The courtyard was an inferno. The crackle of the raging fire filled the air as the wooden structures and fences were rapidly consumed. The flames danced across the faces of the thugs, their lips pulled back in cold sneers as they watched the scene.
"He's dead, right? Under a simultaneous attack from that many rocket launchers… Plus, to stop him from using that escape ability of his, we replaced the four walls and the floor of that room with Seastone. Not even a Marine Admiral could have gotten out of that! Hahaha!"
"Heeheehee! That's right! Inside that room, as long as he was standing on the floor, he couldn't use his powers. And without his stamina, he can't turn into his element either. All he could do was wait to die. On top of that, we added Wapol Metal into the mix. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all made of the alloy and Seastone—some of the hardest materials in the world. It's impossible to break through in a short amount of time. And the magnetic field generated by the special all-encompassing walls would affect him even if he could float, thanks to the Seastone! Heeheehee…"
All eyes were fixed on the flame-choked courtyard. Within the inferno, the blurry shadow of something could be seen visibly withering and collapsing.
A sizzling sound filled the air—the sound of a swamp having its moisture rapidly boiled away by the intense heat.
"Heh… It's a bit of a shame if he really died that easily. But even if he's not dead, he can't be feeling too good, right?" Peale, the underground bounty hunter with the tattoo on his face, flashed a wicked grin as he stared into the sea of fire.
The courtyard was deathly silent, save for the crackling of the burning buildings. The thick, heavy flames filled the entire space, obscuring everything within.
BOOM!
In the dead silence, the fire suddenly exploded outward. The smile on Peale's face froze, and the wild, excited laughter of the others died in their throats.
A storm erupted from the center of the flames, sweeping outwards. Blossoms of fire were blasted into the sky, where they tumbled a few times before vanishing without a trace.
"Great Serpent."
A flat, icy voice emerged from within, followed by the approach of rhythmic, steady footsteps. Wilder's figure walked out of the fire, his expressionless gaze falling upon the crowd.
"How is that possible?!"
Peale's face instantly turned hideous. He stared intently at the completely unscathed Wilder, his voice sharp and high-pitched.
The flames gradually died down. The courtyard was gone. The room constructed of alloy and Seastone was now nothing but a twisted, glowing-red metal shell.
He had to admit, the power of those rocket launchers was truly immense; they had shattered the Seastone into fragments in an instant. The metal, however… was quite impressive. But… how should he put it? The idea of making one-inch-thick walls out of Seastone was certainly a good one, but these thugs had probably never considered—or had simply overlooked—one crucial point: just as a tall bamboo stalk sways, a large, thin sheet of Seastone cannot be guaranteed to maintain its structural integrity.
Wilder was grateful.
"I really… must thank you for sparing my life." He lifted his head, and a network of crimson veins spread across the whites of his eyes.
"Tch! It can't be helped… I don't know what went wrong, but it seems there's no turning back now." After speaking, Peale glanced around. "How long are you all going to watch?"
As his words fell, several figures emerged from the shadows of the surrounding streets.
The undercover Marine agent, hidden in his corner, watched them emerge one by one, nervous sweat trickling down his face as he muttered in shock and tension.
"That's… Peale's second-in-command in the underground bounty hunters, Bronze Tree!"
"And the third-in-command… known as the Blood Blade Butcher and the Bloodthirsty Hunter… Hoss!"
"Even those other notorious villains are here…"
"The great pirate with a bounty of 300 million, Kuifu the Shaver!"
"The gunslinger with a bounty of 280 million, Luda!"
"And that's…"
With each name he spoke, the young Marine's voice trembled a little more. When he saw the last person, his face turned deathly pale.
"Soria of the Greatsword, with a bounty of 420 million!"
The cold, imposing man with a greatsword on his back strode in from the street on the right, slowly drawing the massive blade as he walked.
His icy aura made the surrounding thugs instinctively part to form a path. Following him was Kuifu the Shaver, a large, bald, muscular man with a wide grin plastered on his face.
