"To think the Dread King's only son is actually less valuable than the mere Bisacchi family! Taku, it seems you're not worth much after all!"
"How about… I just kill you?"
Bege's scorching, blood-red Fire Cloud Sword slowly descended towards Taku's eye.
"Stop! Stop!" Taku, his face drained of all color from terror, screamed hysterically, "Uncle Alletha, listen to him! Quickly, listen to what he says! He's going to kill me!"
"Stop! I agree to your terms!" Seph Alletha yelled out hastily.
But the Fire Cloud Sword had already pierced Taku's eye. The superheated tip of the blade instantly cauterized and destroyed Taku's right eye. Taku let out a heart-wrenching, bloodcurdling howl, his body convulsing violently before he fainted from the sheer agony.
"Didn't I tell you to stop?!" Seph Alletha roared, instantly lunging towards Bege, his black-flamed ōdachi slashing down.
"Move one more step, and I'll really kill him," Bege stated icily, his Fire Cloud Sword poised, ready to strike Taku once more.
Seph Alletha's foot shattered the ground as he skidded to a halt.
"This is just a warning. If you show any more hesitation, the next sword strike will be his other eye. And the one after that, his arm. We'll continue until you agree," Bege declared with extreme coldness and cruelty, gesturing with the Fire Cloud Sword over Taku's prone form.
"Uncle Alletha, save me! I can't die! I'm my father's only son, I can't die!" Taku, jolted awake by Bege stepping on him, screamed fearfully to Seph Alletha for help.
An endless inferno of fury burned within Seph Alletha's chest, yet he dared not make a move.
Taku absolutely could not die. If Taku perished, Seph Alletha would be the first to bear the brunt of the Dread King's wrath. He was certain of it; he would undoubtedly be the second one killed.
Seph Alletha's furious, purple demonic eyes fixed on Bisacchi Bourne. Bourne's expression changed drastically; he saw the raw killing intent in Alletha's gaze and instantly bellowed, "Run! Run quickly!"
He spun on his heel and fled at top speed. Holyfield and Mike Phyton, their faces etched with terror, simultaneously turned to escape.
"If you all run, then who will save Taku?" Seph Alletha snarled. With a powerful beat of his demonic wings, he shot forward, skimming low along the ground in pursuit.
His speed was far greater; within seconds, he had caught up to Bisacchi Bourne and his companions.
Mike Phyton whirled around, his face set in grim determination. "I'll hold him off! You two, get out of here, quickly!"
Mike Phyton's portly frame swung his massive, heavy blade, unleashing the entirety of his strength in his most powerful, desperate slash.
With a resounding BANG, Mike Phyton's stout body was sent flying backwards, instantly sailing past Bisacchi Bourne and Holyfield. He crashed heavily into the ruins, plowing through the shattered remnants of several buildings.
Seph Alletha, his expressionless, accelerated once more in pursuit. Bisacchi Bourne spun around, and countless particles of sulfur erupted from his body, coalescing into a veritable dust storm that rushed towards Alletha.
Bisacchi Bourne clashed his twin swords together, sending a shower of sparks flying. The sparks ignited the sulfurous dust storm, and a world-shaking explosion instantly erupted. The blast and ensuing flames formed a towering wall of fire, momentarily blocking Seph Alletha's path.
Bisacchi Bourne continued to flee, not daring to look back.
However, a brilliant slash of black fire was seen cleaving through the wall of flames, and a terrifying figure charged out from within the inferno.
There were fresh burn marks on Seph Alletha's body, and a portion of his keratinous armor had been blasted away. He possessed the capability to have completely avoided the explosion, but he had chosen not to. In his haste to capture Bisacchi Bourne, he was willing to sustain some minor injuries.
"I don't have time to waste with you!"
Seph Alletha's eyes were like chips of ice. He lunged forward and delivered a ruthless slash. A terrifying beam of black-fire sword light tore through the air, instantly catching up to Bisacchi Bourne and Holyfield.
The two men were horrified. They desperately dodged to opposite sides as the terrifying sword light slammed into the ground, cleaving the mountainside once again. The dreadful fissure ran from the summit all the way down to the mountain's base, even carving a trench several meters deep at the bottom.
