At the north slope, looking at Austin and Zero beside him, the pirates were terrified and confused by this turn of events, and even their captain, Kuro, was no exception.

 

Austin stopped his 'Predator Mode' skill and used 'Geppo' to rise and stand in the air, much to the shock and horror of the pirates.

" You are all too weak now to be suitable training dummies for Zero." Austin pointed at Jango and said." You, Your Name is Jango, right? Use that hypnosis technique of yours on everyone here to make them stronger.''

Seeing this demon standing in the air and giving out orders made Jango tremble from fear. However, he still complied nonetheless and activated his technique, using it on all the pirates present except himself and Kuro.

All the pirates, except Jungo and Kuro, became hypnotics, turning into the 'strong-savage' mode. And since Austin was still standing in the air using 'Geppo', the hypnotized pirates all turned to attack the closest one to them who was still on the ground, Zero!

 

Zero grinned and stepped forward, but instead of facing the upcoming pirates, he used 'Soru' and appeared by Jango's side.

" That was a good trick, but now that you have fulfilled your role, you should rest in peace!" Zero said to the horrified Jango.

" Wait...Wait...I..can still be helpful..." Before the pleading Jango could continue, he was hit in the stomach by Zero's fist, which sent him flying to a nearby wall of stone, where he lay there soaked in his blood, severely injured.

 

Noticing Zero busy with Jango, Kuro started thinking of a way to flee, and since Austin was floating in the air at the top of the slope and knowing very well he couldn't pass that monster, Kuro chose to escape in the opposite direction, which was by the sea, so he started running towards his Ship.

But unfortunately for him, Zero was ordered to not let anyone escape, so as soon as the latter noticed Kuro's attempt to flee, he quickly used 'Soru' and appeared in his way. This, however, didn't stop Kuro from continuing on his path, and instead, he increased his speed and attacked Zero with his 'Cat Claws', which were a pair of furred gloves with full-length katana blades at the end of each finger.

Zero defended using 'Tekkai' and counterattacked with his right fist afterward, sending Kuro slamming toward a nearby rock.

Kuro crushed to the rock and started coughing blood, but he ignored his injuries and stood quickly to run away using his 'Pussyfoot', which was an incomplete version of 'Soru'. But again, the man's luck was awful because he was facing Zero, who had mastered the complete technique of 'Soru'.

" Ho! where are you trying to go, weakling ?!" Zero said, appearing again in the way of the fleeing Kuro.

Seeing Zero appearing in his way again made Captain Kuro halt in his track with a terrified look on his face.

"Why are you doing this ?" Kuro couldn't help but ask. 

"Humph! You are the last one who deserves an answer from me," Zero sneered and added coldly. " Since you lost your pride as a pirate, then shut your mouth and fight. Because that's your only way out of this!" 

Kuro sighed, resigning to his fate while cursing his luck for meeting these monsters here.

 

Soon the hypnotized pirates arrived and surrounded both Zero and Kuro, which the latter took to his advantage by trying to use human wave tactics on Zero to overwhelm him with numbers while employing sneak attacks against him using his 'Pussyfoot' technique and 'Cat Claws'.

Zero defended himself against the pirates' attacks using 'Tekkai' and proceeded to take down the weak pirates first by using the combination of 'Soru' and 'Shigan' ( Finger pistol ). So every time Zero uses 'Soru', he appears in front of a random pirate and takes him down by attacking with 'Shigan' 4 to 5 times in a row, targeting multiple vital points such as the heart, lungs, etc.

Zero kept using the simple combination of 'Soru' and 'Shigan' to reduce the pirates' number while avoiding Kuro's sneak attacks until only 10 pirates were left standing beside Kuro, Buchi, and Sham.

 

While Kuro was focusing on his sneak attacks, he failed to notice the increase in the number of dead pirates, and only when there were 10 ones left did he notices what was going on, which prompted him to panic and yell at Buchi and Sham.

" Sham, Buchi, attack him with me next time he appears to take another one down" Kuro decides to abandon his strategy of sneak attacks and confront Zero directly.

 

Continuing with his slaughter, Zero used 'Soru', appearing before another pirate before taking him down. But this time, as soon as he finished the poor pirate with multiple 'Shigan', he was ambushed by Sham, Buchi, and Kuro.

Sham, with his brown glove, which had claws on it, attacked Zero from his right side, while Buchi attacked with a strong kick from the left side, and lastly, Kuro attacked with his 'Cat Claws' from the front.

Zero defended himself with 'Tekkai' against the upcoming attacks from the three sides. Bouncing all of them with his steel-like muscles before he took advantage of the gap in the attacker's defense, which was caused by their attacks getting reflected back, and smashed Buchi with all his might using his right fist, sending the latter flying to a nearby wall.

Buchi collided with the side of the slop and fell to the ground afterward, vomiting blood, clearly heavily injured.

