"No, no, no! You're our savior—Rebecca's and mine. I could never shoot you! I absolutely won't do it!"
The one-legged soldier waved his hands frantically in refusal.
"Benefactor-san, your wound can be healed! You're not going to die! Please don't give up!"
Rebecca pleaded anxiously.
They both thought Lance had given up on life because of his injury and wanted to end his own suffering. Without hesitation, they firmly refused his request.
"I told you to shoot!"
Lance scowled. "If neither of you will do it, I'll do it myself."
Without another word, he picked up a flintlock pistol, pressed it to his temple, and prepared to pull the trigger.
"No!!"
The one-legged soldier rushed forward and struck the gun from Lance's hand with the butt of his own weapon.
"Benefactor! A bullet wound isn't a death sentence—it can be treated!"
"You said you know who I am. Then you should know how strong I am. I can assure you, getting shot isn't the end of the world! You can't give up like this!"
"Yeah! Benefactor-san, soldier-san is really strong, so what he says must be true! You can't do this to yourself!"
Rebecca quickly grabbed Lance's hand to stop him from doing anything reckless.
They were completely convinced Lance had lost all hope because of his injury and wanted to end it. But no matter what, he was their savior—the man who helped them defeat the traffickers and rescued Rebecca. There was no way they'd let him die like this.
"Alright, I get what you mean."
"But I'm in so much pain right now!"
Lance grumbled. "Kuro, kill me!"
Not wanting them to interfere anymore, he gave the order to the devouring spirit behind him.
But Kuro only turned to look at Lance—doing nothing.
"Kuro… can't… kill Master…"
"Kuro… can't… kill Master…"
The creature repeated in a rasping voice.
"Even Kuro's useless now…"
Lance shook his head, then his eyes flashed with resolve. In a blur, he grabbed a blade from the ground and slashed it across his neck before either Rebecca or the soldier could react.
Shhhk—
Blood sprayed out. Both of them froze in horror, far too late to stop it.
Lance's head dropped forward, and he collapsed onto the ground.
"He's dead…"
The soldier checked for breath, shook his head, and sighed.
"Waaaah… Benefactor-san is dead!!"
"We didn't save him… we failed… uwaaaaah…"
Rebecca cried uncontrollably.
"He must've carried too much pain and pressure… and couldn't bear it anymore. May he rest in peace in the next world…"
The soldier respectfully bowed toward Lance's "corpse."
"I don't want Benefactor-san to die… waaaah… he saved me… how can he be gone?!"
"Benefactor-san, you can't die! You can't… uwaaaah…"
It was as if Rebecca had lost someone truly close to her, her sobs full of heartbreak.
But neither of them noticed the black particles beginning to gather around Lance's body, rapidly healing all his wounds.
Soon, Lance's fingers twitched.
"Alright, Rebecca, you're too damn noisy."
Lance spoke flatly as he sat up from the pool of blood.
"B-Benefactor-san… he… he's alive!!"
Rebecca's tears stopped instantly. She stared in disbelief as Lance, who had just clearly died, calmly stood up, lit a cigarette, and took a long drag.
"H-How…? He was… clearly dead!"
The soldier's voice trembled. He was certain Lance had taken his own life. There was no way he could still be alive.
What in the world was happening?
In all his life, he had never heard of someone reviving from death like this… could it be the power of a Devil Fruit?
"Nothing to be surprised about."
"I… can never die."
Lance exhaled smoke as he spoke coldly.
Never die?
Rebecca and the soldier looked at each other, both stunned.
Could someone truly be immortal?
Even the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, who once ruled the seas, died on the execution platform… how could anyone escape death?
"You two should leave now."
Lance cast a glance at the soldier. "I know toys in Dressrosa can't attack humans, no matter how evil they are… Staying here won't do either of you any good."
"Besides, what's about to happen—you won't want to see it."
"Go."
With that, he turned and walked up the stairs.
Leaving the soldier and Rebecca standing there, unsure of what to do.
"Benefactor-san, I'm so glad you're alive!"
"Can I know where you live? When I go home, I want to come visit you a lot!"
Rebecca cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted cheerfully.
"Don't come find me."
Lance stood on the second-floor stairs, his back to them, eyes deep. "My world isn't one you can be part of."
And then he disappeared into the second floor of the warehouse.
"Rebecca, let's go."
"We'll come visit our benefactor again tomorrow."
The soldier took Rebecca's hand.
"Mm! Okay!"
"Soldier-san, from now on, we're friends with Benefactor-san, right?"
Rebecca looked up at him with her big watery eyes.
"Of course. He's… a good man."
The soldier gazed long and hard at the second floor of the warehouse before turning away with Rebecca.
…
"These guys were living pretty well, huh?"
Lance reached the second floor, the traffickers' base of operations. It was fully equipped with decent facilities.
"There's a safe… belongs to Turwindis?"
Lance spotted a large safe. "Kuro, crack it open."
Kuro appeared without a word and, using his scythe-like claws, shredded the lock with ease.
With his current strength, Kuro wasn't much weaker than Lance.
Just a few swipes, and the safe flew open.
"With this money, I should be able to buy intel on the Donquixote Family's officers, right?"
Lance's eyes gleamed coldly, murderous intent flaring.
"Diamante… it's time you paid for what you did!"
(End of Chapter)
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