章 45: Chapter 45: Janet Cander

With Freyja of the Frenzy pirates having just defeated Rear Admiral Hina, the Black Cage, she and Sebas took care of the remaining marines, which she had long since turned into slaves before heading deeper into the city to regroup with their Captain, who had also just finished massacring the Briss Kingdoms soldiers.

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"Last one; wish there were more of you, but it was still fun." Said Diddy with a feral grin while his blood-soaked body stood atop several corpses as he looked at the dying soldier.

Having just killed the final soldier, I set my bloody staff on the ground and observed my surroundings, basking in the spectacle of the sheer chaos I'd committed. I was probably about halfway toward my destination, which was the castle or palace that most likely had been evacuated by now. However, the street from the start of the city to where I'm standing is littered with nothing but thousands of corpses, all of which were soldiers of this kingdom; I don't know exactly how many I killed, nor did I bother counting, mainly because I killed faster than I could count.

'Hmm, if I were to guess, I'd say I killed, at the very minimum, 10,000 soldiers, though a more accurate number should be between 30,000 and 35,000. Hehe, Freyja's going to be annoyed.' Mused Diddy with a smirk as he looked behind him, seeing nothing but corpse after corpse; without the city, one wouldn't even know there was a street beneath all those bodies.

While that may sound like a relatively large amount of people to kill in less than twenty or so minutes, don't forget most soldiers were practically cannon fodder before me; with just a single swing of Naga-sa, I was capable of killing several and coupled with my speed, I was able to swing several times a second. The only ones who put up any resistance were two generals, yet their strength was still insignificant; they couldn't even withstand three of my blows before collapsing dead on the ground.

Since the army had no one able to stop me, or at least stall me, I was practically mowing grass among thousands of men, and boy, was it fun; not nearly as exhilarating as fighting against a powerful opponent, but it was still very much enjoyable.

"Now then, I should go and find the royal family of this kingdom and kill them as well; however, before I do that, let's deal with the little rat." Muttered Diddy with a smirk as he snapped his head toward his right, his eyes landing on the figure of a lone woman peeking from behind a building and holding a transponder snail while trembling in fear.

Smirking, I swiftly appeared right before her, causing her to nearly scream in fright as she dropped her transponder snail, though she had quickly caught it before it touched the ground; however, other than that, she didn't move a muscle as she nervously stared at me, with her fearful eyes. I didn't immediately kill her, partly because I was confused about why she was even here; I mean, every other civilian had either run away or hidden, yet here she was, standing before me while recording me or taking pictures.

'W.E.N.P; I believe I have seen that somewhere. Wait, wasn't that on the bird I got the newspaper from?' Thought Diddy curiously as he noticed a white sash on her arm.

"U-Um, i-if it i-isn't t-too much to a-ask, c-could, I-I possibly g-get an I-Interview, w-with you, s-sir? I-I'm p-part of the W.E.N.P, a-also known as t-the World Economy News Paper." Stated the woman with a trembling voice as she warily looked at Diddy, who was still covered in blood, though even in such a deadly situation, she couldn't contain her curiosity.

Hearing her words only deepened my confusion until I gave up and started laughing, finding this whole situation amusing since even though she knew I could easily kill her, she still asked for an interview.

"Hahaha; y-you're something, aren't you, woman? You're interesting; what's your name?" Asked Diddy with a smirk as he holstered Naga-sa while eyeing the woman, whose fear only deepened from his chaotic-sounding laugh.

"M-My n-name is J-Janet, Janet Candor." Replied Janet, and although terrified, she said her name in pride as she puffed out her ample chest.

"Hehe, well Janet, since I quite like you, I don't mind doing a little interview, but we'll have to save it for later, as I still haven't finished my raid on Briss Kingdom. I still need to kill the Royal family and burn a few flags, and now that I think about it, your appearance is perfectly timed; follow me." Stated Diddy with a thoughtful expression before smirking as he turned around and started walking toward the palace while Janet hesitantly followed behind.

Since our little raid on the island and everyone going into hiding, the streets were empty, making it easy for us to walk toward the palace.

