Outside World (6)

The 'Hoof of the Soaring Dragon'.

Though Darvy had no idea what that symbol meant, he now knew that said symbol represented the group confronting the villagers.

Luxurious garments. Arrogance. Well-trained soldiers, standing strictly as if about to obey any order given by that obese man with a glass bowl on his head. That alone told Darvy that that obese man was a wealthy and powerful fellow. Judging by the reactions of villagers, perhaps the magnitude of such was far greater than what Darvy could imagine.

"What a surprise, honhonhon!"

The obese man laughed boisterously as he kicked the crawling man below whom he was sitting on top of, making the crawling man come to a stop.

"Good, good! Pirate hunting was about to get boring anyway!"

As Darvy silently inspected the scene while in the bush, he suddenly felt a chill creeping down his spine.

'...Someone is—'

Darvy froze.

A soldier wearing white armour and holding a sword—his eyes were directed right at where Darvy hid himself. Then, the soldiers withdrew his gaze, allowing Darvy to relax.

'What was that just now? Am I found? Did he see me? If yes, how?'

As Darvy thought to himself,

"We bow down to no one!"

Tatara shouted brazenly, responding to the group's statement to bow down.

Upon her response, some soldiers standing behind the obese man shook, as if afraid of the outcome such a response would bring.

"Hm?"

The obese man—supposedly the 'Saint Brysus'—raised an eyebrow, clearly amused.

"Pff... foolishly going against me is one thing, but to let a snotty kid represent you fellas..."

Leaning his chubby cheek into his hand, he snorted, as if telling Tatara to continue.

After all, Tatara was a teenage girl in terms of appearance and attitude; no one would expect a girl like her to harness the power to control ice.

Angrily, Tatara stepped forth, now standing in front of the afraid villagers. Their number was few compared to the soldiers ahead of them, Tatara was confident just as always.

"We instead demand that you leave this island."

Getting straight to the point, Tatara demanded ferociously.

"...Demand?"

The obese man mumbled before bursting into a fit of laughter.

Within the silence, the man laughed out loud. Then, he suddenly fell silent as he abruptly raised his hand—pointing the pistol at Tatara.

A gunshot abruptly rang as the hole of the pistol smoked.

And that wasn't the end. Pulling the trigger repeatedly in a fit of unkempt rage, the pistol continued to fire bullets endlessly as the obese man revealed his craziness.

"Die!!! Die!!! Die, you bug!!! How dare you demand me, the great god of the world—oh?"

Tatara was fine and intact. All bullets passed through the holes that were generated on parts of Tatara's body that were morphed into ice and struck a wooden wall of a house at the back.

"WHY IS SHE STILL ALIVE?!!"

The obese man fumed as he angrily flailed his arms, causing a few soldiers at the back to flinch.

"It's a devil fruit... a logia-type at that."

"Logia? What's that?"

The soldier wearing the white armor muttered, and the obese man obnoxiously picked his nose at that.

"Basically, it's a type of devil fruit that grants its wielder a power of an element."

"GRAHHHH!!! Does that mean I can't kill that bug?!!"

"Not necessarily, Saint Brysus."

The soldier, adjusting his white helm that covered his face, lowered his head at the obese man.

"I ask Your Highness permission to kill."

"Can you kill her?"

"Yes, I can."

From beyond his helm, the soldier revealed a maniacal gleam in his green-colored eyes.

The villagers flinched at that. Tatara seemed confused, filled with the question of how he could do so and the slight fear of the unknown.

"Ehh..."

The obese man stroked his fat chin.

"Fine! Just that girl though! Killing more will end up ruining my fun!"

'What fun?'

It was a bizarre scene from Darvy's perspective. The seemingly luxurious and highly regarded people—they were just as vicious as pirates if not more.

The most boisterous and obese one of them all, seemingly the leader of the group—Darvy caught him referring to himself as 'god'. It was ironic, for that obese man seemed to fit within the characteristics of 'greedy' and 'evil' rather than 'holy'. The appearance as well, it fit within the category of filthy if anything.