But Zero's counterattacks didn't end there. Because the latter took full advantage of his right arm's momentum when he attacked Buchi before and used the force of that momentum to smash back Sham's face with his right arm's elbow, causing the latter's nose to break and fall to the ground with a messed-up face afterward.

Kuro was shocked by the sight of his two stronger fighters being taken down quickly in an instant. So he hastily retreated while the rest of the 10 pirates attacked Zero together, but the latter didn't budge and took care of them easily using the same combination of 'Soru' and 'Shigan'.

 

Kuro scanned his surroundings and discovered that he was the only one left standing as all his 50 underlings were dead, while Sham, Buchi, and Jango were heavily injured and couldn't fight anymore.

Kuro looked back at the monster responsible for this disaster and couldn't help but feel sorrow because he didn't understand where it had gone wrong. His plans were perfect, and he endured for a whole 3 years just for this moment. But in the end, his scheme crumbled against an unpredictable variable, the overwhelming might!

"I surrender! ...Please!...I'm willing to work under you! I'm willing to join your crew!" Kuro pleaded because he knew there was no other choice since he couldn't win anyway.

" Of course, you will!" Zero grinned as he answered, which brought joy to Kuro, who thought that at least he could survive for now and think of a way to run away later on, but alas, his hope and plans were shattered yet again by Zero's following words.

" You will definitely join us, " Zero smiled savagely, " But after your death!"

 

Zero used 'Soru' and appeared before the stunned Kuro before attacking the latter's chest with all his might using his right fist, which resulted in the sound of crack being heard as all of Kuro's chest ribs broke.

Kuro felt severe pain in his chest and fell to the ground afterward, barely staying conscious.

After glancing around to confirm if everyone was down, Zero nodded in satisfaction and proceeded to bring back the half-dead Kuro and severely injured Sham, Buchi, and Jango to his lord Austin.

 

.....

Moments before, back at the top of the slop, Austin was still hovering in the air using 'Geppo', watching the unfolding battle or, rather, the one-sided massacre.

But as soon as Zero took down Kuro at the end, Austin canceled his skill 'Geppo' and landed back on the ground, and shortly after, he was approached by Brain and the trembling Usopp.

 

Austin glanced at Usopp's state and noticed that the latter was full of injuries. So he shook his head and said.

" As you can see, you nearly cost the village's destruction because of your lies." Austin narrowed his eyes, adding," Brat, I hope this gives you a valuable lesson in your life."

" Every man of courage is a man of his word, so the moment your words lose credibility, you become no less than scum!" Austin stated in a deep voice, looking down at the trembling and crying Usopp.

" I have ...learned my lesson. Thank you... for saving our lives... and this village," Usopp replied, crying. 

 

At this moment, Zero reached the group while dragging Kuro, Sham, Buchi, and Jango and kneeled down before Austin.

" My lord, I'm sorry for the delay." Zero stated in a strong voice," I hope you can accept these fool's heads as proof of my eternal loyalty to you!"

" You have done well, Zero" Austin smiled as he patted Zero's shoulder and added, " I'm very pleased with your performance!"

" I'm grateful for your kind words, my lord." Zero replied happily before glancing at Brain from the corner of his eyes as if taunting the latter. This, however, caused Brain to frown at this obvious challenge.

 

On the other hand, Usopp was shocked by Zero utmost display of submission and loyalty.

The lad had never imagined that he would witness something like this one day. Especially so from someone as powerful as Zero, who had just massacred a whole famous pirate's crew. So he couldn't help but look with respect and fear at the one responsible for commanding such a level of loyalty in his underlings.

Usopp looked deeply at Austin for a while before shifting his gaze to the half-dead Kuro and the injured Sham, Buchi, and Jango.

He shrugged, seeing their miserable states, and asked Austin nervously. " Umm...Sir Austin...What are you...gonna do...with those ones?!"

" That's none of your business!" Austin narrowed his eyes and looked at Usopp, adding in a deep voice," I advise you to leave this place and check the state of miss Kaya and the kids at the village."

Usopp was shocked before he started trembling slightly and answered hurriedly. " You are right! I'm sorry!... I will take my leave now!"

" Good! see you at the village later!" Austin smiled as he answered, but alas, that smile only managed to send a shiver through Usopp's spine, who turned around and fled quickly toward the village.

 

Austin glanced around the area and saw all the pirates on the ground dead, except Sham, Buchi, Jango, and finally, captain Kuro. So he stepped forward and finished the four of them by piercing their heads using his favorite killing move, 'Wind Bullets'.

Austin nodded his head afterward and looked at his two loyal subordinates as he said.

" Brain, go search their Ship and collect anything valuable on it," Austin instructed Brain, to which the latter nodded in response and left to do his task.

" Zero, gather all bodies of fallen pirates and bring them close to me. And after you finish, monitor the area and make sure no one is spying on us!" Austin ordered Zero with a severe face.

" Yes, my lord!" Zero responded with a serious face before going to do his task.

 

Austin then glanced at his interface and smirked: " It's time to see what I earned from your crew, Mr. Kuro!"

 

---

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