Chapter 29: Nothing to Lose

The muzzle of the gun was quickly aimed at the figure.

Before he could see the face, Alex decisively pulled the trigger.

Bang...

The lead bullet flew straight to the center of the figure's eyebrow.

The figure didn't expect that Alex would be so ruthless, not even giving room for conversation before directly firing his gun.

Despite the suddenness of the incident, the figure relied on his extraordinary reaction and danger perception to lean back and narrowly avoid the lead bullet that was directed towards his eyebrow.

Even though he had dodged the lead bullet, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

"I@#%#@%...!!!"

The figure was Wolf Rat, who had come out from the bar to check the situation after hearing the commotion.

He was supposed to be a spectator, but he was almost taken out, and he cursed in a rage.

Bang—

Another lead bullet flew in, pointing straight at Wolf Rat's body.

At this time, it was when Wolf Rat was just setting his body right.

But he was at least an Animal-type Devil Fruit Ability User, and with his superior physical quality, he twisted his body hard.

However, it was still too late to twist away, as Alex decisively placed the second shot on top of the body with a higher hit rate right after the first shot fell short.

The second shot of lead just went into the left side of Wolf Rat's abdomen, spattering it with a splash of blood.

"Damn you, I was just spectating, did you have to!!!"

Wolf Rat covered his bleeding stomach and looked incredulously at the masked Alex.

If it wasn't for the fact that while dodging the bullets, he reflexively let his abdominal area animalize as a way to increase his defense power...

This shot just now, at such a close distance, would have given him something to suffer anyways.

Alex looked at the completely unrecognizable Wolf Rat with a blank expression on his face.

Casually throwing away the two flintlock pistols copied from the prey at his feet, he then slowly squatted down and pulled out the dagger that was inserted in the back waist of the man carrying the knife.

"It went off."

Then Alex gave a perfunctory explanation in a suppressed voice and slowly stepped back.

"Going off?"

Wolf Rat smiled angrily at that.

If it wasn't for the fact that while dodging the bullets, he reflexively let his abdominal area animalize as a way to increase his defense power...

This shot just now, at such a close distance, would have given him something to suffer anyways.

"You can be really interesting."

Wolf Rat's gaze was complex as he looked at the slowly retreating Alex.

He first let his body complete man-beast transformation and then used his fingers to dig out the bloody lead bullet and pinched it between his fingers.

Turning into the human-animal state was not to prepare for an attack but to speed up the body's self-healing power and to go about suppressing the feeling of pain.

"Animal-type Devil Fruit Ability User...!"

Seeing Wolf Rat's sudden man-beast transformation, while Alex was on guard, he looked at Wolf Rat's obviously bulging body, and a look of longing immediately appeared in his eyes.

Only, the only five guns on the scene had all been emptied of their bullets by him, and with this situation, there was obviously no room for filling in the bullets.

And with the key gun missing, Alex didn't think that relying on a dagger alone would be able to subdue the ability user in front of him who seemed to have eaten an animal-type fruit.

In other words.

It was better to slip away before the opportunity arose.

"What's that look in your eyes?!"

Wolf Rat couldn't help but shiver when he was given such a look by Alex.

It was also unknown whether it was because of the change in thinking inertia caused by bestialization, so much so that for a moment, he felt as if he was being treated as food.

Alex didn't say anything and, while facing Wolf Rat, continued to slowly back away.

Wolf Rat took a deep breath at the sight, frowning slightly as he involved his wound.

He had a hard time calming down the mindset that had caused Alex to nearly fuck up and explode, softening his demeanor as much as he could.

"It was wrong of me to snap out behind you, so I don't blame you, and I meant no harm."

"..."

Alex looked at Wolf Rat suspiciously and stopped in his retreating steps.

Noticing that Alex stopped, Wolf Rat's heart was happy.

He indeed had no malicious intent towards Alex, and the reason why he suddenly made a sound from behind just now was just a bad habit he had developed over time.