"YOU CELESTIAL DRAGONS—"

At this moment, Loris's mouth opened, and as if having been keeping his anger to himself, spilled out the rage-filled words.

"HAVE YOU NO SHAME?!! HAVEN'T YOU HAD ENOUGH?!!"

The villagers trembled, and Loris was no different. Their bodies recognized the presence of strong ones and trembled in fear. However, with bloodshot eyes, Loris didn't cease his shout—the voice that boomed forth thunderously throughout the scene.

"You enjoy the pain and suffering of others!! You reduce everyone into corpses so that you can bask in luxury, and continue to seek more when you have far more than enough!! If not for you, we—"

Loris's quickened breathing stopped him from continuing his words. As his eyes let out the hot tears, he growled at a low tone,

"...Gods? You?!"

Loris whispered,

"No, you are no gods. From the very start, you've been the devils if anything!!!"

The obese man frowned.

"Fucking peasant."

And Darvy couldn't understand.

'Why, Loris?'

There was no plan. There was no point in garnering attention to himself. All that Loris did was to let out his anger and sadness. All his words served to do was to rouse the anger of that Celestial Dragon.

Tatara's strength still stood as the only plan for villagers. That soldier in white armor said that he could kill Tatara. For some reason, Darvy's instinct told him that the soldier was speaking the truth.

The Celestial Dragon, obese man, raised his pistol once more and fired repeatedly. With Tatara quickly forming an ice wall, all that bullets managed to achieve was to generate cracks on such ice. However, unbothered by this fact, the Celestial Dragon fired over and over—showing just how wrathful he was.

"S-Saint Brysus!"

"DIE!! DIE, PEASANT!! HOW DARE YOU BELITTLE THE ALMIGHTY GOD?!!"

As if the Celestial Dragon's shout was a cue, the villagers behind the ice wall began to shout back; perhaps the ice wall gave them the courage to speak.

"You guys took my sister!!! Give her back, you bastards!!!"

"You are no different from pirates—no, even worse!! If not for you... if not for you..."

"GO KILL YOURSELF!!"

Hearing the curses of the villagers, Saint Brysus's body trembled in sheer rage. At the same time, another man by his side—lacking armor but muscular and huge in frame—shouted back,

"SHUT UP, INSOLENT BUGS!!! EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD BELONGS TO THE ESTEEMED ONES!!!"

"Kill them."

Saint Brysus then growled as at last, his pistol ran out of bullets. Throwing it to the ground, he repeated,

"Kill them as gruesomely as possible. Inflict as much pain as possible before their deaths. Oh, leave the women alive though."

The soldier in white armor then asked,

"What about the kids under hide?"

"Kids... yes... they have many uses."

"Roger that."

Hearing that, the villagers were panicked. At the same time, their grip over their weapons tightened. To them, it was all or nothing.

'What now?'

And Darvy too, had to act.

His instinct told him that the chance of victory was bleak. However, that didn't mean that he shouldn't give it a try.

Even if it meant nothing, the villagers saved his life nonetheless.

'Sword. Gun. Anything?'

He was empty-handed, however. The pistol that the Celestial Dragon threw did exist, but he knew that it was empty.

Darvy's eyes remained locked on the Celestial Dragon as he strategized.

'If I kill that man... nothing would change. Persuasion via pathos is impossible. There is nowhere to escape, and even if we were to do so, they would catch up in an instant. That means...'

There were two soldiers standing in front. One was the armorless man with a muscular body, and the other was the white-armored man. Judging based on the nuance at which they conversed with the Celestial Dragon, it was clear to Darvy that these two were the main threats, ones with the potential to overpower Tatara.

And at this moment, the armorless man of muscular body raised his hand. After, the fine axe that was lying on the ground—one that previously struck the head of the frozen pirate—flew up and returned to his grip.

