When the villagers who had been charging just moments ago suddenly turned and fled like frightened rabbits, Compiègne froze.
Then his face twisted into wild delight.
"I hit her!" he roared, laughing like a madman. "Ahahaha! I hit her! Kill that witch for me! Avenge my brothers! I'm burning her alive!"
Long knife in hand, the bandit leader lunged forward. He absolutely could not let the purple haired "witch" stand up again and hand out that strange power to these useless peasants.
"Come back, you cowards!" Belo Betty clutched her bleeding shoulder and shouted after them. "Our home is behind us!"
Gritting her teeth through the pain, she reached for the hoe wrapped in rags.
The moment she lost that broken prop, her power weakened sharply. Her voice alone could only stir a handful of villagers close to her.
She was still too young. She had no idea how to properly develop her Devil Fruit. Right now, she could only use it on instinct, and that instinct relied on the hoe and those rag strips like a crutch.
"Come back!" she screamed again, furious and desperate.
The bandits were already at their doorstep, and these people still ran like quails the second fear touched them.
Belo Betty forced herself upright, ready to swing the hoe again.
A cold flash cut through the air.
Compiègne's blade chopped the hoe cleanly in two.
In the same motion, he drove his boot into her body.
Belo Betty was kicked away, blood spraying from her lips as she flew.
"Hmph! Damn witch!" Compiègne spat, eyes burning with murder. "Still trying to use your evil tricks? Not a chance!"
Just this village girl had caused so many of his men to die or be crippled. Unforgivable.
A young man, the one who had secretly joined the Revolutionary Army, stumbled forward, panting hard. His legs shook so badly it was obvious he was terrified, but he still forced the words out.
"Stop! Betty's someone the big shots are watching! If you kill her, you'll get erased too!"
Compiègne blinked. Then he sneered.
"Big shot? I'm the big shot."
He thrust his knife into the young man's chest.
The revolutionary recruit collapsed, kicked aside like trash.
Belo Betty stared at him, then at the villagers who had already vanished into the distance.
Her lips curled in bitter self mockery.
So it was true.
Some people could be encouraged a thousand times, and they would still never fight back. The moment her power left them, they turned into trembling quails again.
And she could not hold their hands forever.
Even if she trained her ability until her throat bled, could she really make cowards stay brave without her standing beside them?
The bandit leader's footsteps came closer, knife raised.
Did she even have a future left to talk about?
"Ahahaha!" Compiègne laughed, looming over her. "Witch, I won't let you die fast. I'm going to burn a freak like you alive!"
He raised the knife again, aiming low.
He planned to stab her legs first, twice, so she could not run.
Then the sky went dark.
Everyone froze and looked up.
A massive winged serpent, vast enough to blot out the sun, swept in above them. The pressure rolling off it crushed the air itself.
Compiègne's legs began to tremble. He could not even take a step.
On the ground, the dying revolutionary recruit's eyes widened.
Was it Revolutionary Army help?
Belo Betty, who had been drowning in despair, suddenly felt hope flare in her chest.
She did not want to die.
Even if the villagers abandoned her, she would never abandon anyone who dared to resist, no matter how weak they were. She wanted her power to reach them. Even if some of them were useless, she would still try.
A gentle voice drifted down.
"Yohoho! Little girl, are you interested in becoming my student? You can grow stronger, meet stronger people, and most importantly, I can save you."
The enormous Quetzalcoatl vanished.
Three figures dropped from the sky.
Well, two landed properly. The third was a white haired kid being carried along like luggage.
Belo Betty stared at the man in black.
Now she had no choices left. And this man was far too strong for her to refuse.
Was this the "big shot" the young man mentioned?
"I'm willing!" she shouted. "Please make me stronger! I want to help more weak people who've lost their courage!"
"Good eye." Brook smiled. "You earn a reward."
He took out a blood crystal dandelion and placed it at her lips.
Belo Betty swallowed without hesitation.
Warmth spread through her body. The gunshot wound in her shoulder began to close at a speed she could see, and the internal pain from Compiègne's kick melted away.
