Yoriichi Tsugikuni stood beside Rigg's corpse. Blood seeped across the deck, spreading until it brushed against his boots—though he hardly noticed.
"I'll ask once," he said quietly, his tone flat yet carrying a chilling weight.
"Whoever answers me lives."
"Who sent you?"
He paused for a heartbeat, then added, calm and certain—
"Don't be afraid to speak. I always keep my word."
The deck was deathly silent. The pirates glanced between the headless body of their captain and the red-haired boy standing beside it. No one dared breathe, let alone speak.
Yoriichi's brow furrowed slightly. The silence stretched too long. Just as he was about to move, one of the younger pirates suddenly stumbled forward, dropping to his knees and sliding across the blood-slick deck until he stopped at Yoriichi's feet.
"It was the chairman!" he cried, voice trembling. "The chairman sent us!"
"I don't want to die! Please—I want to live! I want to live!"
"Please, don't kill me!"
Yoriichi lowered his gaze, his expression unreadable. "The chairman…?" he murmured softly.
That word triggered a memory—something he'd heard from Santos back on the patrol ship.
"The Lolo Trading Company's chairman?" he asked.
At the mention of that name, the young pirate flinched, his body shuddering involuntarily before forcing a shaky grin.
"Yes! Yes, that's right!" he stammered. "It's the Lolo Company! Since you already know, then—then there's no problem! You can go straight to the chairman!"
"We only followed orders! Please, spare me—I don't want to die!"
His desperate plea seemed to break the tension. The rest of the crew, finally realizing the futility of resistance, collapsed to their knees in unison.
The deck filled with the sound of dozens of pirates bowing and begging for their lives.
None of them even thought of fighting back. They'd seen what Yoriichi could do—crossing the sea in a single bound, killing their captain with one stroke.
They'd sailed for years and had learned to recognize the kind of man they could afford to provoke—and the kind they couldn't. Yoriichi was unmistakably the latter.
Of course, none of them could have guessed that a mere navy patrol ship would have someone like him aboard.
They had thought their mission was simple: destroy a routine patrol vessel and kill the crew.
But now, realizing that their lives were entirely in this boy's hands, they scrambled to spill everything they knew.
Yoriichi listened silently, piecing together the fragments of information until the picture became clear.
The orders were straightforward: at a specific time and place, intercept and destroy a marine patrol ship—leave no survivors.
As for their origin, the Rigg Pirates were nominally founded by Captain Rigg, but in truth, they operated under the Lolo Trading Company's banner.
"Affiliated," they called it—but in reality, they were a hired arm of the company.
In public, within the borders of the Mia Kingdom, they didn't even call themselves pirates. They posed as Lolo Company merchants, conducting "long-distance trade."
Their real cargo… was slaves.
In the Mia Kingdom, the slave trade was not only tolerated—it was legal. And the government turned a blind eye to how those slaves were acquired.
The Lolo Trading Company was the largest commercial conglomerate in the kingdom, made up of thirty-six independently operated divisions. Their business spanned across overseas trade, weapons, real estate, casinos—almost everything imaginable.
And the "chairman" these pirates spoke of was the company's supreme leader—
a man no one had ever seen, but everyone in Mia knew of.
One of the most powerful figures in the kingdom.
Perhaps even the most powerful.
Listening to the pirates' rambling confessions, Yoriichi Tsugikuni pieced together a rough understanding of the Lolo Trading Company.
Simply put, the Lolo Company was the "Su Group" of the Mia Kingdom—the financial conglomerate that controlled both the nation's economy and its politics, the true ruler of the underworld.
With that picture in mind, Yoriichi began to form some guesses about why Rigg's crew—or rather, Rigg's so-called overseas trading company—had come after him.
A massive organization with its hands deep in Mia's political and economic systems… and the Navy's 133rd Branch, which managed the surrounding seas.
For there to be no connection between the two? Yoriichi didn't buy that for a second.
"Their target was clear. Even the ship's coordinates were spot on," he muttered.
"This wasn't random—they were after me and Cyrus. Otherwise, there'd be no reason to attack a simple patrol vessel."
His gaze darkened slightly.
"But… I haven't even done anything yet. Why would someone want me dead already?"
"Could it be that someone suspects my identity—that they think Cyrus and I are headquarters inspectors sent to investigate the 133rd Branch?"
A quiet chuckle escaped him.
"Heh… looks like the 133rd runs deeper than I thought."
As Yoriichi sorted through his thoughts, the young pirate who had first spoken up shuffled nervously on his knees.
"Um… s-sir," he stammered, voice trembling, "I—I've told you everything I know. D-does that mean… I can go now?"
Before Yoriichi could reply, the others hurried to echo him, their words tripping over one another in panic.
"Me too! I talked too!"
"I said everything! Please! Don't kill me! I don't want to die!"
The deck once again filled with desperate voices begging for mercy.
Yoriichi watched them for a moment, then nodded lightly.
"Don't worry," he said softly. "I keep my word. I always do."
With that, he turned and stepped upward into the air, his feet pressing against invisible footholds as he ascended with Moonwalk, soaring away from the pirate ship.
The moment his silhouette vanished into the sky, the pirates collectively exhaled, relief washing over them in trembling waves.
They had stared death in the face—and somehow, miraculously, lived. None of them ever wanted to feel that terror again.
But before they could even stand, a low hum rippled through the air above.
A flash of light descended—
—followed by a single, clean slash.
The blade of energy tore through the ship from bow to stern. The vessel, dozens of meters long, split apart in one stroke. Water poured into the shattered hull as the ship began to sink, dragging its screaming crew down with it.
Their cries were swallowed by the whirlpool that formed in the wreck's wake. A moment later, only the sound of waves remained.
High above the sea, Yoriichi glided silently toward the patrol ship, never once looking back.
Yes—the slash had been his.
He hadn't broken his promise.
He had said it clearly: he always kept his word.
But in Yoriichi Tsugikuni's eyes, pirates were not people.
(End of Chapter)
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