"What, never felt pain before?" The sword's blade rested on Porlo's shoulder while he spoke taunting words.

"Ah…" The pain made my body paralyzed at first. But then, the air slowly returned to my lungs, and I could breathe again.

My eyes were unfocused, and everything looked blurry. The pirate's face was distorted into weird shapes, and the blade looked wobbly.

Then, the previous clarity returned to my eyes. I saw as the pirate moved the sword across and stopped once it grazed the skin of my neck.

The sharpness of the blade was clear as the sky. Several strands of my hair were cut after the blade brushed past.

The blade reflected my pale facade, and I could hear it giving off a weird sharp whistling sound.

"Let the boy go!" Out of nowhere, the Chef stood up with the help of his cooks. The wound was still gushing out with blood.

"Haaaah?" Porlo turned to look at the half-dead Chef and finally moved the sword away from the black-haired man's neck.

After the blade was slightly moved away, I could breathe again, and my mind began running. Then, certain flashes of images surfaced in my mind.

The images showed a marine-outfitted man swinging a sword. The sword moved sharply, without any wasted movements. Each swing caused a similar sharp whistling sound to echo throughout the air.

When the sword struck a thick branch, it cut straight through.

Soon, I jolted away from the memory line, and I could see the sharp blade at arms-length. The hand holding the handle was loosened significantly, and the grip seemed somewhat clumsy.

My right hand clenched, and I extended my arm while sending a sharp punch. My hard fist landed on the pirate's hand, and a clear crack resounded in my ear.

One of the pirate's fingers bent at an awkward angle, and I was sure it was broken!

"Ah!" Porlo let go of the sword and grabbed his hand while an agony-filled scream left his mouth.

The Chef and cooks were stunned with eyes like saucers.

I lunged forward and grabbed the sword from the ground. While moving across the floor, I spun around and clumsily pointed the blade at the screaming pirate.

After the initial shock, Porlo took deep breaths and saw the black-haired youth threatening him with the sword.

"Y-You… Bastard!" He screamed and stretched his hand forth. The tips of his fingers were nearly touching the sword.

I grabbed the sword's handle tighter and remembered how the marine-outfitted man swung the sword. I changed the grip slightly and slashed in a horizontal line.

My arm was slightly pointing up while the sword's tip was down. The blade itself was slanted as it slashed across the air.

Spurt!

The thick-bladed sword effortlessly through the pirate's flesh, bones, and everything between.

Porlo's eyes shook as he felt deadly pain assaulting his senses. His treasured arm soared across the room and landed on the floor with a pool of blood forming around it.

His arm stump was gushing out with blood.

''AAAAAAAAAH!''

Then, I moved the sword in front of me and did one final slash. This time, a downward slash went straight through the pirate's clothing and skin.

Porlo's eyes turned from dark brown to white as he passed out because of the blood loss. However, the sword wound around his chest was letting out more blood. The chances of his survival were slim to none.

"Haahh… Haahhh…" I dropped the sword and turned my hands to see the red palms.

The chefs and cooks were utterly stunned. Their looks were different, and they had a slight sense of respect as they saw the black-haired man able to do something they couldn't.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Then, hurried footsteps came from the cramped hallway. A soldier with a justice cloak draped over his shoulder entered the room with disheveled hair and a rugged look.

He looked around the room anxiously and was relieved to see everyone alive. However, then he saw the half-dead pirate and a black-haired man holding a blood-stained sword.

"D-Did you do this?" He asked.

I tasted the blood on the tip of my finger and thought that it tasted like real blood. After remembering the pain, I felt that the game developers wanted to make it as real as possible.

However, the pain aspect would make many players displeased.

"I did…" I murmured. The Marine's eyes widened in shock. He turned to look at the chefs and cooks, that nodded.

Then, he saw the bleeding Chef and quickly told the cooks to take him to the upper deck. A medic should be there.

They nodded and took the bleeding Chef out of the room. Then, the Marine turned to look at Liam and said.

"The battle is over. You can come out now."

I nodded. But then, I turned to look at Peter and Ox, that was knocked out cold.

Then, the Marine also saw them. At first, he completely missed them.

"I will call a medic." He said and left the room. Soon, I followed after him and reached the upper deck with his help.

The deck was covered in fresh blood and missing body parts. There were several pirates locked up by chains, but many lay down dead on the ground.

There were even corpses floating in the water.

I also saw several Marines dead on the ground. Then, one of the soldiers put a large cloth over their dead bodies and made a quick praying gesture.

The Marine Captain, Leeway, looked at the scene with a heavy look. He pulled out scraps of paper from his pocket and wrote the names down.

After doing it, the soldier that showed me a way to the upper deck went to Leeway and whispered something in his ear.

Leeway's face showed shock for a split second before returning to normal. Then, he turned to look at me and asked.

"Did you really kill a pirate?"

After hearing his words, the marines turned to look at Liam and wondered whether that really was true.

"Yes, sir," I replied.

"Hmm…" Leeway pocketed the scraps of paper and said, "Instructor Garp was searching for a new recruit. You could go there to get tortu… Cough… Trained."

My eyebrow rose after the uncommon slip of a tongue. I saluted and nodded.

Maybe if I join the training, I don't have to do the shit cleaning jobs anymore.

Then, the Marine went to the medic and left to fetch the two passed-out chore boys.

"Well… Since those two can't do their jobs…" Leeway grinned and patted my shoulder, "You have to do it."

'Fuck!' I screamed internally.