Thump! Thump! Thump!
The heavy, certain sound of armored boots echoed on the deck, each step a harbinger of menace. Closer, clearer—someone was descending the stairs to the lower part of the ship.
"Captain Peter is here!" a voice shouted from above.
"Great! Those people are in trouble."
"Captain Peter, you must avenge my brother, Kevin!"
Under the astonished gaze of the three remaining slave traders, a figure clad in steel emerged. He stood over two meters tall, encased head to toe in full medieval knight's armor. In his left hand, he wielded a large shield, while a longsword was drawn in his right. Behind him, another man, with a drawn sword and a pistol tucked into his waist, followed.
Donning such full plate armor would take a considerable amount of time and couldn't be done alone. That explained why the two of them had only just arrived. The thick armor worn by Captain Peter weighed over thirty kilograms, which would usually hinder the movement of an ordinary person significantly. However, Captain Peter was different. His strength and endurance far surpassed ordinary humans, and wearing the armor posed no significant impediment to him. Moreover, with his full armor, he could directly ignore bullets from ordinary firearms and sword slashes!
Captain Peter peered through the eye slit of his metal helmet and clearly saw the bald young man's body lying on the ground. "Damn it! Kevin got hit too? Those people... I'll slaughter them!" he roared in anger. He furiously slammed his shield hard against the wall to vent his emotions before stepping into the cabin where the four individuals were.
Sephiroth heard the unusual footsteps and immediately poked his head out to see: "Damn it! A man in full armor is coming to our cabin!"
Hearing this, Hancock's beautiful, willow-like eyebrows furrowed slightly. She said in a deep voice, "First, find a way to take him down! That way, even if he can't get up, we can deliver a lethal blow through the gaps in his armor."
Sandersonia and Marigold nodded, serious. They listened intently to the footsteps. Soon after, the tall, fully armored figure appeared before the four of them.
The Boa Sisters, quick to react, picked up the wooden barrels of water and threw them at Captain Peter's head.
But... the armored man was prepared. He swiftly dodged, avoiding the two barrels while swinging the longsword in his right hand.
Whoosh!
A cold light flashed, and the wooden barrels were sliced in two, falling onto the deck.
On the other side, Sephiroth also seized the opportunity and charged towards Captain Peter, attempting to knock him to the ground.
However...
The next moment, the armored arm slammed hard into Sephiroth's chest, sending him flying backward to hit the cabin wall with a dull 'thud.' The intense pain in his chest nearly made Sephiroth pass out. He could clearly feel that several ribs in his chest seemed to be broken... The terrifying force of Peter's fist hitting his chest made him almost think he had just been trampled by an elephant! Instantly, he was unable to get up, having lost the ability to continue his struggle.
Seeing the situation, Captain Peter immediately raised the longsword in his hand, ready to cleave the young man's neck.
Clang!
The sound of metal clashing rang out. Hancock hurriedly swung her sword, but failed to parry the blade and save Sephiroth. Marigold took the opportunity to swing her sword and attack Captain Peter, trying to stab the joints of his armor.
But... relying on his full armor, the opponent quickly adjusted his posture and used the shield in his left hand to forcefully shove the orange-haired girl, knocking her to the ground.
In the distance, Sandersonia raised her pistol and repeatedly pulled the trigger towards Captain Peter.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets struck the armor in succession, sparking several times, but Captain Peter, in his full armor, was completely unaffected. He utterly ignored the green-haired girl's shots. As he swung his sword to block the blade in Hancock's hand, he swung the shield upward, striking the side of the girl's head.
At this moment, it was too late for Hancock to dodge. She could only muster the bit of Armament Haki she possessed, gathering it on her forehead to minimize the damage.
Thwack!
Struck by this blow, Hancock immediately fell to the deck, and drops of red blood flowed from her forehead.
Captain Peter's attack technique was not sophisticated, even somewhat clumsy, yet by relying on the defense provided by his armor and his physical strength, which far exceeded that of an ordinary adult, he was able to suppress all four of them, leaving them utterly powerless to resist.
"That's it!"
Captain Peter gripped the longsword in his right hand with a reverse grip, aimed it at the black-haired girl's chest, and was about to plunge it straight down.
On the other side, Sephiroth, clutching his chest with his right hand and leaning against the wall, suddenly widened his eyes, watching the sharp sword blade swing down through the air...
In fact, when faced with Captain Peter's attack, he could have used his bat form to dodge. Even if his bat form was still relatively slow now and couldn't nullify all attack damage, he wouldn't have sustained such a heavy blow!
But... subconsciously, he hadn't fully adapted to the reality that he had become a Devil Fruit user. That was why such a mistake occurred...
If not for him being a burden, Hancock wouldn't have had to fight in such haste at that moment and wouldn't have been immediately pushed by the enemy and fallen into danger. The girl's potential death was all his fault!
