Chapter 158: Plunder

In the distance, the royal ship could be seen struggling to turn its bow around.

After furling the sails, moving a ship larger than a battleship with manpower alone was no easy task.

Maude's grin faded as he silently calculated the speed at which the royal ship was escaping.

Let it escape—it didn't matter. A single royal ship was far less valuable than the sea of experience waiting for him here.

He withdrew his gaze from the royal ship and approached Lafitte.

Apart from the bucktoothed Commodore and the afro-haired Captain who had ambushed him with Rokushiki (Six Powers) techniques, none of the others warranted more than extracting a name.

With this in mind, hypnotizing every individual was unnecessary.

The names could easily be obtained from the bucktoothed Commodore.

At the moment, Lafitte was busy tormenting the Commodore.

For a strong-willed individual like this, successful hypnosis required breaking their spirit or exhausting their mental resistance through other means.

"Maude, your injuries," Lafitte said, glancing at Maude's blood-soaked left hand and the conspicuous knife wounds on his body.

"Oh, it's nothing serious," Maude replied, examining his bloodied palm briefly before tearing a strip of cloth from his shirt to serve as a makeshift bandage. He wrapped it tightly around his hand several times.

Within seconds, the bandage was soaked through with blood.

Without medical treatment, a simple bandage could only slow blood loss. The untreated knife wounds across his body were another matter entirely.

Under normal circumstances, a person in his state would likely die from blood loss without immediate care.

However, Maude's physique, already rated at three-and-a-half stars, allowed him to rely on his natural healing ability. Given time, his wounds would slowly stop bleeding.

Besides, with dozens of heads to claim shortly, his physique was likely to reach four stars.

When that happened, the transformation would feel like a breakthrough—his injuries might not heal instantly, but at the very least, the bleeding would stop.

Maude stroked his chin thoughtfully.

That said, it was time to find a ship's doctor.

With battles like today's becoming increasingly common, injuries were inevitable.

A few minutes later, Lafitte successfully hypnotized the bucktoothed Commodore.

"Name?"

"Abilities?"

"Specialties?"

Following his usual method, Lafitte asked three questions in rapid succession.

Maude summoned his notebook, jotting down the key information provided by the Commodore.

Once he had recorded the most critical details, Maude signaled Lafitte with a glance to bring the remaining captives forward.

Lafitte understood and began dragging over the other marines he had intentionally spared earlier.

One by one, he held each marine's face in front of the hypnotized Commodore's gaze, extracting their names like a human facial recognition device.

Meanwhile, Maude stood by, writing down the names before personally dispatching them.

With Lafitte's efficient cooperation, the entire process ran like a well-oiled machine.

Soon, only the afro-haired Captain and the bucktoothed Commodore were left on the deck.

These two were the finest "prey" from the battleship.

After preparing the necessary intel, Maude wasted no time. He twisted their necks without hesitation.

The experience bar, already near its threshold, surged past it with this final windfall.

Maude dismissed his notebook and closed his eyes.

In the darkness, the hunter's notebook appeared, its glowing halo circling the cover.

Above it, a swarm of star-like points danced frenetically, tracing visible streaks of white light as they moved.

Then, the stars began to descend, sliding along the cover toward the star frames on the silver line.

In an instant, the stats representing physique, Haki, and swordsmanship each advanced.

Physique reached four stars and showed signs of further consolidation.

Swordsmanship leaped from one star to two, skipping the star-frame formation process.

In contrast, the Haki gains were modest, forming just one additional star frame.

Maude's excitement was palpable as he glanced at the stars on the silver line.

[Physique: ★★★★]

[Swordsmanship: ★★]

[Haki: ★★☆]

The freshly filled stars shimmered brightly with silver light.

Maude barely had time to take it in before a familiar warmth enveloped his body.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

A series of popping sounds echoed as Maude's clothes shifted slightly under the transformation.

Thirty seconds later, Maude slowly opened his eyes.

His wounds had stopped bleeding entirely, and he felt no pain. Even the fatigue from his battle with the Commodore had vanished.

Seeing Maude's eyes open, Lafitte eagerly asked, "How does it feel?"

"A huge haul," Maude replied, his eyes gleaming.

From leaving Monmon Island to now, it had taken less than a month to achieve such results.

In addition to reaping over a hundred fishmen from Arlong's crew with foresight, fortune had brought him two warships from Marine Headquarters.

Nearly two hundred qualified targets had boosted his physique and swordsmanship by one star each.

Of course, this success wouldn't have been possible without Lafitte's abilities.

Looking at his unscathed palm, Maude reached for the hilt of his sword.

Schiiing!

Under Lafitte's gaze, Maude suddenly drew Chidori.

"Hidden Blade, huh?" Maude muttered, glancing at the lifeless Commodore before walking toward the ship's mast.

He brought to mind the principles and methods of the Hidden Blade technique.

Hidden Blade Style—Windmill.

Maude's wrist began to move rapidly, causing Chidori to produce a flurry of afterimages that spun like a windmill.

One rotation, two, three...

By the sixth rotation, Maude finally succeeded in concealing Chidori within the blade's afterimages.

In an instant, he stepped forward.

The seemingly dangerous blade shadows struck the mast without causing any visible damage—as if they had simply disappeared into the wood.

Moments later, the final blade shadow vanished, and Chidori sliced cleanly through the mast.

Maude quickly sheathed his sword.

Creak...

The massive mast tilted backward and crashed onto the deck with a thunderous noise.

"Showy," Maude remarked, shaking his head slightly.

Having used the Hidden Blade technique himself, his opinion remained unchanged.

Still, it was a decent enough sword technique—far better than the Seismic Slash.

Its only flaw was its complexity. For example, the Windmill required at least six rotations to fully conceal the blade in afterimages.

This reflected his lack of proficiency. For the Commodore, one or two rotations would have sufficed.

Lafitte glanced at the fallen mast and asked, "What was that technique?"

"Hidden Blade Style, developed by this gentleman here," Maude replied, gesturing toward the Commodore's corpse.

Realization dawned in Lafitte's eyes as he remarked, "I see."

He then turned to the royal ship, now just a distant speck.

"Shall we give chase?"

"Of course," Maude replied with a nod.

Now that he was branded with a 68-million-Beri bounty, there was no need for restraint.

As long as he sailed the seas, his status as a wanted man would inevitably attract wave after wave of marines.

Typically, pirates would choose to flee from such relentless pursuit. The reasons were numerous, chief among them the fact that marines were an unending tide.

Sink one ship today, and another would arrive tomorrow.

Thus, most pirates avoided wasting their energy in such futile battles.

But Maude was different.

If they came, he would welcome them.

Moments later, Maude launched himself toward the distant royal ship with Moonwalk, Lafitte following closely behind.

On the royal ship, a middle-aged man wearing a golden crown raged, oblivious to the danger closing in.

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