#35 A Massacre

Burgess swung his massive right arm, enhanced with a powerful jet device, and his punches became several times stronger. Within seconds, he cleared the entire area around him! Twenty or thirty pirates didn't even have time to react before they were gone.

Meanwhile, on his sickly horse, Doc Q suddenly seemed full of life. He pulled out a huge scythe from somewhere and started swinging it wildly, living up to his nickname: Grim Reaper. He mercilessly cut down everyone in his path, their screams filling the air.

Close to the stage, Lafitte, with a gentle smile on his face, held a pistol in one hand and a cane in the other. His weapons seemed ordinary compared to the others. But as a group of pirates tried to surround him, white wings sprouted from his back, lifting him into the air and out of their reach. From above, Lafitte laughed maniacally, shooting down at the pirates below.

"Another Devil Fruit user! This is ridiculous!" shouted one pirate. "What's the point of us normal pirates even trying? My crewmates are all getting killed by these freaks!"

The pirates were in despair, unable to fight back against the few Devil Fruit users among them. But there was no stopping the battle once it had begun.

"Wait... isn't this supposed to be a selection for the winner? We don't want to die!" one pirate cried out.

"Yeah, what's going on here? This was supposed to be a competition to pick the winner. Why is it turning into a massacre?"

"Help! I don't want to die!"

"Stop... stop! I surrender! Let me go!"

As expected, pleas like these started to emerge.

"Idiots..."

Carlo muttered under his breath, ignoring them as he looked around the battlefield. A lot of these idiots hadn't paid attention when he announced the rules—they were too focused on the Devil Fruits.

"Well, if you didn't listen, it's your own fault. Even if you hadn't participated, you'd still die. Your fate was sealed."

"Ha! Do you even deserve to be pirates?"

"That man said only those who survive today can get those abilities and join this ship. What were you thinking?" laughed a big man with a long brown beard, as he cut down the pirates around him.

"Yeah, begging for your life? Don't embarrass yourself! If you were smart, you'd have stayed home with your mom. You're not cut out for this!" taunted a lean man with twin swords as he sliced a begging pirate in half.

Scenes like this were happening all over. Most of the pirates were weak, but some were incredibly ruthless and savage, just like Lafitte and his crew.

Take the lean man with twin swords, for example—he had a bounty of over fifty million beli, a significant pirate.

Some pirates were so desperate to get the Devil Fruits that they attacked their former friends. The rule was clear: only the last four survivors would get the fruits. With hundreds of pirates on the island, every death increased someone's chance of survival.

As reality set in, even the pirates who had hoped to survive by staying out of the fight realized they had no choice but to join in. Blood and bodies littered the ground, the air thick with the smell of iron. Even those who had been knocked out by Carlo's Conqueror's Haki were killed in the chaos.

In this frenzy, friends turned on each other, and everyone fought for their lives. The island echoed with the sounds of clashing swords, gunfire, and agonized screams.

No one outside knew that on this remote island, once a pirate haven, a brutal battle was taking place. Thousands of lives were lost in the slaugther.

The battle didn't last long. Despite the number of participants, they were all fighting fiercely, with someone dying every second. In less than forty minutes, the Island was filled with corpses.

The fight extended beyond the square into the town and the surrounding forest, leaving blood and bodies everywhere. Thanks to Blackbeard's Observation Haki, they weren't worried about anyone sneaking away.

In the end, only five figures remained standing in the square. These five were the final survivors of the brutal forty-minute battle, the last 'players' left.