chapter 72 part 3
Seeing his state, Miss Spider also changed greatly in expression, and quickly chose a jar containing a heart from a nearby jar and handed it to Drug Peclo.
Then...
"Bang!" The jar shattered instantly, glass piercing Drug Peclo's gloves, fresh blood dripping from it.
But Drug Peclo seemed oblivious, merely clenching the heart in his hand.
Then...
"Bang!" The heart instantly burst, and his furious expression also seemed to relax.
He lay back on the deck chair, basking in the sun once again.
"The information cannot be given to Big Mom. The rules of the assassin world must never be broken." His voice was calm, but carried a profound chill.
"Otherwise – a world without order will have no 'King'."
Clearly, this was consistent with Rat's judgment.
For the sake of his position as an Underworld Emperor, even facing the pressure from Big Mom, Drug Peclo could only choose to hide the information for him.
Even though Drug Peclo knew that Big Mom's rage would make him suffer immense pressure and great losses, he could only do so.
But it was also at this moment...
"But, My Lord..." Miss Spider began to stammer a little.
"Speak if you have something to say!" Drug Peclo said coldly – he didn't like people who were hesitant.
"About Rat... there's another incident..."
"Hmm?" Drug Peclo had a bad premonition.
"What happened to him? That fellow should have gone into hiding, right?" He quickly asked, as if sunlight flickered on and off his body.
According to his estimation, after doing such a big thing, that Rat should hide for a period of time.
But...
"No, he didn't hide – he... he took another mission..." Miss Spider was almost in tears: "And it's an assassination mission targeting a King. This time, it's a country protected by the 'Deep Sea Current'."
"Bang!" Miss Spider's words were cut off.
Accompanied by a crisp sound, almost all the surrounding jars shattered.
Along with it came Drug Peclo's grinding roar.
"You... said what?!"
And very clearly.
It wasn't just Drug Peclo.
In the Underworld, a shocking piece of news spread almost instantly.
So very quickly, the Underworld at this moment was already in an uproar.
Whether it was any of the Six Great Emperors of the Underworld, or the Marines, the World Government, or even other smaller forces.
As long as anyone had a slight ear, they had already heard the information about Big Mom and Rat.
[The 'Twelve Star Generals' third highest-ranking executive 'Rat' accepted an assassination commission and successfully killed 'Karamelo III' and the 'Sweet Commander' Charlotte Snack.]
[Big Mom has issued an order to search the Underworld and the Grand Line for any clues about the Twelve Star Generals, and has stated that she will send a special Tea Party invitation to the Twelve Star Generals.]
[It is said that Charlotte Katakuri went to Coffin Island to inquire about Rat's information, and after being personally refused by the 'Great Hand Undertakers', a battle occurred between the two, with an unknown outcome.]
[There are rumors that later someone went to Honeycomb Island to confirm the battle situation and found that the entire Karamelo Kingdom had been razed to the ground. Through analysis of the battle traces, one side was very likely a Giant Race with an extremely exaggerated physique, and possibly even a legendary 'Ancient Giant Race'.]
Such explosive news appeared almost daily.
All kinds of rumors and information about Rat also began to spread in the Underworld.
Some people believed he might be a Giant Race, and not an ordinary Giant Race, but an 'Ancient Giant Race', who simply used some means to conceal his Giant Race identity.
Others believed he was human, achieving a Giant Race-like effect through some Devil Fruit ability.
But one thing was certain.
Almost everyone lamented that the members of the 'Twelve Star Generals' were abnormal.
"The first one robbed the Heavenly Tribute, the second one was killed by a Seven Warlords of the Sea, and now this one is not much better – initially, they thought it was crazy for him to directly price the heads of Kings and nobles, but they didn't expect him to actually dare and be able to directly kill a 'Sweet Commander'!"
And what was even more astounding was...
Even under Big Mom's furious search and pursuit, Rat did not cease his activities.
Just one week later, he appeared again in another kingdom on the Grand Line, assassinating the King of that country who was known for persecuting common people.
In less than three days, he appeared in the West Blue again, killing a Duke of the Elucia Kingdom – this one was even more extraordinary because the Elucia Kingdom was one of the World Government's allied nations.
So, not only Big Mom, but countless Kings and nobles began to place bounties on Rat.
Bounties started at 500 million Beli, some even offered 1 billion Beli.
But what surprised people was... no one could catch him.
Or more precisely – even if someone discovered some traces of him, and managed to seal off that entire sea area, he would still escape in the end.
He was like a ghost, appearing and disappearing without a trace, as if he hid in another world.
Especially when a King gathered over a thousand royal guards to protect himself, yet was still cut down by Rat before everyone's eyes.
The fame of this Twelve Star General member even surpassed Rooster and Dragon for a time, truly resonating throughout the Grand Line.
After all, compared to those two Twelve Star General members who had been silent for a while.
A terrifying assassin with a 100% completion rate for commissions, capable of hunting Kings and nobles, obviously made rulers more fearful.
It is said that some Kings of World Government allied nations have even begun to call for a new agenda item specifically targeting the 'Twelve Star Generals' at the next World Council meeting next year.
And soon, people realized another problem – Rat seemed to be taking on more and more missions.
This was, of course, not surprising.
After the first person tasted the crab and proved that Rat truly possessed the strength to kill a Sweet Commander, and the determination to kill Kings.
Those hidden in the shadows, who were originally observing, would naturally also enter the fray.
But the problem was...
"After taking so many missions, how many of those nineteen types of metals does he still lack?"
Many people still remembered that Rat seemed to be collecting those nineteen types of metals.
Clearly, no one knew the answer to this question.
Just as no one knew the answer to another question that would follow.
"After collecting these metals, what will the Twelve Star Generals do next?"
(end of chapter)