Longinus's pupils contracted violently.
Although bounties didn't perfectly equate to strength, they were in most cases the best way to measure it.
And in this nascent era of great pirates, situated in the initial waters of the Grand Line, a bounty of 37 million Berries was already a quite shocking figure.
Although he had previously killed some pirates who had come to invade, the highest bounty among those pirates was only 23 million Berries, which was a completely different concept from 37 million Berries.
What's more, Alex the Giant Rhino had a notorious reputation in these waters, not only repeatedly evading Navy pursuit but even choosing to massacre some towns afterward as retaliation.
It seemed they were purely caught in the crossfire this time.
"Brother Longinus, what… what should we do now?" Fitz asked, flustered, seeing Longinus somewhat lost in thought.
"Of course… kill them!"
"Huh?"
Fitz's eyes widened, somewhat disbelieving.
Although Brother Longinus was strong and had killed many pirates who plundered towns, the enemies attacking this time were on a completely different level from the previous pirates!
Fitz was still in a daze when he saw Longinus walk away, his figure disappearing completely in a flash.
"Brother Longinus, wait for me!"
"It seems I'll have to reveal some of my methods to kill the enemy this time, but that's fine.
I've absorbed enough life force from the Sea Kings, it's time to taste the power of a strong soul!" A brutal killing intent flashed in Longinus's calm eyes, and his rushing body trembled slightly, a sign that the blood surging within him was beginning to boil.
…
The slaughter continued!
Blood stained the ground, and wreckage was strewn everywhere, as if the gates of hell had opened here.
"Lord Alex, we can hand over all our wealth to you, but please, I beg you, spare our lives!" The old man prostrated himself on the ground, desperately kowtowing and begging for mercy.
"Mayor, let's fight them!" An unwilling roar came from the crowd behind the old man.
"Shut up!" The old mayor first reprimanded the people behind him, then continued to plead, "Lord Alex, you can take all the town's wealth.
I will also swear by my ancestors' names that I will never reveal your whereabouts to the Navy.
Please, have mercy and let us go!"
"Hahahahaha! Let you go?
Who will then spread word of my Alex's brutality and power across this sea?
I've long declared across this sea that every time the Navy puts a bounty on me, I'll massacre a town.
Old man, if you want to resent someone, resent those idiotic Navy soldiers!" The burly, one-eyed pirate laughed ferociously.
"Now, all of you…" Alex's spiked club was raised high, seemingly intending to smash the old man into a pulp in the most brutal way.
Boom!
Just as the townspeople were preparing for a desperate struggle, a dark shadow fell from the sky.
Alex's pig-like body was suddenly sent flying dozens of meters away.
It was Longinus, who had stomped on the rooftops and leaped into the air to deliver a decisive blow.
"This… Longinus… he actually sent Alex the Giant Rhino flying!" A townsman murmured, unable to believe the scene before his eyes.
"Great! With Brother Longinus here, the Giant Rhino Pirate Crew won't be arrogant for long!" The "boy scouts" all had unconditional trust in Longinus.
"What a joke, an eleven or twelve-year-old kid actually defeated the captain!" A pirate instinctively blurted out.
The pirate next to him looked at the reckless speaker in horror, quickly backing away as if avoiding a snake.
The pirate who had just spoken also snapped out of his daze, cold sweat streaming down his back.
He looked at the still-settling dust with trembling legs and stammered, "Cap… Captain, I didn't mean that…"
Boom!
The spiked club spun out of the dust at an incredibly fast speed.
In the pirate's horrified and desperate eyes, it smashed his head into a pulp, and a headless corpse crashed to the ground.
Alex walked out, his eyes filled with murderous intent, blood gushing from his forehead and staining his body, as if he had crawled out of a sea of blood.
Everyone trembled, lowering their eyes, not daring to even breathe, as if an invisible boulder was pressing on their hearts.
"You bastard, you actually dared to hit me!
Do you know, no one has ever dared to hit my head!" Alex approached step by step, his face contorted in a ferocious grimace, exuding immense pressure.
"Now there is." Longinus smiled gently, while in his mind, he was pondering: the rumor that Alex was a Zoan Devil Fruit user seemed to be true, otherwise, his punch, which could kill even Sea Kings, wouldn't have allowed Alex to recover so quickly.
Longinus's reply stunned Alex for a moment, then he felt a surge of anger, completely forgetting the words he had planned to say.
He pushed off the ground with his legs, and propelled by the explosive recoil, he charged towards his enemy at an incredibly fast speed.
At this speed, a distance of over ten meters was but a blink of an eye.
Seeing Longinus seemingly unable to react, as if he were scared senseless, Alex felt a surge of satisfaction, and the immense force applied to his fist grew even heavier.
As Alex's fist, the size of a sandbag, approached, and the wind from his punch rustled the hair by his ears, Longinus moved!
He tilted his head slightly to the left, and the fist, carrying a gust of wind, brushed past his face.
Longinus swiftly slammed his right shoulder into Alex, and a crisp sound of bones breaking was heard.
Before Alex could cry out in pain, Longinus quickly kicked his right leg upwards, a swift and powerful knee strike hitting Alex's lower abdomen.
Both the residents of Fallen Leaves Town and the pirates of the Giant Rhino Pirate Crew clearly saw that the great pirate Alex the Giant Rhino's face was completely contorted and deformed with pain, and his eyes bulged out like those of a dead fish.
Anyone could see that the pain he was enduring at that moment had far exceeded his limits.
This wasn't over.
Longinus lightning-fast grabbed Alex's shoulder and delivered an over-the-shoulder throw, slamming him hard onto the ground.
Considering the two men's physiques, it seemed as ridiculous as an ant throwing an elephant, but at this moment, no one could laugh.
The explosive scene had robbed them of their ability to speak.
Aside from the boy scouts who followed Longinus every day, who could have imagined that Alex the Giant Rhino, who dominated these waters, would be beaten so helplessly by an eleven or twelve-year-old boy?
One could only say that reality was often stranger than fiction.
Heavy breathing sounds filled the air.
Longinus's expression remained unchanged, but his body rapidly retreated.
Only then did a giant rhinoceros, fully five meters tall, charge out wildly from the dust, its single horn on its nose gleaming with a chilling light, seemingly sharper than even famous swords.
If Longinus hadn't foreseen the danger and dodged in advance, he would have been impaled by that horn, and even his body would have been torn apart.
"This… this is a monster!" The townspeople, who had just shown signs of relief, once again became distraught, clearly terrified by Alex's massive transformation.
"Idiots, this is the captain's true strength, this is the confidence with which the Giant Rhino Pirate Crew dominates the seas!" The pirates who had almost thought of retreating began to clamor again.
"This guy's size is far inferior to a Sea King, he won't be a match for Brother Longinus!" Only the boy scouts remained confident in Longinus, unmoved.
"Bastard, it seems I really underestimated you.
Too bad, you're about to witness the true power of a demon!" Alex scraped his front hooves on the ground, panting heavily as he spoke.
"Don't easily speak so arrogantly, that will only reveal your weakness!" Even when facing a brutal enemy like Alex, Longinus wore a gentle smile, because he always had more tolerance for the dead.