More Evil Than Evil, a Cruel Solution

As night fell, the sewer entrance opened, and several people reeking of filth secretly crawled out.

The massive Olgins stood in the sewer, watching these Marines, each with missing limbs or other disabilities, leave the shelter where they had hidden for so long. An unusual expression appeared on his savage face for the first time. His lips moved several times before he finally said softly,

"Stay alive, you… trash…"

Lucido glanced at Leo and Barnaby. He knew that his order was effectively sending all of them, himself included, to their deaths.

But sometimes, lives had to yield to other things.

Lucido nodded to the two of them and quickly headed in the direction closest to the temple.

He had assigned himself the place most likely to encounter Enel. He intended to make contact first from the location nearest the temple, hoping to improve the other two’s chances of survival.

Barnaby and Leo understood Lucido’s intentions as well. They exchanged a glance, smiled, then turned and ran.

Leo had only one leg left, but he hopped quickly. They only hoped to find a Den Den Mushi as soon as possible. Those things were most likely in the hands of local chambers of commerce, newspapers, or gangsters.

Leo hopped on one leg toward West Street. He had not even considered how someone with only one leg could convince those unruly local gangs.

At that moment, though, he only felt a sense of mission enveloping him, carrying him as he hopped two kilometers to that filthy, chaotic street.

But what he saw froze him in place.

Under the moonlight, a tall, slender man stood before a group of gang members whose fates were unknown. Blood was still dripping continuously from his hands.

As if hearing something, the man turned around. The silver moon painted his face with a cold, eerie glow.

It was the one who had killed Priest Shura!

Bai Cangshu saw that it was the one-legged Marine officer, but he ignored him. Turning back to the lackeys he had easily dealt with, he revealed a cruel smile.

"Run, little worms. Use every ounce of strength you have to escape this island before I kill you…"

Splurt!

With a casual flick, the force at Bai Cangshu’s fingertips became like a sharp blade, instantly slicing open the throat of the man beneath his foot.

Blood gushed out.

Seeing this, the others lost all courage and fled in terror.

Bai Cangshu glanced at Leo again, then tapped the ground with his toes. His body instantly turned into an afterimage as blood continued to spray everywhere. Terror, accompanied by screams, rapidly ignited the entire district.

In the distance, a large force led by priests began rushing toward this area.

But Bai Cangshu had already swiftly moved from the rooftops to another street, slipping into the shadows. His breathing and heartbeat vanished completely.

Like a Ghost, he moved through corners unnoticed by others, utterly silent.

Bai Cangshu looked at the tavern in the distance, still noisy deep into the night, and knew that it was probably the pirates’ base.

Enel did not care about those pirates. As long as they did not openly resist him or speak ill of him behind his back, Enel could accept them living beneath his feet like insects.

Bai Cangshu walked to the tavern entrance. Listening to the lively shouting inside, the corners of his mouth curled upward.

He pushed open the doors and looked at the people inside.

"Hey, hey, hey, why are you still here drinking?!"

Bai Cangshu’s voice was loud, startling the pirates who had been drinking and making merry. They looked toward this unfamiliar face.

The first to turn around was a man in a loose white fur coat, a skull tattooed on his chest. Frowning, he pressed a hand over the curved blade on the bar.

Bai Cangshu acted as though he had not seen him and continued,

"I heard some psychopathic killer came to town. That gang had more than a dozen people hacked to death!"

Hearing this, everyone else resumed drinking.

These pirates cared about no one but themselves.

"Gangsters?"

"Haha, just a bunch of punks!"

"If it weren’t for that… guy, we would’ve wiped them out long ago…"

"Exactly!"

The crowd continued eating meat and drinking.

But the blond pirate sprawled over the bar slowly raised his head. The alcohol in his system was dispelled by a faint, barely perceptible killing intent. Turning around, he happened to see blood still dripping from the fingertips of the man at the door.

Bellamy’s eyes instantly cleared, but Bai Cangshu had already shut the tavern doors behind him.

He suddenly tilted his head, looked at the blond pirate at the bar, and said,

"Ten seconds. Give me ten seconds."

Bellamy opened his mouth. In an instant, his arm transformed into a spring-like shape, and the air was suddenly jolted—but his vision abruptly went blank.

Instant!

Splurt!

A black shadow flashed past him. Blood sprayed across his face. When he turned around, he saw only that his first mate Sarquiss had a massive gash across his shoulder, and the curved blade the other man had placed on the bar had vanished as well.

"Watch out!"

Bellamy finally managed to shout, but the sound of blades slicing flesh had nearly merged into one continuous noise.

Splurt, splurt, splurt…

The rapid series of slashing sounds abruptly ceased.

Bai Cangshu’s blurry figure became solid again, as though countless afterimages had returned to his body at once.

Bai Cangshu exhaled a breath of stale air, glanced at the curved blade in his hand, its edge chipped in several places, and casually tossed it aside.

"Hah, turns out three seconds was enough…"

After activating Instant, he was not suited for changing directions to do small-scale movements. So after grabbing that curved blade, he had simply swung it wildly in the center of the tavern for several seconds.

At that moment, the entire tavern was shrouded in a thick stench of blood.

The pirate responsible for mixing drinks had already collapsed to the floor in terror.

"Ah!"

He screamed and looked at his captain.

Captain Bellamy of the Hyena Pirates, a major bounty criminal with a bounty exceeding fifty million.

But Bellamy merely rose from the bar with a cold expression. He had seen clearly that this man’s speed was close to the speed he himself attained after repeatedly bouncing with the Spring-Spring Fruit and building up tremendous momentum.

