The crisp, cold, and matter-of-fact words left Buggy frozen in place. The surrounding pirates, who had gathered in a circle, were also stunned into silence.
"W-what did you just say?"
Qing You's words were too domineering, too direct. Buggy and his crew could hardly believe that those fearless words had come from a pretty girl who looked barely fifteen or sixteen. They thought they must have misheard.
But in the very next second, a massive scythe was suddenly wrapped around Buggy's neck.
The curved blade, nearly a meter long, hugged tightly around his throat.
Nami gasped, covering her mouth, her eyes wide with disbelief.
This girl, who had seemed merely cold and quiet, like a polite little maid around her "uncle", was actually this terrifying?
"Submit, or die!" Qing You's cold voice rang out again.
That was when Buggy's crew finally snapped out of it. Buggy himself exploded with rage. Never in his life had he seen a girl so brazen and arrogant.
"Kill her! This is outrageous! You've really pissed off Captain Buggy now!"
But Qing You's eyes turned ice-cold. Without hesitation, she swung the scythe.
"Shhhhk!"
A silver arc flashed, and Buggy's head was instantly separated from his body.
The brutal, bloody moment made Nami scream aloud.
It was shocking. It was terrifying. They were only supposed to be here for a talk. How did it turn into this kind of massacre?
Qin Yi narrowed his eyes. Even he hadn't expected Qing You to be this ruthless.
"Captain Buggy!!" Buggy's men were paralyzed with shock. Their captain's head had been lopped off right before their eyes.
But the next second, their expressions twisted into feral grins.
In a blur, six or seven pirates slashed their blades toward Qing You.
The violent little girl didn't move.
The blades sliced clean through her, But a "poof!" of white smoke followed, and her body vanished.
"A Body Replacement Technique?" Qin Yi nodded slightly in approval.
Then came the screams.
Before the pirates could recover, Qing You appeared among them, coldly slicing them apart with her scythe.
Even Buggy's head, still hovering mid-air, looked stunned.
"A Devil Fruit user?!"
Not knowing what a ninja technique was, Buggy naturally assumed she had Devil Fruit powers.
"Even if you've got abilities, you won't act so arrogant in front of ME!" Roaring, Buggy lunged toward her.
"Such disrespect before His Majesty... what a rude man." Qing You said coolly, swinging her scythe again.
Buggy's body trembled, and in the next instant, he was sliced into countless horizontal sections.
"That blade is so fast!"
Fear surged in his heart and Buggy realized just how dangerous this girl was. Nami was now trembling all over. Qing You's brutality, and Buggy's bizarre, undying body, it was all too much.
Qin Yi, however, continued watching silently.
"The Chop-Chop Fruit... so blades don't work on him?"
Just then, Qing You ducked to avoid a bullet from behind. With a flick of her scythe, a long chain clattered out, the blade at its end embedding in a wall behind them, slicing a pirate's neck as it passed.
It was only a graze, but enough to terrify him. The pirate collapsed against the wall, a wet stain forming between his legs.
"Guess I'll stop using weapons, then." Qing You yanked the chain, retrieving the spinning scythe into her grip and slinging it across her back again.
"I'm not patient. I'm not as merciful as His Majesty."
"So I'll ask just one more time, " Her hands began forming seals as she spoke with icy calm.
"Who exactly are you people?!" Buggy, now reassembled, was trembling. These three had wiped out his men effortlessly, he finally realized just how different they were.
Every time his gaze drifted toward the man silently standing behind them, Qin Yi, a crushing sense of pressure washed over him.
"Raiton... (Lightning Release)."
Zzzzzzzzz!
Blue lightning sparked in Qing You's hand, chirping like birdsong.
"Chidori!"
Suddenly, Qing You stomped the ground, Stone tiles shattered beneath her feet with a thunderous crack.
Her speed skyrocketed as she charged at Buggy like a bolt of lightning. Witnessing the scene before him, Buggy felt like his heart was about to leap out of his chest.
Lightning, real lightning!
"I surrender! I surrender!!"
Bzzzzz!
The crackling lightning, which seemed to have torn through space itself, froze just inches from his forehead. Its sharp, electric chirps echoed in his ears, and the searing heat and violent energy made his entire body tremble with terror.
Qing You slowly lowered her right hand, withdrawing her ninjutsu.
She calmly walked back to stand in front of Qin Yi, then placed her clenched right fist over her left chest in salute.
"Your Majesty, he has surrendered."
Qin Yi was speechless.
The black-silk-clad loli before him felt like a completely different person, a brutal little war machine, not to be trifled with. But soon, Qin Yi sensed a shift, he could now access Buggy's Devil Fruit ability.
With a mere thought, his right hand detached from his arm and floated in the air in front of him. Another thought, and it returned seamlessly to his body.
"What a fascinating ability."
This kind of Devil Fruit power made the user immune to all slashing attacks, extremely convenient.
Of course, both Qin Yi and the Parliamentary Institute valued more than just that. According to their research, once the Chop-Chop Fruit awakened, it would gain the power to affect its surroundings, becoming a truly broken ability.
Its potential was on par with Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
Once awakened, the Split-Split Fruit could tear apart everything in the vicinity, with absolute disintegration.
Buggy, now reassembled, wiped cold sweat from his forehead. He felt like he'd narrowly escaped death.
"Your Majesty." Buggy approached Qin Yi with a flattering smile.
As a seasoned pirate, he had a good sense for power dynamics and immediately understood that Qin Yi was the true leader among the trio.
"From now on, you'll follow me." Qin Yi said flatly.
"Uh... what about my crewmates?" Buggy gestured toward the trembling pirates nearby.
"Disband them." Qin Yi waved dismissively.
"You have five minutes. Then catch up." With that, he turned and walked back toward the Royal Ship, Qing You by his side, and a dazed Nami trailing behind like she was in a dream.
Five minutes later, Buggy clambered aboard, panting and lugging a massive pack.
"Your Majesty! Scythe Nee Sama! I'm here! And of course, greetings to the beautiful Little Elder Sister!"
He bowed and flattered each of them in turn, forcing a smile.
Abandoning the crew and empire he'd built for years wasn't easy, but hey, staying alive was more important.
What disturbed him more, though, was that somewhere deep inside, he didn't even feel that much resistance to the idea. That realization chilled him to the bone.
His sharp instincts screamed that this eerie sense of surrender came directly from the man he now followed, Qin Yi.
The Royal Ship set sail again, gliding steadily across the vast sea.
But a day later…
"Your Majesty, bad news! Miss Nami is gone!"
"And she took a massive stash of treasure with her!"
(End Of This Chapter)
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