Poised and ready, Meowth shot out from the corner at extreme speed. No one ever paid attention to the space under their feet, and now the pirates were all distracted by Vane standing on the rooftop.
Meowth slammed in— a hazy surge of energy wrapped around its body. The tiny figure burst out with tremendous power and directly knocked a pirate holding an ordinary saber into a house that was burning fiercely.
"Fire! Ah, fire!"
Whether it was bad luck and the house happened to be burning at its weakest point, or he crashed into a fragile support, in any case, right after he screamed, the house collapsed.
Meowth grabbed the fallen saber and, before the pirates could react, scrambled up onto Vane's rooftop in a couple of agile moves.
"This time, the one making an entrance is the good guy Meowth."
The man and the cat had arrived two minutes earlier and sized up the situation. Very quickly, Vane decided he would draw attention while Meowth went to snatch a blade for him.
His current body had a decent foundation, and with the boost from demon blood he was definitely stronger than before.
But facing dozens of pirates barehanded? He had zero confidence—especially with two people on the other side who looked hard to deal with.
Vane didn't dare underestimate the nameless pirates. Maybe they weren't as fast or agile as the Hashira from Demon Slayer, but in terms of raw power, they were definitely stronger.
With the saber in hand, Vane's confidence soared. Right now, all his skills were in sword techniques; the difference between having a weapon and not was huge.
"That brat—didn't I already kill him?!"
Small Blade Dolon stared at Vane in shock. He was the one who had chased Vane into the forest outside town and left a fatal wound in Vane's chest. He was sure it was the same person, because the clothes on the other's chest still bore his slash marks.
But the terrifying wound he'd carved out was gone.
"That cat can talk."
"Could it be a cat demon?! A cat demon must be worth a lot—catch it and sell it to nobles and you can trade it for a big ship."
Compared to the first mate's shock, the other pirates were more astonished that a cat could talk.
"Men, capture that talking cat alive!"
Big Blade Buri also noticed something special about the cat—definitely valuable—and immediately changed the target.
"Why are you suddenly all staring at me, meow?! I'm just a plain, ordinary Meowth, meow."
Vane: "Meowth, go draw away those pirate lackeys."
"But that's dangerous, meow."
"After we beat these pirates, we'll have the money on their ship. There'll definitely be lots of shiny gold coins."
All Meowths loved shiny gems and gold coins, and a talking Meowth was no exception.
"Meow, really, meow?!"
"It's true, so hurry and go."
As Vane spoke, he grabbed Meowth by the scruff and with a whoosh tossed it out.
"That cat's flying away!"
"Hurry and chase it— a cat worth millions, tens of millions!"
"I'll be the first to catch it!"
"Damn it, don't shoot! If you kill it, it won't be worth anything!"
A bunch of pirate lackeys immediately gave chase. Vane wasn't worried about Meowth at all. In the anime, Meowth had been blown away countless times and was tough as nails; besides, judging by speed, these people were completely outclassed. If Meowth wanted to run, they wouldn't even see its butt.
...
"Kid, I don't know what's going on, but if I can kill you once, I can kill you a second time."
Vane had none of this body's memories, but from what he knew so far, "he" probably died resisting these pirates.
Vane raised the finger between his index and ring finger at Small Blade Dolon and also tossed out a line of colorful profanity.
Ninety percent of pirates were either emotionally unstable or stably hot-tempered. The gesture plus the trash talk made Small Blade Dolon snap.
"I'm going to slice you!"
Dolon had no hesitation. He'd killed this man once before, and his captain was right there backing him up.
So he chose to charge straight in, swinging the short knife in his hand to cut Vane's throat.
Charging uphill from a lower position, and with a short knife at that—pretty arrogant.
In Vane's eyes, Dolon wasn't fast, and he was full of openings.
Hoo—
At that moment, Vane's gaze seemed to shine with cold light, and the breath he exhaled turned into a mass of frosty mist.
Frost Breathing • First Form — White Frost Fall.
A layer of white mist wrapped around the saber in Vane's hand, and crystalline sparkles appeared along the edge.
Shua! His figure blurred for an instant, like an old film missing two frames out of twenty-four.
Cha!
When Vane appeared again, he had already landed steadily on the ground.
Behind him, Small Blade Dolon also leapt onto the rooftop. He saw his hands and feet firmly planted on the roof, but his view was spinning.
Why? Why did my head fall off my body? There wasn't even any pain? And there wasn't any blood spraying out either.
Of course there was no blood—because the severed edge had already frozen over with a layer of ice crystals.
First Form, White Frost Fall: a rapid dash-type sword technique. The leg drive used techniques from Thunder Breathing.
With a sword in hand, Vane estimated that his combat power could reach the level of a 30,000,000 Belly bounty through sword techniques. Considering his current body's strength was boosted by demon blood and he wasn't too afraid of injuries, that bounty-level combat power could be pushed even higher.
Before Small Blade Dolon's head had even hit the ground, a whistling rush of foul wind was already crashing toward Vane's head.
Vane sidestepped, planted a hand on the ground, flipped, and left the spot. The next moment, the great blade slammed into the ground.
Boom!!!
The ground was split open with a huge crack, showing off the tremendous power of the blade's owner.
Vane could doubt these pirates' overall technique—they weren't very refined—but he absolutely didn't doubt their strength.
In his memory, that chubby Alvida with only a 5,000,000 Belly bounty could still swing a spiked iron club with impressive power. Let alone this Big Blade Buri, who had a 20,000,000 Belly bounty and clearly looked like a power type.
Bounties might fluctuate based on how vicious a pirate was, but Big Blade Buri was definitely much stronger than Alvida before she ate the Slip-Slip Fruit.
Big Blade Buri's face was full of rage: "You little bastard, you actually killed my first mate. Do you know what that means? It means I have to buy a sheep to bring onto my ship. Do you know how bad a live sheep smells?!"
Vane froze for a moment, trying to think through the connection between the two. Very quickly, he felt a chill run through him. Ever since he learned Frost Breathing, he hadn't felt "cold" from nature for a long time—he didn't expect today's shiver to come from sheer inner revulsion.
"Big Blade Buri."
Taking advantage of Vane's brief distraction, Captain Buri swung his huge blade again.
Frost Breathing • Second Form — Frost Round Dance.
A defensive sword technique that can burst out with powerful force in an instant to deflect the opponent's attack.
Without using sword techniques, Vane's strength definitely couldn't match Buri's. Once the technique came out, Buri's fierce great blade was knocked aside with a clang.
The next move—use the Seventh Form to finish him.
Just as Vane was about to adjust his breathing, he saw that Buri, whose blade had been deflected, not only showed no negative emotion, but instead wore a sinister, scheming smile.
Using the force from the deflection, his left hand snapped up—and it was holding a short gun.
Bang!
Muzzle flash exploded.
A bullet fired at close range and went straight through Vane's chest. Even if it didn't hit the heart, it would have pierced a lung. He had won.
"Hahaha! You're not the first idiot to die under my gun! What era do you think this is, still playing with cold weapons? This musket of mine is a high-end import from the South Blue."
Captain Buri was a very smart man. This was the era of firearms. In the circles he dealt with, no one survived a single shot, so he deliberately kept a musket from the South Blue. This gun had indeed helped him kill quite a few enemies.
"It's exactly that expression— that look of disbelief. Then you struggle in place for a few seconds, and you'll fall forever... fall, fall... damn it, why aren't you falling yet?"
"Seventh Form • Spring Breeze Comes..."
The blade in Vane's hand whooshed, whooshed, whooshed, carving out a chain of afterimages.
"A Thousand Trees Bloom."