And it was not merely his speed or Devil Fruit Ability. The man’s eyes, that faint but ever-present killing intent, were not something that could be cultivated by killing just a few people. Bellamy had killed plenty himself and took pleasure in harming others.

But even he found someone who attacked with lethal intent for absolutely no reason to be extremely dangerous.

"You bastard, do you know what it means to lay hands on my crew—"

Bai Cangshu had no interest in listening to Bellamy’s bluster.

"Shh, Bellamy, don’t make so much noise. I spent ten whole seconds convincing myself to leave you this precious life."

Bai Cangshu tapped his temple. The smile on his face was so intense that it made him look somewhat deranged.

"You may not know how agonizing ten seconds of deliberation is for me."

Bai Cangshu was not lying. He had also spent ten seconds thinking before deciding to kill his "mentor," Mercenary Tao.

For an absolute rationalist who never felt guilt and never regretted anything, any action that required ten seconds of thought was already an exceptionally cautious decision.

He casually tossed out a gold nugget, which struck the bar.

"Now, I’ll give you two choices."

"First, take this gold I found in Eldorado and run. Run back to Mock Town, escape this sea, and tell everyone where Eldorado is…"

Listening to the increasingly crazed tone in the other man’s voice, Bellamy’s eyes turned completely cold.

He was certain that this guy was a complete lunatic.

Bellamy flicked his right hand downward, and his arm immediately turned into a spring. With the immense power of his arm, it instantly stretched out, then snapped taut.

"If you want to go crazy, go somewhere else!"

Bang!

His fist struck Bai Cangshu squarely in the chest. The powerful force landed solidly on him.

Boom!

Bellamy watched the ground beneath the man’s feet shatter in an instant. Looking up, he saw only a pair of eyes carrying a cruel smile.

"Looks like you want to choose the second path."

Bang!

Bellamy raised both hands, but that fist had already struck his chest.

Boom!

The wall shattered, and Bellamy crashed straight through it.

Bai Cangshu walked out of the tavern in a few steps and continued,

"The second path is naturally to stay on the island like that uncooperative gang and become my prey…"

Bellamy got to his feet. His physical constitution was formidable. Being sent flying more than ten meters had not seriously injured him, but now he realized just how powerful the person before him was.

For some reason, when his fist struck the other man, there had been no reaction at all.

And the man’s speed and strength were both extremely formidable.

"You’re a Devil Fruit user too?!"

He asked instinctively.

Bai Cangshu did not answer. He merely stepped forward. While most attention was still focused on the gang members who had just died, he breathed freely.

Boom!

The ground trembled. Bai Cangshu instantly vanished, reappearing before Bellamy and throwing a punch. But this time Bellamy reacted. He was the type who was accustomed to using his Devil Fruit Ability for ultra-high-speed movement and attacks.

He adapted very well to Bai Cangshu’s Fire Heaven Form footwork.

His knees bent instantly, and he leaped seven or eight meters into the air.

But Bai Cangshu shifted his center of gravity with perfect ease. He instantly kicked off the air as though it were solid ground, shooting upward like an arrow and kicking Bellamy back down from midair.

Boom!

"Wrong answer, Bellamy."

"I thought you were a smart person who would take the chance to flee back to Mock Town and contact your master—the Seven Warlords of the Sea’s Donquixote Doflamingo."

Bellamy got to his feet again. Under Bai Cangshu’s deliberate control, the force had not injured his internal organs. But upon hearing Bai Cangshu’s words, his expression changed.

Bai Cangshu took in the signs of Bellamy’s quickening heartbeat and shifting breathing rhythm. A mocking smile lingered in his eyes as he continued,

"I heard that the Heavenly Yaksha was once one of the Celestial Dragons. He must be very interested in Eldorado…"

"And you, Bellamy, won’t lose Doflamingo’s trust just because I defeated you…"

Those words made Bellamy’s pupils contract. He suddenly remembered that he could act under the emblem and name of the Donquixote Family, but he could not lose. Once he failed, Lord Doflamingo would take everything back.

At that moment, the pressure from the man before him, combined with Doflamingo’s terror, finally allowed Bellamy to momentarily break free from the fear instilled by that monster on the island.

Perhaps, if enough people escaped together, he really would have a chance…

"Seal off the harbor! Someone is heading out to sea!"

At that very moment, an alarm sounded. A large number of God’s Guard members began gathering at the harbor from the center of town.

Bellamy made his decision at the same time. His knees bent, and he instantly turned into an afterimage.

Bang!

The tavern bar was smashed apart. The next moment, Bellamy launched himself away at even greater speed. After several bounces, Bellamy’s trail vanished completely.

Bai Cangshu, meanwhile, leisurely returned behind the bar. Looking at Sarquiss, who was still alive due to this world’s unusually powerful vitality, he slowly crouched down.

"Sarquiss, do you have a Den Den Mushi?"

"Urgh…"

Sarquiss gasped weakly. The massive blood loss had left him extremely feeble.

Bai Cangshu’s finger slid upward before finally stopping at the center of his forehead.

"Dial the Den Den Mushi. Contact anyone outside, it doesn’t matter who."

"I’ll give you ten seconds."

Despair filled Sarquiss’s eyes. He knew that once he dialed the Den Den Mushi, its signal would attract that terrifying monster on the island.

But if he did not use it now, the man before him would kill him.

The cold touch against his forehead made Sarquiss feel as though he could barely sense any warmth.

He slowly pulled a Den Den Mushi from his fur coat. Bai Cangshu watched him connect to someone outside, then flashed away and vanished from the spot.

Moments later, a Thunder Dragon crackling with blue-white lightning roared down from the sky and swallowed the tavern whole.