The pirates present were clearly stunned by this sudden turn of events; faced with Kilo's blatant provocation, no one responded for a moment.
After a moment of silence, a fierce-looking, muscular, burly man stood up indignantly, his eyes gleaming with murderous intent.
"You actually dare to cause trouble for our Black Wolf Pirates?!"
"Our Captain is a Devil Fruit user with a bounty of a full twenty-four million Berries. You're looking for death!"
Kilo's eyes lit up at the words, and he hurriedly asked:
"Then where is your Captain?"
"Uh..."
The burly man looked troubled and said:
"He doesn't seem to be here right now."
Kilo was furious and immediately drew his sword.
"Damn it, then why did you talk so much nonsense?"
Before the pirates could react, Kilo leaned down and gathered his breath; several streaks of turquoise wind slowly emerged, swirling around his body.
A pirate with extensive seafaring experience was pale with shock; he felt a gale whipping up out of thin air inside the enclosed bar, as if he were standing on a stormy sea.
Several seasoned pirates showed fierce expressions, knowing that battle was likely unavoidable; they immediately brandished their swords and charged at the eleven or twelve-year-old boy.
Striking first was the best strategy!
Faced with the menacing pirates, Kilo remained unfazed. He suddenly exerted force with his feet, leaping into the air while flipping and swinging the sharp blade in his hand.
[Breath of Gale · Fifth Form · Cold Autumn Mountain Wind]
The top-down slash was mixed with wind blades, and rings of astral wind enveloped Kilo's figure, forming an indestructible wall of wind.
Several menacing pirates swung their weapons with all their might at Kilo inside the wind wall, intending to kill him in one blow and end this overconfident provocateur.
But the moment their weapons touched the wind wall, they felt a massive counter-shock force through their hands; their grip loosened, and their weapons were actually sent flying by the wind wall!
They staggered back a few steps, only to look up and see that the wind wall had vanished at some point, and Kilo stood revealed, ready to strike.
Looking at the circle of pirates before him who were unsteady and staggering from the recoil, Kilo flipped the longsword he had seized from the Marines and took a starting stance completely different from before.
[Breath of Gale · First Form · Dust Whirlwind · Cutter]
The most aggressive assault sword technique in the Breath of Gale!
In the next instant, Kilo's figure vanished, turning into a turquoise afterimage as he charged into the group of pirates like a wolf among sheep.
The pirates blocking his path were sent flying one after another, their bodies covered in crisscrossing wounds and their eyes rolling back, clearly having lost the ability to fight.
As the blade spun, countless destructive gusts of wind whirled and shot out; every pirate hit let out a scream and collapsed to the ground, unable to rise again.
A moment later, the turquoise afterimage vanished, and Kilo reappeared in the center of the bar.
All around him were pirates lying on the ground, their lives or deaths unknown.
The only one still standing was a man behind the bar, the scarred-face man known as the Vice-Captain.
At this moment, he no longer held his previous contempt and disdain.
Several drops of cold sweat slowly slid down his forehead as he stared blankly at the pirates wailing on the ground.
As the culprit behind all this, Kilo was completely unharmed, with only the hem of his clothes slightly soiled.
The scarred man swallowed hard; he had only ever seen such overwhelming power in their Captain.
No! Even the Captain probably couldn't defeat these pirates on their ship so easily!
The scarred man noticed Kilo's gaze fixed on him; the boy with formidable swordsmanship was stepping closer, his intention self-evident.
His trembling pupils darted around as the scarred man suddenly spoke out urgently.
"Wait, I'm the Vice-Captain, you can't kill me!"
Kilo narrowed his eyes, sizing up the scarred man.
"Vice-Captain of the Black Wolf Pirates, Fu Lin, bounty thirteen million Berries."
"So? Why can't I kill you?"
The scarred man showed determination and lunged toward Kilo.
Kilo was about to draw his sword and slash when he saw the scarred man perform a sliding kneel, immediately bowing down before him.
"Wait, I'm the Vice-Captain, only I know where the Captain is!"
"Your target is the Captain, right?! If you kill me, you won't be able to find him!"
The scarred man firmly believed that a man's knees were worth their weight in gold, and now was the time to cash in.
Faced with an enemy he absolutely could not contend with, he resolutely chose to betray his comrades.
Knowing one is outmatched yet still fighting to the death—that is a stupidity called 'hot-bloodedness'!
