The Krieg Pirates had already lost more than half their crew when being chased by Hawkeye on the Grand Line.
Now, after another sword strike from Hawkeye, fewer than one in ten of the crew remained.
Krieg's face was ashen.
The scene before him made his fists clench tightly, fingernails deeply embedding into his palms.
He, the dignified overlord of the East Blue, had actually been driven to such a state?
Unwilling! Furious! Afraid! All these emotions tangled together, making his whole body tremble.
"Hawkeye! What grudge! What hatred! Makes you chase and kill us to such an extent!"
Krieg looked like he was yelling, but his voice was actually weaker than a mosquito's.
Even the surviving crewmates beside him couldn't help but complain in their hearts, 'Captain, if you really want to question Hawkeye, then say it louder, muttering like that, who can even hear you?'
Krieg was merely venting the resentment in his heart. With his level of courage, how could he truly dare to question Hawkeye?
But what surprised him was that even his mosquito-like voice was still caught by Hawkeye.
"Why?" Hawkeye stood atop his lone boat and said casually, "Just bored."
Just because of "boredom", this man nearly destroyed everything he had.
No one should be able to swallow such humiliation.
However, Krieg had already been scared out of his wits by Hawkeye. The moment those cold eyes swept over him, he nearly wet himself, how could he have the slightest opinion?
"To bring entertainment to Lord Hawkeye is the honor of people like us." He plastered a flattering smile on his face and said obsequiously, "I wonder if Lord Hawkeye is satisfied now?"
Hawkeye snorted coldly.
He really couldn't summon any interest in killing this kind of spineless worm. Killing such trash would only taint his blade.
After the earlier venting, Hawkeye was already too lazy to deal with them.
"Get lost!"
His voice was sharp as ice, but in the ears of Krieg and the others, it was the sweetest gospel under heaven.
"Yes yes, no need for Lord Hawkeye to worry, we'll get lost immediately!" The joy on Krieg and the others' faces overflowed beyond words.
Watching Hawkeye gradually sail away on his small boat, they were overjoyed.
'Wonderful! Wonderful! Actually surviving under Hawkeye's hand!'
From the sound of Hawkeye's words, it seemed he was planning to let them go?
'From now on, no more fear and trembling at sea. Hahaha, yet another glorious chapter added to my career as Krieg the overlord of the East Blue!'
All previous gloom was swept away, only the joy of a new lease on life remained.
"Wait a minute! You bastard!" Jotaro turned his head and spat, just from his tone you could tell he was furious beyond measure.
Hawkeye's small boat suddenly stopped.
He turned around, eyes sharper than a hawk's, piercing through the others, landing directly on Jotaro.
Krieg and the others were horrified.
'Who was so bold! Daring to speak to Hawkeye like that! Tired of living, huh?!'
'That's a Warlord of the Sea!'
"What did you say?" Hawkeye asked coldly.
His golden eyes swept over Jotaro repeatedly, feeling extreme astonishment inside.
"Hmph!"
Jotaro snorted coldly. Before he could speak, Krieg quickly said, "Lord Hawkeye, this guy has nothing to do with us. If you want to settle scores, go to him, just please don't drag us into this."
The surviving crew nearby also quickly nodded in agreement, "No idea where this guy came from, but he has no relation at all to our Krieg Pirates."
"Shut up!" Jotaro roared impatiently.
His Haki burst forth in an instant, releasing a suffocating sense of pressure.
Krieg's words got stuck in his throat, eyes filled with terror, even his spine felt cold.
The other pirates were already foaming at the mouth, fainting on the sea surface.
Hawkeye's calm gaze finally rippled. He spoke in a low voice, "Haki!"
'And it's the rare Conqueror's Haki...'
'In a place like the East Blue, someone like this actually exists…'
Toward Jotaro, a trace of appreciation rose in his heart. He turned and asked, "Telling me to stop, do you want to challenge me?"
Jotaro pointed at him and said sternly, "Whatever you want to do in this sea has nothing to do with me."
"But your rampaging behavior has already affected me!"
"Idiot!" As he spoke, Jotaro gave a reverse thumbs-up in front of him, a highly provocative gesture.
Hawkeye's face darkened, then laughed in extreme anger, "Interesting… Very few people dare speak to me like this."
His sharp gaze faintly glinted with dangerous intensity.
"So, you're not here to challenge me? Then what do you want?"
"This is like a store clerk watering the plants outside the door, accidentally splashing a passerby's clothes. If you were that clerk, what would you do?"
Jotaro didn't seem to feel the killing intent from Hawkeye, speaking calmly as ever.
"Hahahahaha…" Hawkeye laughed toward the sky. "Should a man stepping on an ant apologize to the ant?"
To Hawkeye, Jotaro's words were a joke.
In a world where the strong prey on the weak, strength is right, weakness is wrong.
Jotaro's gaze was cold.
Hawkeye's arrogant appearance had already greatly irritated him.
"Not apologizing? Then let me apologize for you!"
Hawkeye's laughter suddenly stopped, pupils sharply contracting, as Jotaro, who was tens of meters away, appeared right in front of him in the blink of an eye.
"ORA!"
Jotaro's fist surged with Haki and smashed into Hawkeye's face.
Although he was displeased with Hawkeye's actions, he had to admit that Hawkeye's strength made him extremely wary.
The entire situation was very disadvantageous for him.
He could only use Star Platinum's nine-second time stop to catch Hawkeye off guard and seize the initiative.
Once Hawkeye made a move, under that all-encompassing destructive sword aura, approaching him would become exponentially more difficult.
Getting the first strike during time-stop would slightly increase his odds, but only slightly.
The moment his fist touched Hawkeye's face, Jotaro immediately realized something was wrong.
Hawkeye's Haki was far more intense than his own.
Not only that, Hawkeye's skill in using Haki also surpassed him.
The instant the punch made contact with Hawkeye's face, the entire small boat exploded into countless fragments.
The two figures instantly separated and landed on the wreckage of Krieg's ship.
Hawkeye's face was only slightly red, no other injuries, but it was full of shock.
He held a sword in each hand, one was his iconic black blade Yoru.
The other was a small cross-shaped dagger.
His gaze lowered, and he trembled violently.
A crack had appeared on the silver-white blade of the small dagger.
The crack was visibly growing larger to the naked eye.
Zing~
The blade shattered into countless fragments, scattered into the sea.
This dagger had no particular significance, but it was infused with his Haki.
He hadn't expected that in such a short time, Jotaro had already destroyed it from the inside out while he wasn't paying attention.
'Such terrifying speed!'
The astonishment on Hawkeye's face gradually faded, replaced by uncontrollable excitement.
It had been a long time since he had met an opponent like this.
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