Chapter 145: The Taste of Death-Holographic Pirate Era(Luo Qin)

"The strongest?"

Tang Shen smiled, noncommittal.

"I have a technique, so fast that even I cannot control it. You must prepare yourself for death!"

"杓子 (The Scoop)!"

With a low roar, Kuro's expression turned completely blank. His arms dropped limply like a puppet's, swaying in the wind, and he walked with a staggering gait as if a passing gust could knock him over.

The surrounding villagers looked at Kuro in utter bewilderment, having no idea what he was playing at.

Just as the villagers fell into a momentary haze of confusion, the next second arrived.

Kuro's figure vanished entirely from their field of vision, leaving everyone profoundly dumbfounded.

"He disappeared?"

"W-Where is Kuro?"

"How did he just vanish?"

...

Yet, Tang Shen instantly caught the scent of danger. His blood raced, accelerated by excitement, and his pupils contracted to an extreme degree. A dazzling, blinding brilliance pierced forth from his eyes, sharp enough to cause actual pain to anyone looking at him.

Was this the Scoop, the technique capable of slaughtering hundreds in a single strike?

According to memory, Kuro had once used this move to wipe out an entire ship of Marines, even killing his own crew members in the process. Because the speed far exceeded his own nervous reaction time, he never even knew whom he was cutting down, which was why he so rarely resorted to it. He had never expected to face Kuro's Scoop head-on right here and now!

In his field of vision, Tang Shen's visual perception was driven to its absolute limit, glowing as brilliantly as a violently flashing bulb. Shockingly, the speed that was completely imperceptible to an ordinary person remained clearly visible within Tang Shen's sight.

His rigorously trained eyesight far surpassed that of normal mortals!

This was monstrous dynamic visual tracking!

Kuro's speed had become too fast for the naked eye to capture. At least in this place, where no one had ever heard of Color of Observation Haki, such an attack was utterly indefensible. The only futile resistance anyone could offer would rely purely on basic instinctual bodily reactions.

Such had been the reaction of Kuro's previous opponents whenever he unleashed this move.

However, when it came to Tang Shen, Kuro's calculations were about to fail miserably!

Thud...

A villager suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed!

A wound had appeared on their body, while their eyes remained frozen in endless bewilderment.

Two...

Then the third...

Four...

...

The scene abruptly turned eerily quiet. All the villagers stood as if something had caught in their throats, their eyes wide open in incredulous disbelief as they stared at the unfolding spectacle.

It was too bizarre!

People nearby simply fell over as if blown down by the wind.

The sight was so bizarrely stomach-churning that a spine-chilling terror began to spread through everyone's hearts. Only then did they recall Kuro's earlier words. They wanted to scream in sheer panic, but found they lacked even the courage to scream.

Death had come silently. Nami, Kaya, and the others all turned deathly pale, their pretty eyes filled with heart-wrenching despair.

"Heh-heh-heh~~"

Kuro's ferocious laughter drifted through the wind. Even he could not see who he was cutting down anymore. The razor-sharp cat claws sliced through the air with a faint humming sound, and fresh blood began to spread.

Tang Shen stood motionless in his spot, his gaze fixed on a patch of empty space in the distance.

Suddenly!

His pupils contracted violently, and the long sword in his hand flashed with a brilliant glare! With a fierce thrust, he slashed forward!

"You've lost!"

Accompanied by a muffled groan, a spray of blood suddenly burst out from the previously empty air, accompanied by the sound of shattering steel.

Kuro's five cat claws were sheared off flush at the base, and Tang Shen's blade bit deep into Kuro's shoulder, dragging heavily downward. With a lightning-fast rip, a gruesome wound was carved open.

The cut tore all the way from his left shoulder down to his right abdomen, and blood gushed out as if it were worthless.

Kuro snapped out of his Scoop state, staring blankly at everything before him—at the fallen villagers, and then down at his own wound.

"I... lost?"

Incredible disbelief wiped away every trace of arrogance from his face, leaving only profound shock. He could not comprehend how this person had blocked an attack that even he himself could not control. Raising his head, he managed a bitter, twisted smile. "I, Kuro... have lost."

Thud!

He pitched forward entirely, collapsing into a pool of blood.

Dead silence enveloped the surrounding villagers. No one spoke, lost in a prolonged daze.

After a long while.

Finally, someone snapped back to reality.

"W-We won?"

"We... actually won?"

"We won! The Captain really won!!"

...

The villagers cheered with wild excitement. Their emotions had just undergone a roller coaster ride.

Filled with intense nervousness upon arrival, righteous indignation, dread, and fear when facing the enemy, and finally suffocating terror and deep despair while watching Kuro slaughter people—the power gap had been so overwhelmingly vast that it made them believe no matter how many villagers stood against him, they would all be butchered by Kuro alone. Everyone had practically been preparing themselves to die.

Yet, beyond all expectations, this Kuro—whose power was so terrifying that they dared not even look up at him—had actually lost!

And he had lost so thoroughly that he had even forfeited his life!

The one who brought all this about was the smiling, sunlit, warm-hearted young man standing right before them: Monkey D. Roger!

"Captain! Hero!!"

...

The villagers cheered passionately, and Syrup Village was completely submerged in the immense joy of surviving a catastrophe.

Nami, finally recovering her wits, felt her limbs turn completely weak. She plopped straight down onto the ground, two hot tears of emotional release rolling down her cheeks. "This jerk... he didn't die!"

Miss Kaya rushed forward excitedly and threw her arms tightly around Tang Shen. "Thank you!... Thank you!"

A thousand words converged into that single phrase. Though her heart felt overwhelmingly lost at this moment, Kaya understood deeply that had it not been for Tang Shen, the entire village would have faced utter devastation—an outcome she never wished to see.

Startled slightly by the sudden embrace, Tang Shen felt his mind ripple as the soft warmth of her chest pressed against him, accompanied by the delicate fragrance of a young girl drifting past his nose. Tang Shen smiled faintly.

"Just a minor gesture. Coby, get this guy onto the ship. Bounty pirates are quite valuable, after all."

Glancing at the fallen Kuro, a subtle, obscure glint flashed through Tang Shen's eyes as he gave the command.

Coby, whose legs had just stopped shaking from fear, hurriedly scrambled to his feet and dragged Kuro aboard the Swan with a sweat-drenched effort.

Kaya blushed deeply and released her embrace, her fluttering heart racing wildly as she looked into Tang Shen's handsome face.

"Miss Kaya, if you stare at me so directly like that, I might actually get shy!"

Tang Shen returned to his usual sunny smile, radiating warmth and reassurance, albeit with a slightly mischievous edge.

"M-Mr. Captain..."

Naturally shy to begin with, and now teased by Tang Shen, Kaya's face flushed so red it looked ready to drip blood. She buried her head almost against her chest, stammering for a long while before finally gathering the courage to speak. "I... Mr. Captain, thank you for saving the village. I'm planning to host a celebration banquet at the manor, inviting everyone in the village. W-Will you... will you attend?"

"How could I possibly refuse an invitation from Miss Kaya? Right, Nami? Why are you glaring at me? Planning to continue defying your master?"

Tang Shen laughed. In the distance, Nami rolled her eyes in sheer exasperation, while the villagers erupted into another wave of excited cheers.