Next came Luda the Gunslinger, wearing a cowboy hat and carrying two antique-style pistols, with a dagger tucked into his belt.
After him was Peale's second-in-command, Bronze Tree, a man with sly, fox-like eyes and delicate features.
The third-in-command, Hoss, was a tall, powerfully built young man with a simple, honest smile, looking almost foolishly harmless. In his hands, he held a massive butcher's cleaver.
As soon as they arrived, the scene fell silent. Even the previously boisterous thugs held their breath. When it came to true villainy, these were the real deal!
Whether with cold sneers or blank expressions, they all drew their weapons and surrounded Wilder. The numerous thugs in the area also surged forward, aiming their weapons at him with malicious grins.
"Rocket launchers, machine guns… you seem to have some impressive supply channels." Wilder, acting as if he hadn't noticed he was the target of all these weapons, took out a cigarette and lit it. He took a drag, exhaled a long stream of smoke, and then his eyes slowly turned to ice.
The rage he had suppressed all day finally erupted without restraint. A terrifying aura, so potent it seemed to become tangible, washed out from his body. In an instant, countless thugs' eyes rolled back into their heads, and they collapsed without a shred of resistance.
"Are you ready… for what's coming?"
His cold, deep voice seemed to carry the chilling air of the underworld, causing the ambient temperature to plummet to freezing.
Watching his men collapse without warning, Peale gritted his teeth, his face ugly. His eyes held a murderous ferocity. "Get him!"
In an instant, the major villains and Peale's two top subordinates moved.
"Allow me to be your opponent, Lucifer Wilder." A gentle breeze whispered silently behind Wilder. Soria of the Greatsword had appeared behind him, the massive blade in his hands as light as the wind. Even the moment he swung it, the motion was as placid as still water, creating no disturbance, making no sound.
Yet this placid, light slash, sweeping in from behind, gave Wilder a feeling of extreme danger.
"Interesting."
Wilder stood motionless, not even turning his head. The aura around him suddenly retracted, leaving not a single ripple.
"Hm?"
Soria's pupils contracted. He forcefully pulled back the sweeping greatsword and leaped away, moving like a gust of wind to put distance between them. From afar, he watched Wilder with vigilance.
"A natural instinct…" Wilder shot him a sidelong glance, but he didn't release his aura again. At that moment, the towering figure of Kuifu the Shaver had already formed a knife-hand, leaped into the air, and was pouncing down with a savage grin.
"Hahaha! Die, Wilder!"
"Get back!" Soria shouted urgently from a distance, but it was too late.
"Great Serpent—Hundred Rush Fist!" A cold arc pulled at the corner of Wilder's mouth, his voice so low it was almost inaudible. A ferocious power burst forth from his body, from the inside out, transforming into countless transparent, white-glowing fist imprints that shot out in every direction, leaving no blind spots.
The dense barrage of white fists combined to look like a simple explosive shockwave, except this one was composed of countless elongated streams of force that continuously pushed and struck outwards.
Kuifu bore the full brunt of it, enveloped by the nearly gapless storm of white shockwaves!
BOOM!
After a series of impacts that blended into a single, deafening roar, the shockwave dissipated, leaving only wisps of a violent wind still raging in the air.
The surroundings looked as if they had been ravaged by some cataclysmic disaster. The ground was a pockmarked wasteland, with countless craters radiating out from where Wilder stood. Dust and smoke, like that from an explosion, rose continuously from the bottomless, fist-imprinted holes.
"Hey, hey, he didn't just die like that, did he?" The others, their hearts still pounding with fear, halted their intended charge, forcing smiles as they surveyed the devastation.
In that moment, they truly abandoned the confidence that came from their superior numbers. Their hearts grew heavy.
In that moment, without a word being said, they understood why this man had such a high bounty in the underworld. They truly shed the arrogance that came from their numbers, and their hearts grew heavy.
