"Boom!"
Aiden's body slammed onto the shattered deck of the Diamond Queen like a falling meteor, kicking up a huge cloud of dust and smoke.
"You bastard! How dare you do that to the Captain?!"
"Kill him! Avenge the Duke!!"
Around twenty to thirty elite pirates who had been watching coldly from the deck earlier now saw Victor, covered in blood. Their eyes turned red with rage.
They drew their weapons and shouted as they charged at Aiden from all sides, trying to surround him.
Aiden did not even spare them a glance. He simply waved his hand.
"Sizzle!"
Arrows instantly formed in Aiden's hand and shot out with a whistling sound.
"Pfft! Pfft!"
The two pirates at the very front did not even have time to dodge. Each arrow struck one of them straight through the chest.
The violent electric current instantly charred their internal organs, and they dropped dead without even managing to scream.
+570 Points
+910 Points
The system notification rang in his mind, and Aiden's forward steps suddenly stopped.
"What's going on?"
His brows furrowed slightly, and confusion flashed across his eyes.
Only a few hundred points?
That's way too low.
Aiden instinctively checked their Sin Value. He wanted to see whether these pirates were actually worth so little.
However, the evaluation shown on the system panel only made him even more confused.
Comprehensive Grade: A3
"A-Grade..."
Aiden stared at the rank label, and the feeling that something was off only grew stronger.
From his past experience, pirates with A-Grade strength were usually veterans who had spent years at sea. Every one of them should have had dozens of lives on their hands. Their Sin Value was typically between 5,000 and 20,000 points.
But these two men with elite-level strength had a combined Sin Value of barely over a thousand points?
They were even less "evil" than a small-town thug leader in the East Blue who bullied the locals?
"They have this much strength, but they haven't done much evil...?"
While Aiden was still questioning the situation, a sound came from the wreckage ahead.
"Cough, cough!"
Victor Hugo crawled out from the ruins of the lower cabin. He was covered in blood and looked miserable.
His refined white suit no longer looked elegant. The crystal armor he had been so proud of was completely shattered, and his right hand was twisted at a strange angle.
He did not look at Aiden. Instead, he turned to his subordinates, who were still trying to charge forward and throw their lives away, and shouted anxiously, "Stop!! Everyone, stop!!"
"Run! Get to the lifeboats! Get out of here!!"
Victor's voice was hoarse and desperate. "You are no match for him! You can't all die here! Don't forget, we still have things we must do!"
"Captain..." The pirates froze, their faces full of struggle.
"Get out of here, now!! That's an order!!" Victor shouted.
"How touching."
Aiden's cold voice cut through the emotional farewell. He looked at the group of pirates. Although he was confused by their unusually low Sin Value, his hands did not hesitate at all.
No matter what your reasons are, since you are pirates, you are enemies. Even if your Sin Value is only a few hundred, it is still enough for a death sentence.
"Unfortunately, none of you are leaving."
With a deafening thunderclap, five massive tigers of lightning formed behind Aiden.
In the next instant, they turned into streaks of light and pounced on the pirates trying to retreat.
Victor's eyes nearly burst open. Ignoring his heavily injured body, he tried to force his fruit ability to activate and block the attack.
"Clang!"
A flash of light flickered.
Aiden had appeared in front of him at some unknown moment. The long blade in his hand was coated in pitch-black Armament Haki as he slashed downward.
"Crack!"
The crystal cane in Victor's hand, which symbolized his status, was cut cleanly in half.
Before he could react, Aiden followed up with a powerful whip kick that slammed into his body.
"Bang!"
Victor was sent flying again, crashing hard into the broken cabin wall. He spat out a mouthful of blood, completely interrupting his ability.
At the same time, screams began rising one after another across the deck.
Under the assault of the five lightning tigers, the pirates had no chance to resist. Some had their throats torn open, while others were burned black by the high-voltage current.
In just over ten seconds...
Other than Aiden and Victor, there was not another living person left standing on the ship.
+620 Points
+880 Points
+1450 Points...
Watching the notifications flood the system panel, Aiden's frown deepened. A ship with over twenty pirates had only given him less than 20,000 Sin Points in total?
That was beyond absurd.
"How did these people become so famous?"
Aiden felt a strong sense of inconsistency. He walked toward the fallen Victor.
Victor leaned against the wall, his chest rising and falling violently. Blood stained the floor red. As he looked at the corpses scattered everywhere, the light in his eyes completely faded.
Elegance, pride, arrogance, all of it was gone. All that remained was endless exhaustion and regret.
"Cough, cough!"
Seeing Aiden walk over, Victor let out a miserable laugh. The bitterness in it was impossible to hide.
"The winner takes all... there is nothing left to say."