Thinking this, Sephiroth was filled with regret. His eyes widened in anger as he roared:
"Stop!!!"
Boom!
A vast and majestic aura erupted from Sephiroth's body. Faint, dark red lightning flashed and disappeared within the cabin.
Thud! Thud! Thud!...
Aside from Sephiroth and Hancock, everyone else on the ship, including Marigold and Sandersonia, lost consciousness and collapsed onto the deck.
"Haoshoku Haki... Conqueror's Haki...? One in a million, the qualification of a king..." Hancock slowly stood up, reaching out and wiping the blood flowing from her forehead. Her gaze towards Sephiroth was filled with astonishment.
On Amazon Lily, many people possessed Kenbunshoku Haki and Busoshoku Haki. They even summarized a series of relatively simple and easy-to-understand Busoshoku Haki training tips.
But... Haoshoku Haki, a power that only existed in legends, was the first time she had ever witnessed it!
On the other side, thanks to the power of the Batto Batto no Mi, Sephiroth's cracked ribs in his chest recovered rapidly. The pain subsided, and he finally regained the strength to stand.
"This is Haoshoku Haki...?" He clenched his hands emptily, his gaze still somewhat vacant. Just now, under the surge of regretful emotions, he felt as if something had burst open in his mind, entirely beyond his control...
Immediately after, a wave of fatigue washed over his brain. When he tried to regain that feeling from before, he found nothing. If everyone else in the cabin hadn't collapsed, he wouldn't dare to believe that he had just truly unleashed Haoshoku Haki!
After Sephiroth's efforts yielded no results, he decided to wait until later to continue his research. He and Hancock first tied up all the slave ship crew members with ropes before going to call Marigold and Sandersonia.
The slave ship was a fast sailing ship, about twenty meters long, divided into three decks. It was considered a small vessel, and its bow was shaped like a wolf's head.
On the ship's deck, the six unconscious slave traders were thrown together.
"How should we deal with these six people?" Sephiroth turned to look at Hancock beside him. Because the right side of the girl's head had been struck by the shield and was bleeding slightly, she had wrapped a white bandage several times around her forehead. It seemed her wound was still faintly throbbing, as she occasionally furrowed her beautiful willow-like eyebrows and touched her forehead with her hand.
Hearing this, the black-haired girl first snorted coldly before speaking: "These hateful people... just throw them into the sea to feed the fish."
"Exactly! If we hadn't won by sheer luck, we might have been killed by now," Marigold also nodded repeatedly in agreement, strongly supporting Hancock's suggestion.
"But if we throw them all into the sea, there won't be anyone to help us steer the ship," the young man frowned.
Hearing this, the green-haired girl Sandersonia patted her already developed chest and said with a confident smile: "Don't worry! As for navigation, I'm confident... After all, the Kuja Pirates trained me as a navigator from a young age. The four of us are enough to sail this ship."
Sephiroth looked at the six human traffickers. He thought that if he hadn't eaten the Batto Batto no Mi, the three girls and he would most likely have been sold as slaves, losing all dignity, enduring various inhumane tortures every day, and becoming toys for others... This made him remember those who survived after being enslaved by the Celestial Dragons in the original story. Almost all of them suffered severe psychological trauma, and some, like Tesoro, Boa Hancock, and others, even experienced personality changes...
Thinking this, a blazing light ignited in Sephiroth's eyes. The last trace of hesitation in his heart vanished instantly. This was the world of One Piece, where human lives were like grass. This was no longer the peaceful country he lived in his previous life! To deal with these bastards, if one still had to consider their human rights, it would be utterly ridiculous!
Having made up his mind, Sephiroth did not hesitate or waver in the slightest as he took action. At his request, the three girls handed over the task of dealing with the six slave traders to him, while they went below deck to move the corpses, clean up the traces of battle...
He dragged the six slave traders one by one to the side of the ship. His rough actions caused several of them to awaken from their unconsciousness.
"Wait! What are you doing?"
"Forgive me, I was wrong, please let me go!"
Facing the scoundrels' pleas, Sephiroth remained completely unmoved. He extended his long, pale right hand and pressed it onto each of the six individuals. Under the influence of the Batto Batto no Mi's ability, the life force of the six people was completely drained by him, transforming them into a group of white-haired old men, and the life force he could store also reached its limit. If this life force were converted into lifespan, it would probably reach over three hundred years...
Splash! Splash! Splash!...
Each time Sephiroth threw someone into the sea, a large splash would appear on the surface of the water. These six bastards, with their internal energy depleted and hands bound, were certainly doomed unless a miracle occurred!
The afternoon sun shone on Sephiroth, making his body feel warm, but his heart was cold... He knew this was just the beginning of his journey in this cruel and fantastical world.