"Zehahahaha! So many people! Is this a welcoming ceremony for our Nightfall Pirates?" Teach joked, his teeth flashing as he gazed at the sea of people crowding the port of Sakhalin.
"Haha! Captain, they're probably after your forty million bounty," Nelson said, laughing.
"My head won't roll until it's worth at least four billion Berries," Teach replied coolly, utterly unfazed.
"A bunch of ignorant fools," Wallace sneered, folding his arms. "Let's just slaughter them all."
"Death is already their fate," Van Augur said coldly, his long rifle resting casually against his shoulder.
"Luck's on our side," Baccarat added with a faint smile, brushing back a lock of crimson hair.
"The hunt is about to begin," Gar growled, opening his single eye. A faint bloodlust rippled from him like heat from an open flame.
"No one will touch Lord Teach," Kaguya said, drawing the long blade from his back, its steel edge glinting coldly in the sun.
Pito didn't speak, but the faint killing intent radiating from her was enough to make the air around her vibrate. She was ready.
As for the other pirates, their eyes gleamed with excitement and hunger, predators scenting blood and treasure.
After more than a month of constant battle, the Nightfall Pirates had been transformed. Their bloodlust, discipline, and confidence had all been forged in fire. Every single one of them had become sharper, deadlier.
"These weaklings aren't even worth my effort," Teach said, grinning. "Let them witness the power of my crew."
"Leave it to us, Captain! We won't let anyone get within a meter of you!" one pirate shouted proudly, brandishing a cutlass.
"You? You're no good! I won't let them get within three meters, except as corpses!" another pirate jeered, raising his chin.
"You two are dreaming. No one gets within five meters of the Captain!" a third barked.
Their loud bragging drew laughter from the others, and for a moment the tension lightened. Then Teach raised his right hand slightly, smiling.
Silence fell instantly.
"You're all good," he said softly. "Just remember, don't leave a single one of those who don't know their place."
The instant his words fell, killing intent erupted across the deck like a shockwave.
The Lucky Goddess slowly docked. All eyes turned toward the luxurious pirate ship.
"I didn't think they'd actually come ashore," one bystander muttered. "That's the Nightfall Pirates, the crew with a total bounty over a hundred million!"
"Hah! They don't know what's waiting for them," a bounty hunter sneered, licking his lips greedily. "Even the strongest pirate crews in East Blue wouldn't survive being surrounded like this."
Under the crowd's gaze, someone finally stepped off the ship.
Teach led the way, his expression calm and cold, his black coat trimmed in gold fluttering behind him. His curly black hair hung over his shoulders, and his hands were casually tucked into his pockets.
Behind him came the officers, each radiating killing intent, followed by a tide of ordinary crew members, now hardened veterans of war.
The aura of a hundred men crushed the thousands surrounding them.
It was the pressure of killers who had stared death in the eye and laughed.
"You trash think you can kill us? This place will be your grave," Wallace said coldly. Even though they were outnumbered dozens to one, he showed not a flicker of fear.
Wallace's words snapped the crowd from their daze. Anger and greed blazed in their eyes.
"Don't look down on us!" one pirate roared, charging toward Teach with his blade raised.
That single spark ignited the battlefield. Thousands roared and charged at once, weapons drawn, eyes bloodshot with madness and greed.
Reporters hidden in the crowd watched with trembling excitement.
They wanted to see for themselves how the Nightfall Pirates, who had risen to power faster than any crew in the East Blue, would handle a siege of this scale.
The first attacker's face twisted with triumph as he lunged for Teach's neck.
But before his blade could fall..
"Don't even think about getting close to our King!"
Wallace's massive frame appeared before him like a thunderclap.
The next moment, the pirate's face caved in under a single punch, his skull shattered like glass. His body flew back a hundred meters, crashing through the ranks and smashing into the ground, dead on impact.
The crowd froze. Then the slaughter began.
Bang! Bang!
Van Augur's twin pistols thundered, each shot precise and lethal. He targeted hidden gunmen and the strongest enemies on the field.
His Observation Haki swept the entire battlefield, detecting every threat.
"Death is your destiny," he whispered coldly, firing again.
Kaguya danced across the front lines, dual blades flashing. "You'll only reach Lord Teach over my corpse," he said flatly, slicing through foes as if cutting air itself. Each swing of his blades reaped another life, blood glinting on his white hair.
Baccarat spun on her heel and kicked a pirate away. Though physically weaker than the others, she'd trained relentlessly. Her luck and skill made her deadly in close combat.
A sword swung at her from behind but its wielder stumbled suddenly, tripping.
She stepped on his back, drew her pistol, and fired into his skull.
Blood splashed her cheek. She smiled faintly.
Pito, now in her hybrid beast form, flickered through the battlefield like a ghost. White cat ears and a long tail swayed as her claws ripped open throats.
Bodies fell silently behind her, leaving only trails of blood and terror.
Nelson blurred across the field, appearing and vanishing like a shadow. His blade cut down enemies before they even noticed him. "What struggle can you make against the darkness?" he said softly, grinning as he disarmed one pirate after another, literally.
The air around him was filled with screams.
Gar charged in next, double-bladed sword in his right hand, steel claw in his left. His blood-red eye shone with primal fury. He let out a deafening lion's roar that froze the weaker foes where they stood.
"Entertain me with your blood!" Gar roared.
Every swing of his blade felled multiple enemies. Within moments, he was drenched in crimson, transformed into a blood-soaked lion.
Wallace, impervious to bullets and blades, moved like a steel hurricane.
Having mastered Soru and Shigan, his movements blurred as he crushed opponents barehanded, each strike punctuated by the sound of cracking bones.
"Can you hurt me? Come! All of you at once!" he bellowed, his blood boiling.
The officers carved through the enemy ranks like reapers, and the ordinary members of the Nightfall Pirates followed suit. Hardened and well-trained, they were far stronger than any common crew in East Blue.
The pirates and bounty hunters stood no chance.
"Fight! You dared to provoke the Nightfall Pirates?!" one crewmember shouted, grinning wildly as he swung his blade through another enemy.
A wounded crewmate beside him gritted his teeth, blood pouring from a gash across his back. "Not yet! I won't fall before this battle ends!"
Tearing off a strip of his shirt, he tied the wound tight and charged again.
"Haha! Then let's die together if we have to!" his companion laughed, fighting shoulder to shoulder.
Teach walked calmly through the center of the battlefield, stepping over corpses.
Within eight meters of him, there was only death.
Those who tried to approach him were struck down instantly by his crew.
Even with only a hundred pirates, the Nightfall Pirates completely overwhelmed the three thousand enemies before them. The difference in strength, morale, and coordination was too vast to bridge.
"Die, you bastard! Stop ignoring us!" a pirate howled.
He broke through the lines, charging Teach with a sword raised high. His left arm hung uselessly, a bloody stump.
Teach didn't even glance at him.
Bang.
The man froze mid-charge. A clean hole opened in his forehead. His sword dropped.
He fell at Teach's feet, lifeless.
"How annoying. You almost touched the Captain," Van Augur said coolly, lowering his smoking rifle.
The crewman whose position had been breached clenched his fists in shame.
That one failure burned in his mind. Growling, he launched himself back into the fray, hacking through enemies in a frenzy.
Only blood could wash away that humiliation.
And so, the slaughter continued.