Charlotte Linlin's massive figure walked along the stone path, her long pink hair swaying slightly with her steps. Her purple high heels clicked against the hard stone slabs, making a rhythmic and heavy sound.
Kurozumi Higurashi continued to trot ahead of her, striving to maintain a proper distance and posture.
However, the sight of those small feet moving frantically beneath her kimono made Charlotte Linlin find it comical no matter how she looked at it.
However, this tranquility was soon broken.
Many pirates were gathered by the roadside, either resting or moving supplies. Charlotte Linlin's overly conspicuous stature and appearance acted like a magnet, drawing countless gazes.
Curiosity, awe, assessment... and that unavoidable, nauseating greed and naked lust.
"By my Sea God... is that the new executive? The first female pirate great executive? That figure... that face..."
A scarred pirate leaning against a tree licked his lips without concealment. His gaze, like a viscous slug, crawled repeatedly over the lines of Charlotte Linlin's waist and hips, which were partially obscured by her large white trench coat.
"Shh! Keep it down! That's a first-tier big shot!" A slightly more clever companion beside him hurriedly pulled at him.
"What's there to fear! She can't hear from this far away! Besides, I'm a capable subordinate of Lord Wang Zhi. Even if she hears, so what? I doubt a newcomer like her would dare do anything!"
The scarred pirate dismissed the warning, becoming even more flagrant. With a lewd and wretched smile on his face, his gaze lingered even more unscrupulously on certain parts of Charlotte Linlin's body.
"Exactly, looking isn't a crime! Those legs... tsk tsk, enough for me to play with for a year..."
"Hehe, with a face that fair, I wonder what's under the clothes..."
"And that Small Giant-like physique... tsk tsk..."
Under normal circumstances, whispers from a hundred meters away would indeed be hard to hear clearly. Even for Charlotte Linlin, who had consumed a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit, it would be difficult to capture distant discussions without intentionally focusing her hearing.
But her Observation Haki, which could perceive emotions, was clearly telling her—in that direction, there was a person unscrupulously radiating disgusting thoughts that made her nauseous.
She subconsciously cast her attention in that direction. The scarred pirate's discussion, like the buzzing of a poisonous fly carrying thick malice, clearly drilled into her exceptionally sharp ears.
A layer of Frost instantly formed over her purple eyes. Although she had harbored fantasies about beautiful women in her dormitory in her past life, the feeling of being leered at to her face in such a barbaric environment here and now was magnified a hundredfold.
Coupled with her heart that had not yet calmed down after just starting to kill, and mixed with an instinctive loathing for men, her killing intent was instantly ignited.
Her slender fingers rested on the hilt of the blade at her waist, and a black stream of light spread out from beneath her feet.
Buzz—!
A sword hum that only she could hear rang out. Immediately after, a bolt of black lightning shot out from the gap where the nodachi briefly appeared!
The lightning was faster than the eye could track, like a sinister venomous snake, crossing a hundred meters in an instant!
"Ugh—!"
"Ah!"
Two short and shrill screams rang out instantly, then stopped abruptly.
The scarred pirate and his companion, who had been discussing most joyfully and whose gazes were the most lewd, were pierced through the chest by the black lightning and fell straight forward. Their limbs twitched slightly as a huge hole gradually appeared in their chests.
This was the ability of the nodachi in her hand named "Mu"—black lightning capable of devouring everything. However, this blade was still in a sealed state, and she could only exert a negligible trace of its power.
Otherwise, even if only the first layer of this blade's seal were released, the two men pierced through the chest by the black lightning would surely have been left without a whole corpse.
"When did I... become so indifferent to human life?"
Only after the two had completely lost their vitality did Charlotte Linlin suddenly snap back to her senses—she had just killed someone.
At this moment, she suddenly understood Bruce Wayne's no-kill philosophy. Since the last time she killed, she seemed to have started becoming obsessed with this feeling of arbitrarily dominating the lives of others... even in her subconscious, she had begun to view killing as a convenient way to solve problems.
"No, this mindset must be corrected!"
She, Charlotte Linlin, a person with memories of a past life, even if she didn't become a savior, must never degenerate into one who indulges in slaughter!
The surrounding people who witnessed this scene instantly fell silent! All the pirates who were originally scrutinizing Charlotte Linlin with various thoughts looked like ducks that had been grabbed by the neck; the expressions on their faces instantly shifted from admiration and greed to extreme fear and horror!
Two men who were considered elite pirates even in the New World couldn't even withstand a casual move from Charlotte Linlin! Should it be said that she truly is a great executive? Even a newly promoted great executive is not someone they can resist!
