"Kid, if you know what's good for you, hand over all your money!"
In a narrow alley, four burly men with knives surrounded a young man. Their eyes gleamed with malice, and the one who spoke was their leader.
The four strong men seemed confident in robbing such a frail-looking young man, and wicked smiles played on their faces.
The young man they surrounded looked to be only seventeen or eighteen years old, with a well-proportioned and upright physique.
A blue cat was perched on the young man's shoulder. Judging by its appearance, was it a British Shorthair Blue and White or a Russian Blue?
The cat seemed very intelligent, looking at the four knife-wielding men with a vividly 'scared' expression. Heaven knows why a cat's expression could be so rich!
"Bosses, I really don't have any money on me!" The young man appropriately feigned fear, his eyes darting around as he said, "Can you let me go this time? I'll pay you back once I earn some money."
"Kid, are you playing games with me?" The lead thug's face darkened with anger. He pulled out a wanted poster and shoved it in front of the young man's face. "I'm Sword, the Great Cutlass, with an 8-million-Beli bounty! I've already taken down 56 like you!"
"Well, in that case, there's no other way." The young man's eyes lit up. After carefully comparing the wanted poster to confirm it was the same person, he placed the cat from his shoulder onto the ground: "Tom, go! Take him down!"
The air was silent for a second, then the four men burst into laughter.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Boss, he wants a cat to take you down!"
"He's not trying to make us laugh ourselves to death so he can collect the bounty, is he?!"
"Hahaha!"
Sword's three subordinates laughed until their stomachs hurt. What could a cat do? Look at that silly thing, staring blankly at the boss. The poor little cat must be too scared to even run away, right?
Sword wiped the corner of his eye, tears having streamed down from laughing so hard. He finally managed to regain his ferocious expression: "It seems I've been completely underestimated."
It wasn't their fault for laughing; Tom's appearance was simply not intimidating. Standing upright, Tom was only about the same height as Chopper, and his adorable, clueless look didn't suggest any fighting prowess.
Tom stood on two feet, his large eyes innocently looking at the young man. He had a finger in his mouth, his face full of confusion: 'I'm just a cute little cat, yet you want me to deal with such a terrifying guy!'
But Tom didn't have time to think too much. Sword's large sword was already cleaving down towards his head. Forget a mere house cat, even a tiger, Lord Sword could split it in two with a single strike!
However, this time Sword missed.
When Tom saw Sword's movement, his fur bristled. He instinctively dodged to the side, and the sharp sword grazed his back, making Tom's little heart pound wildly.
It was truly pounding wildly; a heart-shaped area on Tom's chest was rapidly popping out and retracting.
Cold sweat broke out on Tom's forehead. He barely managed to press his wildly beating heart back in with his two small paws, then fearfully turned his head to look behind him, and then shed tears of sorrow—
He saw his bare back, a small pile of blue short fur on the ground... and a small tip of a white tail.
"Meow meow meow..." Tom knelt sadly on the ground, tears plopping onto the ground.
Tom carefully gathered the fur into a pile, cupped it, and plastered it onto his back, which instantly returned to normal. Then he picked up the tail tip, aligned it with the cut on his tail, twisted it a few times like screwing on a bottle cap, and with a gentle stroke, his tail also returned to its original state. Only then did he look at Sword, both scared and angry.
The bandits stared dumbfounded at Tom's actions. This cat... what's the principle?
With their limited intelligence, they naturally thought of one possibility: "Could it be... a Devil Fruit user?"
The eyes of the four big men instantly lit up. There was a human auction house on this island, and Devil Fruit users were very valuable there. Catching one could be worth hundreds of their robberies!
However, the Devil Fruit users they had encountered before were all powerful pirates, and with their meager skills as small-time bandits, they wouldn't dare to harbor any ill intentions.
But now, it was just a cat!
Why bother robbing anymore? If they just caught and sold this cat, it would be enough for them brothers to live lavishly for a long time!
Sword immediately shouted: "All of you, be careful! Don't kill it!"
"Understood, Boss!"
The four men, with sinister smiles, surrounded the trembling Tom, while the 'sensible' young man had already retreated to the corner, ignored by them.
The young man silently watched the show, seemingly completely unconcerned about Tom's safety: 'Go on, guys, if you can kill him, I lose.'
That's what he thought, but his right hand was already pressed against the back of his left hand, as if preparing for something.
"Go!" At Sword's command, two of his subordinates immediately lunged forward with outstretched hands.
