Chaotic thoughts flashed through Dahei’s mind.
His speed, which had already been pushed to its absolute limit, suddenly increased by another notch.
However, he had barely rushed fifty or sixty meters when a sharp sound of something tearing through the air suddenly rang beside his ears.
He hurriedly turned his head.
What entered his vision was the instant Lucas flicked his finger.
Bang!
An excruciating pain erupted from Dahei’s back.
A large spray of blood blossomed into the air.
The tremendous force unleashed upon him made Dahei feel as though he had been struck head-on by a cannonball. His entire body was sent flying backward.
He crashed heavily into a massive rock several dozen meters away.
Boom!
The tremendous impact shattered the enormous rock formation.
Amid the clouds of dust and debris, large amounts of blood splattered across the ground.
When everything finally settled, Tenguyama Hitetsu and Komurasaki had already gone deathly pale.
Dahei was embedded in the shattered rock formation, a bloody hole blasted through his chest. He was so thoroughly dead that there was no possibility of survival.
The other shinobi on the battlefield had likewise been reduced to mutilated corpses.
Looking across the blood-soaked grass, the scene resembled nothing so much as a hellish slaughterhouse.
Komurasaki’s legs went weak. She collapsed onto the ground, staring at Lucas with a deathly pale face.
They had seen people killed before.
But they had never witnessed a method of slaughter in which the attacker did not even need to move, yet could wipe out everyone present.
If they had not witnessed it with their own eyes, few people would have been willing to believe it.
Yet as she recalled everything that had just happened, an utterly absurd thought suddenly flashed through Komurasaki’s mind.
"Who exactly are you?"
"Who am I?" Lucas dispersed the airflow surrounding his Whirlwind Severing Iron Hand, took another shallow sip of the local liquor, and said with a faint smile, "I’m just someone asking for directions."
"However, before we talk, why don’t the people hiding in the shadows come out first?"
"The people hiding in the shadows?"
Komurasaki’s expression changed dramatically.
Her earlier warning to Lucas had already exposed traces of her true intentions.
If she still intended to protect Tenguyama Hitetsu and Tama, then whether the newcomers were the Oniwabanshu or Orochi’s men, everything could develop a fatal flaw in her plans.
For a moment, Komurasaki anxiously looked around.
When she saw the figure emerging, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Little Purple, get up quickly and come behind me. This man is dangerous!"
Kyoshiro quickly stepped out from the shadows.
His right hand was already resting on the hilt of the samurai sword at his waist.
When Tama and Tenguyama Hitetsu had been in danger earlier, Kyoshiro had already been prepared to intervene.
He simply had not expected an uninvited guest to appear.
And even more unexpectedly, this uninvited guest had proceeded to put on a spectacular display of standing completely still while annihilating everyone on the battlefield.
Seeing Kyoshiro standing protectively in front of her, Komurasaki’s expression tightened. She hurriedly stood up and said, "Boss Kyoshiro, don’t do anything rash. I have a bold idea."
"Stranger, I’d really like to know—are you one of Kaido’s men?"
"You have a bold idea?" Kyoshiro was stunned for a moment, and his expression changed dramatically. He had clearly guessed what she was thinking.
Lucas raised an eyebrow and smiled.
"No. I’m not one of Kaido’s men. If anything, I’m the person he’s been most eager to kill lately."
"He and I are on opposing sides."
The person he’s most eager to kill?
Opposing sides?
Everyone present was stunned.
Komurasaki was no exception. She stared intently at Lucas for several moments before her expression suddenly changed.
She grabbed Kyoshiro’s arm and hurriedly said,
"Boss Kyoshiro, I remember now! He looks a lot like the Navy’s Fourth Admiral!"
"Hurry and take out the newspaper!"
For the people of Wano, the newspapers delivered by News Coo were something of a luxury.
However, given Komurasaki and Kyoshiro’s positions, they could still obtain them.
Moreover, the turmoil that the Beasts Pirates had encountered recently had given them even more opportunities to obtain information.
They had long since committed to memory every possible opportunity that might bring about a change in Wano.
Now, faced with Komurasaki’s speculation, Kyoshiro immediately took out the newspaper he had hidden away.
The instant they saw the front page, their pupils contracted slightly.
"It’s really him! It’s not just a resemblance—he’s actually the Navy Admiral, Glutton Lucas!"
"Wasn’t the Marine Headquarters preparing to go to war with the Four Emperors? How could he have appeared here?!"
Kyoshiro was utterly shocked.
He had survived in Wano for so many years.
Yet he had never heard of anyone being able to secretly infiltrate Wano while it was under the control of the Beasts Pirates.
In the eyes of outsiders, Wano was practically a den of dragons and tigers. Surely, only someone who had a death wish would come here.
What he never expected was that not only would an outsider actually manage to infiltrate Wano, but that outsider would be such an explosive figure.
"He’s really a Navy Admiral? Why would Kaido want him dead more than anyone else?"
Tenguyama Hitetsu could not help asking.
Komurasaki was still completely stunned.
She clearly had no intention of hiding anything regarding the question. She muttered,
"Orochi once said that according to the rumors circulating across the seas, the Marine Headquarters was forced to declare war on two of the Four Emperors simultaneously entirely because of the Navy’s newly appointed Admiral."
"He defeated one of the Three Calamities of the Beasts Pirates, Jack the Drought, and sent him to Impel Down. That was the biggest spark that ignited this war."
"So he’s the one who started this great war!"
"He’s the one who started the war?"
Tenguyama Hitetsu was filled with disbelief.
He had never imagined that the young man standing before them had risen to become someone so formidable that Kaido was forced to mobilize the entire Beasts Pirates against him.
Thinking about Wano’s current situation, a trace of determination likewise flashed through Tenguyama Hitetsu’s mind.
However, before he could speak, Komurasaki, who was standing beside Kyoshiro, suddenly dropped to her knees with a thud.
"Admiral Lucas of the Navy, I am Komurasaki, the granddaughter of Kozuki Sukiyaki, the former shogun of Wano."
"Ever since the Beasts Pirates conspired with Orochi and seized control of our country, my father, Kozuki Oden, was murdered through their schemes."
"My mother and my brother were likewise lost in the flames."
"Countless people of Wano have been forced to live in inhuman conditions."
"For the sake of reopening Wano and freeing its people from this inhumane oppression, I, Komurasaki, willingly became Wano’s oiran and remained undercover for more than a decade."
"All so that I could find an opportunity to reopen Wano."
At this point, Komurasaki suddenly raised her head.
Her expression was filled with determination.
"My father, Kozuki Oden, was indeed a pirate out on the sea. However, within Wano, he was unquestionably a benevolent man who loved his country and its people."
"I hope, Admiral Lucas, that you will not discriminate against him because of his identity as a pirate."
"If Admiral Lucas is willing to help us reopen Wano, I, Komurasaki, am willing to do anything."
"I only wish to fulfill my father’s dying wish!"
"I believe that as a member of the Navy, Admiral Lucas must have heard my father’s name before—Kozuki Oden!"
"Your father’s name?"
Lucas took a shallow sip of his liquor and smiled indifferently.
"Of course I’ve heard of him."
"That complete dumbass? Of course I know him!"
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