Chapter 24: Surrender? No, I'm Saving Your Lives!
"Thud!"
The moment he set foot on the deck, a wave of immense exhaustion washed over him. Ralph's legs gave out, and he fell to one knee, barely managing to hold a superhero landing pose that looked cool but was, in reality, pathetic.
[Ding! Detected that the host has skillfully used Six Powers—Soru and broken through their limits at a critical moment, successfully executing Soru: Sky Step. The skill Soru has been upgraded from Intermediate to Advanced!]
The system's notification rang in his mind. It should have been exciting news, but right now, it only left a bitter taste in Ralph's mouth.
Breaking through was a good thing, but the price of complete physical exhaustion couldn't have come at a worse time! He felt utterly drained, struggling even to stand. How was he supposed to face a ship full of enemies eyeing him like prey?
Fortunately, the members of the Black Cat Pirates were currently in a state of collective bewilderment.
Luffy's bizarre ability to stretch her arms and Ralph's astonishing entrance, striding across the sea on a wooden plank, were both beyond their comprehension.
In the enemies' eyes, Ralph's half-kneeling, head-raised posture didn't look like weakness at all. Instead, it exuded a certain oppressive aura, as if he were gathering power for an attack. They imagined his gaze to be a "murderous" stare, and for a moment, no one dared to be the first to step forward.
"You guys!" Luffy, however, didn't care about any of that. With her hands on her hips, she puffed out her cheeks and loudly questioned the Pirates before her, "Why did you fire at us!"
The underlings were intimidated by her righteous indignation and fell silent. Just then, a strangely dressed man staggered out.
He wore a blue top hat and a long blue robe, with a pair of comical heart-shaped glasses perched on his nose. Most peculiar of all, the beard on his chin was meticulously wrapped with a cloth band.
This was the current captain of the Black Cat Pirates, Hypnotist Jango.
He had two special skills.
One was his mastery of the ring blade. The edges of the chakram were sharpened to a razor's edge, and throwing it resulted in a deadly cutting attack.
His other skill was his signature move—Hypnosis.
He would tie a string to his ring blade and use it as a pendulum for hypnosis. His Hypnosis could not only put people to sleep but could also be used to boost his underlings' fighting power or accelerate wound healing while they were in a trance.
But whether it was because his Hypnosis was too powerful or due to his own unique constitution, the guy always ended up hypnotizing himself along with his targets.
As a result, he walked with a stagger and spoke in a daze, carrying the air of a sleepwalker.
"You ask why we fired at you?..."
Jango's eyes were glazed over as he answered subconsciously, "Because we're carrying out Captain Kuro's orders. We can't let anyone know our Pirate crew is here."
"Who's Kuro?" Luffy tilted her head, asking curiously.
"Kuro is our former captain!"
"Why can't you let anyone know you're here?"
"Because if our location is revealed, we won't be able to execute Captain Kuro's plan!"
"Then what is your plan?"
"Of course, it's the plan to help Captain Kuro seize the young lady's fortune!"
The question-and-answer session was appallingly smooth. In his daze, Jango had nearly spilled all their secrets.
At the end of the conversation, Luffy had a moment of realization and slapped her fist into her palm. "I see!"
I see your ass! Ralph screamed internally, rendered speechless by Jango's "honesty."
The entire crew of Pirates was stunned. A few of the underlings hastily shouted, "Captain Jango! How could you say that out loud!"
The shouting seemed to sober Jango up a bit. He shook his head, looked at the "enlightened" Luffy and the exasperated Ralph, and then said in an almost casual tone, "Oops, it seems I let it slip... In that case, we'll just have to kill them to silence them!"
His nonchalant words instantly ignited a murderous aura on the deck!
It was as if a kill switch had been flipped in the members of the Black Cat Pirates. Their eyes turned savage, and they began to slowly close in, sharpening their blades like bloodthirsty beasts.
"You're going to kill people just because your plan was found out?" Luffy's brow furrowed tightly, her small face filled with incomprehension. "You guys are really unreasonable!"
