Chapter 156: Give Me A Reason Not To Kill You (Please Subscribe Automatically!)
"Who?!" Vergo's normally composed expression shattered for the first time.
A cold sensation pierced his chest out of nowhere—no movement, no warning, not even the ripple of killing intent beforehand.
"Don't you recognize me?" a calm, heavy voice echoed right in front of him.
"It's you…" Vergo's face twisted in disbelief as a cold sweat drenched his uniform. "Didn't you already leave Wanokuni?!"
His whole body tensed with unease. There wasn't a hint of illusion in what he was seeing—Solomon Carl was standing there, very real, very present.
"If I'd left, how could I catch you, bastard?" Carl raised an eyebrow. Deep within his scarlet-glowing eyes, a murderous gleam flashed like a predator finally cornering its prey.
Vergo's body froze. "No—! Vice Admiral Oak Dragon! I can explain!"
His mind raced for a way out. Escape was the only thought. He had no illusions about what the man in front of him could do. He had seen Carl's power firsthand in Punk Hazard and Dressrosa.
"Explain?" Carl's voice was ice-cold as an invisible wave of killing intent flooded the room. He locked eyes with Vergo. "Then give me one good reason not to kill you right here."
"I—I…" Vergo's gaze flicked to the injured Trafalgar Law nearby, and he seized the chance. "That's it! I'm here to hunt pirates! Him! Trafalgar Law—the 'Surgeon of Death'!"
He raised his voice as if trying to convince both Carl and himself. "That's right! He's a member of the Shichibukai, but also a known rebel. He betrayed the Government!"
Carl almost laughed.
"So let me get this straight—you, the G-5 base commander, came all the way to Wanokuni… with Donquixote Family executives… to apprehend another Shichibukai?"
His body leaned forward as the air grew heavy. "Do I look like an idiot to you?"
"Gulp—" Vergo swallowed audibly, cold sweat running down his temple.
"I didn't know Law had already become a Shichibukai! I swear!"
"I've had enough of your bad acting." Carl's grip tightened, and the hardened bamboo shaft in his hand, coated in Armament Haki, cracked and splintered under the strain.
"You can't kill me!" Vergo screamed, his voice almost cracking. "I'm the commander of the G-5 Marine Branch! We're equals in rank! You don't have the authority to kill me!"
But his body instinctively coated itself in full-body Busoshoku Haki, jet-black and dense, the signature style of Vergo's defense—something that once even repelled Law's surprise attack at Punk Hazard.
"That's fine," Carl said, exhaling. "Then we'll settle this like equals."
BOOM!
Carl vanished and reappeared behind Vergo. The blow landed directly on his ribs.
CRACK!
Vergo's body bent sideways like a snapped bamboo pole, launching across the room and slamming violently into the stone wall, leaving a human-shaped crater behind.
Boom!
Dust and debris rained down. Vergo's figure slumped within the rubble, trembling.
Step, step—
Carl walked up to him, eyes still faintly glowing red. "Still alive? I thought that full-body Armament Haki of yours could at least take a kick."
PFFT—
Blood sprayed from Vergo's mouth uncontrollably. The black coating faded from his skin. Deep dents and twisted bone ridges were visible around his waist where the kick landed.
"You… can't kill me…" he muttered, vision blurring as pain overtook him.
"Good," Carl clapped off the dust on his gloves and turned away, glancing at Yamato, who was holding a frightened Momonosuke behind her. "If you'd died here, it would've been embarrassing. You're still technically a Marine, after all."
Then Carl paused beside Law, who was kneeling on the ground, gasping and clutching his abdomen.
"Cough…cough…" Law wheezed. "I was too weak… I'm sorry…"
Carl narrowed his eyes. "You and that damn Flamingo—both Shichibukai. Yet you still got beaten up by one of his lackeys."
Law's eyes flared with fury. The insult stung deeper than any wound.
"I'll kill Donquixote Doflamingo with my own hands," Law said, voice steady with resolve.
"Yeah, yeah," Carl muttered, unimpressed. "Anyway, you're the Op-Op Fruit guy. Heal yourself."
He turned and strode back to Yamato.
"Wait—" Law called out, coughing blood.
Carl turned slightly, eyebrow raised.
"Cough… Thanks. You saved my life… If you hadn't stepped in, I'd be dead."
He bowed his head. "I owe you one."
Carl took out a cigar, lit it with a flick of his thumb, and replied, "Just remember that. I might collect one day."
He paused, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Don't worry. If that day comes, I'll make sure you don't die."
With that, he walked back to Yamato and reached out for Momonosuke.
Law remained on one knee, his mind swirling.
Solomon Carl… what kind of "favor" would a monster like that ever need?
There was only one answer—the Op-Op Fruit's Ultimate Technique: the Perennial Youth Operation, a forbidden ability that could grant eternal life at the cost of the user's own.
Could that really be what he meant?
Would he really ask him to perform the one surgery that would kill him?
