Bang!
The broken mast slowly fell, crashing onto the ship's hull.
The Kaido Pirates' flag, symbolizing the Four Emperors' might, also fell.
But the pirates on board dared not speak out in anger. The person before them was too terrifying. With a single punch, he could break Jack the Drought's defenses, and even his Armament Haki armor couldn't withstand it.
"Wait!"
Suddenly, Jack stood up abruptly, raising his other hand, and said quickly, "Your goal is Devil Fruits. The 5 promised to Captain Kaido, there's no need to attack us!"
As he spoke, his right arm, twisted into a pretzel, was slowly recovering.
"Ancient Zoan?"
Vladimir raised an eyebrow, knowing that the opponent was an Ancient Zoan Mammoth-type Devil Fruit user. Like the two Ancient Zoans he had encountered before, he possessed extremely strong regenerative abilities.
"You know that's enough. Hand over the 5 Devil Fruits."
"…There aren't that many!"
Jack clutched his right arm, stood up straight, and said in a low voice, "On this ship, there's only one Zoan type, and I just got it."
In fact, Kaido had already begun forming a Zoan ability user army and was collecting Devil Fruits. However, once acquired, the fruits were usually distributed to suitable subordinates. Currently, including those at the stronghold, he only had 3 Devil Fruits in hand.
Among these 3 Devil Fruits, 1 was very special and absolutely could not be given to the Phantom Organization.
This meant that only 2 could truly be used to repay the debt.
"How many?" Vladimir asked calmly.
"2!"
Jack said in a deep voice, "Captain Kaido went to Whitebeard's territory precisely to snatch Devil Fruits. That was originally meant for Whitebeard, so he had to go personally. If everything goes smoothly, there should be 5 Devil Fruits by then!"
"How long?"
Vladimir spoke sparingly.
"Including travel time back, one to two weeks."
Ten days to half a month. Vladimir wasn't interested in waiting, but he would take what he could get for now.
"Scan."
"Scanning… Scan complete. Detected mysterious power, quantity: one. Direction: directly below. Distance: 3 meters."
Hearing this, Vladimir frowned and said, "There's only one on the ship. Where's the other one?"
"At the stronghold."
Jack's expression twitched, his heart filled with anger.
He, the Drought Jack, one of the Three Disasters of the Kaido Pirates, felt extremely aggrieved at this moment. They were usually the ones robbing others, at most engaging in minor conflicts with other Emperors. Being extorted at their doorstep was a first.
Vladimir didn't care about his thoughts. He lightly lifted his foot and stomped.
Boom!
With a stomp, the deck broke open with a large hole, and Vladimir jumped directly into the cabin through the opening.
Seeing this, Jack's expression changed, his gaze becoming increasingly angry. "Damn it! Too arrogant, I really want to kill him!"
However, this was just a thought in his heart. Kaido had previously instructed them not to engage in conflict with members of the Phantom Organization if possible. The Big Mom Pirates were a prime example.
Therefore, no matter how angry he was, he could only suppress it for now.
Vladimir entered the cabin and, guided by the scan from the phantom gene, quickly found the Devil Fruit.
The fruit was placed in a palm-sized box. After confirming, Vladimir immediately took it.
Just as he was about to leave, he noticed some weapons placed by the table.
They were Seastone weapons: clubs, swords, and Seastone handcuffs.
"Did they attack a warship? Or buy them from the black market?"
Vladimir mused. Seastone was a rare commodity, mostly controlled by the Navy. It couldn't be obtained on the market unless it was looted or acquired from the black market.
"This thing… perfect."
Vladimir smiled, picked up a pair of Seastone handcuffs, and turned back to the deck.
Bang!
He threw a pair of handcuffs on the ground and then looked at a pirate. "You, come here."
The person was startled. It wasn't that he was timid, but after being hit by the Scale of Fear, a shred of fear had already taken root in his heart. His current reaction was naturally affected.
"…W-What is it?"
The person forced himself to speak. He wasn't a high-ranking officer, merely a semi-combatant with strength barely reaching the 100 million bounty level. This level was good in the Grand Line, but quite ordinary in the New World, and not even considered a combatant in a Four Emperors' crew.
"Put your captain in these handcuffs."
Vladimir snorted coldly. "I'm not interested in waiting for that idiot Kaido to return. For now, your captain is a hostage. Have Kaido bring the remaining four Devil Fruits to redeem him."
"You!" Jack was furious and could no longer hold back.
To hell with restraint, I'm going to kill this bastard!
He raged and went berserk, but the next moment, Vladimir suddenly turned around…
A vast aura reappeared. This aura was even more evil than before, filled with desire, bloodlust, jealousy, anger, fear – all human negative emotions.
Meeting those eyes, Jack's mind rapidly cooled down. The raised fist was forced back down.
He was no match!
He couldn't win!
Even without fighting, Jack could sense the danger. Even if he transformed into his Ancient Zoan form and relied on his powerful regeneration, he would likely be beaten to death.
The scent of death!
It was the same as facing Kaido or Whitebeard. This person had the ability to kill him completely.
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