Chapter 333

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"Lead the way."

With the onlookers' eyes on the spectacle, Abel nodded lightly.

"Hmph, you know what's good for you," said the leader, sheathing his knife with a smug look on his face.

He had seen plenty of these type of blustering fools. A little intimidation usually did the trick.

Some of the more seasoned onlookers frowned, starting to doubt their initial assessment.

Had they misjudged the situation?

Was this young man merely a pretender who'd gotten lucky enough to avoid the 'stray dogs' at the port?

If that was indeed the case, these naive youngsters had stumbled into an easy score.

This pretty boy and the young girl he was with would definitely fetch a good price.

But just then, as Abel took a step forward, it was as if he remembered something and casually remarked, "Leading the way should be a one-person job, right?"

Without another word, he raised his gun.

Bang, bang, bang!

Smoke was still rising from the barrel, but three bodies were already lying on the ground with blown-open skulls.

The three men brought by the nose-ring tattooed guy had been shot dead.

Nobody could have expected that the seemingly cooperative pretty boy would turn on them so quickly and kill three men without even blinking an eye.

The nose-ring tattooed guy shuddered in fear, instinctively drawing his knife, "What do you think you're doing? Do you know who my boss is?!"

"I don't know now, but I will soon. Hurry up and lead the way."

"Oh, and by the way, a knife isn't meant to be used like you do. You might want to find something else in the future."

Abel holstered his gun, and in the stunned silence that followed, he took the knife from the man's hand and snapped it in two with ease.

Such shoddy quality was truly disappointing.

Through the entire ordeal, the nose-ring tattooed guy stood frozen as if under a spell, not daring to move an inch.

A voice in his head kept repeating, "If I move, I'll die!"

"Hm? Why aren't we moving? Or do you want to 'rest' like them first?"

The pressure suddenly lifted, but the nose-ring tattooed guy was already covered in cold sweat.

He didn't dare say anything more and mechanically began to lead the way.

He was completely numb with regret for having wanted to show off.

After they departed, the old hands exchanged knowing glances and smirks, reveling in the misfortune that was likely to befall the Tattooed Pirate Crew.

Many even surreptitiously followed behind, hoping to pick up any spoils.

Before long, the nose-ring tattooed man led Abel and Baby-5 to a residential building that was easily over a hundred square meters in size.

Abel gestured with his eyes for the man to knock on the door.

The nose-ring tattooed man, not wanting to, had no choice but to steel himself and approach to knock.

However, his knocks received no response.

"It might be that they're asleep, or maybe not here. Let me try again."

Seeing Abel's hand move towards his gun, he immediately increased his force, turning the knocking into pounding.

Under such fierce assault, a response finally came from inside.

Bang!

The door was flung open from within.

A dark gun barrel was pressed against the man's head.

"Did I ever tell you not to disturb me when I'm sleeping?"

"Boss, don't shoot! I had no choice, some troublemakers are here."

"Hm?"

A bald man, heavily tattooed all over his body, even on his face, finally saw who was behind the nose-ring man.

"You're looking for trouble with me? Die!"

Bang, bang, bang!

The tattooed man, irritated, pulled the trigger at Abel, aiming to strike first.

He was indeed a bit groggy before, but the moment he heard that someone was causing trouble, he instantly perked up.

Click-clack, click-clack.

After emptying his ammunition, he quickly reached into his underwear to reload.

But in the next instant, he was lifted into the air by the neck, single-handedly by Abel, struggling violently due to suffocation, letting his gun drop to the ground.

Abel felt somewhat disappointed; this guy was just too weak.

Does this count as smurfing back to the newbie village to bully the weak?

Crack!

Abel casually snapped the man's neck.

The man with the nose ring turned and ran; Abel couldn't be bothered to give him another glance.

Bang!

Baby-5 ended him with a single shot.

Sensing several more people inside using his Observation Haki, Abel simply went in and crushed them all to death.

He planned to transform this place into a shop, so he didn't want any bloodshed; cleaning up would be troublesome.

The Tattooed Pirate Crew, full of ambition when they came, faded away without a trace. Perhaps there were a few stragglers left outside, but even if they were given more courage, they probably wouldn't dare come back.

...

Meanwhile, on a certain street, two groups were fighting fiercely.

Armed with knives, guns, clubs, and staffs.

None of them were pirates, but locals.

The reason for their fight was simple: to claim ownership of this street.

The things the pirates looked down upon were everything these scum needed to survive.

Without this street, many would starve.

Hence, among those fighting, there were men and women, adults and teenagers.

The only commonality was their tattered clothing and fierce expressions.

Among one of the groups, two boys around ten years old stood out.

One with red hedgehog hair wielded a wrench, having taken down several adults.

The other, with messy blond hair covering his eyes, silently wielded a rusty scythe, casting the dark spell 'Tetanus' without a word.

Back to back, the two boys supported each other and managed to carve a bloody path to victory.

The end result was their triumph.

The bastards coveting their street fled in disarray, leaving behind several bodies.

"Kid and Killer, you two lads did great!"

"In a few more years, it'll be completely up to you to protect this street."

After the fight, everyone lavished the two boys with unabashed praise.

People started coming out from their houses, helping to clean up the aftermath.

All the wearable clothes and valuable items were gathered, while the stripped bodies were tossed aside, buried in a ditch.

Everyone was accustomed to such a scene.

Then, a girl with long, beautiful black hair approached the two boys and extended an invitation.

"Kid, Killer, let's go have some curry udon to celebrate."

The two boys who had just fought so many adults now suddenly became shy, then nodded their heads in agreement.

The girl's name was Victoria Cindry, their first love.

Both boys were secretly in love with the lively and cheerful girl, yet neither had confessed.

Before falling for her, they were already good friends since childhood.

So the question arises: friendship, or love?