One Piece: The Archangel's Guide

Chapter 69: Assassin

On the azure surface of the sea, a blood-soaked figure lay on a cracked wooden plank, drifting in the deep, dark ocean.

The weak man was covered in wounds, and his vision was obscured by the blood flowing from his head. Due to prolonged exposure to the sun and a lack of fresh water, his lips were incredibly chapped. The wooden plank beneath him was already stained red with his blood, but in his weak and powerless state, he hadn't a single bit of strength left to stop the bleeding.

Just then, a warship flying a pirate flag sailed over from the distance, gradually coming to a stop beside the man.

The weak man, hearing the sound of waves lapping against the wooden plank and feeling the swell, knew that a ship was passing nearby. Then, a rope was thrown down from the ship, landing directly on his face.

Sensing a sliver of hope, he no longer cared who was on the ship. Driven by a strong desire to survive, he squeezed out the last of his strength before passing out to grab the rope and hold on tight. The next moment, he lost consciousness.

...

Louis looked at the man's square face and the short stubble on his head, marked with the unique circular burn scars of a monk. For a moment, he felt that the man before him was strangely familiar, but he couldn't remember who he was.

Just then, Yelena walked over from the other end of the deck. She looked at the young man who wouldn't be waking up anytime soon and fell into thought. Yelena was a bit puzzled. To not wake up immediately even after Louis's treatment, just how long had this unlucky guy been drifting at sea to become so exhausted?

She then turned to look at Louis and asked, "What should we do with this person?"

After some thought, Louis gave a temporary solution. "For now, let's just drag him under the parasol and wait for him to wake up."

It wasn't good to just leave a person lying on the deck. If someone saw, a rumor might spread that the Archangel Pirates sun-dry people into jerky for reserve rations. Dragging him into the cabin wasn't an option either; the guy was a bit dirty. Most importantly, if he had malicious intent when he woke up, it was much more convenient to deal with bloodstains and a body on the deck than inside the cabin.

Yelena didn't hesitate. If Louis said drag, she would do it. She directly grabbed the man's legs and dragged him under the parasol.

This scene left Uta, who was on the ship's island, completely stunned. Then, she couldn't help but complain, "You really just dragged him over?"

On the deck, Yelena had an innocent look on her face. She tilted her head and asked back, "Well... should I have kicked him over?"

"..."

Uta put a hand to her forehead, sighed deeply, and then gave up on thinking.

After a long while, the man lying on the deck gradually woke up. He slowly sat up, and after feeling the state of his body, he was utterly shocked.

The wounds on his body had completely disappeared. Apart from hunger and thirst, he felt no discomfort at all. And from the bloodstains and dried salt on his body, he knew he hadn't been asleep for more than a day. In less than a day, he had recovered from the brink of death to a near-full state. This made him think of one thing: "Devil Fruit!"

He must have been saved by a Devil Fruit user.

"You're awake?" Just then, Louis pushed open the cabin door and walked out.

The man looked at the boy with white wings on his back and subconsciously said his name. "'Archangel' Louis. You've come to the West Blue?"

Louis came over and sat down in a chair under the parasol. He looked at the man with interest. "You know me?"

"Your picture on the bounty poster is very unique. Anyone who's seen it has a deep impression..."

Louis heard this and said thoughtfully, "So, you come into contact with bounty posters often. Are you a pirate, or a bounty hunter?"

"An assassin..." the blood-stained man uttered the word softly.

"So, did you end up in this state because of a failed assassination?" a gentle female voice sounded, cutting into their conversation.

The man looked up and saw the white-haired woman with oni horns on her head, standing by the railing of the ship's island. The next moment, his pupils constricted, the hairs on his body stood on end, and his heart began to race abnormally. With just one glance, he knew that the woman on the ship's island was terrifyingly strong! This man named Louis might not be the captain!

The man tried his best to control his body, to calm his racing heart. He said in a calm tone, "Quite the opposite. I succeeded in the assassination. As I was leaving the island by boat, I was hit from two nautical miles away by a bodyguard from the island."

"..."

A look of surprise appeared on Yelena's face. She never expected that a private bodyguard in the West Blue could possess such powerful martial strength.

Louis also became a little curious. "What's his name?"

The man shook his head. "I don't know."

"What does he look like?"

"I don't know. I only heard there was a powerful bodyguard there," the man said, a shadow of gloom flashing in his eyes.

Louis thought for a moment, then opened the sea chart on the table and found the nearest island—Twin Snake Island. "Twin Snake Island..." Louis now had a rough idea of who that person was.

Just then, Yelena posed another question. "What kind of people are your targets as an assassin?" As she spoke, her face still wore a gentle expression.

"Helping the Marines, pirates, and gangs deal with their enemies, colleagues, competitors, and other assassins..." The man understood. The woman was judging whether he was a threat, deciding whether to let him stay on the ship.

Yelena heard him and turned her gaze to Louis.

Louis, in turn, nodded calmly. "Is that so? Then you can stay here for a while. Get off at the next island."

Then, under the man's gaze, Louis instructed Yelena, "Yelena, go prepare some food and water for him."

"Okay..." Yelena turned and walked into the cabin.

The man was shocked. "She's so strong, yet she's not the captain?"

Just then, another young girl's voice sounded from the ship's island. "Is it possible that you're just too weak to sense the danger from someone far more powerful than you?"

Uta walked out from the cabin, leaned against the railing, and sized up the assassin with the short stubble and monk-like burn scars on his head. She felt that the pirates in the West Blue were so weak. In all the time they had been here, only the old man in Peach Blossom Valley and Chinjao had discovered that Louis was strong.

The man was taken aback. He once again focused his gaze on Louis, trying to catch a hint of a dangerous aura from him. However, no matter how he observed, he couldn't find anything special about him other than his appearance, let alone any dangerous aura.

While the man was sizing up Louis, Louis was also observing him. Ever since he learned the man's profession, Louis had a faint guess as to his identity. Soon, Louis spoke, wanting to confirm it. "What's your name?"

The man didn't hesitate, directly telling Louis his name. "Daz Bonez."

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