Chapter 22 is worthless
"Acting skills? What acting skills?"
"I don't understand what you're saying."
A look of surprise flashed in Kro's eyes, but he quickly concealed it.
With a grim expression, he issued a warning to V and the others:
"Who are you? How dare you trespass on a private estate!"
"Miss Koya, please go and inform Melly immediately so that he can contact the nearby naval base as soon as possible!"
"Contact the Navy?"
V walked over step by step, hands in his pockets, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"Then you really need to hurry."
"After all, the great pirate Hyakuji Kuro, with a bounty of 16 million, is right here. They need to hurry over."
"Kro? Pirate?"
Kaya looked at Kro with fear and confusion, then at the strangers who had suddenly barged into the courtyard.
"Usopp, what's going on?"
Who are they?
"Butler Krabatel... he... how could he be a pirate..."
Usopp was equally bewildered: "I...I don't know either..."
"I see!" Kro interrupted Kaya abruptly, his voice rising with "anger," but his eyes behind his glasses were fixed on V.
"I understand, Miss Kaya!"
He stepped aside to shield Kaya, his finger trembling as he pointed at V and his group, his voice filled with heartache and indignation.
"These guys teamed up with this long-nosed liar to deceive you, with the aim of kidnapping you and extorting a ransom!"
They do have brains, after all.
Almost instantly, Kro analyzed the flaws in the current situation and came up with a reasonable explanation.
He took a deep breath and turned to the other servants and guards who had rushed to the scene, his voice growing increasingly impassioned:
"Guards! Guards!!!"
"Help! Someone come quick!!!"
Kro used all his strength to protect Kaya.
The veins on his forehead bulged slightly, his chest heaved with anger, and even the fingers that were adjusting his glasses trembled just right.
His performance was absolutely perfect.
Unfortunately, no matter how shrewd Kro was, he could not have foreseen that this world would have a prophet like V who could "predict the future".
"Oh, really?"
V chuckled lightly, raised one hand, and released the prepared Zango from the ward.
With a muffled thud, Zango, his limbs pierced and covered in blood, fell onto the lawn in the courtyard.
To ensure that Kro could break through the defenses to the maximum extent, V deliberately refrained from healing Zango or farming experience.
He barely managed to open his swollen eyelids and, through his blurry vision, saw that familiar figure at the second-floor window—
"K...Kroo...Captain…"
"Help...help me..."
Zan Gao was barely breathing, yet it was as if he had grasped at the last straw.
"This man... is a demon!!!"
He would never forget being imprisoned on the cold operating table, watching helplessly as one Black Cat Pirate after another was dissected, processed, and finally vanished without a trace by V.
That was a true demon, a devil that should never have existed in the world!
Even he, who was already used to killing and bloodshed, felt a chill that seeped into his bones at that moment.
The courtyard fell into a deathly silence.
All the servants and guards who rushed over at the sound froze in place, their eyes shifting back and forth between the seriously injured Zango and the steward Krabatel on the second floor.
The anger and panic on Kro's face were like ice that had been frozen in an instant, cracking and peeling away bit by bit. His hand, which was adjusting his glasses, froze in mid-air, and his pupils behind the lenses constricted to pinpoints.
"You..." For the first time, his voice lost its deliberately maintained gentle and steady tone, revealing a tremor that was almost imperceptible.
V took a step forward, looked up, and smiled:
"Should we continue acting, Captain Crowe?"
"Three years ago, you orchestrated a 'good show,' infiltrating the Kaya family under the alias Krabatel and patiently playing the role of a docile and reliable butler for three years, all for this day—"
"Once your Black Cat Pirates land on the island as planned, they can coordinate from within and without to massacre the village of Syrob, and then let 'Krabatel' inherit all of Kaya's property as a 'hero' or 'sole survivor'."
"A very meticulous plan, but unfortunately…" V spread his hands, his smile full of sarcasm, "Your men seem to be a bit unpunctual, and they even tried to grab a snack on the way, only to run into our hands."
With each word he spoke, Chloe's face grew darker.
When V mentioned the "Black Cat Pirates," Kuro's right hand unconsciously reached for the inside of his suit—where his signature weapon, the "cat claws," was hidden.
"Who...who are you?" Kro's voice was terrifyingly low, no longer faking anything.
Three years of forbearance have resulted in this situation.
Although his face remained calm, his heart was already ignited by a violent flame.
On what grounds?
Why should his three years of planning be reduced to nothing by the ridicule of a few nobody?
Why should he be interrupted by these insects that appeared out of nowhere, when he is only one step away from the wealth of the Kaya family and from a completely clean life?
"You've meddled in things that aren't your business!"
The moment the words fell—
Kro moved.
There was no warning, no sound.
His hands suddenly emitted a cold light.
However, his primary target was not V and the others who disrupted his plans, but Kaya, who was standing right next to him.
Since the plan has already failed and the Black Cat Pirates have been wiped out, Kuro might as well go all the way!
Kill everyone in the entire Koya Manor and the village of Xirob!
This gave him ample time to transfer the Koya family's assets and consider how to acquire those properties.
"Kaya!!!"
Usopp was the first to notice the anomaly and immediately cried out in alarm.
But everything happened too suddenly, and Kaya and Chloe were on the second floor of the villa, too far away, to make it in time.
Even Luffy and Zoro widened their eyes: "This is bad."
The two men got into position, ready to provide assistance.
Just as the cat claw in Chloe's hand was about to slash Kaya's neck—
An invisible wave spread out from V as the center.
Sinweistein Time Slow Module, activated!
In an instant, everything in the courtyard seemed to be soaked in a thick layer of glue.
The flying blades of grass froze in mid-air, Luffy's outstretched rubber arm stopped mid-stretch, Zoro's sword-drawing motion was only half completed, and Usopp's gaping mouth was still open in astonishment... Even the sounds seemed to be stretched into a viscous slow motion.
Only V's figure suddenly blurred, turning into a pitch-black afterimage, and swept up to the second floor at a speed beyond visual capture!
In the near-stagnant gap of time, he casually took half a step to the side, just in time to block Kaya's path.
The mechanical right arm rose, and the alloy armor on the outside of the forearm precisely blocked the cat's claws that were swinging down with a "clang".
The gleaming blade was less than an inch from Kaya's throat, but it could not advance any further.
Time resumed its flow.
"—Huh?!"
Everyone only saw a blur before their eyes, and Kaya, who should have been covered in blood, was completely unharmed. V had somehow appeared in front of her, blocking the full-force blow from Kro with one arm!
Kro's pupils contracted sharply, and for the first time, an undisguised look of horror appeared on his face.
He, who always prided himself on speed, didn't even see how V appeared at that moment!
"Speed is acceptable."
V tilted his head slightly, a faint smile playing on his lips, his dark blue prosthetic eye calmly sweeping over Chloe's arm, which trembled slightly as he exerted force.
"But unfortunately... the force was too light."
His arm trembled slightly.
"clang--!"
Kro felt an immense force coming from the point of impact, and he staggered backward uncontrollably, his cat paw almost slipping from his grasp.
V did not pursue, but simply stopped and stood still, his tone tinged with regret:
"With such a physical body, there is no value in modifying it, Hyakuji Kro."
Read 50+Advanced chapters ahead at p4treon.
Patreon.com/Tanji_Fanfics
End of this chapter..