After a little while, she seemed to have forgotten the initial reason for the fight. Seeing the approaching enemies, she tugged on the corner of Ralph's shirt and whispered, "Ralph, it looks like they don't want to talk sense anymore. Should we go back?"
Go back? Go back where?
During their "friendly exchange," Ralph had managed to recover a sliver of his strength, at least enough to stand steadily.
He gave a wry smile and pointed out to the distant sea.
In that short time, they had sailed quite a distance on the Black Cat Pirates' ship!
Luffy followed his finger and saw that their ship, the Going Swan, now just a black dot, had mostly capsized. Only its stern stubbornly stuck out of the water before it finally disappeared beneath the waves with a gurgling sound.
"Ah! The ship sank!" Luffy cried out. "What about Nami and Zoro?!"
"Right now, we should be more worried about what to do with the two of us!" Ralph took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
In the current situation, a head-on fight was the worst possible option. But the grunts of the Black Cat Pirates weren't about to give them time to think, charging forward with howls.
"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"
Luffy let out a sharp cry. Her rubber arm shot out like a cannonball, taking out the foremost Pirates one by one, sending them flying with a single punch.
Though simple-minded, her combat instincts were extremely sharp, and she handled these grunts with ease.
Ralph, lacking stamina, couldn't use Soru for high-speed movement for the time being. However, the keen perception granted by his rudimentary Observation Haki allowed him to be as slippery as an eel in the chaotic group fight.
He could always predict the trajectory of an attack in advance and dodge with minimal movement. When he did strike, it was to hit an opponent's vital points with pinpoint accuracy and extreme efficiency.
Jango watched as his underlings were so easily defeated by these two, especially the rubber girl whose power was bizarre. She had to be dealt with first.
"Looks like I'll have to handle this myself!"
Jango took out his weapon, the ring blade, tied a string to it, and began to swing it rhythmically from side to side before his eyes, chanting, "Look here... When I say one, two, Jango... you will feel very sleepy! One, two, Jango!"
The swinging ring blade seemed to possess a magical quality that drew one's gaze.
"Lufia, close your eyes!" Ralph hurriedly warned again. He knew all too well how insidious Jango's trick was, especially for someone as simple as Lufia, for whom it was almost foolproof.
Sure enough...
"Clang!"
With a dull thud, Luffy fell straight onto the deck, her eyes shut tight, breathing evenly—she was asleep!
Ralph slapped his forehead. Although he had expected it, seeing it happen still filled him with a sense of helplessness.
Now, he was all alone. His stamina was depleted, and his only main fighter was asleep. There was no way he could win a fight.
To protect both himself and the unconscious Lufia, there was only one path left—to outsmart them!
Ralph took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his body's weakness and his inner anxiety. He managed to squeeze out a calm, composed, and even somewhat profound smile.
"Captain Jango, is it? And to all of you from the Black Cat Pirates..."
His voice carried clearly across the deck. "Let's make a deal! I have something that can be exchanged for our lives!"
Seeing Ralph back down, the Pirates burst into derisive laughter.
Jango waved his still-swinging ring blade, his voice hazy but firm.
"I'm sorry... Secrecy is part of Captain Kuro's plan... If we defy his plan, all of us will lose our lives. Therefore, no amount of gold or treasure can buy your lives."
"Heh..."
Ralph shook his head, his smile growing more confident. He raised a finger and pointed to every person on the deck. "What I want to trade with is the lives of everyone on this ship. How about we trade that for the two of us?"
"What?!"
"You brat, what nonsense are you spouting!"
"Still talking big when you're about to die!"
With their own lives on the line, the Pirates grew slightly angry and began to shout at him.
Jango's hazy eyes sharpened a fraction as he stared at Ralph. "What do you mean?"
Meeting everyone's gaze, Ralph spoke clearly, word by word.
"I know someone wants to take the lives of everyone in the Black Cat Pirates! If I don't tell you, you will all die without a doubt!"
Jango's heart skipped a beat. Seeing that Ralph's expression didn't seem fake, he pressed, "Who?"
