Chapter 45: The Haze Disperses

"Stop joking."

Genzo looked around, breaking out in a cold sweat, and said with a bitter smile, "These are all fish-men; what help could I possibly be? Any one of them could slap me flying with a single palm strike."

Come to think of it.

Earlier, while he had been riding his bicycle along the ridge toward this place, spotting fish-men coming ashore from afar had made his heart sink halfway.

He had seen reports about these fellows in the newspapers before.

They were all pirates who once belonged to the Sun Pirates, traveling from the Grand Line to the East Blue; their strength was such that no pirate crew in the East Blue could compare.

Yet who could have predicted this outcome?

Less than twenty minutes after these fish-men landed, they had all turned into corpses.

Although he had witnessed how exaggerated Siano's performance was while tempering his body, how could that compare to the shock of personally witnessing every single one of these pirates from the Grand Line perish?

"Siano," Genzo sighed with emotion, "you fellow are truly an out-and-out monster; it seems our Cocoyasi Village will finally produce an extraordinary my lord in the future."

"Is that so?"

Siano laughed heartily, stretched his waist, and stood up.

"But right now, I just want to go home and have a good lazy sleep; as for cleaning up this battlefield, I'll leave that trouble to you, Uncle."

Genzo nodded, but before he could say anything, his eyes suddenly widened as he gazed behind Siano.

What was going on?

Siano followed his gaze and happened to see the sea surface not far away churning violently.

A large sea beast covered in green spots, looking very much like a cow, emerged and stared blankly at the corpses littering the ground.

"Moo-moo?"

Only then did he remember: wasn't this the sea beast kept by the Arlong Pirates?

Did it emerge now to seek revenge for Arlong?

Siano grinned, leaped onto the front of the deck; he was no longer the little brat who had to humble himself when facing the Lord of the Coast back then.

Moo-moo's size was several times larger than that of the Lord of the Coast, but under his current physical strength, it would likely not even withstand a single punch.

Moo—!

Unexpectedly, the next moment, Moo-moo let out a joyful cry toward the sky, spat a huge mouthful of saliva with a "Pah!" at the fish-men corpses scattered everywhere, and then bowed its two forelimbs toward Siano...

"Am I seeing things, Siano?" Genzo on the shore was utterly astonished; "Is this fellow clasping its fists to express gratitude to you?"

It seemed so.

Siano was also stunned by its behavior, his clenched fist momentarily unsure whether to strike out or not.

But Moo-moo gave him little time to think; it turned, leaped, and happily darted into the sea while swishing its tail, vanishing without a trace shortly after.

"This scene feels somewhat familiar."

Siano pinched his chin, sinking into deep thought.

Was there a possibility that Shirahoshi was actually an impostor, and that he himself was the legitimate Sea King Poseidon of this generation?

Half an hour later.

Villagers began to arrive one after another to help clean up the battlefield at the dock.

Earlier, when the children brought news of the pirate crew's landing, the villagers were in a panic; only after hearing that Siano had already rushed over did they finally set their minds at ease.

And Siano did not disappoint expectations; he alone, fighting single-handedly, had annihilated the entire pirate crew.

As for the excessively bloody scene near the dock...

No one felt this was too cruel; everyone merely believed these pirates deserved their death, for if not for Siano, perhaps today it would be them lying in pools of blood!

Especially when Genzo called the surrounding island towns to inquire about their situation.

He was astonished to learn that the neighboring Kosa Town had been completely destroyed by the Arlong Pirates, with more than half its population killed or injured; amidst their righteous indignation, everyone also felt a lingering fear and relief.

Fortunately, their Cocoyasi Village had produced an extraordinary powerhouse!

Only thus was a tragic ending avoided.

On the ridge shaded by coconut trees.

Siano walked leisurely home with his arms crossed behind his head; he was neither running nor using "Soru" to travel, his speed even slower than that of an old man taking his morning stroll.

Since awakening his memories until now, four years had passed in the blink of an eye; it had been a long time since he had relaxed so completely like this.

