Chapter 16: Chapter Sixteen: The Blade That Broke the Cage

Su Xiao advanced slowly toward the bushes, his flintlock pistol aimed at them, the last bullet still in the chamber.

“Wait, I’m not a bad person,” came a clear child’s voice from within the bushes.

A child? Su Xiao frowned, staring at the bushes.

How could there be a child in this dangerous Kolbo Mountain? It made him wary.

“You have three seconds to come out—or don’t come out at all.”

His finger tightened on the flintlock’s trigger; if the figure didn’t emerge in three seconds, he’d shoot.

“Is that so? Then I won’t come out.”

Perhaps the child in the bushes had misunderstood Su Xiao’s words.

Su Xiao’s eye twitched—he was now certain the figure was a child, and that child had low intelligence.

He holstered the flintlock; the last bullet might be better used elsewhere, not wasted here.

“Come out.”

Su Xiao lunged forward a few steps and kicked the bushes hard.

He felt no impact of human flesh—only a springy resistance.

“Boing~.”

A thin body flew far away, as if kicked like a ball.

“Boing, boing~.”

After landing, the figure bounced a few more times before finally lying prone on the ground.

“Waaah~.”

The child Su Xiao had kicked sat up and burst into loud tears—clearly hurt.

That unnatural springiness made Su Xiao narrow his eyes as he studied the child.

Yellow skin, black hair, pitch-black eyes—combined with the bizarre elasticity, Su Xiao guessed the child’s identity.

This was none other than Monkey D. Luffy, the protagonist of the original story—he’d wondered earlier how a child ended up in Kolbo Mountain.

If it was Luffy, it made sense—he’d grown up here.

Su Xiao stepped up to Luffy and studied him; Luffy sat on the ground sobbing, snot dripping down his chin—he’d clearly been hurt. His Devil Fruit ability was undeveloped as a child, so he had no resistance to attacks.

The current Luffy was just a brat, nothing like the legendary figure from the original story.

“Brat, stop crying—or I’ll kill you.”

Su Xiao was covered in tiger blood, looking utterly brutal—the child’s crying stopped instantly.

“Don’t kill me, I don’t want to die.”

Su Xiao chuckled bitterly—such a blunt answer.

He wasn’t paying attention to Luffy because he was the protagonist of the pirate world—he simply wanted to observe a Devil Fruit user.

He grabbed Luffy’s cheeks and lifted him up; Luffy’s face stretched grotesquely.

Luffy sniffled, gazing at Su Xiao with a dazed expression—utterly ridiculous.

At that moment, the Cycle Paradise suddenly flashed a series of alerts.

【WARNING! WARNING! HUNTER IS IN CONTACT WITH THE WORLD’S SON! HUNTER, RETREAT IMMEDIATELY!】

【WARNING! WARNING! HUNTER IS IN CONTACT WITH THE WORLD’S SON! HUNTER, RETREAT IMMEDIATELY!】

【WARNING! WARNING! HUNTER IS IN CONTACT WITH THE WORLD’S SON! HUNTER, RETREAT IMMEDIATELY!】

This time, the alerts weren’t the usual pale blue—they glowed blood-red, radiating danger.

【WARNING: A SUPERIOR LIFEFORM IS APPROACHING. DETECTED: MONKEY D. Garp. HUNTER, EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.】

【TASK TRIGGERED: The Crushing of a Legend.】

The Crushing of a Legend

Difficulty Level: LV.79.

……

Upon seeing 【Difficulty Level: LV.79】, Su Xiao immediately dropped Luffy and walked toward the water source—he didn’t even glance at the reward, nor would he accept this so-called 【The Crushing of a Legend】.

No need to guess—the reward for a LV.79 task must be astonishing.

But for Su Xiao, this level of task was far too early; even completing LV.3 tasks was a struggle for him now.

When he entered the Pirate World, its difficulty was displayed as LV.6—but that wasn’t the true difficulty. LV.6 referred only to the difficulty of the Goa Kingdom region.

Su Xiao didn’t care much about Monkey D. Garp; the man must be far away, or Su Xiao wouldn’t have had time to escape.

Arriving at a small stream, Su Xiao began washing his body.

Blood washed away in the clear water; after cleaning himself, a patch of the stream turned crimson, attracting a swarm of fish with the scent of blood.

A large fish leapt from the surface—Su Xiao instinctively drew his blade and pierced it clean through, then heaved his arm, hauling the two-meter-long fish onto shore.

The strike was perfectly angled and precisely controlled—even Su Xiao was surprised.

His swordsmanship had improved dramatically—he’d only just fought one battle.

Su Xiao’s sudden leap in sword skill stemmed from his training in the real world.

In the real world, he rarely had the chance to fight at full strength; this life-or-death battle with the giant tiger had unlocked the results of three years of relentless sword practice.

The real world was like a “cage”—his honed killing techniques served no purpose except revenge.

And even in revenge, he usually killed with a single slash—no real combat opportunities.

But the Cycle Paradise was different—it teemed with danger. No matter how wealthy or powerful one was in the real world, if one wasn’t strong enough, death was inevitable here.

Escaping the “cage,” Su Xiao felt a sense of relief.

The Cycle Paradise was indeed dangerous—a primal jungle of survival of the fittest—but compared to the real world, he preferred this place.

Perhaps he was born for the Cycle Paradise—only here could he truly unleash his potential.

Gaining power while adventuring in another world might be a worthwhile experience.

Su Xiao took a deep breath—he decided to push himself hard in the Cycle Paradise, grow stronger, stronger, endlessly stronger, until he surpassed everyone, for only then could he break free from his chains.

But before fulfilling this grand ambition, he needed to eat—and the struggling fish on the grass was the perfect lunch.

Drain the blood, scale it, remove the innards, light a fire…

After a few minutes, the two-meter-long fish was roasting over the flames.

Without any seasoning, the fish might not taste good—and he noticed something else: killing this fish hadn’t granted him mana points.

It must be because the fish was too weak—it didn’t meet the standard of his innate ability [Soul Devourer].

That made sense; if killing any creature granted mana points, Su Xiao could just step on an ant colony and instantly gain 100 mana—the maximum he could gain per world.

As for the function of mana points, he didn’t yet know—but they might prove crucial later.

The burning branches crackled; the fish soon cooked through, oil dripping from its crispy skin and sizzling in the fire.

Su Xiao cut off a piece of fish and shoved it into his mouth. The appearance was decent, but without seasoning, the taste likely wasn’t good.

Yet after chewing a few bites, Su Xiao froze.

The fish meat was tender, smooth, and rich with a primal flavor—the natural taste of the fish itself, where any seasoning would be superfluous.

Delicious. Extremely delicious. This was the most delicious food he’d ever eaten.

Swallowing the fish, Su Xiao stared at the rest of the fish and swallowed hard—perhaps he could not only gain power in derivative realms, but also savor all kinds of delicacies.

After enjoying a remarkably delicious lunch until he could eat no more, Su Xiao reluctantly left.

The side quest was complete; the Captain of the Guards’ position would almost certainly be his. It was time to prepare for the king’s assassination.

That was his true mission—everything he’d done so far was merely preparation.