A pirate with a torn red bandana spotted Adam approaching his captain and grinned viciously, gold tooth flashing. And got in his way.
"Go to hell, Navy!" the man spat, lunging forward with a curved blade. "World Government lapdog!"
Another pirate behind him added, "Yeah! Bet you like polishing Celestial boots too!"
Adam didn't answer.
The insults passed through him like wind.
The first slash came fast, sloppy but strong.
Adam pivoted.
His sword met the curved blade with a clean, ringing clash. He twisted his wrist, stepped inside the pirate's guard, and drove his elbow sharply into the man's jaw.
Crack.
The pirate stumbled back, stunned.
Adam flowed forward without pause. His blade flicked upward, not a killing blow, but precise striking the man's wrist. The sword clattered from numb fingers.
A spinning back kick followed.
The pirate folded.
Dropped, unconscious.
Another rushed him immediately, roaring.
Adam ducked under a horizontal swing, the blade slicing air where his head had been a moment earlier. He drove his shoulder into the pirate's stomach, lifted slightly with his legs, and threw him over his hip into the dirt.
The movement felt seamless, as if he was training all his life.
'It feels natural…'
He sidestepped a thrust without even looking fully at it, guiding the attacker's arm aside and striking with the flat of his blade across the man's face.
'Maybe because they're weak enemies.'
Around him, Marines started noticing.
"Wait.. is that Adam?"
"No way. That drunkard?"
"How…"
A Marine who had once dragged Adam out of a tavern blinked in disbelief as Adam disarmed another pirate with a sharp upward cut and followed with a clean pommel strike.
Even Anna stopped following him and just stood there stunned for a moment.
Her gray eyes widened.
Adam weaved between two attackers, letting one's momentum crash into the other before sweeping their legs out from under them in a single fluid arc of steel.
"Adam?!" Anna shouted over the chaos. "Be honest, were you secretly training?!"
He parried a downward strike and answered between breaths.
"Not exactly."
A pirate tried to tackle him from the side.
Adam planted a foot on a crate, vaulted slightly, and brought his knee down hard onto the man's back as he passed beneath him.
The pirate hit the ground face-first.
The movement wasn't flashy.
Swordsmanship mixed with close-quarters combat.
Even their Captain, locked in brutal combat with Sawhand Merlin, spared a glance.
He had been ready, fully ready to tear Adam apart later for disobeying orders.
Instead
He saw him dismantling pirates with such skill.
The Captain deflected a roaring saw-blade strike and muttered under his breath,
"…When the hell did he get like that?"
Merlin snarled and pressed forward violently, forcing the Captain back with raw strength.
Adam knocked aside one last pirate and exhaled.
His heartbeat was steady.
Not racing wildly or panicked.
Then
He got hit by a heavy impact.
The Captain grunted sharply.
Adam's head snapped toward the center of the plaza.
Sawhand Merlin had slipped past the Captain's guard.
The rotating saw-arm slammed into the Captain's side, tearing through fabric and flesh with a spray of blood.
"Captain!" several Marines shouted.
The Captain staggered, dropping to one knee.
Marines rushed in to help
Merlin backhanded one with his metal arm, sending him skidding across the ground.
Another tried to stab him from behind.
Merlin spun violently, the saw-arm shrieking, and smashed him aside.
"Pathetic!" Merlin roared. "You're already dead!"
He raised his mechanical arm high, aiming to finish the wounded Captain.
Adam's expression changed.
Calm shifted to a sharp focus.
'Maybe this fool could prove to be a challenge.'
He moved.
His boots crushed dirt beneath him as he accelerated forward.
Adam then leapt. His body rotated mid-air, coat flaring behind him.
His heel drove straight into Merlin's face.
Impact.
A heavy, satisfying crack.
Merlin's head snapped sideways as Adam flipped backward and landed in a crouch between him and the fallen Captain.
Merlin staggered half a step.
Blood trickled from his nose.
Slowly
He looked down at Adam.
Not amused or laughing anymore.
"…You insect," Merlin growled.
Adam felt it then.
This man was clearly stronger than the others.
Experienced and dangerous.
Merlin's hand twitched
Adam's eyes sharpened.
'He's reaching for...'
Guns.
Adam threw himself sideways as twin pistol shots exploded from Merlin's free hand.
Boom. Boom.
The bullets tore through the space where Adam's chest had been.
He rolled, came up on one knee, and in the same motion unslung his own rifle from his back.
He fired.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Four.
Each shot cracked cleanly through the battlefield noise.
Every bullet struck. Chest. Shoulder. Upper torso.
Blood burst outward.
Merlin staggered but didn't fall.
He snarled through clenched teeth. "You damn brat!"
Adam lowered the rifle slightly, exhaling.
"Of course," he muttered, half to himself. "It takes more than bullets to finish off these kind of people in this world.."
Merlin took a step forward.
Then another.
Anna tensed behind Adam.
The Captain, still on the ground, tried to push himself up.
Merlin opened his mouth.
Then faltered.
His expression shifted.
Confusion flickered across his face.
His knees buckled.
"…Damn… you…"
He dropped to his knees.
And then
Face-first into the dirt.
Silence hit the immediate area.
Even the surrounding pirates hesitated.
Adam blinked.
He stared at Merlin's unmoving body.
Then slowly lowered his rifle.
"…Well."
He glanced down at the weapon in his hands.
"That actually worked."
He blinked again.
"I expected that not to.. Or..."
He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"Honestly… I don't know what I expected."
Behind him, Anna just stared.
Mouth slightly open.
The Captain, still kneeling and bleeding, looked between Merlin's body and Adam.
"…You're getting court-martialed later," he muttered weakly.
Then, after a beat..
"…Good shot."
Around them, the remaining pirates' morale shattered.
"Captain's down!"
"Retreat!"
They began scattering.
Marines surged forward with renewed confidence.
Anna finally found her voice.
"Adam," she said slowly, walking up beside him. "You are explaining everything."
Adam looked at the fallen 50-million-berry pirate.
Then at his own hands.
Then back at her.
"…I think I need an explanation for myself too."