No one saw clearly how Charlotte Linlin made her move! With just a flash of eerie black light, two strong pirates were instantly taken down! This method was simply uncanny!
Kurozumi Higurashi was startled by this sudden turn of events, but she reacted extremely quickly. She immediately kept pace with Charlotte Linlin, her face covered in a perfectly measured smile mixed with awe and flattery as she said:
"These fools who don't know their place, daring to desecrate Lady Linlin, should be chopped up and fed to the Sea Kings!"
"Stop the nonsense and lead the way."
Charlotte Linlin's purple eyes looked straight ahead at the increasingly noisy island, a scent of blood wafting from that direction.
"Yes, My Lady." Kurozumi Higurashi hurriedly continued to lead the way.
Having seen all sorts of pirates on Beehive Island, she had already formed a preliminary judgment of Charlotte Linlin: this was a powerful woman who was somewhat merciful yet decisive in killing.
"Quick, quick, quick! Notify Lord Wang Zhi, the new Dragon Swordsman Charlotte Linlin has killed our people!"
As the two departed, this deathly silent place suddenly erupted into a new wave of commotion.
Soon, Charlotte Linlin and her companion reached their destination—Beehive Island's Shura Colosseum.
This was not a Colosseum in the traditional sense, but a vast, startlingly open area enclosed by huge Rocks and coarse wooden stakes.
The ground was gravel mixed with dark red soil, and at this moment, a scene like a living hell was playing out on this land.
Nearly ten thousand pirates from all four seas, either ambitious or driven to desperation, were fighting frantically like trapped beasts thrown into an arena!
Flashing blades and shadows of swords, roars of gunfire, flesh and blood flying! Screams, curses, the sound of bones shattering, and the wails of the dying mixed together, forming a terrifying wave of sound that made one's scalp tingle and stomach churn!
The thick smell of blood almost solidified, becoming viscous enough to suffocate. Severed limbs and broken remains could be seen everywhere, and the dark red mud soaked the ground beneath their feet. There were no rules here, no morality, only the most primitive animal instinct—to survive!
On a high platform built of massive logs and Rocks at the edge of the Colosseum, a figure was looking down upon the Shura field below.
Rocks D. Xebec!
He wore a heavy black cloak, his upper body bare, with a blade also hanging at his waist. His build was not particularly burly, but in the world of the Pirate King where most people only trained their arms and not their legs, his physique was considered well-proportioned.
Simply by standing there, he was like a high mountain, unscrupulously radiating a terrifying aura.
At this moment, Rocks had his arms crossed over his chest, a frenzied smile like one appreciating a masterpiece of art on his face as he watched the tragic scene below. This completely asymmetrical smile was distorted and full of power.
The arrival of Charlotte Linlin and Kurozumi Higurashi did not attract the attention of Rocks on the high platform—or rather, he noticed, but the "performance" below was more engrossing.
He spoke loudly to the pirates fighting like a swarm of ants below:
"You want to become a Crew member of me, Rocks D. Xebec?! You want to step onto my gibeck and follow me to conquer this sea?!"
His voice drowned out the noise in the arena, clearly entering the ears of every frantic fighter like the whisper of a demon, igniting the last trace of brutal fire in their hearts.
"Then fight! Slaughter! Use everything you have! Swords, fists, teeth! Use schemes! Use betrayal! Use deception! Use any filthy means you can think of!"
Rocks spread his arms wide as if embracing this chaotic purgatory he had personally created, his wild laughter exploding like rolling thunder:
"Whahahahaha! Survive! Only the strong who survive are worthy of standing behind me!"
"I only want one thousand pirates here! One thousand of the strongest pirates!"
"Whahahaha—!"
Rocks' wild laughter echoed over the bloody Colosseum, filled with ultimate contempt for life and absolute worship of power.
Charlotte Linlin stopped her pace, standing on a relatively high earthen slope on the outskirts of the Colosseum.
Her tall stature allowed her to clearly overlook this chaotic slaughterhouse.
Her purple eyes swept over the "ants" below who were fighting frantically, biting and trampling each other, and her brow furrowed slightly.
Kurozumi Higurashi stood by her leg, her face somewhat pale. Looking at the tragic state within the arena, she subconsciously shrank her neck and leaned further into Charlotte Linlin's massive shadow, as if only then could she gain a sense of security.
She secretly stole a glance at the laughing Rocks on the high platform, then looked at the cold and perfect profile of Charlotte Linlin beside her, silently praying in her heart:
I hope Lady Linlin's way of recruiting people... can be just a little bit more "gentle."