Chapter 77: Live in Excess- If You Have the Power to Back It Up

"You... who are you?!"

Staring at the man seated high on the throne, the young king momentarily forgot his fury and indignation. As if bewitched, the only words that came out of his mouth were a confused question.

But no one answered him.

The tall young man, legs crossed lazily atop the throne, simply lifted a finger almost mockingly and pointed it at the king's head.

"Bang!"

Before the eyes of the horrified nobles, their king tilted his head to the side, as if giving face, and collapsed to the ground. Life or death unknown.

No blood. No wound. Nothing.

"Bang!"

The brief silence was shattered by another sound effect. A bloated middle-aged noble, mountains of fat hanging from his body, suddenly dropped dead just like that.

From that moment forward...

The pig slaughter banquet had begun.

The nobles who once prided themselves on lineage and refinement no longer cared if they trampled over kin or comrades. They stampeded toward the palace gates, shoving and clawing in desperation.

Above them, seated atop the throne like a child playing pretend with toy guns, the man casually pointed and tapped his finger forward.

Perhaps these people, spoiled and pampered, had grown too used to living off the blood of the masses. Even when their lives were on the line, they couldn't run fast enough to make it out of the palace.

One by one, they fell collapsing to the ground and becoming stepping stones for the rest.

Maybe he found the pace too slow.

The man on the throne smiled. As the nobles contorted their faces in fear and rage, he raised his other hand.

This time, not just the index fingers both middle fingers stood tall as well.

And then came the barrage:

"Ratatatatata…"

Like a stuntman mimicking gunfire, without spilling a single drop of blood, he filled the palace floor with fallen bodies.

Some nobles were beginning to mentally snap.

One well-dressed noblewoman, curvaceous and regal, finally broke. She screamed at the figure on the throne with all the venom and fear in her lungs:

"Don't get cocky, you bastard! Killing nobles like this you think the World Government will sit by and watch?!"

"A filthy commoner who got lucky and ate a Devil Fruit dares raise his hand against us?!"

She glared at his black military-style uniform, draped with weapons clearly some pirate or bandit from the gutters.

She had always looked down on people like that. If she encountered one on the road, she'd order her guards to beat or kill them without hesitation.

As for this man's mysterious ability? Clearly just the power of some Devil Fruit. He'd probably been humiliated by nobles in the past and was now back for revenge against his betters.

Annoying, yes but once the World Government sent real power, someone like him…

Still, to her credit, her outburst did momentarily pause the man on the throne.

Ozz's attention drifted to the hysterical noblewoman.

"Commoner, huh..."

Seems she's grown far too used to looking down on others.

And for the record Ozz actually thought he looked pretty damn cool in this outfit.

Maybe her outburst stirred something. Suddenly, Ozz didn't feel like giving them a clean death anymore.

"Then… why don't you savor the pain you once so generously handed out?"

"Bang!"

With a soft chuckle, as if a more delightful idea had struck him, Ozz snapped his fingers.

Instantly.

Whether it was ministers scrambling for the palace gate, or noblewomen on the verge of mental collapse, they all froze like statues.

The slaughter was over.

[Armament Haki: Internal Destruction + Instantaneous Movement]

His bullets had stopped.

Up next on the program:

...

"Such... distasteful amusement,"

From atop the city wall, Mihawk watched coldly as once-lofty nobles now bound and beaten groveled, raged, or begged for their lives. His voice carried faint disdain.

"Nothing worth fretting over, Little Hawk."

Old Zeek, unfazed as always, mirrored Ozz's manner of speech without catching the dark lines forming on Mihawk's face.

"From the moment they pillaged that village… from the day they lived in luxury at the expense of their people… their end was already decided."

"Luxury at the expense of others, huh?"

Mihawk gave a half-smile, as if something about that phrase lingered with him. He glanced over to where Ozz was casually observing the spectacle.

Ozz, noticing the gaze, turned his head and met Mihawk's sharp eyes with a light smile.

"What? Don't tell me you think I'm going to live a life of excess just because I once said I might."

His expression was calm.

From atop the wall, he looked down on the farce below. The people avenged. The tyrants overthrown. A satisfying scene, yes but that was all it was.

"Maybe their deaths are deserved..."

"But that's not the real reason they're dying."

He looked past the wall toward the general donning full armor, poised to storm the city and "rescue" the nobles. But upon seeing Ozz, the man froze in place, not daring to move a muscle.

"The true reason they're dying…

Is because they weren't strong enough."

Near the wall where the nobles were being publicly punished, several figures in suits approached briskly.

A few nobles, delirious from the smoke and heat, suddenly burst with a renewed will to live upon seeing the cloaked agents.

"Hey!!! Officials from the World Government!!! The commoners are rebelling!!"

"Please save us!!! We'll pay whatever it takes!!!"

"Let go of me! Don't touch my dress, you filthy pigs!! You worthless mongrels!!"

With desperate hope, they looked up at the men in suits and cloaks, praying these saviors would slaughter the rabble and bring them back to the palace to resume talks of joining the World Government.

Even if they had to grovel, they would beg for a seat at the table anything to gain the Government's protection.

But their last hope shattered quickly.

The "esteemed officials" ignored their cries entirely, stepped over the screaming mob, and used Geppo (Moonwalk) to leap onto the wall.

Nervous and sweating, the leader among them bowed slightly and stammered:

"There must be some misunderstanding, Lord Ozz..."

But before he could finish, Ozz who was still flipping through a volume titled "Fallen Noblewomen Ravished by Commoners" raised a hand to interrupt.

"I know."

With a lazy tone, Ozz added:

"Don't worry. For the Gorosei's sake, I won't hold this against you."

"Beru beru beru beru..."

He picked up his Den Den Mushi and dialed Spandine.

This kind of trivial nonsense wasn't worth bothering the top brass at the World Government. Someone like Spandine had enough pull to handle it.

As the Government underlings watched him with anxious eyes, the voice that came through the receiver was surprisingly gentle and completely stripped of its usual authority.

"Moshi moshi~ Lord Ozz~

What can I do for you~?"

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