Spandine's hand shook as he held the gun. He stared in shock at the man who had caught the bullet with two fingers, then looked back at his own pistol, which was still smoking.
"You... who are you?!"
After a brief, dead silence, Spandine let out a sharp roar. He tried to cover up his fear by shouting at the top of his lungs. "I don't care who you are! You dare interfere with CP9's official business! We are acting under the orders of the World Government! You are declaring war on the World Government! You are an accomplice of Ohara!"
Professor Clover and the other professors felt their hearts leap into their throats. They were shocked by this man's power, but they were also afraid he would be branded an "accomplice of Ohara."
However, Aiden paid no attention to Spandine's shouting.
He slowly turned his head. His gaze moved past Spandine and swept over Olvia, who was badly wounded and dying in the mud. Finally, it stopped on the black-haired little girl hiding behind Professor Clover, her face streaked with tears as she peeked out in terror.
Ignoring him like that was the greatest insult of all.
"You bastard!!"
The CP9 agents were elite operatives, the sharpest blades of the World Government. They had never been ignored like this before.
Behind Spandine, one of the agents holding a longsword could no longer endure the insult. He let out a loud shout and suddenly drew his sword.
"You dare ignore the Director? You have a death wish!"
"Watch out!!" Professor Clover and the professors cried out in alarm.
The agent gripped the sword with both hands and took an attacking stance. His muscles tightened. It was obvious he was preparing to use Soru to close the distance and deliver a killing blow.
He was just about to move.
Swish.
Aiden's figure suddenly vanished from where he had been standing.
The CP9 agent's pupils shrank to pinpoints. His trained Rokushiki techniques didn't even have time to activate.
Where was he?!
A chill shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
He instinctively sensed fatal danger, but his body could no longer react in time.
In the next second, Aiden appeared right in front of him like a ghost. He was so close that the agent could clearly see the terrifying calm in Aiden's eyes.
The anger on the agent's face froze and turned into pure fear.
He held his sword high, but he could no longer bring it down.
Aiden had already raised his right hand and caught the blade between his index and middle fingers.
Those two fingers, coated in pitch-black Armament Haki, were as steady as a mountain.
"You..." The agent was horrified. He used all his strength, trying to yank the sword back or force it down.
But the sword felt as if it had been welded in place. It didn't move at all.
"Too slow. Too weak," Aiden said calmly.
Realizing he had completely lost the contest of strength, the agent reacted immediately. He let go of the sword and moved his right hand like lightning toward the gun at his waist, trying to switch weapons and fire at Aiden.
Unfortunately, Aiden was faster.
Before the agent's hand could touch the pistol at his waist, Aiden's figure appeared behind him like a ghost.
Crack.
The clear sound of a bone snapping rang out as Aiden's left hand struck cleanly at the back of the agent's neck.
The agent's body flew out like a limp sack of mud. He slammed hard into the burning trunk of the Tree of Knowledge and died on the spot.
[Jasper]
[Comprehensive Grade: A3]
[Sin Index: 11,180]
"As expected of the World Government's dogs. Even an ordinary CP9 agent gives over ten thousand Sin Points," Aiden thought as he glanced at the notification on his status.
The longsword, now without an owner, began to fall straight toward the ground.
Aiden didn't even look at it. He simply reached out with his right hand and caught the hilt.
"..."
The entire area fell silent.
The remaining CP9 agents were completely stunned by the overwhelming scene before them.
They understood far better than the professors how terrifying that exchange had been. It wasn't a fight. It was a one-sided slaughter.
Then, acting on instinct, they all raised their pistols and pointed the black barrels at Aiden.
Even though they knew it might be useless, that was the only thing that could give them even the slightest illusion of safety.
Cold sweat soaked through their suits. Their fingers trembled on the triggers, but not one of them dared fire first.
"You... you... you..." Spandine was so terrified that he fell flat onto the muddy ground. His legs shook uncontrollably.
Even collapsed in the mud, he still refused to admit defeat. He pointed at Aiden and screamed with fake bravado, "You're dead! Completely dead! Do you know what's outside?! A Buster Call! Five Headquarters Vice Admirals! You killed our men! You're dead! You'll sink to the bottom of the sea together with Ohara!"
"I don't know whether I'll die or not."
Facing Spandine, Aiden casually spun the sword in his hand. The sharp blade reflected the firelight with a cold gleam.
"But I do know one thing."
Aiden looked up. The flames reflected coldly in his eyes.
"All of you are dead."
The moment he finished speaking, pitch-black Armament Haki spread from the hand gripping the sword and covered the entire blade.
If he killed a hundred pirates, there might be one innocent adventurer among them who didn't deserve to die.
But there was no such risk with the World Government's CP agents.
They were the filthiest black hounds of the World Government, dogs who trampled justice underfoot. Every last one of them deserved to die.
Aiden swung the sword casually. There was not the slightest ripple in his heart.
A black slash, too fast for the naked eye to follow, swept across the clearing.
The slash deliberately missed Spandine, who was lying on the ground. It passed just in front of his nose and stirred a sharp gust of wind.
Spandine felt a chill between his legs. Then he watched in horror as the ten or so CP9 agents behind him all froze at the same time.
In the next second, their upper bodies slid cleanly off their lower halves, and a spray of blood burst into the air.
+12,420!
+9,580!
+8,350!
+15,610!
...
Professor Clover and the professors were completely stunned.
They had spent their entire lives studying history, but they had never seen such overwhelming power. It looked as though a demon god had descended.
Aiden's Observation Haki swept across the area, confirming that no living CP agents remained within range.
He clicked his tongue in annoyance and tossed the sword aside.
"I thought there would be some real resistance," Aiden muttered to himself. "I didn't expect them to be this weak."
He rolled his neck and walked toward the only enemy still alive, the utterly terrified Spandine.
Just then,
Rosinante's voice came faintly from the distance. It wasn't loud, but the urgency in it was obvious.
"Aiden! Wait for us! Why are you running so fast?!"
Aiden glanced back for a moment.
But he did not stop moving. He took two steps forward, casually picked up a pistol from the ground, and pointed it at Spandine, who was sprawled there unable to speak.
Bang!
The gunshot rang out. Amid the roar of the cannons, it was barely noticeable.
A bullet hole appeared between Spandine's eyebrows. The terror on his face was frozen forever.
[Spandine]
[Comprehensive Grade: A5]
[Sin Index: 211,180]
...
Aiden blew at the smoke rising from the muzzle and tossed the pistol aside.
His face remained expressionless, but his attention was fixed on the more than 210,000 Sin Points Spandine had given him.
He hadn't expected Spandine alone to have a Sin Index second only to Roger. But when he thought about the tragedy of Ohara and its impact in the original story, it made perfect sense.
Aiden thought for a moment, quickly checked the available rewards dropped by the CP agents, and converted all of them into physical improvements.
It was still better than nothing.
In the distance, Rosinante and Smoker were running toward him. Behind them, cannonballs continued crashing down without pause.
"I wonder if this bastard has already fathered that animal Spandam yet?" the thought flashed through Aiden's mind.
He considered it for a moment, then suddenly found it amusing.
"Forget it. It doesn't matter anymore."
"Now that I'm here, Robin's fate has already changed. In the future, there won't be an Enies Lobby incident."