One Piece: The Archangel's Guide

Chapter 72: A New Member, the World's Sickness

Elsewhere, at the secret base of an assassin organization.

Daz Bonez frowned as he looked at the gathered group of assassins. "What... are you all about to do?"

The group of assassins didn't answer, instead turning their gazes to their leader, who also acted as their part-time manager. The leader of this base took a deep breath, then pointed to the intense battle raging in the distance and grinned. "The heads of the organ trade and slave trade heard about this attack from the Grand Line."

"They've offered a huge deposit for us to go to their base on Siam and kill the attackers!"

The leader was extremely excited. He grabbed Daz Bonez's shoulder and said, almost incoherently, "That's an amount of Berries equivalent to this base's entire annual income!"

His words made the originally calm assassins become agitated as well.

"???"

Daz Bonez tilted his head, a question mark appearing above it. He looked at his colleagues, who had lost their minds to the temptation of a sky-high reward, and his expression gradually became indifferent.

"In that case, you all go right ahead." Daz Bonez stepped aside, showing no intention of getting involved.

The smile on the leader's face froze. "You're not coming with us?" he asked subconsciously. "You're the ace among us!"

Behind him, the other assassins also looked on in disbelief.

However, Daz Bonez didn't respond to the leader's words. The look in his eyes was as cold as if he were looking at a pile of corpses. Seeing that the assassins weren't moving, Daz Bonez grew impatient and walked into the base first.

Seeing Daz Bonez's cold demeanor, the leader, his mind corroded by Berries, instantly flew into a rage. He raised his pistol and aimed it at Daz Bonez. "Hey, stop right there!"

Daz Bonez stopped. He slowly turned his head to look at the pistol aimed at him, his gaze growing colder and colder.

Normally, the leader would have been frightened by Daz Bonez's icy stare. But at this moment, his eyes were only filled with a madness for money. He turned his head and roared at the other assassins, "What are you waiting for?! Without this guy, we can't defeat the people who dared to attack those places!!"

As his words fell, more and more people raised their weapons at Daz Bonez.

Daz Bonez's gaze was devoid of joy or sorrow. Amidst a sea of crazed eyes, he transformed both his hands into sharp blades. The light glinting off the blades of his arms made many snap out of their madness, the thought of retreat rising in their hearts.

However, the moment the assassins had raised their weapons, the outcome was already sealed...

"Hngh... Aaaargh!!"

Piercing screams rang out, making the already terrified tourists nearby tremble even more violently.

...

After a long while, Daz Bonez, his clothes torn and stained with blood, walked out of the base. He looked up at the sky and fell into thought. He was thinking about where he should go next. Having personally killed the "partners" in his organization, no other assassin group would accept him now. Furthermore, he would now be hunted by other assassins. Speaking of which, he had killed many such people in the past.

If he continued to be an assassin, he would have to take on low-reward, high-risk jobs with no guarantee of good intel, all while being hunted by his peers. If he didn't, he could probably only become a pirate.

However...

"A pirate..." Daz Bonez looked toward the deserted pier, a thoughtful expression in his eyes. After a long time, he began to walk back the way he came.

That group's moral standards were a bit higher than ordinary pirates', and they were powerful. Most importantly, there were only three of them at the moment; they were in the early start-up phase. It wouldn't be a bad idea if he could join them...

A melodious girlish song echoed through the ruins, which were riddled with bullet holes and cannon-fire scars. The song was pure and pleasant, yet it held a magic that could bewitch the heart. Supported by an unknown power, it spread to every corner of the park. No matter the distance, the volume and clarity were the same.

In an instant, all the survivors in the park stopped what they were doing. As if under a spell, they completely lost their minds, their eyes vacant, and their bodies began to walk involuntarily. The doctors, consumed by greed; the cruel administrators; the vicious guards—all of them were now drowned in the Siren's deep-sea prison, to be manipulated at will.

After a long while, all the victims who had been imprisoned, waiting to have their organs harvested, were released and fled in all directions.

Just then, Yelena, holding her war hammer, slowly walked to Louis's side. She looked at the gathered guards and black-market doctors with a grim expression.

"The bodies we saw at sea... it seems they were all the slaves from this human trafficking base. When I went over, there was no one left alive."

