Finn ordered Juno, "Go and bring me that boy immediately. We will use him as a shield to escape from here."
Juno immediately nodded and started walking toward Gojo. Each step was slow but determined, and his eyes never left the boy. There was a seriousness in his movements, like he knew exactly what he had to do.
While Juno was moving, Finn turned toward the marine ship and shouted with all his strength, "You marine dogs! Stop firing! If you don't stop, I will kill this boy, an innocent young boy, and his death will be on your hands!"
His voice carried across the water, loud enough for Smoker and most of the marines to hear clearly. Smoker, who was on the deck of the marine ship, immediately said to the marine soldier beside him, "Give me your binoculars." The soldier quickly handed them over.
Smoker raised the binoculars and carefully looked at the pirate ship. Through the lenses, he first saw Finn, the captain of the Minnow pirates, who had just shouted. Then he noticed a young boy with his eyes closed, standing still, while Juno, the vice-captain, was moving toward him in a clear attempt to capture him.
Seeing this, Smoker understood the situation immediately. Without wasting any more time, he shouted back to his men, "Stop firing!"
As soon as Smoker shouted his order, everyone on the marine ship stopped firing. For a moment, he stood there, unsure of what to do next. The situation was tense, and he could feel the weight of the choice in front of him.
Just then, one of the marine officers spoke up. "Captain Smoker, we can't let these pirates escape just because of a few hostages. You are new to the East Blue. These kinds of tactics are very common here. If you want to subdue and destroy a pirate group, there will always be some collateral damage. That's just how it is."
Smoker listened carefully and understood exactly what the officer meant: the young boy could be sacrificed, and the marines could focus on capturing or destroying the Minnow pirates. But he shook his head firmly. "No. Whatever happened before will not happen on my watch. I will find another way to save that boy. As for taking down these pirates, it's not that big of an issue."
The officer looked at him, silently sighing. He thought to himself that Smoker was too young and too idealistic. His sense of justice was too pure, and it would make achieving real results difficult. This, the officer realized, was exactly why Smoker had been posted here in the East Blue, rather than in more dangerous places like the Grand Line, where harsh decisions were a daily necessity.
Smoker did not look surprised by the officer's suggestion, nor by the officer's attitude. It was the kind of thing he had heard before. The officer belonged to the hawk faction among the marines — the ones who cared most about destroying pirates, not saving civilians. To them, sacrificing a few innocents was an acceptable cost if it meant wiping out a pirate crew. Smoker knew that view well.
Back on the Minnow, Juno reached Gojo and, without any hesitation, lunged to grab him. But before his hand closed, Gojo moved aside and slipped out of his reach. Juno froze for a moment, taken aback. The boy's eyes were completely shut, and Juno had assumed Gojo was scared and easy to grab. Instead, Gojo had somehow known his move and dodged cleanly.
Thinking it was just luck, Juno tried again. He swung his arm faster this time, trying to catch the boy by the shoulder. Once again, Gojo stepped away and avoided the grab as if he had expected it. The second miss hit Juno harder than the first. His surprise turned into irritation.
Juno lowered his voice and warned him in a rough tone, "Don't make things difficult, boy. Come with me now, or I'll make you pay and show you my methods."
Gojo, with his eyes still closed, simply faced Juno and said, "Fuck you."
The words hit Juno like a shock. Anger immediately flared, and he swung his fist at Gojo with full force. But Gojo, with his extremely high perception, knew exactly when and where the punch would land. He moved swiftly, dodging the strike without opening his eyes.
In the next instant, Gojo closed the distance beneath Juno with incredible speed. He unsheathed the sword that was strapped to Juno's waist. Juno, still burning with rage and thrown off by his missed punch, barely had time to react before Gojo plunged the sword into his stomach.
Gojo's voice was cold as steel. "You killed my uncle in front of me. Back then, I was powerless. Today… I am not." He twisted the sword slightly, making sure the wound was serious.
Juno screamed in pain, "Ah!" The sound of his agony carried across the deck, echoing to everyone present. Finn, who had been waiting for Juno to bring Gojo, turned around at once. His eyes widened in disbelief as he saw Juno stabbed. "What… just happened?" he said, his voice filled with shock.
Gojo didn't care about anyone else's reaction. He pulled the sword out of Juno's stomach, and Juno collapsed to the ground. The crew could only stare in shock, wondering how such a weak-looking boy, who had seemed so easy to capture, could not only fight back but also kill one of their strongest members.
To be absolutely sure Juno was dead, Gojo raised the sword again and drove it into the middle of his back, twisting it to crush his heart.
Even Gojo himself was slightly surprised by what he was doing. He muttered under his breath, "Maybe this cruelty was always inside me." Unlike the protagonists in the novels he had read, he didn't feel nauseous or uncomfortable after his first kill. He felt completely calm, almost detached. He couldn't see the blood, but he could sense it flowing. And he knew, with absolute certainty, that even if he looked, it wouldn't make him sick.
Finn lost all sense of reason. With a furious shout of "Bastard!" he raised his gun and fired multiple shots in rapid succession.
Gojo didn't move. Not a single step. The bullets stopped in midair, just three or four inches from his body, frozen as if some invisible force held them. The crew could only stare in disbelief. This was clearly the work of Gojo's Limitless technique. After a few moments, the bullets fell harmlessly to the ground in front of him.
Finn's face turned pale, his hands trembling. "How… how is this possible?" he stammered. "When did you eat a Devil Fruit? When we captured you from the village, you hadn't eaten any Devil Fruit. If you had… you would have saved your uncle back then!"
Gojo, his eyes still closed, calmly turned to face Finn. "This is all thanks to you," he said. "I found the Devil Fruit on your ship."
Finn froze, his mind unable to process the words. Shock spread across his face like lightning striking him directly. He felt the world tilt around him, as if everything he knew had suddenly fallen apart.
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