Chapter 160

"What a shame," I muttered with a sigh while looking at the middle-aged man, lamenting the fact I wouldn't get to have the peaceful meal I've been forwards to having.

I was no stranger to death in my past life, but despite seeing many people die and experiencing death myself, there was still a small part deep inside that shied away from it.

However, my time spent in the sea, brief as it may be, has evaporated that little piece of me, probably for good. I still disliked killing, and I would avoid killing others if I could, but I couldn't be bothered by the death of some random bounty hunter or gangster.

"And who are you?" I asked in an annoyed tone as I turned to look at the woman who was still standing there, staring at me from beneath the hood covering her head.

"Do you want me to answer that here?" the woman asked in an amused tone and sighed as I shook my head, getting off my seat.

"For the mess," I remarked with a polite smile as I passed a stack of berry notes across the table towards the owner and turned around, following the woman as she gestured for me to follow.

We exited the restaurant, and the woman immediately moved, disappearing from my sight as she jumped into a nearby rooftop, making me sigh again as I followed suit.

She took me on a wild goose chase for a good five minutes as she moved incredibly quickly, jumping from one rooftop to the other, only stopping briefly to turn around and see if I was still keeping up with her.

I quickly got bored of it and increased my pace, flying past her and cutting her way. "That's enough of that," I flatly remarked as I suddenly appeared in front of her while she was preparing to jump onto the next rooftop.

"Interesting," the woman said with what I imagine would be a smirk, hidden by the hood covering her face. "You're fast, but what about your strength?" she asked, jumping backward as she cut her palm with a dagger.

Blood freely flowed from the palm of her hand, floating around it for the briefest of seconds before taking the shape of a red, bloody, wreathing whip.

The woman immediately swung the whip towards me, and I sidestepped at the very last second, giving her a side glance as I observed the chunks of stone flying where her whip hit.

"If that's how you wanna play it..." I said with a shrug, trailing off as I quickly drew my revolver and began firing at the woman.

"That's right! Let's play!" the woman replied in an excited tone, whipping away the bullets I fired at her as she charged me, her whip turning into a katana.

"Maybe Wilson was right," I said with a bitter chuckle as I drew Triton. "I do attract weirdos wherever I go," I added with a shake of my head as the woman finally reached me, swinging her blood sword, and I did the same, making our swords meet in the middle.

'Let's just hope I don't end up making friends with her and proving that smug gorilla 100% right.' I couldn't help smirking, suddenly moving my head to the side as the woman opened her mouth, shooting three sharp blood needles at my eyes.

"Too slow..." I lazily taunted while pushing Triton against her sword, trying to gauge her physical strength. The woman was definitely strong but not overly so, and I feel I'm more than capable of overpowering her immediately.

However, I'm already here, so I might as well humor her to see where she's going with this.

"Try dodging this, then!" The woman remarked as ten blood spears began coalescing around us, pointing at me as they took shape.

I merely shrugged my shoulders as I activated my devil fruit ability, making Triton phase through her blood swords as I horizontally swung at her torso.

The woman grunted in surprise, losing balance for a second. However, her skin suddenly turned red, steam leaking from her pores as she quickly stepped back in an incredible show of speed.

'Hmm, another gear second knock-off?' Not that I was one to talk since my berserk cyber-ware was the same thing, but that makes sense, I suppose, since she's controlling blood.

She's most likely increasing the speed at which her blood circulates through her veins to produce the same results Luffy does while using gear second.

'Still, she's no rubber human, and this action could be exceedingly dangerous depending on how much control she has over blood...'

In any case, although the woman dodged in time, avoiding getting her body cut, the heavy ropes she was wearing were not spared. My sword cut them in half, making them fly right off her along with the hood covering her face and revealing it.

The woman had a fair angular face, a pair of pouty lips covered in pink lipstick with short black hair that matched the tomboyish features of her face.

She wore a black revealing her considerable cleavage with a long, dark red coat covered in light red decorative patterns and a pair of black pants and boots, making her look like a Spanish noble of sorts.

However, the woman's most striking feature was her red, predatory eyes which she used to stare at me, with a mixture of astonishment and slight satisfaction in them.

"That took me by surprise! You're strong!" The woman said, quickly getting over her astonishment as she looked at me with a smirk, dismissing her blood sword.

"That settles it! I'm joining your crew!" the woman added after a brief second of silence as she gave me an inspecting look.

"What?" I asked with a dumbfounded expression, blankly staring at the woman who just shamelessly declared she'll be joining my crew after suddenly attacking me.

"I said I'm joining your crew!" the woman said with a nod as she looked at me, still smirking.

"Are you perhaps an idiot?" I asked with twitching eyes, messaging my forehead and earning a confused look from the woman. "That's not how joining a crew works," I added, dismissively waving my hand to the side.

"Why not?" She asked in a confused tone that matched her expression as she cluelessly scratched her head.

"It just doesn't work that way!" I replied, feeling an incoming headache as I put Triton back into its sheath. "Why don't you tell me why you want to join my crew first?" I asked, already dreading how much Wilson would tease me about bringing another weirdo into the crew.

"I've heard about you and your crew..." she added, trailing off as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"You and your crew have been creating trouble everywhere you go, even though you haven't been sailing for a long time," she added with an excited grin.

"One of the five great families of the west, a pirate with a special paramecia fruit, Don Chinjao, two marine vice admirals..." she added, pausing and trying to remember in between her sentence.

'Maybe she's not as stupid as she looks... this woman did her homework at least.'

"Anyway, you guys make a lot of trouble, and trouble is what I want because I need to get stronger," she explained. "And you just proved you're qualified for me to follow you," she concluded with a toothy grin.

"I see. That's a good reason as any, I suppose," " I replied with a thoughtful expression. "Now, why don't you tell me your name before we can about this further?" I added, heaving a sigh, having already accepted my fate of being teased by Wilson.

"My name is Domino Dracule..."