Chapter 193: Transformation
"Captain, is Pluton really on this island?"
"That's right. All the rumors point here. It has to be true. That damn World Government and the Marines must have hidden it."
According to the rumors spreading across the sea, the Ancient Weapon Pluton, the supreme warship of legend, was hidden on this island.
It was said that one strike from it could destroy an island.
It was said that it could sail through storms and tsunamis without sinking.
And whoever obtained it would take one step closer to the One Piece.
That was why they had come.
After hearing their captain's words, the pirates' eyes lit up with understanding.
Seeing the change in his crew's expressions, the captain pushed even harder.
"Brothers, kill the Marines and seize that warship! From now on, we'll take whatever we want! Treasure, women, everything will be ours!"
The words were crude, but that was exactly what these pirates wanted to hear.
Did they go to sea for freedom?
No.
They became pirates for wealth, women, blood, and the thrill of taking whatever they desired.
Once their captain finished speaking, the pirates' courage swelled. They raised their weapons and cheered wildly.
"To deal with those cunning Marines, we've also joined forces with other pirate crews this time," the captain continued. "We just need to wait for the signal, then charge together. When that happens, even if this is World Government territory guarded by Marines, they won't be able to stop us!"
"Pirates again?"
A bored voice interrupted them.
"What a dull day."
The pirates froze.
A figure stood not far away.
Snow-white hair. Blood-red eyes. A body that was not particularly tall.
The one who had spoken was none other than Axel.
The moment he appeared, startled cries broke out among the pirates one after another.
"White hair... red eyes... and he's a child..."
"It's him!"
"It's the Blood Child!"
Among the pirates who had come to fight for Pluton, a saying had already begun to spread.
When you encounter a child with blood-red eyes and snow-white hair, do not think.
Turn around and run.
Before him, the weapons you rely on will lose all meaning. Then he will become a demon, calmly harvesting lives.
The Blood Child.
After hearing that title, Axel froze for a moment.
Then his expression turned flat.
"Again?"
He was truly speechless about this new title.
He had no idea which idiot pirate had come up with such a cliché name.
Compared with Axel's indifference, the pirates were trembling. Their bodies shook involuntarily, whether because of the pirate corpses scattered behind him, or because his reputation had already reached their ears.
At that moment, the pirate captain stepped forward and shouted fiercely, "Don't be afraid! He's only one person! We have guns and blades! Kill him together!"
He tried to drown out his crew's fear with his voice.
A reputation was never earned from nothing.
Axel, who had already made so many pirates fall, was certainly no simple opponent. If they could not work together to defeat him here, there would be no point in talking about Pluton.
Even running might become impossible.
His words had some effect.
After hearing their captain's shout, the pirates finally remembered the weapons in their hands. Forced into a desperate situation, their cruelty and savagery rose again, twisting their fear into violence.
"Kill him!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The pirates opened fire.
Bullets tore through the air in a dense barrage, but the moment they approached Axel, they stopped.
It was as if they had struck an invisible wall.
The bullets froze in midair, unable to advance even another inch.
The pirates stared blankly.
The older and more slippery among them immediately began shifting backward, slowly and carefully moving toward the rear. They were already searching for a path to escape to the other side of the island.
At that moment, their so-called comrades were nothing more than shields on the road to survival.
Those who ran slowly would naturally become the best shields.
Their captain was probably thinking the same thing.
Then, the pirate captain made a strange yet completely ordinary move.
It's coming.
The experienced pirates understood at once.
Some of the more cunning ones watched the people around them and quietly followed suit, retreating while trying not to attract attention.
The pirate captain drew his blade and glared at Axel.
"If guns don't work, we still have blades! We have no way back now. It's fight or die! Kill this kid, and the obstacle in our path disappears!"
His voice grew louder.
"Besides, we still have reinforcements! All of you, charge!"
Under his command, many pirates roared and rushed forward together.
Axel did not move.
Facing the charging pirates, he merely raised one finger and pointed toward the sky.
"By reinforcements," he asked, "do you mean them?"
The pirates looked in the direction he pointed.
High above them, countless black dots hung in the sky.
When they looked carefully, they realized those black dots were not birds.
They were bodies.
Pirate corpses.
Just now, the corpses had been too high. The clouds and dazzling sunlight had hidden them from sight. Now, Axel had deliberately lowered them enough for everyone to see.
The strange and eerie ability, combined with Axel's emotionless expression, frightened the pirates until their faces lost all color.
"Don't be afraid."
Axel's voice remained calm.
"You'll become one of them soon."
His gaze swept across them.
"And I won't let your blood dirty this place."
He spoke of slaughter as if it were nothing.
Since when had he begun to see killing so calmly?
Or perhaps his sympathy had been worn away without him realizing it, and the idea of ending slaughter with slaughter had quietly become his way of doing things.
Perhaps this kind of killing was wrong.
Even if he understood that, his heart gave no response.
There was not even a ripple.
It was as if some part of him had been missing from the start. Like the dead, who no longer yearned for the world. Like an evil spirit reborn from resentment, no longer carrying human sympathy.
Through killing, he had grown used to it.
And without noticing, something inside him had changed.
The pirates instinctively turned toward their captain for help.
Only then did they realize he was already running toward the edge of the island.
Behind him were several veteran pirates who had reacted just as quickly.
Only the hot-blooded fools remained where they were.
At that moment, they finally understood.
Their captain had abandoned them.
The pirate captain did not even look back at the subordinates he had thrown away.
From the moment that child appeared, he had already understood there were no reinforcements.
He had deliberately waited for the other pirate crew to enter the island first before coming in himself. If there was still no sign of them, and the Blood Child had appeared here, then the answer was obvious.
The entire group had been wiped out.
As for abandoning his men, was that strange?
In this dog-eat-dog world, it was the most ordinary thing imaginable.
Just as the remaining pirates were about to turn and flee, their bodies suddenly floated upward.
It was as if something invisible had caught them.
They struggled desperately, but it was useless.
Even the pirate captain, who had already run far away, and the pirates following him were no exception.
One by one, they rose slowly into the sky like lanterns.
They stopped only when they reached the same height as the corpses.
Now they could see the bodies around them more clearly.
Some had died in horrifying shapes, as if crushed by something invisible. Others looked as if they had been sliced open by blades, their blood still floating strangely in the air.
Soon, they understood what was happening.
It felt as if the world itself was rejecting them.
Within that space, visible blades of air appeared one after another. Their bodies were squeezed, pressed, and cut, as if the very atmosphere had turned against them.
"I don't want to be a pirate anymore!"
"I want to go home!"
"Please! Spare me!"
Wails and cries broke out one after another.
Axel's expression did not change.
"He who kills," Axel said quietly, "will be killed."
Then he swung the butcher's knife.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]