While Valthior and the others were buying supplies at the harbor dock and chatting about all this, something else was happening nearby.
On a rooftop in the town not far away, a little girl with indigo-blue twin-tails stood with a sniper rifle slung across her back. She munched on a meat pie in one hand while keeping her eyes locked on the harbor.
Beside her sat a one-eyed brute wearing an eyepatch. He held the local harbor newspaper and said, "Sphinx, there's a merchant ship leaving here this afternoon. Its destination is Danis Island. Once we get there, we'll be very close to Merveille..."
"Forget that for now, Rengar. Look over there. Aren't those people from the Roger Pirates? I didn't mistake them, right!?" Sphinx suddenly grew excited and pointed toward the distant harbor.
Hearing this, Rengar stood up and looked toward the harbor. Very soon, he nodded and said, "That's right. They're the Roger Pirates' top officers, Winter's Wrath Valthior, the Devil Scholar Spencer, and the ship doctor, Phoenix Douglas Bullet, among others... And although that ship is covered in ice and snow, there's no mistaking it. That's definitely the Oro Jackson!"
"Where's Roger? Why don't I see Pirate King Roger!?" Sphinx pulled the sniper rifle off her back in one motion and looked around.
"Didn't the newspapers say it a few days ago? Roger is still on Hachinosu, drinking with Whitebeard," Rengar reminded her.
"Then it looks like they really did disband. These people haven't split up because they're going to form a new pirate crew, right?" After hearing this, Sphinx thought for a moment and said.
Seeing this little girl start to set up her rifle, Rengar first froze, then grabbed her shoulder. "Hey, hey, what are you doing!?"
"The two of us are going to Merveille to join that guy Shiki, right? Wouldn't it look bad if we went empty-handed? If we can take down Valthior and Spencer, it'll be enough to prove our strength and value. When that time comes, even Shiki will have to politely arrange a good position for us!" Sphinx said carelessly.
"That's a monster with a bounty of more than two billion berries, a former crew member of the Pirate King! Are you crazy!?" Rengar looked at Sphinx with a shocked expression.
"What's there to be afraid of!? Since we've already decided to become pirates, how can we not be a little crazy!?" Sphinx said with a mad look on her face.
Clearly, this little girl seemed to have some kind of mental illness or mania.
Before Rengar could speak, Sphinx continued, "And it's obvious that the guy called Spencer only has such a high bounty because of the knowledge in his head. Among the Roger Pirates' fighting members in the past, he wasn't one of them, so his strength should be nothing special. The others are just a ship doctor and a bunch of little brats, so they don't pose much of a threat. As long as I shoot that Valthior dead, we can declare the battle over!"
"Aren't you a little brat too?" Rengar said somewhat helplessly.
"What do you mean? This old lady may look small, but I'm already twenty years old!" Sphinx cursed.
The sniper Sphinx and her partner Rengar were two famous pirate hunters in the underworld.
However, not long ago, because of some trivial matters, they had a series of conflicts with the Marines. Because of that, the two of them were preparing to change careers and become pirates. And now that the Roger Pirates had disbanded, the most influential crew in the New World was, in fact, Shiki's Flying Pirates.
After discussing it, the two of them prepared to go to Merveille and work under Shiki.
In the end, they just happened to run into Valthior and his group here.
Seeing that he could not stop Sphinx, Rengar let out a soft sigh. "I've got a feeling you're going to get me killed..."
Although he said that, his body had already begun to change.
Light-brown fur grew out from within his body, savage fangs appeared, and a mane protected his neck.
His already burly build became even more imposing as he entered a half-beast form.
Zoan-type Cat-Cat Fruit, Ancient Model: Savage Lion!
Historically, it was the largest and most ferocious feline species! In the world of One Piece, its physique was even more ridiculous.
Stepping forward a couple of paces and planting one foot firmly on the roof ledge, Rengar drew two exceptionally savage, primitive-style hunting knives from his waistband. His lone eye stared toward the harbor as he said, "The moment your gunshot rings out, I'll make my move!"
Although his personality was relatively steady, his fighting style was extremely violent and cruel. Often, after a battle ended, both of his hands would be soaked crimson with blood.
Because of that, in the underworld, Rengar was known as the Blood-Handed Lion.
As for Sphinx, because she had a violent nature, a truly foul temper, and a loli-like body that looked as if it would never grow up, people called her the Rampaging Loli.
"OK!" Sphinx raised her brow.
The large-caliber sniper rifle, brimming with a brutal sense of beauty and an icy mechanical aura, slowly took aim. Behind Rengar, his tail swayed lightly while the pads beneath his feet pressed firmly against the ground. Every muscle in his body remained taut, not the slightest bit relaxed, as though he could burst forward like a hunting beast at any moment.
At the harbor market, Valthior squatted in front of a stall, picking up a piece of linen cloth as he asked, "Do you have anything woven tighter and more durable than this? Is this quality really reliable enough? Don't tell me it'll tear apart the moment a strong wind blows..."
"How could that be? This is..." The stall owner looked unhappy and was just about to argue.
