Chapter 399

Although not as dazzling as the Thin One's Hundred Flowers Chaos, the seven slashes Sima Di unleashed in an instant sealed off all of his opponent's escape routes, even accounting for the reaction after the opponent blocked the attack.

Pfft

The Thin One was sent flying, blood spraying everywhere, leaving four sword wounds on his body; one of them... the final one, was deep enough to reach the bone.

When Zoro was training himself, Sima Di once used this move. Zoro dodged three strikes, blocked three strikes, and blocked the final one with the sword in his hand, yet he was still a step too late, receiving a cut on his arm.

If even Zoro could not fully block the attack, this guy had no chance.

Sima Di walked over and placed the cold Divine Art Blade against the Thin One's neck.

The Thin One returned to human form, looking at him in fear.

Somehow, the Thin One saw the same expression in Sima Di's eyes as his master's, one that chilled him to the bone.

"Explain yourself."

"Ex... explain what?"

"What exactly is the Spade calculating? What are you doing here? And what is the matter with Bruce!"

The Thin One was startled by Sima Di's sudden shout, his eyes becoming even more cowardly.

"I... I..." The Thin One trembled all over. "You, you should just kill me. I cannot speak. If I speak, I fear even death will be a luxury. Since you know of the Spade, you should know what cruel figures those Lords are."

"Oh? Is that so? How many Lords do you have now?"

"Te... ten."

"Ten?" Sima Di frowned. "From the First Generation to the Tenth?"

"No, no. From the First Generation to the Eleventh; the Tenth Lord's whereabouts are unknown," the Thin One said obediently.

Sima Di could see that he was speaking the truth.

"The Eleventh... what is his name?" Sima Di asked.

"He... he is called Alan," the Thin One said hesitantly.

Sima Di narrowed his eyes slightly, hearing that this statement was a lie.

"What Alan? I think his name is Dongyi!"

Sima Di pushed the blade forward a bit; the skin was cut, and blood drops fell along the blade to the ground.

"H... how do you know?" The Thin One was truly panicked this time.

The names of the Spade Lords of past generations are never easily revealed; even people on Spade Island refer to them only as the "Xth Lord." What the Thin One currently knew was only his master's name and the name of the Eleventh Lord, who was on good terms with his master.

"I know more than you imagine... tell me, why did you appear here? What is the Spade secretly plotting? My patience is not great, do not force me."

87 What a grand gesture indeed

"Fine, fine, fine... I will say it all, I will tell you everything." The Thin One compromised.

"We came here only to capture Bruce; he stole something very important to us. As a result, he resisted to the death, hid the item in a place, and then committed suicide. We are also very troubled."

"And then?"

"And then that's it..." The Thin One looked at Sima Di innocently.

Sima Di could tell that the latter half of his statement was true; Bruce did indeed die by suicide. But... the first half was pure nonsense.

"What is that item? What is the content inside?"

"Content? No, I don't know. We lowly ones only received orders from above to hunt down Bruce and retrieve the item. We know nothing else."

Lies, all lies!

"It seems you still do not intend to speak the truth." Sima Di's tone was icy.

"I... I am speaking the truth!" the Thin One cried out.

"I know what you are afraid of... but unfortunately, standing before you is the Tenth. His methods are not inferior to any previous generation." Sima Di revealed a sinister smile.

"T... Tenth! You are the Tenth!" The Thin One looked at the person before him in disbelief. "You are the one called the Tenth Heart? No, no, that's impossible, how could the Tenth Heart be someone like you?"

"Why impossible? The Eighth was a little loli." Sima Di took a seashell from his pocket. "It seems you do not intend to speak, so do not blame me for being ruthless... Spirit Bestowal!"

The Thin One saw the Judge toss the seashell into the sky; from the shell emerged iron thorns that blocked out the sun and sky. Those iron thorns moved like living snakes, wrapping the Thin One in layers in an instant.

"Listen, whatever I ask, you answer. If you lie or do not answer, they will tighten a circle. Do you understand?"

As Sima Di finished speaking, the iron thorns suddenly tightened, immediately drawing blood, and the Thin One's screams vanished into the wind.