Tom gasped in fright, opening his mouth wide, his tongue stretching out long, then the entire cat covered his head and lay on the ground.
Thus, the two subordinates in mid-air had bad luck. With a clang, they collided face-to-face, hitting each other so hard that stars appeared before their eyes.
Their two pairs of hands, which had intended to grab Tom, coincidentally met, fingers intertwined, and they remained suspended in mid-air for a second before smoothly falling to the ground, eyes spinning in circles, unconscious beside Tom.
Apparently hearing the sound of the two falling, Tom secretly raised his head to observe, and after seeing their foolishness, he sprang up with great energy.
"Ah~ Hahahahaha..." Tom covered his stomach with one hand and pointed at the two idiots with the other, letting out a very human-like mocking laugh.
"Those two fools!" Sword was somewhat annoyed. To be mocked by a cat was unbearable. "Block his escape route, I'll deal with him myself!"
The remaining subordinate obediently held his knife and blocked Tom's way from behind, while Sword raised his large sword and swung it at Tom. Fearing he might kill Tom, he deliberately used the flat side of the blade.
However, what happened next completely exceeded Sword's imagination:
He swung left! Tom dodged right.
He chopped right! Tom dodged left.
He swept horizontally! Tom nimbly ducked down.
He swept downwards! Tom lifted himself up by his tail!
...Three minutes later, Sword was panting and sweating profusely. Normally, even in an intense battle with someone, he could last one or two hours and still be energetic. Today, for some reason, he was exhausted so quickly.
The young man, who was watching from a distance like a casual spectator, yawned. This guy kept repeating the same few moves, and didn't even shout a single cool move name. He was truly bad and didn't even know how to package himself.
Meanwhile, after dodging over a hundred slashes in three minutes, Tom's movements became increasingly skilled and fluid, and his smile grew more audacious.
This guy was even dumber than he had imagined. Jerry and Jerry's relatives were countless times stronger than this fellow.
Seeing Sword stop, leaning on his great sword, Tom pulled open his mouth with both hands and stuck out his tongue: "Nya nya nya nya nya ~ ~"
Tom's provocation, highly effective.
Sword's eyes were bloodshot. Gripping his sword with both hands, he unleashed his strongest slash yet, putting all his strength into it. This time, it wasn't the flat side of the blade, but the sharp edge.
As he delivered this strike, Sword even had a premonition that this blow would absolutely not miss again!
"Ah~" A scream rang out, but it wasn't from Tom. Sword's blow landed squarely on... his last remaining subordinate.
Tom had, at some point, extended his leg, tripping the subordinate who was trying to dodge. The poor subordinate stumbled to the ground and was directly hit by Sword's attack.
"Boss! I..."
A deep sword cut appeared on the subordinate's chest, blood spurted from the wound, and he rolled his eyes and collapsed. The knife in his hand flew up with the swing of his arm.
As luck would have it, the knife flew above Sword's head, and the hilt struck Sword's head. The exhausted Sword was so bizarrely struck that his eyes rolled back, and he swayed precariously.
Tom flashed a victorious smile, lightly hopped on one foot, curled his finger, and gently flicked the back of Sword's head.
Sword, face-planted.
Tom proudly looked in the young man's direction, clapping his hands together to indicate an easy victory.
"Well done, Tom! Extra food later!" The young man walked over and stroked Tom's head, praising him happily.
Tom rubbed against the young man's palm contentedly, and when he heard 'extra food,' he couldn't help but drool.
"First, let's tie them up and send them to the Marine base. If they're really worth eight million, then we can move out of Uncle's house soon, and I can get you a comfy cat bed."
Tom imagined his beautiful old cat bed, nodded happily, then reached behind him and rummaged, pulling out a rope from who knows where. He skillfully tied up the bandits with five-point restraints.
The young man was already used to this sight. Tom could always pull out all sorts of tools just by ruffling the fur on his back. No one knew how many things Tom had hidden behind him.
If you were to pick Tom up upside down and shake him, matches, firecrackers, mousetraps, and all sorts of random junk would fall out. It was as if he had a four-dimensional pocket behind him, truly magical.
Just like now, Tom even pulled out a pile of tools and found several wooden planks nearby, then built a simple flatbed cart on the spot, stacking all four big men onto it.
The four big men were stacked haphazardly, looking as if they could fall at any moment, yet they swayed eerily back and forth, left and right, but never fell off the cart.
The man and the cat pulled the flatbed cart together, heading towards the nearest Marine base.