บท 18: CHAPTER 18

Alastor, who still didn't know anything about it, was immersed in the excitement of using Life Return for the first time.

"The speed of my punches and the sensitivity of various body functions have increased significantly compared to before. This Life Return really suits me well."

Alastor squeezed his fist, filled with power, and looked at Guleta, who had been hit by him.

"Hey, you're not dead yet? Can you still stand up? I've just entered the state."

Guleta got up from the ground, his expression ugly. He looked at Alastor with fear and a trace of suppressed dread.

There was no way around it. Alastor's talent was too monstrous. He had actually learned how to use Life Return in such a short time—something that was simply unheard of!

Guleta couldn't help but feel the urge to retreat.

He had already revealed all his trump cards, yet still couldn't defeat his opponent. Worse, Alastor was only getting stronger. How could he continue like this?

Guleta felt his chances of winning were slim, and he didn't want to throw his life away.

Alastor noticed Guleta's intent to retreat and pulled out Sandai Kitetsu from his waist.

"You want to escape? Unfortunately, I'm not done playing yet."

Alastor suddenly pushed off the ground with both feet, and his figure disappeared in an instant.

Guleta's pupils shrank as he exclaimed in shock, "This is... Shave?!"

Yes, what Alastor had used was one of the six styles of the Navy: Shave.

In the state of Life Return, Alastor could precisely control every muscle in his body, allowing movements that had been impossible before.

"Ghost sword style Flying Moon Slash!"

A black, crescent-shaped slash appeared behind Guleta.

Guleta's face went pale with fright; he was truly panicking now.

"Iron Block!"

Guleta, in desperation, used Iron Block(Tekkai) to defend.

The result was as expected. He was sent flying again, a deep knife wound carved into his chest, causing him to cough up blood.

"Bring out all your skills, or I'll play with you to the death."

Alastor's figure reappeared only a few meters away from Guleta, speaking coldly.

"Bastard!"

Guleta's eyes turned red with fury.

He could tell that the monster-like young man before him wasn't planning to let him go.

"Since you insist on killing me, don't blame me for fighting back with everything I've got!"

In desperation, Guleta began to attack with the ferocity of a cornered beast.

"Point Gun!"

"Land Feet!"

"Moon Steps!"

Facing Guleta's frenzied assault, Alastor smiled slightly. "Good timing."

He fought without fear, facing Guleta head-on.

The two went all out, exchanging lethal blows.

Guleta, in a bid for survival, even overexerted his body's potential.

However, what drove Guleta to despair was that no matter how hard he fought, his opponent didn't falter. In fact, Alastor was only getting stronger with every passing moment.

What kind of monstrous physique was this?!

Guleta felt utterly hopeless.

In the end, exhausted and defeated, he let Alastor's blade rest against his neck.

Alastor spoke indifferently: "It seems you've run out of fuel. Time to go."

Guleta trembled, looking at Alastor in fear, his lips quivering.

"You're... a monster!"

"You can't kill me. I'm a vice admiral of the G5 branch. I'm even registered with Marshal Sengoku. If you kill me..."

Before he could finish, Alastor had already pierced his throat with his cursed sword.

Alastor flicked the blood off the blade, sneering coldly.

"Vice admiral, Sengoku, Navy… Heh."

Alastor then walked toward the warehouse, needing to replenish his energy and recover from his injuries.

"Vice admiral Guleta... is dead!"

The remaining sailors of G5 looked at Guleta's fallen body in disbelief.

Their faces turned ashen, trembling as they watched the young man who had killed vice admiral Guleta walk into the most important warehouse of their base.

"Why hasn't Chief Virgo shown up yet?!"

Gal, now the highest-ranking officer, felt anxious and pinned all his hopes on Virgo.

No one dared to stop Alastor as he entered the warehouse without hindrance.

Several large boxes of treasures, along with an assortment of delicious food and wine, were spread out before Alastor. He rubbed his hungry stomach, set the cursed sword aside, sat down on the ground, and began eating and drinking without restraint.

The G5 sailors outside dared only to look into the warehouse from a distance.

"The man who killed vice admiral Guleta is eating our food!"

"He's eating like a beast! He's consumed enough for ten people in the blink of an eye!"

"No… it's impossible! What kind of stomach does he have? He just swallowed a whole roast pig!"

"Look! The scars from the fight with vice admiral Guleta are healing! What kind of physique is this?"