Bisacchi Bourne looked up to see Seph Alletha's twisted, furious face and a powerful right leg kicking towards him. He quickly braced himself, coating his twin swords with Armament Haki and raising them in a desperate block.
The impact was deafening. The already shattered ground beneath Bisacchi Bourne disintegrated further. The area within a ten-meter radius around him exploded outwards. Bourne's face was a mask of utter despair; he felt as if an entire mountain range had slammed into him, an irresistible force. His body was launched like a cannonball into one of the jagged fissures, blood spraying from his mouth as he was buried under countless tons of rubble.
Seph Alletha's form vanished and reappeared instantly before Holyfield. Another kick. Accompanied by a fresh spray of blood, Holyfield let out a muffled grunt as he crashed through several already ruined buildings, finally being shot into a deep fissure, the impact causing the chasm itself to collapse further.
Seph Alletha charged into the fissure and dragged Bisacchi Bourne out. Ignoring the blood Bourne was profusely coughing up, he threw him down before Bege. Then, he went to retrieve Holyfield.
"Lord Demon Dragon, spare my life! I beg you, spare my life!" Bisacchi Bourne knelt before Bege, kowtowing repeatedly, tears and snot streaming down his face as he pleaded for mercy.
"I'm still useful! I can join the Fire Tank Pirates! Our Bisacchi family will become the sharpest, most resilient sword in your hand! Keeping us alive is far more valuable to you than killing us!"
"Don't worry, I won't kill you," Bege said. "You alive are indeed more valuable than dead." Bege was, in fact, planning to take Bisacchi Bourne back to Skypiea. The most likely scenario was to implant them with Ben Kosa's fusion bombs, turning them into disposable assets. Alternatively, they could serve as experimental material; Ben Kosa's fusion experiments were still sorely lacking in diverse subjects.
"Thank you, Lord Demon Dragon, for sparing our lives!" Bisacchi Bourne kowtowed again, overcome with gratitude.
Bege couldn't be bothered to look at him. Men began to emerge from his internal castle. One of his crewmen approached Bisacchi Bourne and clamped Seastone cuffs on his wrists.
Just then, Seph Alletha tossed the captured Holyfield over. Bege's men quickly moved to secure him with cuffs and shackles as well.
"Can you release Taku now?" Seph Alletha ground out through clenched teeth.
"What's the hurry?" Bege sneered. "I want all members of the Bisacchi family and their entire fortune. It's still early days. You'd better hurry up and get to rounding them up."
Seph Alletha's face was extremely dark, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. He turned and stalked away without another word.
"Don't say I'm not giving you a chance," Bege said coldly to Bisacchi Bourne. "Take my men to the Bisacchi family's treasury. If you dare try any tricks, you'll wish you were dead."
"I won't! I won't try any tricks! I am willing to hand over all the Bisacchi family's wealth to you!" Bisacchi Bourne hastily declared his allegiance. At this point, his only desire was to survive.
Bege's men then escorted Bisacchi Bourne away.
Meanwhile, on a building not far from King Punch Mountain, Marco and Jozu were observing everything that had transpired on the summit through a pair of binoculars.
"This Capone Bege is really something else, daring to use Taku to threaten Alletha like that," Jozu said gravely. "The Fear Pirates won't let the Fire Tank Pirates get away with this. Even if they manage to escape this time, they'll undoubtedly face a full-scale hunt by the Fear Pirates in the future."
Marco chuckled. "Now this is interesting. Though I hate to admit it, this Capone Bege is terrifyingly strong. Like Pops, he possesses Conqueror's Haki; he's definitely aiming for a top spot, a seat of power. In the future, Capone Bege might even end up challenging the Fear Pirates directly. That'll be quite a show to watch."
Marco then added, "The Fear Pirates are ruthless and cruel in their methods. I really dislike them. I'm actually kind of hoping Capone Bege manages to overthrow them."
Jozu nodded in agreement. "Although we didn't manage to get the Devil Fruit this time, witnessing such a grand spectacle certainly wasn't a wasted trip."