CHAPTER 7

Billy's eyes were full of excitement. Lord Jack placed great importance on Lord Alastor, a privilege that Holdem didn't even enjoy at the beginning. As a follower of Alastor, Billy had also risen in status.

Billy, feeling invigorated, quickly returned. Alastor looked at the bag he was carrying and frowned. "Is this all the money you brought back?"

Billy replied angrily, "There was more than this, but that damn Holdem squandered it all!"

Alastor frowned even deeper. He counted the money in the bag and found only a few million berries, leaving him speechless.

Billy's eyes darted around as an idea came to him. He stepped forward and suggested, "Lord Alastor, if you need more money, you could search the people in Bakura Town. Most of them are poor, but if you look carefully, you can still find a decent amount."

Alastor glanced at Billy, who was clearly pleased with himself for coming up with such a suggestion. Billy was waiting for praise, but instead, he received a cold response:

"Get out!"

Billy was startled. His body trembled, and panic washed over his face. He dared not ask anything further and hurried out.

As Alastor watched Billy leave, he reflected on the situation. Although he didn't consider himself a saint, it felt morally wrong to prey on the already poor.

He dismissed the idea of doing something so distasteful. Instead, he contemplated how to make money and acquire safe food. Rubbing his chin, he suddenly remembered that there was a sea between the mainland of Wano Country and Onigashima, which likely held fish and sea beasts.

Catching fish or hunting sea beasts could be considered a form of training and could also provide food.

The next day, after a night of rest, Luo Xing headed to the beach and jumped into the sea with a splash.

To his disappointment, there weren't many fish or sea beasts. After searching for a long time, he only found one sea king.

Alastor was determined and swam deeper into the ocean, but soon found himself in the biggest crisis since his arrival in this world—he had accidentally entered a lair of sea kings!

"Damn it!"

Alastor stared at the dozens of sea kings in front of him, each over 100 meters long, with some reaching sizes of more than 500 meters. Even with the ability to enhance his defense through injury, he didn't want to die in vain.

With so many sea kings surrounding him, and being human, he could not hold his breath long enough to fight back. So, without hesitation, Alastor turned and fled.

"Moo!"

The sea kings seemed to find him an amusing target and began chasing after him, splashing through the water with powerful strokes of their tails. Some were incredibly fast, catching up to him in an instant.

With no other choice, Alastor pulled out his Sandai Kitetsu and executed a sword cut, cleaving one sea king in two. Blood instantly stained the surrounding waters, but the strong scent only incited the remaining sea kings to become more ferocious.

Alastor's expression turned grim. He gritted his teeth, swung his sword at the pursuing sea kings, and swam desperately toward the surface.

No one in all of Wano Country would have imagined that deep beneath the ocean, a tall young man was fighting desperately against dozens of sea kings. The scene was brutally violent; with each swing of his sword, a sea king fell. However, there were too many of them, and soon the young man was covered in bruises.

"Fortunately, my current defense is 160. If I hadn't awakened the system, I would have been killed by these sea kings long ago."

After what felt like an eternity, Alastor finally swam to shore, relieved to be alive. He couldn't help but feel grateful.

[The system has detected that the host is seriously injured. Defense +60.]

The system chimed in.

Alastor was taken aback for a moment, then smiled wryly. This could be seen as a blessing in disguise, though he hoped such blessings would be rare in the future.

As he pressed his hands against the ground, trying to push himself up, he found he couldn't manage it.

After all, this was the first serious injury he had suffered since traveling to this world. His entire body was in pain, and he looked like a wretched man dripping with blood.

"Damn it!"

Alastor cursed and then looked at the sea king corpse he had dragged up, his eyes gleaming with hunger.

There could be no fire nearby. Even though Alastor had kindling with him, it was too wet after being submerged in the sea for so long.

Alastor clenched his fists and resolved, "I won't let this stop me!"

Then, like a hungry wolf, he pounced on the dead sea king.

It was a scene that was hard to watch.

"Finally able to move... but raw meat is really unpalatable."

Alastor stopped eating before his injury had fully healed. After all, he wasn't a savage; how could he genuinely enjoy eating raw meat? He had no other choice, though.

He dragged the remaining sea king corpses and limped back to Bakura Town.

On the way, he pondered why the sea was filled with sea kings but lacked other sea creatures. Soon, he reached a conclusion:

The environment in Wano Country was so harsh and polluted that ordinary fish couldn't survive, leaving only the resilient sea kings able to thrive in such conditions. Most of the sea kings preferred to live in the depths of the ocean.

Alastor shook his head. In the future, unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn't venture into this unfortunate sea again.

Back in Bakura Town, Alastor ordered his subordinates to burn the sea king corpses and prepare the meat for food.

Seeing Master Alastor's battered appearance, his subordinates were all frightened.

The next day, they were even more stunned to see Lord Alastor alive and well, as if the seriously injured person from the day before was someone else entirely.

Ignoring the shock of his subordinates, Alastor issued a direct command:

"Go! Send out everyone to search for the traces of the Atamayama Thieves Brigade!"