But before he could finish speaking, a burst of blood and a large spray of ice crystal fragments suddenly exploded from the man's head in front of him. His whole body was swept away by the powerful force, his head dragging his body sideways as he flew out, rolling several times across the ground.
Only after that did a loud bang come from far away.
It could be seen that the speed of that shot just now had far exceeded the speed of sound.
"Ahhhhhhh! Murder! Murder!!!" the stall owner shouted in panic.
Spencer, who was not far away and was preparing to buy some oak barrels, looked in Valthior's direction in surprise. But after just one glance, he no longer worried much. He quickly shifted his gaze toward the direc tion where the gunshot had come from, and his Observation Haki spread out along with it.
Though he wasn't considered a dedicated combatant, his battle experience remained exceptionally rich, and Spencer locked onto the silhouette that had fired the shot in a single instant.
At the same time, on the rooftop, Sphinx froze for a moment and said in astonishment, "Damn it, someone's trying to steal my target!"
Clearly, she had not been the one who fired just now. The moment she had been about to pull the trigger, Valthior, whom she was aiming at, had been shot in the head by a bullet from another direction.
The edge of the roof beneath Rengar's feet had already been crushed and cracked. Gritting his teeth, he said, "I was this close to rushing over. Good thing you didn't fire. Look at that Valthior. He was shot in the head, but nothing happened to him at all!"
However, Sphinx did not pay attention to Rengar's words. Instead, through the scope, all her attention was fixed on a clock tower in another direction.
"Shit, it's the Four-Armed Gun King, Gill Bastar!" Sphinx cursed, then an excited look appeared on her face as she said, "Damn it, I've disliked him for ages. What kind of level does he think he's at, daring to compete with me for the name of Gun King?"
Gill Bastar, a former member of the Rocks Pirates and a Paramecia-type Hollow-Hollow Fruit user, the same ability that would later belong to Perona.
After the God Valley battle, this guy had basically withdrawn from the pirate business and returned to his old line of work, becoming a pirate hunter in the underworld.
"He was a member of the Rocks Pirates. As a pirate hunter, he even has a bounty of more than two hundred million berries on his own head. He's much stronger than an unknown person like you, so it's perfectly reasonable for him to be called the Gun King," Rengar immediately complained.
"What do you mean unknown? In the underworld, I'm famous too, all right? If I hadn't run into him, then fine, but now that I have, how can I let him go? As long as I snipe him dead, from now on, I'll be the Gun King!" Sphinx grinned, a mad smile hanging on her face.
"Let me check..." Rengar quickly took a stack of bounty notices from his coat and flipped through them for a while before saying, "That's right. This guy has a bounty of 260 million berries from Marine Headquarters. But he slept with the princess of the Kingdom of Caronia and then turned his back on her afterward. Now that princess has placed a five-hundred-million-berry bounty on his head in the underworld..."
"Seven hundred and sixty million. That's a big job too. Kill him, take the title of Gun King, and make a fortune..." Sphinx said softly.
Very soon, her mouth stopped speaking. Her Observation Haki and all her attention were placed on Gill Bastar.
But strangely, although her scope had already locked onto him, and although she was hidden in the shadows, making it seem as if she could take his life with just a pull of the trigger, Sphinx did not rush to act. Instead, she kept lowering the rhythm of her breathing, letting her presence quickly disappear.
Rengar did not say anything more either. Lowering his body slightly, he guarded Sphinx's side as he waited for her to pull the trigger.
...
On the other side, Valthior pushed himself up from the ground, a puzzled expression crossing his face. He raised a hand to his temple, and moments later, pulled out a deformed bullet.
Ordinary people could never keep Observation Haki active every second of every day. Doing so would drive anyone insane.
Naturally, Valthior was no exception. Still, even he had not expected to be shot in the head here of all places. For once, he had received the same treatment as Borsalino.
But there was no time for him to dwell on it.
Before Valthior could make a move, a streak of blue flame ripped through the air, charging straight toward the distant clock tower.
It was the phoenix form Bullet had transformed into!
"How dare you try to assassinate Young Master?! You're dead!!!" Bullet was extremely furious. The instant his wings swept out, Armament Haki had already wrapped around his feet.
On the clock tower, the Four-Armed Gun King, Gill Bastar, seemed to have a very panicked expression. He put away the sniper rifle in his hands and prepared to jump down from the tower.
But Bullet was extremely fast. In an instant, his figure had already reached the man's front, and he fiercely kicked toward Gill Bastar's chest with a Haki-coated foot.
In the next moment, Bullet's kick passed straight through the other man's chest, and at the same time, Bullet crashed headfirst into the clock tower.
At this moment, he seemed to have lost all his belief. Like a maggot, he twisted his body and whimpered, "I'm just trash. Why didn't I die on the battlefield long ago? Being alive is nothing but a waste of air..."
--------
Read Advanced Chapters on : www.patreon.com/c/ReadJin
~ Every 100 PS = Bonus Chapter!
~ Push the Story forward with your [Power Stones]