He struggled to prop himself up and looked at the blue sky above. His eyes were unfocused as he muttered to himself, "It's just a pity... my plan was only one step away from succeeding."
"Plan?"
Aiden scoffed. He looked down at him without a trace of pity. "Are you talking about the plan where you use the lives of innocent people in exchange for a chance to become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea?"
Victor froze. His lips moved as if he wanted to explain something.
But in the end, he only shook his head and closed his eyes. A look of relief appeared on his face.
"Think whatever you want..."
Aiden had no interest in exploring the inner world of a dead man. No matter what hidden story there might be, the moment he chose to turn living people into statues, he had already earned an unforgivable death sentence.
"Then take your regrets with you to hell."
"Swish!"
Aiden's blade fell, and a head rolled aside.
The great pirate, "Crystal Duke" Victor Hugo, was dead.
Aiden sheathed his sword and did not linger. His body turned into a bolt of lightning and flew back toward the pier.
On the other side of the pier...
The moment Aiden sent Victor flying, the two CP0 agents who had been standing behind the Duke had already made their judgment.
The situation was lost.
"That Marine named Aiden is too strong!"
"The mission failed! We have to retreat immediately and report this to our superiors!"
As cold-blooded agents, they did not hesitate. They had no intention of dying with Victor. The two of them flickered, turning into blurs as they dashed toward the open sea outside the harbor.
As long as they could escape these waters and bring the intel back to Mary Geoise with the report that "the Marines intercepted a Shichibukai candidate and CP0," these Marines would be finished!
However.
"Since you're already here, stay and bear witness."
A clear, cold voice suddenly rang in their ears.
The two turned back in horror. A pink figure had appeared on their only escape route. Gion's coat of Justice fluttered in the sea breeze, and the famous blade in her hand, Kinpira, was slowly drawn.
"Commodore Gion! Are you crazy?!"
One of the CP0 agents screamed shrilly, "We are agents directly under the World Government! If you dare attack us, that is treason!!"
"There is no CP0 here, and there is no Commodore."
Gion's eyes were cold, without the slightest change.
From the moment she decided to cooperate with Aiden, she had already made her choice. Between procedural justice and the boy by her side, she chose the latter.
"There is only a group of pirates foolish enough to attack a military base."
Gion vanished in an instant.
A bright pink slash swept across the sky and cut through the two CP0 agents while they were still suspended in midair, leaving them no room to dodge.
The two CP0 agents tried to harden their bodies to resist, but in front of Gion's slash, it meant nothing.
Blood sprayed.
Their bodies, along with the masks on their faces, were cut apart and fell into the sea.
Gion sheathed her sword and let out a soft breath as she looked at the bodies floating on the water. She had personally cut off her own path of retreat, becoming Aiden's most committed ally.
A flash of lightning appeared, and Aiden landed beside Gion.
"Is it over?" Gion glanced at him.
"Yeah."
Aiden nodded. Then his gaze shifted toward a pile of sandbags nearby. There, a fat figure was sticking his rear into the air, pretending to be dead while trying to crawl away.
"Commodore Nelson."
Aiden called out coldly. The fat figure shuddered violently and buried his head even lower.
"Stop pretending."
Aiden raised his right hand. Lightning gathered in his palm as he walked over step by step.
"No!! Don't kill me!!"
Nelson knew he could not keep pretending. He jumped up, tears and snot running down his face as he knelt on the ground and slammed his head down. "I am a Commodore! A Commodore appointed by Headquarters! I should be sent to a military court! You can't execute me on the spot!!"
"I have money! I have hundreds of millions of Berries! It's all in the basement! I'll give it all to you! Please, spare me!!"
Looking at this pathetic, ugly fat man, the disgust in Aiden's eyes was almost overflowing.
"A military court? That's too much trouble."
Aiden casually pointed a finger.
"Sizzle-Stab!!"
A brilliant lightning spear instantly pierced through Nelson's chest, pinning his massive body firmly to the ground.
+48,500 Points
Seeing that number, Aiden could not help but laugh in anger.
"Heh..."
"How ironic."
Aiden looked at Nelson's smoking corpse, then turned back toward the distant Diamond Queen.
The crew of Victor's "notorious" pirate ship, excluding Victor himself, had a combined Sin Value of less than 20,000.
Yet this Marine Commodore, wearing a coat of Justice and preaching morality, had a Sin Value of 48,500 points all by himself!
He was more than twice as "evil" as an entire pirate ship put together!
"This sea... is rotten to the core."
With Nelson's death, the surrounding Marine soldiers completely broke down.
"Clang!"
Hundreds of soldiers dropped their weapons. They held their heads and knelt on the ground trembling, surrendering to these Headquarters officers who looked like gods of death.