Pathesius felt like he was having the worst luck today.
Originally, he had heard that Rocky Port was a good place to fence stolen goods.
That was why he had traveled thousands of miles to sell the expensive perfumes, gold, silver, and jewelry he had plundered from Dressrosa here, in exchange for Berries and supplies.
He had originally planned...
...that if this trip went smoothly...
...he would make Rocky Port his primary location for fencing goods from then on.
For pirates like them, who had no territory of their own and could only survive by wandering and plundering...
...one can imagine how important a neutral trading zone was—one where they could easily fence goods without worrying about being robbed immediately.
And Rocky Port was undoubtedly such a place.
This was the territory of the strongest pirate group in the New World: the Rocks Pirates.
The rule here was that fighting was prohibited within the port and island limits.
Any violation would be met with an attack from the Rocks Pirates.
There was no need to worry about the original owners coming to reclaim their stolen goods here.
With the flag of Rocks flying...
...let alone affiliated nations like Dressrosa...
...even the armies of the Marine and the World Government dared not venture deep into this place.
Aside from having to pay a twenty-percent protection fee to the Rocks Pirates for every transaction, this place was practically a fencing paradise in Pathesius's eyes.
As for whether they would encounter other pirates robbing them once they left Rocky Port for the open sea...
...that depended entirely on their own abilities.
As the Captain of the Venomous Fang Pirates, "Venomous Fang" Pathesius, with a bounty of ninety million, wasn't someone who could be easily intimidated.
And today wasn't his first time here.
So, he hadn't been worried about his safety or the safety of his cargo at all.
However... when he saw his own pirate ship being grabbed by that bull-horned giant and tossed dozens of meters into the air like a toy toward the port town...
...when he saw "Scimitar" Cook, whose bounty was only two million Berries lower than his own, have half his body crushed by a single club strike...
...when he saw his peers...
...those pirate Captains with bounties over a hundred million being slaughtered like vegetables by that demon king...
...Pathesius went numb.
For the first time, he felt that Great Pirates with bounties over a hundred million were actually so fragile.
Without any hesitation...
...he decisively blended into the crowd to flee.
He didn't even have time to gather his subordinates.
He ran for his life into the depths of the town.
There were many others with the same idea.
For instance, running ahead of him were several pirate Captains with bounties no lower than his.
He saw Pete, the Captain of the Gluttony Pirates, with a bounty of ninety-eight million Berries.
Rick "the Leech," the Captain of the Bloodsucker Pirates, with a bounty of one hundred and thirty million Berries.
And the lone killer, "The Man-Slayer" Levi, with a bounty of one hundred and fifty million Berries.
And... "Huh? Who's that white-haired guy?"
Pathesius suddenly froze.
He saw a white-haired young man standing in the middle of the street ahead.
The young man was tall and robust, appearing to be over three meters in height.
The street wasn't wide to begin with.
He was facing the crowd, looking as if he had been stunned senseless by the sheer number of pirates.
Standing blankly in the middle of the road, he made the already narrow path seem even tighter.
The pirates at the front could only rush past him on either side.
It wasn't that the pirates had good tempers and didn't get angry at having their way blocked.
It was that everyone was currently busy fleeing for their lives, terrified that the demon king behind them would catch up.
Otherwise, this foolish brat standing in the middle of the road would have been swarmed and attacked by the pirates long ago.
However, this white-haired brat's luck didn't last long.
A large fat man, three meters tall and three meters wide, with fat rippling like waves as he ran, charged straight toward the white-haired young man still standing in the middle of the road.
His face, so bloated that his eyes were almost invisible, bore a look of frantic desperation.
Seeing that he was about to collide with the white-haired young man, the fat man waved his short, pudgy hands frantically.
It looked exceptionally comical.
"Get out of the way, brother! I... I can't stop! I'm... I'm going to crash!"
Seeing the fat man's movements and the panicked expression on his face, Pathesius couldn't help but sneer.
