Chapter 73: Courting Death! [First Update]

The two of them walked along the streets lined with canola flowers in the port city. With the last of her money, Vivi bought Shumingyuan a local sandproof garment. In his words, “If you don’t buy it for me, I’ll just take it by force.”

Of course, there were other little incidents along the way. For instance:

Vivi complained, “You can fly, and yet you made me carry you all this time!”

Shumingyuan replied, “I forgot.”

Vivi fumed, “Then how do you explain holding me like that?”

Shumingyuan said, “On the giant bird, who was it that leaned over first?”

Vivi was at a loss for words.

She had realized by now that reasoning with this thick-skinned and powerful man was pointless. Even if she did manage to make her point, Shumingyuan would have a ready reply: “Might makes right.”

So, as a matter of course, he used Vivi’s money to buy a local newspaper.

During his time imprisoned in Impel Down, quite a few things had happened on the first half of the Grand Line. For example, the Straw Hat Kid, Luffy, had defeated Scratchmen Apoo. If Shumingyuan remembered correctly, Apoo was supposed to be one of the future Supernovas. But because of his own actions, Luffy had beaten him ahead of schedule.

Another event that had captured the world’s attention was the notorious demon hunter, Monkey D. Shumingyuan. The commotion he’d caused around the world would likely remain a hot topic for a long time before it finally faded. The world government’s wanted poster detailed his crimes in excruciating specifics.

Words like “brutal,” “ruthless,” “devoid of humanity”—nearly every negative label was pinned to him, and the bounty of 350 million Berries at the bottom made him look twice.

He sniffed and thought, the world government really thinks highly of me. Just for breaking out of Impel Down, they raised my bounty from 50 million to 350 million—a full 300 million increase. On the first half of the Grand Line, that figure was nearly unmatched.

To think that when Luffy fought his way to Sabaody Archipelago and even punched a Celestial Dragon, his bounty was only 300 million. Shumingyuan’s was 50 million higher.

After he finished reading, Vivi snatched the newspaper from him. But the person described there was a far cry from the one she knew firsthand—their personalities were nothing alike.

“You really broke out of Impel Down?” Vivi asked in disbelief.

“I suppose so. Unless there’s another person named Shumingyuan, that was me,” he replied.

“Are you really that ruthless? Well, killing without batting an eye is ruthless, I suppose.” Vivi muttered to herself, which made Shumingyuan’s mouth twitch in annoyance.

“If all the fearsome criminals were like you, they wouldn’t be so scary.”

Shumingyuan almost collapsed at that. He stood directly in front of Vivi, and as she was still engrossed in the newspaper, she bumped her head right into his chest. She looked up and saw his wicked grin. “Little girl, the real monsters in Impel Down are ten times more terrifying than me.” Without waiting for her to react, he grabbed Vivi’s hand and led her into a nearby alley.

“What are you doing? Let go of me!” The place was deserted, and she was genuinely afraid this young man would do something to her.

A sly smile played on Shumingyuan’s lips, his voice low. “We’ve got rats incoming.”

Vivi’s heart skipped a beat. She immediately understood that by “rats,” he probably meant senior agents of Baroque Works.

“How did you know?” Vivi asked.

“White lace trim. Hmm, nice fabric.”

Vivi was dumbstruck at first, then realization hit, and her face flushed bright red.

“You peeked at me while I was bathing! You scoundrel! Pervert! Rogue!”

Shumingyuan merely cast her a nonchalant glance and didn’t bother explaining. “One step behind you, on the left wall, there’s a brick with a fine crack.”

Doubtfully, Vivi stepped back and looked at the wall. Sure enough, she found a barely perceptible crack in one of the bricks. If she hadn’t looked closely, she’d never have noticed it.

But she was certain this young man hadn’t looked at the wall at all—he must have a way of sensing everything around him with uncanny clarity. Which meant, last night, when she’d bathed there... hadn’t he seen her from inside out? The thought left her flustered and burning hot from head to toe.

“Believe me now?” Shumingyuan said with a sigh.

“You... you rogue!” Vivi pouted, her cheeks still crimson. Raised as a beloved princess, she’d never suffered such indignities. “Let’s wait till we’re safe from them, then I’ll settle the score with you.”

“Heh, no need. They’re already here. I only brought you here to deal with them more conveniently. Others avoid me—never the other way around.”

Shumingyuan spoke calmly, then stomped his foot on the ground. Waves of dust rippled outward, and from the already tense alleyway, other sounds emerged.

“Impressive senses. President Difficult told us you might be tricky. I wonder if we’re disturbing your little date?” a voice called out from underground.

Suddenly, a hole opened at Vivi’s feet and a hand silently reached out for her.

Shumingyuan yanked her aside and, with a lightning-fast kick, stomped the hand down into the ground. The sound of breaking bones filled the air. Vivi saw the hand crushed flat in an instant, flesh and bone mashed to pulp.

A pained wail echoed from deep within the hole. Shumingyuan sneered coldly. “A bunch of vermin, always skulking in the dark to do dirty deeds.”

A whistling sound tore through the air—a bomb shot toward Shumingyuan’s position, slicing through space.

The youth closed his hand on the air. The sound of a thousand birds chirping erupted as a ten-meter lightning spear materialized in his grip. With a single motion, he cut the incoming shell in half.

Crack!

The shell was cleaved cleanly, its burning fuse snuffed out by the blade of lightning.

“So the senior agents of Baroque Works are nothing but a circus troupe?” came Shumingyuan’s mocking laughter from the alley. His fingers flickered with movement, wild arcs of electricity crackled around him, and then surged straight into the hole in the ground.

“Lightning Style: Ground Walk!”

Violent currents exploded within the tunnel, and the screams from below lasted a full minute before fading away.

“Miss Merry Christmas! Damn you, what did you do to her? Die!” someone roared from the end of the alley. In an instant, five or six shells flew through the air, sealing off every avenue of escape.

Boom!

The bombs detonated in a flash of blinding white light. The ensuing shockwave swallowed and tore through everything in its path.

“Ha! Brat, after taking that many shells, you’re dead for sure!”

“Woof!”

When the smoke cleared, the alley was nothing but ruins. Shumingyuan stood with Vivi fully shielded in his arms, having taken the brunt of all six shells.

The black aura of armament haki faded from his back, leaving his skin as smooth as ever. Only the clothes he’d just bought were now tattered rags.

“Are you... are you alright?” Vivi asked worriedly.

“I’m fine,” Shumingyuan replied coolly, shaking his head. His eyes, trained on the man at the end of the alley, were icy and sharp.

“You’re courting death.”