"M-m-monster!! …."
Rawa screamed loudly and ran in fear to the corner of the cell, staring at the strange monster that, moments earlier, had been just a boy he thought was weak and easy to bully.
"The monster is you…"
Seth cursed with a scowl while he stared at the terrified Rawa with eyes that had turned yellow, with a vertical pupil like that of reptiles.
The man with the coarse voice spoke mockingly.
"Boy, ignore him! He's just an ignorant little brat , who has never seen the world before. In fact, in this part of the world most people will think you're a monster!! After all, Devil Fruit users are rare or nonexistent in the East Blue…"
He paused for a moment while staring intently at the hybrid form into which Seth had transformed, which had reached almost three metres in height.
Dark-purple, hard scales appeared on parts of his body, restoring his previously thin frame with compressed muscles; his face had not changed except for the lengthened fangs and his eyes that had turned yellow with a frightening vertical pupil.
"But boy, you surprised me!! I didn't expect you to be a Devil Fruit user…"
Seth, who had been staring at his clawed left hand, raised his head and stared at the man, astonished by his words.
"Hm, he thinks I'm a Devil Fruit user!! That's actually a great cover for my possession of this magical watch…"
Seth thought quickly and chose to play the role of a Devil Fruit user. He opened his mouth and asked curiously,
"Old man, do you know about Devil Fruits!? Aren't you from the East Blue!?, or…"
The man, who looked about forty years old, shook his head and said, smiling as if he had recalled something pleasant,
"Hm, my name is Elia , I'm from the East Blue, born and raised here, but because of my work in a transport company I had the chance to travel to several places… among them the famous Grand Line, where there is quite a number of Devil Fruit users…"
Elia stared at Seth's hybrid form and said in a knowledgeable tone, "Looking at your current form, I expect you ate a Zoan-type fruit…"
Seth nodded.
"Regardless of not being able to swim… I can say you're lucky, boy…"
He added bitterly while pointing at himself.
"At least you now have some power to protect yourself, unlike this old man. If not for my weakness I wouldn't have fallen into the hands of these slave traders…"
"Sigh! Do you know that Devil Fruits are worth a hundred million Berries or more…"
Elia stared at Seth, who seemed tired of his chatter, and asked curiously,
"Anyway, since you're a Devil Fruit user you're probably strong, so how did you end up in the hands of these slave traders!?"
Seth glared at Elia with a scowl, ignored Rawa, who was trembling in fear that he might be killed, and turned to face the metal bars of the cage.
He stared at the claws of his left hand, then tried to cut the bars.
Diiing!!
It made an annoying sound and some sparks, but apart from a few slight scratches nothing happened as Seth intended.
"These claws aren't sharp enough to cut metal…" he muttered bitterly.
Then he headed to the cell door and grabbed the metal lock that kept it closed.
Seth clenched his teeth and, with all his strength, tried to destroy the lock or at least open it.
Craang!!
Fortunately, his strength was sufficient—or, more likely, the lock was of poor quality—but who cared.
He pushed the door open, then looked back, specifically at Elia, who had risen with a joyful expression on his pale features; he saw freedom at last after losing hope and could only think of his family until the strange boy's voice pulled him from his daydream.
"Can you help me free the captives? I think the cage keys are somewhere around here…" he asked in his rough voice, altered by the transformation.
for in such situations a person might be a bit selfish but Elia showed no objection, but Seth still added.
"In return, I'll make sure the people above never see daylight again…"
He left immediately after saying this, quickly climbed up, opened the hold's door; as soon as he did, the sounds of battle grew louder. He crouched to get through and saw the horrific scene of mutilated corpses everywhere. Because he had survived that Celestial Dragon incident, his will had become stronger than before; even with the horrific scene before him he neither vomited nor flinched in fear.
"Tch, they're killing each other like wild beasts…"
He muttered with a scowl, then grabbed a short sword lying near the corpse of a pirate—or a slave trader, he could not tell which side the unlucky man belonged to.
He gripped the sword tighter, though it trembled because his hand was shaking, for he realised at last that he was about to commit murder.
He could not help recalling his father's words, who had lectured him after he killed some ants.
"Remember, Seth, you must not take others' lives; every soul is precious to God and valuable…, but if you find yourself in a desperate and dangerous situation… I pray that you never see or be in such a situation, but then…"
"Forget everything I've said, because if you don't so… you will be killed…"
"If you don't kill you will be killed…"
Seth repeated that sentence several times, then took a deep breath; the look in his eyes became a bit more resolute than before.
He squeezed the sword's grip even tighter, then gathered his strength into his legs and launched himself powerfully toward the pirates and members of the slave-trader ship, engaged in a deadly fight; some of them halted when they finally noticed the appearance of a frightening monster that resembled a human.
Craack!!
The wooden deck shattered from his take-off; in his hybrid state he had become hundreds of times stronger and faster than his human form. He reached the first victim very quickly; without hesitation he swung his sword aiming at the neck.
But as the terrified pirate stumbled, Seth cleaved through his skull in a horrifying scene, revealing his fragile pink brain.
"Damn!!…" he cursed when he saw what had happened, but he did not stop; he moved again and began fighting—or rather a one-sided massacre.
Bang!!
Suddenly his sixth sense flared again and activated, without hesitation he moved from his place and dodged to the side.
Thanks to his enhanced senses he heard a whistling sound pass through his previous position; he quickly looked at the shooter.
"Damn! That damned monster noticed me…" cursed the sniper atop the mast of the pirates' ship. He quickly reloaded his rifle and aimed at Seth.
"Hah, a sniper!? That was dangerous, I'm not sure I can take bullets without injury…" Seth muttered to himself while dodging the bullet again, relying on his sense.
He swung his sword and cut off the head of one of the pirates who attacked him from behind, then looked around; only four people remained on the ship, while on the other ship the sniper was the only person visible on deck, most likely there were more inside.
Bang!!
He dodged another bullet from the sniper, but behind him a pirate carrying a small pistol fired at the same time; although he sensed the danger, Seth could not avoid it.
Ding!!
The bullet made a metallic sound when it hit his waist.
"Aagh, that really hurts, you bastard…" he cursed angrily and in pain while he stared at the shooter, who, despite his terrified expression, fired again in panic.
Bang!!
Bang!!
Bang!!
He stopped shooting—or rather he ran out of bullets. He quickly took a bullet from his pocket, but only when he was about to reload did he feel heavy breathing above him, and drops of blood falling onto the deck.
The pirate looked at the large legs resembling those of beasts and, with trembling hands, raised his head and looked up in terror.
"Are you a pirate or a trader?!…" Seth asked, standing before the pirate.
"I-, I'm a t-trader…" he answered in a frightened voice.
Seth held his blood-covered sword, which dripped onto the deck.
"Hm, a trader!!…" he hummed softly before raising the sword and shouting angrily,
"Then go to hell…"
"No, wait, I'm a pirate, pir…" the poor pirate could not even finish his words before his head fell onto the rough deck.
"Both are the same to me, bastard…"
He said mockingly before dropping the sword, bringing his clawed hand to his right side and removing the bullet lodged inside the scales.
He threw the bullet onto the deck and whispered while staring at the wound,
"At least this confirmed that a pistol bullet isn't enough to threaten my life, but it still hurts…"
He grabbed a cannonball he found near a cannon, turned to stare at the sniper and whispered,
"Now let's get rid of that annoying sniper…"