In seconds, she could breathe again.
"This… this is incredible!" she murmured, staring at her shoulder in shock.
A miracle drug?
Then embarrassment flashed across her face.
"Um… Teacher," she said carefully, "can you save that guy? He tried to protect me."
A medicine like this had to be precious. Would someone like Brook really waste it on a stranger?
"Of course." Brook's smile widened. "Hearing you call me Teacher makes me happy."
He produced a second blood crystal dandelion and handed it to Belo Betty.
"It's your reward."
"Thank you, Teacher!" Belo Betty's face lit up.
She grabbed it and ran to the wounded revolutionary recruit, pressing it to his mouth.
Nearby, the bandits had already been handled.
Mihawk released Smoker like a dog off a leash.
The white haired boy could not do anything to Brook or Mihawk, so he vented his rage on the Burgundy bandits instead.
Compiègne swung his long knife wildly, but it passed through smoke again and again.
It was hopeless.
Smoker hammered him with punch after punch, driving the bandit leader, a man worth 8.8 million Berries, into the dirt like a nail.
The rescued revolutionary recruit staggered up, eyes shining with excitement.
"Are you… Revolutionary Army cadres?" he blurted. "Did my message reach you?"
"No," Brook said casually.
Then he laughed.
"But the Revolutionary Army's leader, Dragon, is my student. That means Belo Betty can call your leader Brother.'"
"What?!"
The young recruit went rigid.
Overnight, Belo Betty had risen into the clouds?
He stared at the purple haired village girl in her ragged clothes, envy written all over his face.
Brook glanced at the bandits sprawled across the ground.
"Betty. Do you want to deal with them yourself, or should I?"
"I don't kill people," Belo Betty said, disgust in her eyes. "Teacher, please handle it."
Brook nodded once.
In the next instant, frost spread.
The bandits were frozen where they lay, turning into ice sculptures, then shattering with a single crisp bang into glittering shards.
Smoker and Belo Betty both went still.
Cold ran down Smoker's spine.
And Belo Betty's breath caught.
This Teacher of hers… was gentle when he smiled, but ruthless when he moved.
And his strength was impossible to measure.
--------------
North Sea, Laurence Island.
The island was lively, noisy, and packed with people, but Brook and his small group moved through it at an unhurried pace, as if they were taking a stroll.
In the end, Imu never found a trace of Brook on the Grand Line. With a face dark enough to swallow light, he could only return to Mary Geoise.
Brook, Mihawk, and the two brats were already long gone.
They had boarded Quetzalcoatl, the flying form of the Seven Star Demon Sword, and crossed from the East Blue to the North Blue by scaling the Red Line directly.
To ordinary sailors, the Red Line and the Calm Belt were walls of death.
To real powers, they were obstacles, not absolutes.
Germa 66's snail ships could climb from the North Blue up the Red Line, drop into the East Blue, and level kingdoms without blinking. And people like Rayleigh could swim across half the Calm Belt on his own.
When Roger was executed, pirates from every sea still found their way into the East Blue through hidden routes and special channels. Moria, Doflamingo, Crocodile, all of them had done it.
"The Grand Line is a pirate graveyard" was only true for the weak. Only fools from information starved corners of the world truly believed the Red Line and the Calm Belt were impossible to cross.
"This is insane!" Smoker shouted, eyes shining like a kid who had just discovered fireworks. "We flew straight to the Red Line!"
Belo Betty was excited too, but she held herself better than Smoker. Still, her cheeks were faintly flushed.
"Teacher, where are we going?"
"To check if certain people are slacking off," Brook said casually.
If Brook remembered right, after the North Blue fell under the rule of the Universal Government, Vice Admiral Sakazuki had been stationed here to keep order.
Brook wanted to see whether that ruthless hound had started biting down on the old underworld remnants, pirates like Trebol and Diamante, the kind of men who hid in the shadows and called it "business." Those two were currently hunting Devil Fruits for Brook.
And then there was Doflamingo.
