Renzo's calm, almost indifferent final verdict was like the Grim Reaper's scythe lightly resting on Vander Decken IX's neck.
King Neptune, ruler of the seas, shuddered at those casual words.
He understood Renzo.
This Admiral Haiiroyo didn't care about justice or evil.
He only cared about his rules.
And "trouble," "noise," and "visual pollution" were clearly capital crimes within those rules.
"Guards!!!"
Seizing the moment, Neptune roared with a bell-like voice, releasing ten years of pent-up fury.
"Bring that thing up here! Bring all the 'curses' of the last ten years! Every single one!!!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!!!"
Heavy footsteps echoed outside.
Thud… Thud… Thud…
The sound of iron wheels grinding across the floor followed as the enormous coral doors opened wide.
Elite fish-man guards pushed in gigantic iron crates.
One… two… three…
Ten. Twenty. Thirty.
Thirty mountain-like metal crates were pushed into the center of the hall, their cold metallic smell overwhelming the banquet's fragrance.
"What… what are those?" Shirahoshi asked nervously from inside her bubble.
The moment Vander Decken IX saw them, all four of his legs began trembling uncontrollably.
He recognized them.
He knew exactly what they were.
"Lord Renzo."
Neptune bowed deeply and pointed to the crates, his voice tinged with cruel satisfaction:
"For ten years, every 'love letter' this bastard threw at the Hard-Shell Tower, axes, swords, anchors…"
"We collected them all. Every single one."
"These thirty crates of 'ten years of affection'…"
Neptune slowly turned his head and stared at Decken like a dead man.
"…are waiting for their owner to receive them."
"N-No… no… what are you going to do?!"
Decken finally understood. His already ugly face twisted into pure terror.
"I was wrong! I know I was wrong!!!"
He fell to his knees and slammed his head repeatedly on the floor.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Spare me! King Neptune! Lord Renzo! I'll never harass Princess Shirahoshi again! I swear!"
"I'll compensate! I'll work like a slave! Please!"
He cried miserably, tears and snot covering his face.
Renzo frowned, irritated by the new noise.
He was about to tell him to shut up
But someone moved faster.
BOOM!
Rehn had returned, now wearing a clean Divine Butler Uniform, with the words Efficiency Above All printed on the back.
His foot, coated in Armament Haki and black lightning, crushed Decken's face into the floor, silencing him instantly.
Electric arcs crackled. Decken's body convulsed, unable to make a sound.
"Silence."
Rehn spoke coldly with fanatical authority.
"During Lord Renzo's sacred vacation…"
"Any form of noise, crying, begging, screaming… even the sound of bones breaking…"
"…is blasphemy against God."
"…and punishable by death."
He looked down at Decken like he was burnable garbage.
"You filthy, inefficient, foul-smelling organic waste."
"You think you're begging for mercy?"
He smiled cruelly.
"You're wrong."
"You're not repentant."
"You just realized you're going to die."
Decken's pupils lost focus. A foul liquid slowly spread beneath him.
"Ugh! Disgusting!"
Rehn jumped back in revulsion.
"This garbage can even self-contaminate?! Guards!"
The fish-man soldiers rushed forward nervously.
"What are you waiting for?!" Rehn screamed, pointing at the crates.
"Open the buffet!"
"Immediately! Efficiently recycle this trash, using the trash he created!"
"Yes!!!"
The thirty crates opened.
CLANG!!!
A mountain of rusted weapons poured out.
Axes. Broken swords. Seaweed-covered daggers. Barnacle-encrusted anchors.
A foul-smelling hill of metal formed in the hall.
Shirahoshi's face turned pale, she remembered the daily impacts she heard for ten years.
Kizaru pinched his nose.
"Maa~ what a… ten-year vintage."
Decken tried to scream.
"Block his mouth!" Rehn ordered.
Two shark fish-men stuffed rotten seaweed into his mouth.
"Excellent. Quiet."
Rehn picked up a rusted one-handed axe and crouched beside him with a friendly smile.
"Vander Decken IX."
"Your tenth-anniversary buffet… begins now."
"First course: aged deep-sea iron battle axe."
The guards pried open his jaw with tridents.
Rehn slowly forced the axe inside.
Crack.
Teeth shattered.
Gulp.
The handle was rammed down his throat.
"One axe! The guest is enjoying it!"
Decken's body convulsed violently.
"Faster! Efficiency!" Rehn shouted.
Axes, swords, knives, one after another, were forced into his mouth.
"Second axe! Main course!"
"Third axe! Extra serving!"
"Dessert! Small items!"
Daggers and short blades were stuffed inside like force-feeding a goose.
Decken's stomach swelled grotesquely like a sack filled with scrap metal.
The hall was silent except for metal sliding down a throat and bones creaking.
Neptune and the princes turned pale but didn't dare look away.
This… was the Admiral Haiiroyo's cleanup.
Terrifying.
But also… satisfying.
"Fifty-first, short spear!"
By the 51st weapon, his body had expanded to the limit, skin leaking blood.
Rehn selected the final and largest weapon, a captain's saber.
"Fifty-second! Perfect finale!"
He grabbed it, lightning crackling around his hand.
"Eat it… trash!!!"
Instead of pushing it, he fired it.
WHOOM!
The blade shot through Decken's mouth, pierced his esophagus, and burst out his back.
Decken froze.
His eyes lost all life.
"Done," Rehn sighed. "Efficient enough."
He turned to report to Renzo.
Then, the corpse, packed with 52 weapons, reached its pressure limit.
BOOM!!!
It exploded.
Blood, organs, and rusted weapons blasted everywhere.
The banquet hall became hell.
Kizaru turned into light and vanished.
Monet shielded herself with her wings.
Rehn…
turned just in time to be hit full in the face by the debris.
A broken dagger tip stuck in his cheek, one centimeter from his eye.
He froze.
Then
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
A scream even louder than Shirahoshi's echoed through Ryugu Palace.
"My face! My sacred face has been contaminated by garbage!!! Lord Renzo! I have no face left to see you!!!"
Rehn completely broke down.
Meanwhile
Renzo had already activated a minimal application of his Domain: Automatic Trouble Avoidance.
An invisible barrier deflected all filth three meters away from him.
He remained clean, calmly sitting on his floating sofa, even sipping freshly replaced coffee.
He glanced at Rehn rolling on the floor trying to purify himself with lightning, then at Decken's remains.
Renzo exhaled.
"Finally…"
"…quiet."
He looked toward the stunned Shirahoshi.
"All right, little girl."
"The source of the noise… has been dealt with."
"Your ten-year nightmare…"
"…is over."