That fat man was indeed the Captain of the Gluttony Pirates, "Big Eater" Pete.
A fat man who was always smiling but was actually treacherous and sinister.
"Can't stop," my foot.
He was clearly doing it on purpose!
Although fighting was strictly forbidden on this island...
...at this moment, because of Kaido's arrival, the place had fallen into complete chaos.
Pete had already been chased and crushed by Kaido, leaving him in a wretched and furious state.
Now, he clearly wanted to find someone to vent his pent-up frustration on.
And the white-haired young man standing stunned in the middle of the road was obviously his punching bag.
He intended to use his thick, heavy body to crush this fool to death!
"Hehehe..."
At the thought that in the next moment, the limbs of the young man in front of him would be twisted and blood would splatter under his high-speed impact...
...a gleeful smile couldn't help but appear on Pete's fat face.
Yet, his mouth continued to shout hypocritically.
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way, brother! I really can't stop!"
"Sor... Sorry!"
*Bang!!*
In the next moment...
...his mountain-like, bloated body, like a charging elephant, slammed solidly into the white-haired young man under the gloating gazes of the crowd.
In an instant...
...the bloody scene of splattering flesh and twisted limbs that Pathesius, Rick the Leech, and the others expected did indeed occur.
However... what left everyone dumbfounded and shocked was...
...the victim of the splattering flesh and twisted limbs wasn't the white-haired young man standing in the middle of the road.
It was "Big Eater" Pete, whose body alone weighed over ten tons and was as fat as a mountain of meat!
At the moment of impact, the white-haired young man didn't budge an inch; his feet didn't even shift back a single millimeter!
Instead, it was Pete.
His massive body felt as though it had slammed into an iron pillar welded into the ground.
After his skin stretched to its limit, it tore in large patches.
Countless bits of yellow, white, and red flesh and fat were squeezed out of the torn wounds, splattering everywhere.
The narrow alleyway was drenched in a metallic stench.
"AAAAAAAHHH—!!"
The agonizing pain of his flesh tearing made him let out a scream of torment.
Despite such horrific injuries, he actually hadn't died.
His bloodshot eyes bulged as he glared at Carlo, who was right in front of him. Howling, he actually lunged to bite Carlo's face!
"Bastard! Bastard! I'll kill you! I'm going to eat you!"
Seeing Pete's mouth, filled with foul-smelling saliva, getting closer and closer...
...Carlo finally moved.
He raised his left hand, which had been hanging at his side, pressed it against Pete's bloated chest, and pushed forward.
It seemed as if he hadn't used much strength...
...yet Pete's mountain-like body was easily pushed away by him.
Then, he unhurriedly raised his right hand.
Clenched his fist.
Raised his arm.
And thrust his fist forward.
*Boom!!*
The air in the entire alleyway visibly distorted and rippled, kicking up a violent wind pressure.
The air seemed to explode as if detonated by some kind of explosive.
It burst right at Carlo's fist.
All the pirates in the alleyway only saw a white airwave appear in front of Carlo.
Then, Pete's open mouth was completely caved in by a fist, which punched through and emerged from the back of his fat skull!
A large piece of hard skull, spinning like a shuriken in mid-air, flew toward the dumbfounded Pathesius.
It whizzed past him, plowing a deep furrow into the alley wall!
"Sorry. The one who should be saying sorry... is me."
Under the terrified gazes of the surrounding pirates, Carlo slowly withdrew his entire right arm, which had pierced through Pete's mouth, and let Pete's massive body collapse with a thud.
Unfazed, he reached into his coat, pulled out a gold-leaf cigar, and stuck it in his mouth.
He lit it amidst the thick, overpowering stench of blood in the alleyway.
*Hiss—!*
He took a deep drag.
Letting the smoke fill his lungs.
His face splattered with blood, Carlo slowly looked up to face the terrified Pathesius and the others.
"The slaughter... has begun."
"Are you ready?"