Carl said he had a way to make him survive it… but could that possibly be true?
Question after question surfaced in Law's mind.
So much that he forgot to treat himself.
However, Carl didn't even glance at Law.
Instead, delicate pink cherry blossom petals spun into the air, controlled by his Conqueror's Haki-infused intent, gently lifting Vergo's unconscious body from the shattered stone wall. The petals spiraled around, supporting Momonosuke's frail form as Carl prepared to delve deeper into the capital alongside Yamato.
The refinement he needed now depended on something that only Caesar Clown, the twisted genius behind the SMILE experiments, could provide.
But just as Carl took a step forward—
Shing!
A flash of cold light split the void.
Sssaa—!
A gleaming slash ripped through the earth in front of him, a mark of a practiced samurai's hand.
Carl exhaled calmly, smoke trailing from his cigar as he looked at the armored samurai who'd suddenly appeared.
"Who are you…? And why is—why is the heir of the Kozuki clan in your hands?!" Kin'emon barked, his voice heavy and hoarse from battle.
Carl raised an eyebrow, lifting the small, unconscious Momonosuke a little higher with one hand.
"This little guy? Your son?"
"That's right!" Kin'emon declared solemnly, despite the blood leaking from several wounds across his torso and legs.
He stood, swaying slightly, but his gaze was as sharp as any sword.
Suddenly—
"Vergo!" a harsh voice screeched.
Ka-ka-ka!
A jagged stone column erupted beneath Carl's feet.
Carl didn't flinch. He slightly lifted his boot, then stomped down with controlled force.
BOOM!
In Kin'emon's horrified gaze, the ground splintered like glass.
A pitch-black serpent of crackling Haoshoku-infused black lightning roared from the earth, slamming into the intruder—Pica, the Stone-Stone Fruit user from the Donquixote Pirates.
PUFF—!
Pica's body, like a puppet with its strings cut, was flung skyward before crashing to the dirt in a heap.
"Cough… cough…" Pica wheezed, twitching on the ground like a dying fish, black sparks still jumping across his armor-like skin.
That one blow—enhanced with Advanced Conqueror's Haki—had ended the fight before it even began.
"Hey—" Kin'emon inhaled sharply, his eyes widening in disbelief.
Carl casually looked in Pica's direction, then turned back toward the bleeding samurai.
"Your boss… the flamingo," he said, referring to Donquixote Doflamingo, "didn't he ever teach you how to run when you see me?"
Kin'emon's jaw tightened. Carl shifted Momonosuke in his arms.
"You said… this is your son?"
"No—that is, yes," Kin'emon corrected himself, realizing the slip. "This is the child I have sworn to protect. Please… I beg of you. Return him to me."
Carl's eyes narrowed, teasingly.
"But as I recall… his father—Kozuki Oden—died twenty years ago, didn't he?"
Kin'emon's pupils dilated.
"Huh?!" Yamato, standing behind Carl, tilted her head.
Her wide crimson eyes blinked in confusion.
"Wait, wait, hold on—twenty years ago? That's impossible! He's just a kid!"
Although Yamato often ignored politics and social nuance, even she knew something didn't add up.
"You… who exactly are you?!" Kin'emon demanded, both swords trembling in his hands. "How do you know that?!"
"Huh?! Is that true?!" Yamato gasped, her voice full of disbelief.
Carl merely grinned, puffing smoke. "Does it matter? What will you do if I refuse to give him back?"
Kin'emon froze.
He had seen the speed, the power—Carl's capabilities were monstrous.
What could he, a wounded retainer with his Foxfire Style, possibly do?
Still, after a pause, he steadied himself and spoke through gritted teeth:
"I am… a samurai of Wano! I will stand by my duty!"
Carl's brows lifted slightly.
A sharp wave of sword intent surged from Kin'emon's battered form—an aura only true warriors possessed.
"Oh?" Carl said with a glint in his eye. "You're more stubborn than you look."
Sa!
Kin'emon unleashed a cross-shaped Hiken Slash, aimed directly at Carl's wrist.
But—
Carl's voice echoed behind him.
"Even after sensing the difference between us… you still swing your blade."
Kin'emon's eyes widened in confusion—he hadn't even seen him move.
SLASH!
A jet-black slash arced from Carl's blade—from Sakura Ten, the weapon he'd taken from an earlier encounter—cutting cleanly from Kin'emon's shoulder to his hip.
BLOOSH!
A spray of blood fanned across the stones.
Zheng!
Carl slowly sheathed the sword.
"Courage is admirable… but dying for nothing? That's just foolish."
In that moment, the combined pressure of Sword Qi, Armament Haki, and Carl's murderous will overwhelmed Kin'emon.
His eyes rolled back, and he fell to his knees—unmoving.
Carl turned to Yamato, gesturing lightly.
"Let's go."
"Oh… right," Yamato replied, taking one last glance at Kin'emon's body before following Carl into the shadows of the castle.
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