His very first move had caused such terrifying destruction. Looking at the surrounding environment, they all felt a little worried for Kuifu—not because they cared if he died, but because they feared that losing an ally would make dealing with this man even more dangerous.
As the mastermind of the operation, Peale used the lull to cast a few subtle glances at the others. They received the signal and understood, their faces remaining impassive.
They had never underestimated Wilder from the start. Before this plan, they had already prepared for the worst-case scenario. If things went south, they would have to use their trump card.
Heh… I hope we don't have to use it, Peale thought, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.
"Go!" They certainly weren't going to abandon the mission, nor were they so easily frightened by the initial attack. When they moved again, their vigilance was heightened, their defenses raised.
Just then, a few weak coughs came from the ruins. A massive boulder was overturned, and Kuifu's tall figure stood up, swaying slightly. There were several caved-in fist imprints on his chest, and his chin was stained red with blood he had coughed up. But he shook his head, and once his consciousness cleared, he let out an excited laugh.
"Hahaha! Interesting! So interesting! This is what makes it fun! You really hurt me! I almost died! Hahaha!"
BOOM! Kuifu stomped his feet on the ground and charged forward like a human cannonball. His expression was crazed, a laugh that could be either excitement or rage tearing from his throat, his eyes wild and savage.
Along with the others, he attacked Wilder at the same time.
"Then I'll finish you first."
Wilder's gaze locked onto the charging Kuifu. His eyes narrowed, and his body vanished.
Squelch!
The next moment, Kuifu's body froze in mid-air. His body and his expression went rigid.
A sharp spike, coated in Armament Haki, had pierced clean through his chest.
In the next instant, his rapidly charging body crashed heavily to the ground.
"How…?" Kuifu raised a hand, as if trying to grasp something. His face was filled with confusion, as if he couldn't understand what had just happened.
But the light in his eyes faded rapidly. His hand fell limply to his side. Even in death, his eyes were filled with thick disbelief.
"What just happened?" The others stopped, their faces ugly. In that instant, all they saw was Wilder's body disappear. By the time they tried to track him again, they saw Kuifu, who had been charging at high speed from another direction, suddenly crash to the ground. The entire process took less than the blink of an eye; no one had time to react.
"How can his speed be that insane?! And Kuifu was moving at top speed! How is that possible?"
They were still in disbelief, their gazes turning back to Wilder, who had already reappeared in his original spot. Their pupils contracted once more.
To leave his spot, kill a powerful, high-speed opponent at least forty meters away, and return to his original position in less than a second—that wasn't something a human could do!
"Is Wilder… really that strong?" Luda the Gunslinger murmured, as if in shock. The thought of retreat began to sprout in his eyes.
That thought seemed to be contagious. The aggressive momentum the group had at the beginning instantly deflated.
"No good… this is really no good. Tsehehehe! Gentlemen…" Peale began to laugh in a low voice, but the laughter gradually faded. He looked at the others, a crazed and resolute light in his eyes.
"The intel seriously underestimated this guy's strength. I don't care how he achieved that speed, but now… if we want to live, we can't hesitate. If we keep fighting in our current state… we'll most likely be picked off one by one. And nobody wants to see that happen, right?" His last sentence became a low growl.
His words made their expressions shift uncertainly. Only Soria of the Greatsword stepped forward expressionlessly and plunged his massive blade into the earth. "You have a point. In that case… let's begin."
With that, he took a syringe from his clothes and, without hesitation, plunged it into a vein in his arm, pushing the plunger all the way down and injecting the entire contents.
Seeing this, the others seemed to make up their minds. They each took out an identical syringe and injected the liquid into their bodies.
"Tsehehehe! It's starting! I can already feel that power."
"Heh heh…"
"This feeling… it's truly addicting."
Changes quickly appeared in the men. Their faces twisted into expressions of euphoric excitement, but their eyes were gradually consumed by red. A terrifying aura erupted from each of them.