"S-So, about y-your earlier statement o-of killing the r-royal family; i-is it true? A-And if so, why do y-you seek to kill them? D-Do you possibly have some f-form of hatred toward them?" Asked Janet as she put away her transponder snail before taking out a pen and notebook, intending to jot Diddy's answers.

"Heh, of course, it's true, and I want to kill them since it'll create more chaos. No, I don't hate them; in fact, yesterday was the first time I had ever stepped foot on this island." Remarked Diddy with a smirk while Janet nodded her head, quickly taking notes of his every word.

"For a news reporter, you're rather comfortable in the presence of a pirate; it must not be your first time." Added Diddy while glancing at her, noticing how quickly she adapted to her situation.

"N-No, it's not my first time; compared to most of my colleagues, I like to get much closer to the scene, which usually results in me getting caught. Thankfully, I've always been rather lucky and haven't been killed, or worse, yet seeing you, I had thought my luck had finally run out." Said Janet rather awkwardly with a light smile.

"Hehe; you're a crazy one."

"Pot calling the kettle black at its finest." Muttered Janet quietly, though, given Diddy's insane levels of perception, he heard every word clearly, yet he merely laughed in response.

For the rest of the walk toward the palace, Janet would occasionally ask me questions, primarily things related to the ongoing raid, though she would ask about myself and my pirate group, while there were a few rather personal questions that would've been smarter if left unanswered, but where is the fun in that? Eventually, we did end up arriving at the palace, and contrary to what I had thought, there were still guards; of course, they were all weak and easily taken care of, but it was still unexpected.

"Don't you know the term personal space?" Questioned Diddy as he glanced at Janet, who was practically hugging him from how close she was.

"Ahh, s-sorry; I-I just wasn't trying to be killed by the guards; they were attacking both of us." Said Janet with an apologetic smile while backing away as she and Diddy walked through the castle, encountering guards with every turn, attempting to locate the royal family.

I might as well have been navigating through a maze instead of a palace; every single hallway led to several smaller hallways, and unfortunately, even when I broke through the walls, it didn't really seem to help my situation.

"I think this is the first time I've ever gotten lost." Muttered Diddy with a frown as he shot a shigan at the approaching guards, causing them to collapse on the ground, their armor proving not the slightest bit of protection.

"U-Um; if you don't mind, I can try taking the lead. I may not know where to go, but I've always been lucky." Said Janet lightly, completely unphased at the deaths of a couple of guards.

"Tch, sure, go ahead; I should probably clean this blood anyways; I can hardly smell anything other than iron." Stated Diddy with a wave of his hand as he channeled lightning throughout his body, causing the blood to burn.

I followed behind Janet while lightning crackled around my body, burning off the blood dyed into my fur, returning my fur to its usual beautiful golden brown; though there was still a scent of iron, it wasn't nearly as overwhelming, allowing me actually to smell the inside of the palace.

"Well, I found the Palaces' throne room, but it's empty." Said Janet as she opened a large door, revealing a long, narrow room with a throne at the end.

"Heh, that's good enough; the royal family has most likely evacuated; all I need is get their scent, anyways; once I do that, it's over." Remarked Diddy with a grin as he quickly approached the throne in the distance.

Once I neared the throne, I deeply inhaled the surrounding air, capturing their scent, and the moment I did that, their tracks were perfectly revealed to me, allowing me to almost vividly see their every move before leaving.

Following the scent, I approached a statue of a knight and grabbed the knight's sword by its hilt before pulling, causing it to extend slightly before stopping. Though that didn't do anything, a few moments later, the throne made a loud creaking sound as it revealed a secret passage underneath it, causing me to smirk as the scent suggested they entered the passage.

"Eh, well, that isn't surprising; I would expect a Palace to have a few secret passageways for situations like this." Muttered Janet as she looked down the dimly lit passage.

"Hehe, wait here; it'll be quicker without you." Said Diddy with a smirk and, without any hesitation, jumped down into the secret passage as he quickly chased after the scent.

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Elven Legacy (Chapter 154: Down Memory Lane) || Hero of Harmony (Chapter 34: Boss!) || One Piece: Chaos Kong (Chapter 55: Second Pirate Encounter) at [patreon.com/Ozonelayer691]