The sailors were all stunned. The scene before them defied all their previous understanding.

One sailor swallowed hard in fear.

"This is terrifying. No wonder vice admiral Guleta was killed. We stand no chance against such a monster. We can only wait for Master Virgo to show up."

All the sailors nodded in agreement. They wouldn't dare offend Alastor, even if it meant their lives.

Meanwhile, Alastor continued to eat and drink in the warehouse with utter comfort, not stopping until he had devoured almost half the food in storage.

"Ahh~"

Alastor let out a deep burp and drank another pot of wine.

"So good!"

He stood up, stretched his body, and noticed that all the scars on his body had disappeared, signaling that he had fully recovered to his peak state.

Looking around, he saw there was still plenty of money, food, and countless guns and ammunition—everything he needed to take back to Wano Country.

"Hey, you there."

Alastor suddenly addressed the G5 sailors outside, speaking in a commanding tone.

"Come here, all of you, and move everything from this warehouse onto my ship."

The sailors exchanged fearful glances, unable to hide their terror.

As the Navy, it was bad enough that they hadn't stopped Alastor, but now he was asking them to help move the Navy's supplies? How could they possibly comply?

But if they refused, they feared they would soon join vice admiral Guleta in the afterlife.

What should they do?

The sailors instinctively looked to Chief Gal, the highest-ranking officer present.

Gal's expression was blank, but when Alastor's gaze swept over him, he immediately shuddered and spoke tremblingly.

"What are you waiting for? Didn't you hear your lord's orders? Move the things quickly!"

He knew better than to risk Alastor drawing his sword again.

And so, a strange scene unfolded.

Alastor, a pirate and an intruder, stood with his arms crossed, calmly watching as the sailors—exhausted and sweating—moved all the supplies the Navy had stored for years onto Alastor's pirate ship.

It took nearly half an hour to finish.

The G5 sailors were drained, collapsing to the ground in exhaustion.

Alastor jumped onto the deck, looking at the supplies now loaded onto his ship, a sense of accomplishment filling him.

"For being so obedient, I'll spare your lives this time."

After speaking, he lowered the sails and prepared to depart.

As the pirate ship drifted away, the sailors let out a sigh of relief, but they also felt deeply disturbed.

If the Navy Headquarters found out what they had just done, they knew they would be severely punished.

Suddenly, Gal shouted, "Listen up! We can't say a word about moving things for the pirates, or we're all finished!"

All the sailors nodded vigorously, like chickens pecking at rice.

Gal said bitterly, "That man is truly hateful. If he killed vice admiral Guleta, the headquarters won't let him get away with it! By the way, vice admiral Virgo should be here soon..."

Looking out to sea, he saw a naval warship approaching quickly.

Gal and the surviving G5 sailors were overjoyed and shouted loudly:

"Master Virgo, we're here!"

The warship quickly docked.

Virgo didn't disembark immediately. He merely glanced coldly at the shore and said, "I don't see Guleta. Was he killed?"

After receiving confirmation, Virgo's pupils contracted slightly.

As the base chief of the G5 branch, Virgo was well aware of Guleta's strength. While he might not have been able to defeat him, Guleta was certainly no weakling.

To have been killed so easily… it seemed the intruder was no ordinary person.

Virgo asked again, "Do you know the identity of the intruder?"

The sailors on the shore shook their heads in unison.

"Then which direction did he escape in, and how long ago did he leave?"

Gal hurriedly pointed to the east and said, "He left less than ten minutes ago. The base commander should be able to catch up."

Virgo immediately ordered the warship to turn around and head east.

After all, as the chief of the G5 branch, he had to provide an explanation to the Navy Headquarters. At the very least, he needed to know the identity of the murderer.

The warship was faster than the average pirate ship, and the one Virgo was on had been further enhanced.

After a while, they began to see the shadow of the pirate ship on the horizon.

"Increase power to maximum!" Virgo ordered.

The warship's speed surged, and it rapidly closed the distance between them. The pirate ship's logo became visible.

Virgo, usually composed and stoic, felt a slight shock deep inside when he saw the symbol. His heart skipped a beat.

"That symbol... Beast Pirates! There's no mistake. I participated in the artificial Devil Fruit trade between Doflamingo and Kaido, one of the Four Emperors."

Virgo took a slow breath, forcing himself to suppress the shock.

His mind was racing, trying to process what he had just seen.