Yelena had originally thought that the people of Jacob and the Celestial Dragons that Louis spoke of were cruel enough. But she had only just arrived in the West Blue and had already encountered such a dark place. This made her realize that the world outside the plateau was perhaps not so beautiful either...

The slave trade, organ trafficking, sex trade—this series of dark industries dealt a violent blow to Yelena's worldview. The strong, relying on their powerful might, oppressed and fed on the powerless common people without reason.

"This world is sick..." Yelena's eyes became vacant. She knew the world was sick, millions of times more seriously than she had ever been. But she didn't know how to cure it.

To this, Louis did not speak. Instead, he let Yelena think for herself, to gain a deeper understanding of this world.

After a long while, Uta, having gathered all the guards and others, swam down to Louis's position and reverted to her human form in mid-air. "Alright! We can go!"

Louis stood up, reached out his hands to catch Uta, and placed her steadily on the ground. "Let's go, Yelena. It seems Daz Bonez is waiting for us..."

Yelena gathered her complicated thoughts, picked up her weapon, and followed Louis's steps.

"He's waiting for us?"

"Is he going to join us?"

"Perhaps."

After the three of them disappeared from the ruins, the guards, who had been mesmerized by the song and gathered together, dazedly bent down and lit the fuses of numerous bombs.

BOOM—

A series of explosions rang out. The entire ruins were consumed by light and flame, the fire illuminating the entire town.

After the explosions, Uta, exhausted from using her powers and from the stimulation of the firefight, slumped onto Louis's shoulder and fell into a deep sleep.

In the cracked streets, a group of assassins emerged from all sides, surrounding Louis and his group. Yelena saw this and gripped her World-Breaker war hammer, preparing to crush them. However, Louis stopped her with a look.

The next moment, a dazzling light rose from Louis's body, overwhelming the world's original colors and spreading a pale golden canopy over the ruined town.

"What is this?!"

"He's an ability user!"

Then, under the terrified gazes of the assassins, specks of holy light emerged from their bodies. In an instant, the light particles, as if summoned, all flew toward the sky. As far as the eye could see, it was like golden snow falling upwards, merging into the dazzling aurora within the golden canopy, brilliant and resplendent.

Thud... thud...

One by one, withered corpses fell to the ground with a dull thud.

Louis retracted the canopy and aurora that filled the sky back into his body. Without slowing his pace for a second, he left directly with Yelena and Uta. It was as he had said: the Life-Life Fruit was never as simple as just bestowing life. These assassins had a life force far exceeding that of an ordinary person, and they didn't know Haki. They were perfect for Louis to replenish his spent life force.

...

When Louis, carrying Uta, and Yelena returned to the warship, they saw Daz Bonez standing on a reef, waiting for them. When Louis was in front of him, he met his eyes and directly stated his purpose.

"The assassin organization I was in took a contract to kill you. They wanted to force me to join them. I killed them all. Now I have nowhere else to go. Therefore, I want to join your pirate crew."

The corners of Louis's mouth turned up in a dazzling smile. "Is that so? Then come on up!"

Daz Bonez looked at Louis, who was incomparably brilliant under the sun, and stood frozen on the reef. It wasn't until Louis and Yelena had already boarded the warship and were calling for him that he snapped back to his senses and boarded the ship.

Yelena stood on the ship's island, her hands resting on the railing, quietly gazing at the sea.

"As long as we become supremely powerful and destroy the World Government, seizing this world from their hands, we can remake it into the shape we want." Louis's voice carried on the sea breeze to Yelena's ears.

Yelena was taken aback. She then turned to look at Louis, who was walking toward her. She quickly understood that he had seen what was on her mind and was giving her an answer.

Yelena tucked a strand of white hair behind her ear and smiled faintly. "Can we do it?"

"Of course we can." Louis's gaze was on the distant sea, his eyes incredibly deep. "And we are already walking down this path."

"If we rely on powerful military might to suppress everyone in the world, then when you and I are old and dead, the world will quickly return to its original state, won't it?" Yelena's tone was distant, as if telling a dark joke.

To this, Louis reached out his hand and made a grasping motion at the sun, letting the sunlight shine on his face through the gaps in his fingers.

"In that case, then you and I will just have to live forever, and make the world always develop according to our will!"

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