No matter what, from the moment Alex stopped, it signaled a good start.

Next, he had to take this opportunity to befriend Alex.

It would naturally be the best if they could become friends without any problems!

"I really don't have any malicious intent. Don't look at my current bestialization; it's not for the purpose of attacking you or anything. It's just because I'm able to increase my self-healing power in my bestialized state."

"Of course, I purposely explained it that way, not to make you responsible or anything."

"Because you were completely right to shoot; anyone would have shot in that situation."

"So I don't see what it's about, and I'm not likely to get upset over something as trivial as that."

"It's just that when I saw how good you were, there was a, well, you know, that feeling of admiration inside for the strong."

"I think I've worshipped you, so I want to recognize, recognize, recognize you...?"

Wolf Rat raised his hands high in the air, then froze as he looked at Alex, who completely didn't give himself the chance to finish his sentence and disappeared at the end of the alleyway in a few moments.

The night wind with its coolness blew by, curling up a few pieces of confetti and whistling past his stiff face.

Feelings, feelings that the reason the bastard had stopped was not because he was willing to listen to himself for a few words, but to take away the smoothbore flintlock pistol he had thrown away at the beginning.

"I @%#*@#!"

Wolf Rat was angry and aggrieved.

Wasn't I the one who got hurt?

Why are you the one running away?

Is it so hard to hear me out?

Tatamu came outside the door of the bar at an unknown time, looking at Wolf Rat, who had nowhere to vent his emotions, and asked, "Not chasing?"

"Chase the hell out of it."

Wolf Rat gave Tatamu a look, depressed to the core.

"Not like you."

Tatamu was a bit puzzled.

Wolf Rat sighed, "Because that guy is the perpetrator that the Pointed Bull Pirates are looking for. How do you think I can possibly chase after him? Even if that guy fires one more shot towards me, I still have to endure it."

"..."

Tatamu couldn't help but be silent at his words.

He wanted to ask Wolf Rat: Even so, you didn't have to lick it that much just now, did you?

After thinking about it, he still felt that silence was better.

Wolf Rat looked down at the gunshot wound in his stomach and gritted his teeth:

"That guy was really tough though, Tatamu, you know? I just made a sound behind him, and that guy shot me in the eyebrow without saying a word!"

"..."

Tatamu nodded in agreement with Wolf Rat's words.

It was rare to see someone so ruthless.

But it was also this kind of person that could live longer.

"Damn guy, if I didn't react fast enough, I guess I would have gotten cold that time."

Wolf Rat was getting more and more scared the more he thought about it.

"Forget it, go inside and continue drinking. Uh, wait."

Wolf Rat suddenly thought of something and couldn't help but look at the three pirates on the ground who had already gagged.

A few seconds later, Wolf Rat retrieved the money bag from the corpses.

"Comfortable."

Playing with the money bag, Wolf Rat let out a long breath of resentment.

"You've really gone back in time, Rat."

A female voice sounded out of nowhere in the alleyway.

It was not Tatamu's voice that favored teenage girls, but a more mature female voice.

Suddenly, Wolf Rat jerked up and looked at the direction the female voice came from in surprise.

On the other hand, Tatamu, who was still at the entrance of the bar, stared and quickly entered a fighting position.

When the voice came, neither he nor Wolf Rat realized that there was a third person at the scene.

Looking towards the source of the sound, there stood a woman who was wearing a hooded cloak but still managed to emphasize her figure.

The woman carried a long knife at her waist, and her body type was tall and slender.

Just by standing there, she invariably exuded a strong aura.

Tatamu had never seen such a figure in his many years in Mad Hatter Town and was nothing but wary.

Wolf Rat, on the other hand, acted as if he knew the woman.

"How can you... come here!"

"When was it up to you to decide such things?"

The woman raised her head slightly, revealing a beauty mole at her chin