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Kuro's eyes widened to their absolute limit, his pupils trembling with a mixture of disbelief and sheer terror.
How is this possible?!
That name… how could this boy know it?! It was a past he had spent three agonizing years meticulously erasing from the world!
But he was, after all, a veteran combatant of the sea. In this split-second crisis between life and death, his instincts took over.
"Silent Tread!"
Suppressing the agonizing sting in his chest, Kuro stomped his foot, his body flickering as he retreated several meters in a blur. He clutched the bleeding wound, the crimson fluid soaking rapidly through his pristine white gloves.
Behind his glasses, the mask of the refined, gentle butler shattered. All traces of civility vanished, replaced by the eyes of a bloodthirsty predator ready to tear its prey apart.
"Who… are you?!" Kuro snarled, his voice warped by pain and rage.
Zing—
Viktor slowly drew his longsword, the tip slanted toward the grass. He looked at Kuro with that same unshakeable smile.
"Ah, sorry about that. My hand slipped just now. You don't mind, do you?" Viktor tilted his head, his crimson Sharingan glowing with an eerie, demonic light in the shadows of the garden.
"As for who I am? I'm exactly what you called us… a 'filthy, lowly pirate'."
The smile on Viktor's face suddenly turned predatory.
"Body Flicker!"
Whoosh!
An afterimage was all that remained in the air. In the next heartbeat, Viktor materialized directly in front of Kuro. His blade, wrapped in the whistle of cutting wind, thrust ruthlessly toward the butler's throat!
"What?!" Kuro's eyes bulged. This speed?! It's impossible!
"Shakushi!!"
Kuro didn't dare take the hit. He immediately activated his ultimate technique, his body disappearing as he moved at high-speed bursts that the naked eye couldn't track, attempting to circle into Viktor's blind spot for a counter-kill.
But under the dynamic vision of the Sharingan, Kuro's "invisible" movements looked like a movie played in slow motion.
"Too slow."
Viktor didn't even turn around. With a flick of his wrist, he redirected the momentum of his sword, slashing it violently through the empty air to his back-left!
Squelch!!
The sound of cold steel biting through flesh and bone was sickeningly clear.
"AAAAAAGH!!!" A piercing, agonizing shriek tore through the quiet estate.
Viktor twisted his body, adding more force to the swing. One clean stroke!
A severed left arm, still encased in a black suit sleeve, arched through the air in a spray of blood before thumping heavily onto the grass.
Kuro staggered out of his high-speed movement, clutching the stump of his shoulder. His face was as white as paper. At this moment, there wasn't a trace of the "Man of a Thousand Plans" left in him. Looking into Viktor's red eyes, he felt nothing but bottomless dread.
"How… how can you see my movements…" Kuro trembled, backing away. "Is it… those red eyes?"
"It's because you're too slow," Viktor said coldly, having no intention of trading banter. He sheathed his sword and his hands began to move in a blur of seals. Chakra began to churn and condense in his throat, preparing to end the fight in one go.
"Fire Style—"
"AHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Just then, a shrill, terrified scream echoed from the path ahead.
It was Kaya.
Viktor's hands froze mid-seal. He had specifically chosen this secluded corner to eliminate Kuro quietly, hoping to spare the fragile young lady from a traumatic scene. He hadn't expected her to follow them.
"Now's my chance!"
Despite losing an arm, Kuro's cunning as an old pirate allowed him to seize this single heartbeat of opportunity.
Zip-zip-zip!
With his remaining right hand, he whipped several throwing knives toward Viktor's face. Ignoring the blinding pain, he activated "Shakushi" one last time, turning into a black blur that vanished into the dense forest bordering the estate.
"Thinking of running?"
Viktor started to give chase, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kaya. The frail, sickly girl had witnessed her "kind" butler being dismembered in a fountain of blood. Her eyes were wide with shock, and her knees gave way as she began to collapse toward the ground.
"Tch. Next time, then."
Viktor abandoned the pursuit. He swiped his sword—clink-clink-clink—knocking the knives out of the air before flickering across the lawn.
Shing.
A second before she hit the dirt, he caught her firmly in his arms.
[Ding! Congratulations Host for defeating target: 'Kuro of a Thousand Plans'.][Battle Evaluation: A (Clean and efficient, but failed to confirm the kill).][Reward: 400 Shinobi Points.]
"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!"
Usopp's enraged roar came from a distance. Close behind, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami came charging around the corner.
Nami rushed forward, taking the unconscious Kaya from Viktor's arms. She looked at the severed arm on the grass, then at Viktor holding his bloody sword, and her eyes went wide with horror.
"Viktor! Why did you suddenly attack him?! He's just a butler!"
Viktor flicked the blood off his blade and sighed. "He's no butler. If I'm not mistaken, he's a notorious pirate, the former captain of the Black Cat Pirates—Kuro of a Thousand Plans."
Viktor pointed toward the forest. "He's been lurking here under a fake identity for three years. He clearly had an ulterior motive. When I exposed him, he tried to silence me."
Luffy adjusted his straw hat, looking at Viktor. A wide, brilliant grin spread across his face. "Ah, I see. Viktor, I believe you."
No doubt, no suspicion—only absolute trust.
Zoro crossed his arms, his mind instantly shifting gears. "Wait… I remember now. Three years ago in the East Blue, there was indeed a pirate named Kuro with a 16-million Berry bounty. But the papers said he was captured and executed by the Marines."
"16 million?! That's huge!!" Luffy's focus was, as always, elsewhere, his eyes bulging.
"So… that butler… was really a pirate?!" Usopp gaped in disbelief. But seeing the severed arm and Viktor's grim expression, the truth began to sink in. He quickly panicked, looking at the pale Kaya. "Anyway, we have to get Miss Kaya to rest! Her health is already fragile!"
"Yeah, leave her to me," Nami said, hoisting Kaya onto her back to bring her into the mansion.
As she passed Viktor, Nami's footsteps paused. She looked at his calm profile and remembered her own blind shouting. A flicker of guilt rose in her chest. She leaned in slightly, her face flushing as she whispered:
"I'm sorry… Viktor. I misunderstood you just now."
Viktor looked at her strangely, tilting his ear toward her as if he hadn't heard. "Huh? What was that?"
"..."
A vein immediately popped on Nami's forehead. The guilt vanished like smoke. "GO TO HELL!!!"
"Hey! You people over there! What have you done to Miss Kaya!!"
At that moment, the estate guards, alerted by the scream, came rushing toward them brandishing weapons.
Deep within the thick forest.
"Ha… ha…"
Kuro leaned against a tree, clutching the stump of his arm. Blood continued to seep through his fingers. His face was ghostly pale as he limped desperately toward the coast.
His Black Cat Pirates were waiting there!
His expression was dark, his features contorted by a mix of agony and pure, unadulterated hatred. The situation had spiraled completely out of control. His "perfect" plan had been ruined by that red-eyed brat, and he had lost an arm in the process.
"Damn it!! What kind of monster was that?!"
The memory of those crimson eyes that seemed to see through his very soul sent a fresh shiver down his spine. But the venom in his gaze only grew thicker.
"Unforgivable… absolutely unforgivable…"
He would go back. Gather his old crew. A full-scale invasion.
"I'll slaughter that village, and those damned brats… I'll kill every single one of them!!!"
"I will make you pay!!!"
The forest echoed with the crazed, low growl of a wounded beast.
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