**Chapter 9: Hunting**

The Atamayama Thieves Brigade is the only large-scale rebel organization in the Kurii area that operates outside the jurisdiction of the Hundred Beasts pirates. Its leader, Asura Doji, was the boss of all the gangsters and thieves in Kuri during the time of Kozuki Oden.

Asura Boy, nicknamed Shutenmaru, is quite powerful. In the original story, he once wounded Jack with a single blow, which earned him Kaido of Beasts' admiration.

Therefore, no matter how rebellious Shutenmaru was, Kaido chose not to kill him but sought to subdue him instead.

However, from Alastor's perspective as a traveler, Kaido was clearly daydreaming.

Wano Country has a strong samurai spirit, and the essence of that spirit is loyalty.

Kaido killed Shutenmaru's lord, Kozuki Oden. How could he expect Shutenmaru to submit to him?

The other retainers of Kozuki Oden, despite their loyalty being tested by his downfall, remained faithful to him, and that loyalty extended to Momonosuke as well.

In short, Alastor had no hope that Kaido would ever subdue Shutenmaru, and he didn't care. All he was focused on was making money.

The people of Wano Country were indeed poor, but the Atamayama Thieves Brigade had managed to thrive over the years, which meant they had likely looted a significant amount of wealth.

Alastor believed that grabbing their money would be much easier than fighting the Neptunes to the death.

The only concern was avoiding a confrontation with Shutenmaru himself, as he was not yet a match for someone of that caliber.

Under Alastor's orders, all the pirates in Bakura Town set out to search for traces of the Atamayama Thieves Brigade, including Real Speed.

Ever since he learned that Alastor had killed Holdem in an instant and that Master Jack had taken a keen interest in him, Speed had been eagerly looking forward to serving Alastor.

After half a day, Speed was the first to report back: "Master Alastor, we have found a group of members of the Atamayama Thieves Brigade!"

As a user of the Horse-Horse Fruit, Speed was much faster than the others.

Alastor immediately set off for the location Speed had mentioned.

…

…

"Haha, Brother Wamon, our haul this time is incredible! Boss Shutenmaru will be so pleased when we return!"

On a winding mountain path, more than a dozen bandits galloped on horseback, stirring up a cloud of dust.

The leader was a big bald man with a swollen face and a fierce demeanor. He was indeed a confidant of Asura Doji.

The bandits around him congratulated the bald man, who laughed heartily and said, "I was lucky to run into a wealthy merchant heading to the capital of flowers. With this batch of goods, we won't have to work for ten months!"

The bandits roared with laughter, clearly excited.

Suddenly, a clever-looking bandit interrupted their revelry: "Something feels off, Brother Wamon. Why is it so quiet around here?"

As soon as he spoke, the others realized that the atmosphere had shifted and felt oddly still.

Wamon's expression changed: "This isn't good; someone might be planning to ambush us!"

Just then, over twenty shadows leaped down from the surrounding hills, encircling them.

"Wamon, it's not a matter of black eating black; rather, it's time to return what you stole. That property belongs to our Hundred Beasts pirates!"

Speed, in his centaur form, stepped forward on all fours and spoke calmly.

Wamon's face darkened: "Speed? You alone are not my match! Where's that bastard Holdem?"

Jack and Shutenmaru were old rivals, and their respective subordinates were also old enemies.

Wamon scanned the area, but there was no sign of Holdem.

Strange. Why isn't Holdem here?

He felt a sense of confusion creeping in.

Wamon knew his strength surpassed that of Speed and Holdem, and he needed both to truly challenge him.

But Holdem was absent, leaving only Speed. Did the Beasts pirates really come here to die?

Regardless of the advantage in numbers that the Hundred Beasts pirates had, for a powerhouse like Wamon, sheer numbers meant little.

"Holdem is a relic of the past. From now on, your opponent is me."

A faint voice cut through the air.

Under the astonished gazes of Wamon and the bandits of the Atamayama Thieves Brigade, a tall, unfamiliar young man stepped forward, even moving aside slightly as Speed prepared to fight.

"Who are you?"

Wamon asked, a strange premonition stirring in his chest.

"I'm just a nobody," Alastor shrugged and replied, "You can call me Alastor."

Alastor?

That name meant nothing to them.

Like Jack, the Atamayama Thieves Brigade rarely remembered members of the Hundred Beasts pirates unless they were particularly noteworthy.

Wamon let out a sigh of relief. No matter where Alastor came from, the lack of a notable reputation suggested his strength wouldn't be too formidable—at most, he would be on par with Holdem.

"Hmph, I don't care who you are. Since you dare to stand in my way, you must be prepared to die!"

Wamon stopped wasting words and charged in first.

He wielded a massive sword with ferocity. Just his posture alone indicated that he was much stronger than Holdem.

"Speed, you take care of everyone else. Leave this guy to me."

"Yes, Master Alastor."

As Speed prepared to move, Wamon's broadsword suddenly swung toward him, aiming for his head.

"Don't even think about it!"

Wamon intended to take on both Alastor and Speed by himself.