanted.
Do whatever you wanted.
Bully the weak.
Fear the strong.
CLANG!
A violent impact suddenly rang out ahead, sending a shockwave rolling across the area.
Kaido and the man called Red-Eye had already started fighting.
Fists and feet collided again and again, every exchange producing heavy, muffled booms.
Red-Eye was much older and had obviously been on Hachinosu long before Kaido arrived.
He probably couldn’t stand watching a newcomer earn recognition so quickly and constantly associate with monsters like Rocks.
Bzzzt—
Hua Ye extended his index finger.
He didn’t need a bow.
Reishi gathered directly at his fingertip, allowing him to release a Heilig Pfeil from there.
A deep blue arrow shot from his finger and streaked toward the two fighters like a meteor.
“Who’s there?!”
Red-Eye noticed first.
He twisted around, saw the blue arrow approaching from behind, and raised one massive fist to smash it away.
The instant his fist made contact—
BOOM!
The arrow exploded into a five-pointed star of blue light.
Smoke swallowed the area.
Kaido retreated several steps.
Then, in the next instant, an enormous expanse of blue light spread across the sky above his head.
He looked up.
The heavens had been dyed a deep azure.
A gigantic blue bow had formed high overhead, its curved body spanning the sky as the string drew taut.
Countless glowing particles like fireflies converged toward one another, attracted and compressed together.
A massive arrow formed against the bowstring, its point aimed directly downward as brilliant light flowed across its surface.
Kaido’s eyes widened.
The next second, the enormous Heilig Pfeil thundered down and slammed into the earth.
But Kaido wasn’t its target.
Following the arrow’s trajectory, he saw someone standing nearby become engulfed in the blast.
“WHO WAS THAT?!”
Red-Eye burst out of the blue smoke with a furious roar.
He had suffered a few injuries and his clothes were torn and ragged, but the damage itself wasn’t serious.
Being ambushed, however, had enraged him.
He ground the spikes of his metal gauntlets together impatiently.
Kaido ignored him and kept staring ahead.
As the wind cleared the smoke, a figure gradually came into view.
“Hua…
Ye?”
Kaido froze.
The person standing there was indeed Hua Ye.
A long blue sword had been driven into the ground directly in front of him.
The blade was formed entirely from luminous Reishi.
It had a sleek profile, long and straight through most of its length before widening toward the tip, while blue patterns flowed across it like energy frozen into solid form.
Hua Ye reached out and wrapped his hand around the hilt.
A massive X-shaped guard separated the handle from the blade.
This was the very arrow that had just fallen from the sky.
Upon striking the ground, it had transformed into a sword of light—a sacred Reishi blade summoned by Hua Ye.
He pulled the glowing greatsword free and began walking toward them.
Once Kaido spoke his name, the surrounding pirates finally recognized him as well.
“Hua Ye?
That super rookie who just joined the Rocks Pirates?”
“He didn’t join, did he?”
“Then what’s he doing here?”
“Wait…
didn’t he just attack Boss Red-Eye?”
The pirates looked at one another, completely unable to understand what Hua Ye intended as he approached.
Red-Eye narrowed his eyes.
He didn’t understand either, but Hua Ye wasn’t like Kaido.
This was a man who had exchanged blows directly with Rocks.
“What do you—AAARGH!!”
He had barely opened his mouth before his eyes bulged and a horrific scream tore from his throat.
Hua Ye casually swung the sword.
A deep blue arc flashed like lightning.
Red-Eye’s lower body was severed cleanly from the rest of him.
He crashed into a pool of blood, reduced to a crippled torso.
“AAAAARGH!”
Red-Eye screamed over and over as he dragged what remained of his body through the blood.
He couldn’t understand why any of this was happening.
Using the last of his strength, he begged,
“S-Sorry…
Please spare me…
I’ve been on this island for almost ten years…”
Hua Ye swung again.
This time, the blade passed across his throat.
Red-Eye clutched desperately at his neck as blood sprayed between his fingers, then collapsed face-first onto the ground.
In the final moments of his life, only a trace of despair remained in his eyes.