Half an hour later.

The Thin One lay on the ground covered in blood, barely alive.

"Be... beg you, kill me."

His voice was so faint that it could not be heard unless one listened carefully.

"Since you have been so obedient, I will let you rest in peace." Sima Di smiled and struck down with one slash.

Blood flew and the head fell; the Thin One breathed no more.

Sima Di also admired this Thin One named Divens; even when the iron thorns contracted until they pressed against the bone, he refused to speak the truth. Sima Di had no choice but to let the iron thorns drill into the skin from the soles of his feet, drilling into the bone... only then did Divens reveal the truth.

"Return."

At Sima Di's command, the iron thorns suddenly contracted, all retreating into the seashell, then hopping into Sima Di's palm.

Sima Di did not bother with the corpse, because if the tsunami could bring Bruce's corpse into everyone's view, it could also bring Divens' corpse back to the depths of the sea.

Sima Di then hurried to Dock 101 of Water 7.

Do you remember Hage Island? Do you remember the Man-Eating Trio who survived until the end besides Jack?

Divens was one of them, and his master was the Third Generation Killer King, Lu Kasi.

Besides Divens, there were also Big Brother Gellman and Second Sister Ella; the three were sworn siblings. Adding Bruce, there were four people guarding something here.

However, Divens did not know what this thing was, and Sima Di had no clue either.

According to Divens, these items were originally to be transported to Enies Lobby, and then used as a transit point there to be shipped to Spade Island. But for some reason, these items were temporarily stored in Water 7, saying they would be shipped to Spade Island in a few days.

Sima Di knew why. Because soon the Straw Hat Crew would Rampage at Enies Lobby, and Enies Lobby would ultimately be destroyed by the Buster Call. If the items were still stored at Enies Lobby, they would naturally be destroyed along with it.

Spade can store things at Judicial Island; they must have some connection with the World Government.

But Sima Di was not surprised, because in the original world, the Spade organization also had ties with the local government; otherwise, even a private island would not tolerate them acting so recklessly.

As for Bruce, they received the order only after arriving at Water Seven.

They were told that Bruce had copied important items while on Spade Island (though they did not know what "copy" meant), and they must retrieve the items and silence him.

Sima Di asked what this item was. Divins could only reply that it was something very important concerning the fate of Spade.

This remark piqued Sima Di's curiosity; it seemed he must go to Dock 101 to take a look. Because Divins had said that alongside those items was a strange black box. On the black box were several screens showing the area near the dock; they used those screens to monitor movements nearby.

"Computers and monitors? They really are interesting."

Sima Di used his ability to sense several targets that were clearly green yet moving.

That was correct; those were the monitors distributed around the dock.

Relying on his ability, Sima Di avoided all the monitors' ranges and arrived at Dock 101.

Sima Di hid behind a cover, daring not to act rashly.

At the dock entrance, Sima Di sensed a woman and a burly man guarding the door. They seemed to be conversing with each other, but he could not hear what they were saying.

Although Sima Di could perceive the movement of their lips, unfortunately... he could not read lips.

After a while, the two left together.

If an ordinary person were to speculate, they must have gone to see Third Brother Divins. But Sima Di saw through the clue.

Sima Di walked into the dock without any hesitation, and the iron shell imbued with spirit leaped from Sima Di's pocket, quickly sticking to the inner side of the door.

"What a grand gesture..."

Inside the dock, the first thing Sima Di saw was a box over ten meters tall. The material of the box was unknown, but it must be something stronger than iron, very similar to the material of safes in the present world, perhaps even stronger.

Sima Di walked around the box once, yet saw no lock or anything resembling a keyhole, nor even a card-swipe interface or a password input screen.

"In that case, it seems the method to open this box lies elsewhere..."

Sima Di turned his head again and saw the black box placed on the other side; it looked like a laptop computer, and the computer's display showed the feeds from those surveillance cameras.

"I almost forgot; computers can also control the switch."

Just as Sima Di was about to walk toward the computer, a loud shout rang out.

"This is as far as you go! If you want to know more secrets, you can only go to hell!"

88 Escaped

Sima Di smiled as he looked at the two people standing at the entrance.