"Dying to this form of mine is just your rotten luck. I'm going to tear you to pieces, bit by bit," Oliver snarled, his bloodthirsty demeanor genuinely somewhat intimidating.
Too bad Bardock had seen the world. Was he really going to be scared by a Cat-Cat Fruit? "You have a Devil Fruit. With your strength, the Night Wolf Gang shouldn't be confined to just this little slice of territory. Why haven't you expanded?"
"Hmph, what do you know! No matter how big the territory is, it's still just the underworld. And as long as you're in the underworld, you can never step into the light. But as long as I keep cooperating with Adrian, within three to five years, I'll definitely become a noble! When that time comes, whatever gangs or mafias are out there won't even be fit to tie my shoes!"
"Oh? A mere viscount like Adrian has that kind of power?" Bardock asked, his curiosity piqued. He wasn't in a rush to strike just yet.
"Since only one of us is walking out of here alive, I don't mind telling you. Viscount Adrian serves the Ilusia Royal Family directly. He..."
Oliver's voice grew fainter, making his last few words inaudible. Bardock leaned in, just about to ask him to repeat himself.
Right at that moment, Oliver made his move. He lunged in front of Bardock, his clawed hands swiping in a rapid, blinding flurry.
He had used this exact move on the boss of the rival Fang Gang. In less than five seconds, the man had been shredded to ribbons.
"Gyahahaha!" Feeling absolute victory in his grasp, Oliver let out a psychotic laugh.
"What exactly are you so smug about?"
Bardock's calm voice made every single hair on Oliver's body stand on end. He frantically leaped backward, putting a safe distance between them.
"Impossible! I couldn't have felt it wrong. Every single strike connected perfectly! How are you completely uninjured?!" Oliver gasped.
"Didn't you shred my clothes?" Bardock casually tossed aside a tattered strip of fabric, sighing slightly. "Tekkai is pretty damn useful, but it really ruins your wardrobe. Alright, my turn. Soru!"
Bardock vanished, instantly reappearing right in front of Oliver, and drove a fist straight toward his chest.
'I absolutely cannot take that hit!' Oliver panicked. The punch was so fast and ferocious that a direct impact would spell his end. He used every ounce of strength he had to scramble backward while crossing his arms tightly over his chest to block.
Bang!
Oliver was sent flying backward. His left arm, which had taken the brunt of the blow, hung limply at his side—definitely fractured. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, his eyes turned completely bloodshot as he roared, "Cut the lights! Turn off the lights right now!"
This was his final trump card. The Cat-Cat Fruit granted him perfect night vision. No one had ever pushed him this far, but he swore he was going to make this brat die a gruesome death in the dark.
With a loud clack, the mansion plunged into absolute darkness. The entire first floor was surprisingly windowless.
"Oh my, thank goodness I completely smashed the front doors on my way in, otherwise I wouldn't be able to see a single thing~" Bardock's tone was incredibly sarcastic. He had been aiming for Admiral Kizaru's signature mocking drawl, but while he didn't quite nail the impression, the sheer disrespect was certainly felt.
"Let's see how much of that strength you can use in the dark! Die!" Oliver sneered.
He silently prowled behind Bardock. This time, instead of slashing with his claws, he aimed a brutal open-palm strike squarely at the back of Bardock's head. He needed to end this instantly before the boy's eyes could adjust to the darkness.
Yet, that fatal strike completely missed. Because he had put so much force into the swing, hitting empty air caused him to stumble heavily forward.
'Oh, crap!'
In the very next second, Bardock's counterattack violently struck his neck. Oliver felt his cervical spine shatter as blood instantly welled up in his throat. Struggling to look up, Oliver saw Bardock's eyes glowing with a fierce, red-gold light in the darkness.
'He can see!'
Swallowing his final breath in bitter resentment, Oliver went completely still. His body slowly reverted back to its human form.
"Uh-oh. Looks like I hit a bit too hard. For a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user, you really aren't very tanky," Bardock muttered.
Scanning the room, Bardock realized that besides the unconscious bodies on the floor, the rest of the Night Wolf Gang had already fled. He controlled the hovering Flying Nimbus, had it drag the squad leader from earlier over to him, and slapped him across the face a few times. The squad leader, whose face was now swollen like a pig's, jolted awake once again.
"Start talking. Where does the Night Wolf Gang keep its stash?"
The squad leader woke up to see the trashed headquarters and Oliver's dead body lying on the floor. Terrified out of his mind, he immediately dropped to his knees and begged for mercy. "I know! I know where it is! Please don't kill me, I'll take you there!"
"Go turn the lights back on first!"
"Yes, yes, right away! They just pulled the main breaker, I just need to flip it back." The squad leader scurried to a hidden panel near the entrance and flipped the heavy switch. The mansion's lights instantly flickered back to life.
"My Lord, please follow me."
He led Bardock down into the basement and stopped in front of a hidden room. "My Lord, this vault holds all of the Night Wolf Gang's treasure. But only Oliver knew the passcode to open it."
Bardock stepped forward to inspect it. The door was made of solid alloy and featured a high-tech electronic lock. With his current skill level, he couldn't cut steel yet, so forcing the door itself open was out of the question.
'If only I had the Door-Door Fruit right now.'
"Are the walls of this vault made of alloy too?" Bardock asked.
"No, sir. But they are made of reinforced concrete. They're incredibly thick." The squad leader answered honestly, not daring to hide a single detail.
"Good. Take me upstairs to search the mansion first. If I absolutely can't find the code, I'll just have to demolish the wall."
Bardock thoroughly searched the mansion but didn't find a single clue about the passcode. He did, however, find a stack of property deeds and loan contracts, which annoyed him slightly. He looked down at the squad leader. "If I let you be the new boss of the Night Wolf Gang, can you keep the men in line?"
The squad leader looked at him in sheer disbelief. "M-My Lord! I can! I definitely can! I, Andrew, will gladly pledge my life in service to you!"
"Just remember: don't do anything that pisses me off."
"Yes, yes, absolutely, My Lord! I'll strictly follow the rules! No more oppressing the innocent! It's just... about the Viscount..."
"He won't be a problem anymore. Now come with me to crack open that vault."
Ignoring the impenetrable alloy door, Bardock used a combination of Rankyaku and raw physical strength, expending a massive amount of effort to finally shatter his way through the thick concrete wall and access the vault.
"The Night Wolf Gang is surprisingly wealthy. What exactly is your main business?" Bardock asked, surveying the vault packed with gold bars, stacks of Berries, and various antique jewels.
"Mostly casinos and managing the port docks. We also collect protection fees and run loan sharking operations. And occasionally, we pick up some scraps from the jobs Viscount Adrian throws our way," Andrew reported carefully, terrified that one of those businesses might trigger the boy's wrath.
"I'll say it again: don't cross the line."
Bardock pocketed all of the gold bars, half of the Berries, and picked out a few of the prettier pieces of jewelry. "You can keep the rest as your operational funds. From now on, you will send someone to report to me every single day about everything happening in this city."
"Yes, yes! I will personally deliver the reports to you!"
"Whatever you want. I'm out."
"Wait, My Lord! Please, take this. It's the deed to your parents' trading company." Andrew hurriedly handed Bardock a thick folder.
Bardock glanced at it and tucked it away. "I'll take this. Keep the management running as usual, just find some reliable people to look after it."
"As you command, My Lord."
Bardock still had a lot of work to do tonight. He hopped back onto the Flying Nimbus and shot off into the sky, heading straight for Viscount Adrian's estate. To actually dare to target Leo and Mansherry... the man clearly had a death wish.