Lucci edged up beside Kai, hands slick with blood, eyes locked on Gart without blinking. His whole body was wound tight.
From the moment this rescue began, he'd done his homework. He knew exactly what kind of monster Sword-Lion Gart was.
Even at thirteen, Lucci had no confidence he could beat a pirate captain with a 48,000,000-Berries bounty.
So when Gart arrived, Lucci's heart sank like a stone.
"The next move is we split and run in different directions," he muttered. "Better odds one of us gets out."
"Run?" Kai shook his head. "Look around. The warehouse is sealed on all sides by more than three thousand pirates. And it's not just Gart—his four chief officers aren't pushovers either."
"Then we fight to the end." Lucci's face didn't change, but the steel in his voice did. Trained as he was, he'd put life and death aside long ago. Failure hurt more than dying.
"Shame… looks like this mission's going to fail," he said, exhaling.
"Fail? Not necessarily." Kai smiled.
"What do you mean?" Lucci frowned.
"Who said anything about running? I never planned to."
"You're going to fight Gart?" Lucci snorted. "Fine. I'll go mad with you. If we die, we die on our feet."
"Quit talking about dying," Kai said. "We're not dying today."
Across the ring of blades, Gart eyed them with interest. "Two kids with decent bite," he drawled. "Interested in joining the Sword-Lion Pirates? I can give each of you an officer's seat."
"In your dreams," Lucci shot back.
"What a pity," Gart smiled, and the smile was all knives. "In that case, I'll kill you both."
"You'll pay for it," Lucci said, voice flat.
"Will I?" Gart's eyes glinted. He waved a hand. "You—release the hostages."
"…Huh?" A few pirates froze. Let the hostages go? After all that effort? Those people were their leverage over the Rosede court.
"Who said anything about letting them go?" Gart's grin widened. "Open the cages, mix our men in among them, and drive the herd forward. I want those two brats smothered by their 'rescue.' Even if they dare to swing, I get to watch a lovely bit of friendly slaughter. Fun, isn't it?"
Understanding dawned on the officers—dark and bright at once.
"Boss is brilliant!"
"Fewer losses for us—and maybe they cut down the nobles for us!"
Orders flew. Cages clanged open. Five hundred-plus hostages—including a dozen silk-robed nobles and scores of battered Royal Guards—were shoved out, legs shaking, faces chalk-white. A wall of pirates packed close behind them, using living bodies as shields while they advanced step by step on Kai and Lucci.
"D-don't… please don't kill us…" sobbed someone at the front.
Gart laughed from the rear. "Well, kids? Kill the hostages—and maybe you live. Spare them—and you die. I'm dying to see which way you twist."
Around them, pirates buzzed like flies over meat.
"They won't dare!"
"If they butcher the nobles, Rosede IV will have them skinned even if they escape!"
"Want to bet? If they snap—this gets interesting."
Lucci's pupils chilled. Rage surged, but he forced it down. "Do we move?" he asked Kai, voice low.
Truth was, he already knew his own answer.
He wanted to kill them all—the meat shields, the pirates, the lot. Let the mission fail on paper if it had to. If every pirate here died, it wouldn't be a total loss.
"You're thinking of killing the hostages," Kai said, eyes narrowing. He'd read Lucci's intent cleanly.
He looked at the wavering line—five hundred lives pushed toward them by sneering men with blades. Nobles among them, shaking so hard their silks rattled.
The scene tugged at a memory. If he remembered right, this was the battle that made Rob Lucci's name—the infamous choice that paved his road to CP9.
Lucci's path had been to slaughter everyone—hostages first, pirates after—and walk away unbowed. Half a failure, half a victory, and a legend born in blood.
"If we don't cut them down, we'll get crushed," Lucci said, voice gone flat again.
"Not necessarily," Kai replied, a short laugh slipping out. "There's another way."
Lucci blinked. "What way?"
Kai stepped forward. "Fall back, Lucci. Let me handle this."
He kept walking, steady as a heartbeat, into the tide of bodies—toward the hostages, the hidden knives, and the ring of three thousand pirates—without once looking back.
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