A cold arc formed on Ralph's lips as he uttered the name that sent a shiver through the heart of every member of the Black Cat Pirates:
"Your very own former captain—'Hundred Plans' Kuro!"
"Impossible!"
"Nonsense!"
"Why would Captain Kuro harm us!"
The deck instantly erupted in an uproar, with shouts of doubt and anger rising and falling.
But beneath the clamor, an indescribable chill quietly spread through the hearts of all the veteran crew members. They knew better than anyone just how cold, cruel, and calculating the man known as "Hundred Plans" was.
In past years, more than a few brothers had been mercilessly executed for slightly deviating from his plans... Who could guarantee that they hadn't crossed one of his lines this time? That they hadn't ended up on his secret "kill list"?
Jango's face changed as well. Deep within him, his fear of Kuro was deeply ingrained.
He forced himself to remain calm, but his voice already carried a slight tremor. "You say Kuro wants to annihilate the Black Cat Pirates... What's the reason?"
Seeing that he had successfully drawn his opponent into his rhythm, Ralph felt a little more at ease.
"The reason? Let's start from three years ago."
Ralph's gaze swept over the crowd with an all-knowing composure. "It's not because you let it slip on the ship today that I know Kuro is still alive."
He paused, then continued, "Three years ago, when the news of Kuro's execution by the Marines came, I doubted its authenticity. An schemer known as 'Hundred Plans,' who could run circles around the Marines, would be so easily caught and executed? That in itself is illogical."
"Not long ago, I personally defeated the Marine Captain who was in charge of capturing Kuro back then..."
Ralph had indeed defeated Axe-Hand Morgan; he was using facts to add credibility to his words.
"I confirmed it. With his strength, he was no match for Kuro at all!"
This statement was half-truth, half-lie, but combined with the profound strength and wisdom he had displayed earlier, the Pirates had no choice but to believe him.
"Furthermore..." Ralph's tone shifted, his gaze falling on Jango.
"Having witnessed today that the Black Cat Pirates have a hypnosis master like Captain Jango, capable of manipulating others' consciousness and creating perfect illusions... I can conclude that it must have been Captain Jango who, with his exquisite Hypnosis, assisted Kuro in executing a flawless plan to fake his death with a substitute! He made everyone believe he was dead, thus allowing him to escape!"
Hearing Ralph praise him as a "remarkable hypnosis master," Jango's somewhat muddled mind became giddy. The corners of his mouth curled up uncontrollably, and his impression of Ralph instantly improved. Consequently, he was more inclined to believe the rest of what Ralph had to say.
Seeing the expressions of belief and suspicion intermingling on the faces of the crew, Ralph knew the time was right and finally delivered the fatal blow.
"So, let's return to the original question." His voice lowered, carrying a bewitching magic.
"From what Captain Jango 'accidentally' revealed, Kuro has been living under an alias in a wealthy household on some island, lying low for three whole years to gain their complete trust. Then, you all show up to eliminate the final heir, and he inherits the family fortune as a matter of course, right?"
The Pirates nodded subconsciously.
"Well then, I ask you all to think about it," Ralph's gaze sharpened.
"He went to such great lengths. Was it really just for gold and treasure? No! What he wants is a clean, stable identity as a wealthy man! A 'clean' identity that will allow him to completely break away from his life as a Pirate and enjoy a life of luxury for the rest of his days!"
"And the identity of 'Captain Kuro,' along with everyone who knows this identity, everyone who knows about his disgraceful past..." Ralph's voice was like a biting winter wind, cutting through each person's heart.
"They will all become stains on his new life that must be completely erased!"
He looked around at the faces that were gradually losing their color and slowly asked the final question:
"Am I wrong?"
A deathly silence fell upon the deck.
***
T/N: I couldn't understand what Sky Step means here. Is it an original concept the author made, or the Sky Walk from Geppo? If it's from Geppo, why is it under the skill Soru? If any hardcore One Piece fan is reading this, and you know what this is about, please let me know. I'll rectify if there was any mistranslation here.