The former Celestial Dragon brat was building his web in the North Blue. Brook was curious whether Doflamingo was arrogant enough to poke Vice Admiral Sakazuki, a man who treated "absolute justice" like scripture.
Sakazuki was exactly the kind of thorn that would execute first and ask questions never. Any pirate who refused to "convert" into an adventurer could easily be judged on the spot.
Shakky, Stussy, and the others had even discussed using Sakazuki as a knife.
Anything that made people angry, anything that needed blood, let Sakazuki do it. Then support him from behind the curtain and keep the blame off the government.
A perfect tool.
Meanwhile, Doflamingo's growth, starting from nothing, was obviously slower. The North Blue also had Germa 66, that infamous organization that would never sit still while outsiders interfered with their underworld.
Trebol and Diamante, backed by Brook, had formed their own Devil Fruit hunting organization. They called it the Poker Army.
It had expanded so fast that even Germa 66 avoided provoking them.
Brook had spoken with Antonio through a Den Den Mushi earlier, and the report had been… amusing.
These idiots actually intercepted Devil Fruits and ate them themselves.
Especially Pica.
He had taken the Paramecia Stone Stone Fruit, a high level ability second only to something like a Nature type earth power.
It could merge with stone and soil, move freely through terrain, reshape the land, and even fuse with buildings and bedrock to form a rock giant hundreds, even thousands, of meters tall.
Their excuse was neat and shameless.
Only by becoming stronger could they serve Brook better.
The truth was simpler.
They were afraid of being replaced, afraid of being discarded, so they gambled first.
When Brook walked into the Poker Army's base on Laurence Island, Trebol, Diamante, Pica, and the rest dropped to one knee the moment they saw him.
"Welcome, Lord Brook!" Diamante bellowed, dragging the others with him as they chanted their messy blessings. "May the Universal Government and the Hell Guild endure forever! May their military fortune flourish, unmatched, unrivaled…"
"That's enough," Brook cut in, rubbing his temple. "Tell me what you've achieved."
"Yes, yes, Lord Brook!" Trebol's forehead broke into cold sweat.
Pica was even worse. He did not dare speak at all. He could already imagine Brook frowning at his sharp voice and deciding he was annoying enough to kill, just to reclaim the Stone Stone Fruit.
Diamante hurried forward as if trying to keep the conversation away from both of them.
"Lord Brook, we brought you two Devil Fruits," he said, presenting two small treasure chests with both hands. "A Paramecia Weapon Fruit, and a Paramecia Spin Fruit!"
Brook opened the chests and studied the fruits.
His expression did not soften.
Not impressive.
But the Weapon Fruit had potential, at least enough to be worth carrying.
He tossed both chests to Belo Betty.
"Hold these."
Belo Betty caught them quickly, nodding with both hands full.
Brook looked down at the kneeling men.
"I won't punish you this time," he said, calm and flat. "It won't happen again."
Trebol and Diamante exhaled so hard it was almost a sob.
Brook's eyes narrowed slightly.
"And increase the search for the Gold Gold Fruit and the Op Op Fruit. Other forces are already hunting them."
"Thank you, Lord Brook!" Trebol and Diamante replied loudly, eager to prove they still had value. "We'll find more Devil Fruits and offer them all to you!"
Pica remained silent, still kneeling, painfully aware of his own voice.
Brook did not linger.
After eating a full meal, he left Laurence Island and took Quetzalcoatl toward the next destination.
He could not be bothered visiting Doflamingo's territory right now. The brat's network was still small, still immature.
Instead, Quetzalcoatl flew straight for Northmarn Island, the North Blue headquarters of the Universal Government's new navy.
The man stationed there was Sakazuki.
At that moment, Sakazuki sat in his office reading the latest Peace Dove News, the World Government's paper, alongside several economic journals.
His fingers tightened on the pages.
"Brook went to the Grand Line personally…" Sakazuki muttered, eyes sharpening. "Killed a Nature type Vice Admiral."
His gaze dropped further.
"A new candidate for Admiral has been announced. Another powerful Devil Fruit user."
His jaw clenched.
"So this is his ability…"
.....
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