Taro stopped at the edge of the giant crater. Looking at Judge at the bottom, who was bleeding from the corner of his mouth and had tears in his eyes, he felt somewhat speechless.
You old fellow, your mental fortitude is lacking!
With this level of endurance, it'll be hard for you to achieve anything great!
Taro stared at the weeping Judge for a moment.
He then tilted his head to glance at Reiju and the other three, who were tormented by the thunderstorm, before deactivating his Awakening state.
With a wave of his hand, he recalled his blade and returned it to its sheath.
"Fact proves that the second path is one you cannot walk!"
Taro's tone was very casual as he gave a light chuckle.
"Now, tell me, who is the pirate who came to contact you?"
Judge's eyes were swollen and bruised. His eyelids were slightly open, but tears flowed incessantly, and he did not answer Taro's question.
Taro gave a cold snort and flickered out of sight.
The next second, he appeared beside Yonji.
His right hand, coated in Armament Haki, instantly seized the other's neck.
In another instant, he dragged him to the edge of the giant crater.
Bang~
Taro exerted force with his arm, slamming Yonji to the ground and stepping on his neck.
"old fellow, my time is precious, and my patience is limited. I'll give you 5 seconds. If I don't get an answer, I'll crush this kid's neck!"
Yonji, with his neck pinned under Taro's foot, showed no trace of fear.
Even though one side of his headphone-like ornament was smashed flat and a large lump had formed on his right eye,
even facing imminent death, he showed no trace of fear!
A reckless smile remained on his face!
Madmen! Monsters!
Taro frowned deeply, feeling quite irritable. He kicked Yonji down into the crater and walked toward the castle.
His Internal Energy quickly spread out, enveloping the entire Island-ship, and feedback soon returned.
Taro sensed countless identical presences, at least tens of thousands. They should be those Clone soldiers.
They were lined up in standard formations, devoid of any human emotional fluctuations, looking more like products on a shelf.
Taro felt an instinctive disgust and didn't know what kind of mindset to adopt when viewing these "humans."
The issue of human rights for clones was a complex topic even in his past life. With Taro's depth of thought, he was even more at a loss!
There were quite a few "living" presences in the castle. It seemed the people he was looking for were in there!
Taro tapped his feet lightly and leapt over.
Inside the castle, Burgess wanted to run the moment he saw Taro.
His pupils constricted violently in fear.
Taro was like a mad dog; as long as he caught the scent of their group, he would chase them down relentlessly.
However, the Vinsmoke Family soon broke into conflict with Taro, which put him slightly at ease, so he didn't flee immediately.
Yet, Taro displayed a powerful offensive capability far exceeding that of a month ago, instantly defeating Germa 66.
This left him dumbfounded and also caused him to miss the best opportunity to escape.
"Old Lady Bakkin, how did Taro get here so fast?"
From the moment Taro appeared, suspicion had arisen in Burgess's heart.
Now that they were about to be exposed, his alarm turned to fury.
"You pretended to cooperate with us, but you're actually selling us out?"
Miss. Bakkin also hadn't expected Taro to appear here, nor did she expect their cooperation to be so flimsy.
Just one Taro had already made them suspicious of each other, a scattered mess.
The Old Lady took a step back and shrieked at the top of her lungs,
"Burgess, is your brain entirely made of muscle? My son died at Taro's hands, and decades of dreams were shattered. I want Taro dead right now! Why would I sell you out to him?"
She was also very angry. To cooperate with Blackbeard,
she completely disregarded the kindness Marco had shown her by saving her from Taro, and leaked information about the Whitebeard remnants to Blackbeard.
Furthermore, she was willing to share the technology she possessed!
After going to such lengths, she was still being suspected!
Burgess thought about it and also felt he had lost his composure.
He glanced at Vasco Shot, who was still drinking nearby, and clenched his fists.
"This won't do. We can't beat Taro right now. We'd better go back and regroup with the Captain!"
Before his voice had even faded, he was already the first to run toward the back door!
As soon as he ran, Bakkin and the 'Barrel of Wine' didn't dare stay either and followed closely behind.
Outside the castle, Taro sensed three presences suddenly moving at high speed. This was abnormal, and his perception instantly locked onto them.
Internal Energy surged, and Taro transformed into a Falcon, soaring past the castle and then hanging quietly in mid-air.
Don't let the fact that Bakkin was a little Old Lady with a cane fool you; her pace was not slow, her short legs pitter-pattering as she kept up with the group.
The three rushed out of the castle's back door. Before they could catch their breath, a sharp Sword Qi slashed toward them.
Burgess felt a warning sign in his heart. He crossed his arms in front of him, attempting to block with the metal guards on his elbows.
Clang~
The sound of metal clashing rang out, but Burgess didn't feel the expected vibration in his arms.
He looked and saw the drunken Vasco Shot holding his blade horizontally to block in front of the two of them.
Creeeeak~
Taro's Slash and Vasco Shot's blade ground against each other, producing a series of friction sounds.
Vasco Shot was struggling to resist, his right arm holding the blade trembling slightly.
He gritted his teeth, his legs sinking lower as his blood surged, making his already drunken face even redder, like a monkey's butt!
"Yah~ Hic~"
Vasco Shot gave a shout, his left hand also gripping the hilt. With both hands on the blade, he exerted himself to parry upward, finally changing the direction of the Slash. The Slash turned into a green light and pierced straight into the sky.
"Heh! And here I was wondering who it was. So it's you guys!"
Taro didn't mind that his casual Slash had been blocked. He gave a sneer and landed on the ground.
"It just so happens that it's been a while since I killed anyone from your crew, and here you are delivering yourselves to me. Tsk tsk, how 'thoughtful' of you!"
As he spoke, he walked slowly toward the three, step by step, the killing intent in his eyes growing thicker.
"And you, you dead old hag, you really must think you've lived too long!"
Seeing the old woman Bakkin, how could Taro not understand why Zephyr didn't hesitate to clash with Germa?
He secretly blamed himself. It was his own indecisiveness back then that prevented him from dealing with this old hag, which had led to all these subsequent troubles.
Taro was envious of other transmigrators whose mindsets could adjust so quickly.
Other transmigrators could completely stop being bound by the concepts of their past lives the second they arrived, doing whatever they pleased!
Yet he had to experience the harsh beatings of reality before learning to act according to the Laws of this world!
Shaking his head slightly, Taro's entire Internal Energy surged out once more.
"String-String Fruit Awakening!"
Between his steps, the rich Internal Energy rapidly dissipated, assimilating the entire area.
He lightly loosened his palm, and the thunderstorm suspended itself by his side.
As if talking to himself, or perhaps for the three opposite him to hear, he said,
"But it doesn't matter. It's not too late to kill you now!"
As he spoke, his Internal Energy had completely spread out.
"Armament Hardening!"
"Vibration Energy Infusion!"
"Conquerors Haki Infusion!"
With every additional state Taro applied, the Internal Energy Domain fluctuated.
And then,
"God Thread Execution!"
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