Loyalty? Face? They were pirates; who still cared about such things!
Compared to those ethereal concepts, the scarred man wanted to save his own life more.
At this moment, he kowtowed like a woodpecker to beg Kilo for mercy, while not forgetting to open his empty hands to show he had no intention of resisting.
Kilo was also rendered somewhat speechless by this sudden scene.
He had thought this Vice-Captain would fight him to the death; he didn't expect him to be such a spineless coward.
Could it be that this guy was also named Nikolai Kovitch?
With a casual flick of his blood-stained longsword, the blood splattered on the ground in a crescent arc.
Picking up a rag from behind the bar to wipe the longsword until it was bright, Kilo sheathed the blade.
Looking at the scarred man on the ground cashing in his 'golden knees' and constantly kowtowing for mercy, several black lines appeared on Kilo's forehead, and he gave him a frustrated kick.
"Get up and lead the way!"
"Eh, yes, right away!"
The trembling scarred man scrambled up and walked toward the outskirts of the town.
As the two walked further along, the buildings behind them gradually became scarce, and the terrain grew more remote.
"Tell me, what is your Captain doing? Where is he?"
Kilo asked.
"Uh, our Captain is discussing a partnership with the merchants on the island."
"They should be at an abandoned junkyard outside the city right now; that's the merchants' base."
Kilo was a bit surprised to hear this.
Pirates can talk business with merchants? What kind of business?
Halfway through his thought, Kilo's heart suddenly tightened, and a bad premonition surfaced in his mind.
He narrowed his eyes and pressed further.
"Wait, what business?"
The scarred man quickly replied:
Sl... Slaves!"
"Our pirate group is responsible for catching high-value slaves and then selling them to those merchants!"
"The profit is very high! Sometimes high-quality slaves are even favored by the Celestial Dragons, and we earn especially much!"
"Our pirate group has earned tens of millions of Berries in this business!"
He spoke with increasing excitement, but failed to notice Kilo's gaze behind him gradually turning cold.
Buying and selling slaves?
This unfamiliar term was practically unheard of for Kilo.
Just understanding it literally, he could imagine how evil this act was!
Compared to the demons eating people Kilo saw in the Demon Slayer World, this was probably no different.
Losing freedom, becoming a slave or servant, living under someone else's thumb for a lifetime.
Such a life would probably be worse than being killed and getting it over with!
And all this happened just to please those so-called rich people, and even the Celestial Dragons?!
A boiling killing intent gradually rose in Kilo's heart, and a surging malice struck like needles, making the chattering scarred man in front immediately choose to shut his mouth.
In his perception, it felt as if a predatory beast was looking down from behind him; a cold claw, devoid of any emotion, was already pressed against the back of his heart, causing a wave of uneasy palpitations.
The two continued forward one after the other, silent all the way. After walking quickly for about ten minutes, they arrived at an abandoned junkyard located in a remote area, completely away from the town.
Kilo took a deep breath and drew the longsword in his hand under the scarred man's confused gaze.
Swish.
With the flash of an almost invisible sword light and a slight sound of breaking air, the scarred man clutched his spurting neck in disbelief and fell down unwillingly.
He didn't understand why Kilo killed him; clearly, he still had more uses!
[Killed a pirate with a bounty in the tens of millions, Points +3]
[Current Points: 20]
Kilo looked at his right hand that had struck with the sword, feeling a bit surprised.
The bonus from the [Extreme Speed] effect wasn't just for movement speed; it also played a role in striking speed and attack speed.
Therefore, Kilo's sudden strike left the scarred man completely unable to react, even though he had a bounty of over ten million and could be considered powerful.
Looking up into the dilapidated junkyard, the ease and leisure on Kilo's face were gone, replaced by a look of solemnity and seriousness.
A faint anger was buried between his furrowed brows, and his aura was low and oppressive, like an angry beast about to erupt.
Originally, he had wanted to leave the scarred man a way out.
But the other party had crossed his bottom line; that practiced and seasoned manner showed he had clearly handled slave trades before, otherwise he wouldn't be so clear about the profit details.
And for such scum who do not respect life, Kilo would not hold back in the slightest.
Sensing several powerful presences inside the junkyard, Kilo took a deep breath and stepped forward.
If he had come before to get the bounty and earn money, now he wanted to vent the anger in his heart even more.