Capone Bege's originally tangled mood relaxed a lot. The other side's scheme exceeded his expectations, so in that case the life or death of this king wasn't really that important anymore.
"You, you can't do this. I am the king of Thorn Rose."
"You're the king? What gives you the right to be king? It was your idea to lure in pirates, and it was also your idea to sell the citizens. With a heart as ruthless as yours, what right do you have to be king?"
The gang boss—perhaps the future new king of Thorn Rose—began to bitterly accuse the current king of Thorn Rose of his crimes.
Meowth pretended to be an ordinary cat and started wandering around inside the treasury. A cat's movements definitely couldn't compare to the gang boss angrily spraying the king and drawing everyone's attention.
Looking at the room full of treasure, Meowth really wanted to take it all away, but even if you gave it time, it couldn't move everything at once—let alone under so many people's eyes.
So its attention was still on the Devil Fruit in the gang boss's hand.
How should it get the Devil Fruit?
The gang boss grew more and more excited, holding the Devil Fruit in one hand and pressing a gun to the king's head with the other.
"Buru Buru—Buru—"
At this moment, the sound of a Den Den Mushi rang from the king's body. The gang boss's gaze sharpened as he searched the king and pulled out a Den Den Mushi.
"Hello, this is the World Government. We've already arrived at Rose Island and discovered pirates attacking your island. Do you need the Marines to intervene immediately?"
If the king had received this call two minutes earlier, he would have been very happy. Now, this Den Den Mushi was his death knell. The World Government and Marine ships had already arrived at Rose Island.
That meant there could only be one king on Rose Island.
The gang boss immediately said, "Thank you to the World Government for helping our country clear out the pirates."
"Got it. Get your money ready."
The Den Den Mushi hung up.
"Now, I am the king."
Just as the gang boss was about to pull the trigger, several sounds of stone being cut open suddenly came from one wall of the treasury.
Under everyone's extremely surprised gazes, the treasury's hard and thick outer wall was forcibly cut open and a chunk was gouged out.
Bonez's figure appeared at the breach.
"Father!"
Martha's figure also appeared, and then Lena raised her gun and formed a standoff with the people inside.
Bonez's eyes weren't on the people, but on finding his target. The Devil Fruit seemed to be in the gang boss's hand—but why did this gang boss look exactly like the king?
The fruit was in his hand, so he couldn't move rashly and had to let Meowth think of a way to deal with it.
His gaze quickly fell on the only blade in the treasury. This sword really did gleam coldly, but why did the hilt look like this? If you wanted to hurt someone, wouldn't you have to hurt yourself first?
Whatever—at worst, he'd change the boss's sword hilt later.
Bonez's hands were as hard as iron, not afraid of the sharp points on the hilt. He directly snatched the sword and casually swung it at the stone wall, easily slicing off a chunk.
The Rose Princess saw two fathers. Although they looked exactly the same, she still quickly distinguished that the one holding the gun was the fake father: "Who are you!"
"Rose Princess? You're not dead."
That the Rose Princess was still alive was truly something he hadn't expected. No—shouldn't Lena beside her have been dead too?
Lena already had a guess in her heart: "Martha, this is the boss of the Rose Island underworld. With this appearance, he's probably trying to replace the king and become the new king of the Thorn Rose Kingdom."
Knowing Lena's marksmanship was formidable, the gang boss had already hidden his body behind the king.
"Martha, you should call me uncle. Your father looks benevolent and loves the people on the surface, but in reality he's done plenty of things that harm people—pirates, human trafficking, all planned by him…"
While using words to provoke Martha, the gang boss retreated toward the passage outside.
Martha wasn't important to him at all. As long as he formally made contact with the World Government, he would be the only king of this kingdom.
Martha? Just a rebel who colluded with pirates and intended to overthrow the state power… turning white into black and black into white.
Soon all the gang members withdrew from the treasury. Bonez had no interest in the king, and neither did Lena. Martha, however, didn't dare to act rashly.
Bonez said coldly, "The king is dead for sure."
Before, they thought the gang was after money. Now it seemed the other side wanted the entire kingdom. With even the appearance already fixed, there was no way they would leave the original king alive.
...
Outside, the sky had completely darkened, and the sound of gunfire still hadn't stopped. The melee between ordinary pirates and the kingdom's army had moved from outside the city into the city.
They didn't know the Marines had already arrived. The forces at the front dock were slaughtered and routed by the Marines, while they were still excited about breaking into the city.
Erkoya's body turned into a cannonball, tearing through the air in midair and smashing into the ground with a boom.
Vane stepped down from Geppo to the ground. He also had many wounds on his body, but these wounds weren't bleeding much and were slowly healing.
"Marine Rokushiki, Seimei Kikan… really interesting."
Seimei Kikan, when cultivated to the extreme, can inject strength into parts that were originally uncontrollable—like the hair.
He remembered that later there was a Marine Vice Admiral, Onigumo, who was a master of Seimei Kikan, making his hair operable like hands. All at once he gained so many "hands" to launch attacks, and thus got the nickname Onigumo.
Vane didn't plan to keep long hair. If he could learn Seimei Kikan, for him it could be used to quickly repair bodily injuries and stamina.
The protagonist Luffy actually has this kind of passive ability—eating a lot at once to store energy, then when it's needed, letting him be knocked down again and again and then stand back up.
"My mood is pretty good today. I can spare your life and give you a chance to work for me. How about it?"
This person is proficient in the Rokushiki. If he could be taken in as a subordinate, it'd be a pretty good choice.
But Vane didn't hold out hope for this. The aura on the other party didn't look like someone who would easily bow his head.
"Cough, cough… If I were the type to bow my head, I wouldn't have come out to run with pirates."
Erkoya really was used to freedom—or rather, he didn't want anyone to restrain the destructive desires in his heart.
"Alright then. As repayment… I'll defeat you seriously."
Vane drew the sword he had never drawn before.
Erkoya took a deep breath and shouted, "Gun Gale!"
This was his strongest move, combining the force-generation methods of Shigan and Rankyaku. A blue impact, somewhat like Kizaru's laser, burst forth.
"Frost Breathing — Spring Breeze Comes."
In the somewhat dim night, a vast brightness suddenly appeared. In an instant, dozens of frost-white flying slashes surged out, sharp and mixed with bone-chilling cold.
Puchi! Puchi…
Several of the flying slashes cut across Erkoya's body. Only the sound of blades entering flesh was heard, yet not a single drop of blood splashed out. One streak after another of frost marks appeared, connecting into a whole sheet and freezing him entirely into an ice man.
Erkoya's eyes were still open, but in fact he had already lost consciousness.
And the sword in Vane's hand was finally pierced by the opponent's Gun Gale. This blade, which could only be considered fine quality, cracked into several pieces with a ka-ka sound and was completely ruined.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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