Chapter 141 The Five Elder Stars
Before the words could finish, Karloff's massive body collapsed with a crash, his once-vibrant eyes gradually dimming.
"Ugh!"
The death of his formidable enemy caused Eric's tightly focused mind to slacken, and as a result, the sharp pain in his abdomen spread throughout his body, causing him to stagger and nearly drop to one knee.
A warm body suddenly appeared beside him, and Eric, unsteady, leaned against it.
"Just as I expected, you're the man I picked. That was an incredible fight, and that last strike was beautiful," Esdeath spoke in an incredibly gentle, mature voice, meant only for Eric.
"Ah, Eric, you were so cool just now~!" Completely forgetting about Eric's injured jaw, Esdeath used one hand to hold Eric's head, rubbing her cheek against his without stopping.
"Ugh ugh ugh ugh (it hurts)!"
"Stop!" Kurumi restrained her impulse to shoot, pulling Esdeath away.
The pain from love caused Eric to feel dazed, and with a trembling hand, he took out the senzu beans he had bought earlier and swallowed one. In an instant, all his injuries healed.
"Honestly," Kurumi complained, "Even if it's a fight, you don't have to get yourself so injured."
Akame bluntly remarked, "But Kurumi, when you were watching Eric fight, your eyes were also shining."
"Ah, Akame-, please don't say that! Aren't we on the same team?"
"We are, but you..."
"Ah, seriously!" Kurumi quickly covered Akame's mouth, stopping her from saying anything that might embarrass her.
"What should we do about these three CP0? And those unconscious marines?"
"Mm..." Karloff's question caused Eric to hesitate. If he had just killed the opponent in battle, that would have been fine, but besides himself, everyone else had easily knocked out and captured their opponents.
Killing someone who was powerless to resist... honestly, Eric had trouble going through with it. But thinking of the atrocities committed by the Celestial Dragons, and the fact that CP0, as the Celestial Dragon's direct agents, wore spotless white clothes, surely their hands had been stained with countless dark and dirty deeds.
With this thought, Eric's expression turned cold, and he was about to give the order to kill a few.
"Crack crack crack!" Three sounds of ice blocks forming rang out.
"Ssshh!" Immediately followed by the sound of blades sinking into flesh.
Three sharp ice spikes formed on the ground, accurately piercing the hearts of the three unconscious CP0 agents, sending them to their deaths without pain.
"Esdeath, you..." Eric was stunned.
"It's nothing," Esdeath smiled warmly at Eric. "I still want to see Eric's pure smile again. Let me handle these sinful deeds."
"..." Eric opened his mouth, silent for a moment, then smiled again. "Thank you for your concern, Esdeath. You've already started thinking about your companions, completely different from the Esdeath who only fought for her own desires in the past."
Esdeath's cheeks turned bright red, lost in Eric's handsome face, not even hearing the rest of his sentence.
Esdeath's little girl side, completely opposite from her usual dominant queen persona, triggered a sudden surge of affection in Eric.
Unable to control himself, Eric hugged the still-blushing Esdeath.
'Ah, this time, Eric initiated the hug...' Esdeath's face turned even redder, and the pink aura emanating from her body swept away the previously tense atmosphere.
'There's murderous intent!' Suddenly, Eric's warning bells went off in his head, and he quickly loosened his hands. But Esdeath wouldn't let go, tightly returning the hug.
With mechanical precision, she turned her head to look in the direction of the murderous intent...
"ジー (Staring)" Kurumi gave Eric Fujitora that seemed like it was hiding something, and those large eyes seemed to say:
'I'll make sure you pay when we get back~'
Despite her not mouthing the words or making a sound, Eric clearly sensed that this was what Kurumi meant.
Chiron came to help the captain, who had fallen into a Shura Field.
"Captain, we should leave this troublesome place as soon as possible."
"Mm-hmm," Eric quickly nodded. "Um, Esdeath, can you let go? I can't walk like this."
Upon hearing this, Esdeath lifted her long legs and wrapped them around Eric's waist.
Everyone: "???"
Eric asked uncertainly, "Are you... asking me to carry you?"
Esdeath didn't say anything, just silently nodded.
Kurumi's pale forehead bulged with veins as her trembling hands reached for the hour and minute hands of her clock.
Akame then made a shocking declaration, "Eric still has space on his back."
Kurumi stopped reaching for her gun and closed her eyes, stretching out her hands toward Eric. "Carry me..."
Eric hesitated, "This is too..."
"Carry me."
"But..."
"Carry~"
"OK!"
In the end, Eric carried one on his front and had one on his back, leading the rest back to the Unafraid ship.
As for the unconscious marines, Eric and the others had long forgotten them, leaving them in some unknown corner.
Even Da Vinci, who had been holed up in his lab, came out to witness the scene, commenting, "Yo, the captain really has an amazing skill."
...
The next morning, the Five Elder Stars in the Holy Land of Mariejois received a report from the navy.
A navy soldier knelt on one knee, reporting to the five elders, "A CP0 squad of three responsible for capturing Eric's pirate crew, along with a CP0 assigned to locate the surgery fruit, encountered Eric's pirate crew in Carnival City on the night of April 30th and engaged in battle."
"A large number of marines had gathered on the island a few days in advance to participate in this battle, but... they all lost consciousness due to Kurumi's unknown abilities and Captain Eric's Conqueror's Haki, rendering all the marines incapable of fighting."
The bald elder, wearing a white robe, rasped in disbelief, "Such a young man... awakened Conqueror's Haki?"
"Yes!" The kneeling marine answered solemnly, "According to the reports from the marines present, they were overwhelmed by an indescribable aura and fell unconscious."
The elder with two mustaches and a birthmark on his forehead firmly said, "There's no doubt, it's definitely Conqueror's Haki."
The reporting marine paused for a moment before Speaking again, carefully choosing his words, "While cleaning up the battlefield, the marines found the bodies of the four CP0 agents... Three died from Esdeath's ice spears, and one had burn marks from high temperature, presumed to have died from Eric's lightning ability."
"..." After a brief silence, the elder with the long straight mustache sighed. "I should have expected this. There's no good news in this report."
"What should we do now? Even the CP0 squad couldn't capture Eric, and sending others will only lead to more casualties."
"But we can't let Eric go unpunished. If other pirates start emulating him and slaughtering the world's nobility, what will happen to the World Government's authority?"
"Then, let's increase Eric's bounty and have more powerful bounty hunters and pirates deal with them."
"But doesn't this just show that we're incapable of capturing Eric's crew?"
"There's no better option," the Five Elder Stars agreed on the new bounty for Eric's crew, "Have the Marine Headquarters issue a new wanted order with this bounty!"
(END CHAPTER)
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