Pirates: I Rely Only on Myself

On the Far Side of the Island

Aboard the Nautilus.

As Lilith sifted through the sea charts, a sudden frown creased her brow. Something was off. She sharpened her focus, activating her Observation Haki, pushing its range to the extreme limit of 36 kilometers.

A battered sailing ship was making its way toward the deserted island, now less than 5 kilometers away.

Without hesitation, Lilith sounded the alarm.

The crew members who had stayed behind swiftly assembled on deck.

"Lilith, what's going on?" Uncle Joseph asked, hefting his massive axe over his shoulder.

"A sailing ship is approaching this island. Everyone, stay on high alert."

"Understood."

Lilith grabbed the Den Den Mushi and relayed the situation to Noah.

In under ten minutes, Noah and his team rocketed back to the Nautilus using flame thrusters. They quickly stored the ship back into a card.

Silently, everyone concealed themselves within the coastal jungle, awaiting the approaching vessel.

Half an hour later.

Noah's keen eyes caught sight of the ship and the pirate flag fluttering above it.

"That emblem... So it's the Blood Blade Pirates. But they appear worn and weathered. According to the Navy's bounty notices, this crew had three ships and around 200 men. Now they're down to just 48."

At the shoreline, as soon as the Blood Blade Pirates docked, they lowered a small wooden boat.

Four pirates rowed toward the beach, preparing to land.

Simultaneously, a blue-haired man on the deck transformed his arms into wings, soaring toward the sandy shore.

"That's Gulo, the Parrot-Man and Blood Blade's vice-captain!"

Despite the pirates' landing, Noah and his crew remained hidden, making no moves to stop them.

About half an hour later, supported by a bald pirate, the one-armed captain Tanaka Taro finally stepped onto the beach.

"Easy there, boss," Gulo said, setting down a chair for him.

"Cough, cough... I'm not dead yet," Tanaka Taro snapped, his face dark with fury. He clenched his teeth and spat out, "That damned old fool! Accusing me of having a wicked heart, saying I'm unfit to wield that blade, refusing to teach me Ryuo... I hate him so much! He's just jealous of my talent, afraid I'll surpass Koshiro, so he deliberately withholds his teachings. Just you wait! I'll make the Shimotsuki clan pay for this lost arm!"

As Tanaka Taro ranted and raved, Noah had already ensured there were no News Coo in the vicinity, no hidden creatures spying on them, and no Navy photographers lurking nearby.

In the next instant, Noah activated over a dozen bomb cards buried beneath the sand.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Explosions erupted, flames roaring skyward as shrapnel (fragments of a bomb) blasted in all directions.

"AAAHHH!"

"Help us!"

The moment the explosions occurred, both Tanaka Taro and Gulo sensed the imminent danger through their Observation Haki. Ignoring their injuries, one dove into the sea while the other flipped desperately into the air.

Gulo, flapping frantically mid-air, barely had a moment to breathe before a bullet pierced his wing.

At the same time, a tremendous force slammed into his back, sending him hurtling into the ocean below.

Tanaka Taro, who had just surfaced, looked up in shock to see a dark figure crashing into the water not far from him.

The next second, an iron-clad fist enveloped in Armament Haki appeared inches from his face.

"Damn it!"

He whipped out his sword, raising it just in time.

Fist and blade collided.

Sparks flew as Haki clashed against Haki.

Tanaka Taro's eyes widened in disbelief. "What the—? You can use Haki?"

Vic offered no reply, his fists a relentless storm pounding toward Tanaka Taro.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Gauntlet met katana in a furious exchange, the two exchanged six or seven intense blows.

"Ugh... Damn it... If that old geezer hadn't cut off my right arm, I wouldn't be—"

WHAM! A heavy blow struck the back of Tanaka Taro's head.

CRACK! Without a moment's hesitation, Vic crushed the bones in Tanaka Taro's remaining left hand.

Lilith appeared silently behind Tanaka Taro, swiftly looping a rope around him and lifting him effortlessly into the air

Vic dove into the sea again, this time searching for Gulo, who was barely conscious beneath the waves.

Back on the beach.

All Noah had done was detonate over a dozen bomb cards; the rest was up to his crew.

The initial blasts had taken out more than a dozen pirates. The remaining thirty or so were still on their feet—tough as nails, just like you'd expect in the pirate world where everyone seemed built like a tank.

Ari, Tommy, Lillian, and Mary fired from the shadows of the jungle, their rifles and pistols picking off pirates one by one.

Anthony and Joshua wielded their longswords in tandem, decapitating a burly pirate who charged at them.

Uncle Joseph, now in his half-beast form, swung his twin axes with ferocious power, each swing claiming a pirate's life.

Jay controlled over a dozen graphite golems, cutting off any pirates attempting to flee.

In less than ten minutes, the remaining pirates were dispatched as effortlessly as slicing through fruit, leaving only two who dropped to their knees, begging for mercy.

Meanwhile.

Vic emerged from the sea, dragging the barely breathing Gulo alongside him. With Lilith's captive Tanaka Taro, they had secured both key targets.

The entire battle had lasted less than ten minutes, resulting the complete annihilation of the Blood Blade Pirates.

And this was with Noah holding back.

Did they really think his bomb cards could only take out a handful of small fry?

His most potent bomb card packed a ton of gunpowder along with countless iron nails and steel balls. Upon detonation, anything within a fifty-meter radius would be obliterated.

Not to mention his arsenal included poison gas cards, napalm cards, white phosphorus incendiary cards—he hadn't even begun to tap into those.

This skirmish was, in truth, a training exercise—a chance for his crew to get real combat experience and adapt to the chaos of battle.

"Vic, Joshua, gather up the pirates' corpses."

"Lilith and Anthony, search the pirate ship."

"Uncle, please help the others process what just happened."

Lilith grabbed Anthony, and the two soared toward the pirate ship.

Onboard, the three pirates who had stayed behind were already lifeless, their faces a sickly blue. They had been Lilith's first targets, silently taken out with a fast-acting toxin using her environmental camouflage skills.

The duo searched each cabin meticulously.

To ensure they missed no hidden compartments, they didn't hesitate to slash through walls and floors with their swords.

Over an hour later.

Lilith surveyed the loot: treasures worth less than three million Berries and banknotes totaling just over one million Berries. She shook her head in disappointment. "Let's go."

As they departed, Lilith casually slapped one of Noah's incendiary cards onto the ship's deck.

Back on the shore, the two captured pirates had spilled everything they knew about the Blood Blade Pirates.

Tanaka Taro was a refugee from Wano Country. His father had been a follower of Shimotsuki Kozaburo, and Tanaka himself was a disciple of Kozaburo.

A few days prior, he had returned to Shimotsuki Village to demand a cursed blade and the training method for Ryuo from Koshiro. The meeting went south, and they clashed swords. Koshiro severed Tanaka's arm, and in retaliation, Tanaka killed Koshiro's wife.

Unfortunately for Tanaka, he held little value to Noah. Under the combined interrogation techniques of Mary and Noah, he surrendered two swordsmanship manuals: one for the Ittoryu style and another called Blood Demon Swordsmanship. After that, they granted him a swift death.

As for whether Tanaka had attempted to sabotage the manuals with hidden traps or misinformation, he certainly had tried. But under Mary's emotion-sensing Observation Haki and Noah's divination cards, he couldn't hide a thing. In the end, he confessed everything.

Regrettably, he didn't possess the advanced Armament Haki technique known as Ryuo.

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