'Devil fruit! So he's the one who threw that axe.'

Darvy's brain rapidly rolled.

'Being a devil fruit user means that if I can somehow make that man fall into the sea...'

The man of white armor gazed at his equally white sword in silence. Then, the two men briefly looked at each other. The armorless man raised an eyebrow while the white-armored man rolled his eyes. Grinning, the armorless man stepped forth while the armored man sheathed his sword.

"Heh."

The armorless man grinned viciously, and in return, the villagers beyond the ice wall shivered.

Tatara frowned. Holding two hands out, her body began to emanate a cold mist, such that the villagers backed away from her.

It was a standoff between two devil fruit users, separated by the ice wall.

The one who broke this state was the armorless man, who dashed and smashed his axe at the ice wall with might.

From the sheer power, the ice wall was smashed into numerous pieces, surprising Tatara.

The noise generated from the smash caused many to flinch. Following the collapse of the ice wall, the armorless man revealed himself from beneath the cloud of ice dust, with his axe ready to be swung once more.

Tatara didn't back, thinking that it was impossible for her to be harmed due to her devil fruit power. Numerous sharp-looking icicles formed around the approaching man as she willed, and upon her clenching her hand, they simultaneously flew toward the man.

The man, with his muscles bulging, swung his axe by grabbing it with both hands. Such an action generated a gust, strong enough to break those icicles into fine ice dust.

However, this was just the beginning. The moment of time used by the man to deal with those icicles, Tatara used to make more of them. The endless rain of icicles began to drop atop the man, at a speed faster than the speed at which the man was able to swing.

"...That girl's mastery over her devil fruit isn't that bad."

From the back, the white-armored man muttered.

"Heh—!"

The grin of the armorless man didn't cease, however, even as the icicles began to stab through his skin.

Though his rate of approach to Tatara visibly slowed, he was advancing nonetheless. Though his body bled from the sharp icicles on his back and arms, the man seemed unable to feel pain.

"You are blessed, girl, to have attained a devil fruit as powerful as this."

Swinging his axe to break the icicles that were dropped from above, the armorless man spoke.

"But that's it. Without that devil fruit, you are nothing. Devil fruit doesn't make you strong, girl."

The armorless man, bruised, bleeding, and frozen in many spots, now stood in front of Tatara with a grin on his face.

Tatara snorted.

"Now what?"

The armorless man reached his hand out.

Tatara didn't back, thinking that this man was suicidal.

The moment at which his huge hand touched her shoulder, he instantly froze from said hand to his entire body, becoming an ice statue like any other.

"Idiot,"

Tatara remarked.

The villagers seemed relieved. Loris formed a shaky smile even, with a gleam of hope.

However, Darvy felt uneasy. His eyes, looking at the Celestial Dragon and the man in white armor, found that they were unbothered by the scene—as if that frozen armorless man had more to show.

And at this moment, the frozen statue of the armorless man began to crack spontaneously, generating a surprise from Tatara.

"What?!"

"...Your ice isn't strong enough."

The man's mouth slowly moved as the ice fell off from the man's surface, which indicated that Tatara failed to freeze him to the core.

"How..."

Tatara whispered as she gazed at the armorless man who broke free from the ice.

Without responding, the armorless man raised his axe, one big enough to shadow Tatara's small form.

"Tch... whatever."

The axe began to descend, and Tatara didn't dodge once more, thinking that if she couldn't freeze the man, she would first freeze the axe and remove the man's weapon in hand.

And so, she didn't expect—for the axe to cleave her right arm away from her shoulder.

"...Huh?"

The blood splattered as the free arm flew in the air.

Time seemed to slow down as Darvy and the villagers tried to process what just happened.

From the pain intense enough to make her world red, Tatara let out a silent scream as she fell to the ground, holding onto her bleeding right shoulder.

Darvy felt the chill creeping down his spine, as what his instinct warned turned out to be true.

'...I have to do something.'

The situation was taking a turn for worse.