Arlong was dead.

The Arlong Pirates were destroyed.

This meant the dark clouds and haze shrouding Cocoyasi Village had finally dispersed, and the huge stone that had weighed on his heart for so long had completely shattered with a boom.

"What fine weather."

Siano looked up at the blue sky and white clouds, his mood relaxed and comfortable.

Pulling his thoughts back slightly, he casually opened the system panel.

He had left the battlefield cleanup to the village uncles, but naturally, he would not forget to claim the spoils of war.

Before Genzo arrived, he had already tried sacrificing almost everything he could.

There was a large pile of named fish-men corpses, providing ample opportunities for trial and error, which also gave him a new understanding of the system's rules.

Apart from sacrificing beloved personal items.

Body parts such as arms and legs seemed to be the limit the system could accept; it was impossible to directly sacrifice an entire corpse, and even severing the head made it unsacrificable.

The small head was even more impossible.

It was as if the system itself was restricted by the Great God of Harmony; things that were too dark, bloody, or cult-like were simply not included in the list of Sacrifices.

Siano could understand this.

In the end, based on the information flow from the system panel, he tallied and sorted everything out.

Wet-noodle officers like Salt-Burn, Little Wu, and Pisharo, who had little screen time, yielded a pitifully small number of points, averaging only twenty or thirty.

Meanwhile, officers with some actual strength like Kuroobi and Hatchan provided points ranging from high double digits up to around two hundred.

Even added together, they fell far short of Arlong.

He had severed Arlong's arm bearing the red tattoo, and after sacrificing it, obtained a staggering eight hundred points, enough to purchase a decent cultivation manual from the shop.

Good things naturally shouldn't go to waste.

Siano patted his trouser pocket, which still contained Arlong's nose and several fangs; these were reserves to be frozen in a hidden spot later, sacrificed each time the cooldown period ended.

This behavior seemed a bit unethical, but Arlong probably wouldn't mind.

"Brother!"

A familiar voice suddenly rang out; Siano looked up to see Nojiko and Nami running excitedly toward him.

"You really did defeat the invading pirates, didn't you!"

"Mm." He lifted them both, one in each arm, and smiled, "But you're both too late; the battle ended quite a while ago."

"Hmph, I knew it! It was a breeze. Some kids in the village were worried you might not win alone—what a bunch of blind fools; don't they know who the East Blue's number one swordsman is!"

Nami, why are you still spreading rumors!

Siano irritably ruffled her hair; this brat, the one who was truly blind was her. How many times had she peeked at his training, yet still failed to realize he knew absolutely nothing about swordsmanship!

"Are you taking us home?" Nojiko asked.

"No way!"

Nami pouted, shaking her head like a rattle-drum, "We just snuck out; we still want to see what those pirates actually look like."

"It's too bloody, unsuitable for children; you're not allowed to go."

Siano yanked Nami back just as she tried to slip out from under his armpit; ignoring how the little girl's mouth had puckered into a tiny teapot, his gaze fell upon her arm.

Then he looked at Nojiko's as well.

Both little arms were clean and white, bearing no traces of tattoos, with no need to stab, pierce, or weep bitterly with a small knife...

"Hey, Brother, what are you staring at!"

Nami glared dissatisfiedly at Siano, "Trying to sneakily tell on me to Bell-mère again, right? I bathed and washed my hair last night!"

"Then you're truly sensible."

Siano laughed heartily, hoisting his two sisters high above his head before placing them on his broad shoulders; facing the warm afternoon sun, he strode briskly toward home.

PS1: Thanks to LeXiangTaoZi and CongJinWangHouYiWanNian for their donations.

PS2: Several readers have asked why I don't directly sacrifice corpses, and some even suggested I should have chopped up Nami and Zoro right at the start to sacrifice them; reading that made me break out in a cold sweat. I'll take this opportunity to clarify: the protagonist belongs to a good-aligned, neutral faction. I also dislike writing dark-style stories, especially given the current web novel environment; one really can't make things too sinister.

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(End of Chapter)