Turning his head, Kai looked calmly at the incoming bullet.
His Observation Haki had already locked onto its trajectory with perfect precision.
So he slowly raised his right hand—
and held up two fingers.
Then he pinched toward the bullet's path.
In the end—
he caught it effortlessly between those two fingers.
He applied the slightest bit of force.
Crack.
The bullet was crushed instantly, reduced to twisted metal dust that slipped through his fingers and fell into the sea below.
Following the line of his gaze, Kai looked at Miss Bakkin without the slightest trace of warmth.
At that moment, Miss Bakkin was holding a specially made pistol, staring at him in horror.
That was right.
The bullet that had just targeted Kai had come from her.
Seeing Weevil begin to fall into a disadvantage, she had finally panicked.
So she tried to do her part—to turn the tide for him, even if only a little.
Too bad for her—
she had completely misjudged Kai's Observation Haki.
How could an ordinary bullet possibly threaten him?
To Kai, the woman in front of him looked so stupid it was almost pitiful.
"You actually thought bullets would work on me?"
"Who gave you the courage to try?"
Kai studied her with mild amusement.
From the very beginning, the moment Miss Bakkin pulled the trigger, his Observation Haki had already captured every movement she made.
Within several hundred meters, nothing escaped his perception.
Every tiny stir, every shift, every hostile intent—
all of it was laid bare before him.
That was why, the instant Miss Bakkin prepared to act, Kai had already predicted it.
"Do you understand…"
"what it means to attack me?"
Kai looked at Miss Bakkin deeply, speaking in a slow, measured tone.
The moment the words fell, Miss Bakkin felt a chill shoot from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head.
Her whole body broke out in goosebumps.
It was as if she had fallen into an icy abyss.
She clung tightly to the floating plank beneath her, barely managing to keep herself from sinking.
Under Kai's cold gaze—
she suddenly realized she had made a terrible mistake.
She should never have attacked this monster.
A terrifying sense of danger flooded her chest, so strong that her body began trembling uncontrollably.
Fear swallowed her whole.
She regretted it now.
She should never have lashed out in panic at a monster this terrifying.
And now?
Kai was completely unharmed.
While she—
was about to become the target of his killing intent.
She didn't dare imagine what kind of miserable end awaited her.
If Kai could fight her son Weevil evenly, then if he turned his attention toward her—
could she possibly survive?
Absolutely not.
The thought made her collapse completely.
"Weevil! Save me!"
Her scream of terror tore across the sea.
At once, Weevil—who heard her cry—gripped his Armament Haki-coated naginata even tighter, his eyes filling with panic and fury as he glared at Kai in the sky.
"Mom!"
"I'll kill him right now!"
Grinding his teeth, Weevil attacked again in rage.
He swung his naginata upward toward Kai.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
One brilliant slash after another tore toward the sky, each of them aiming to cut Kai to pieces.
"Soru."
Just before they could hit him, Kai vanished again.
When he reappeared—
he was already above the sea right beside Miss Bakkin.
Standing on Geppo, he looked down at her from close range.
"I'll ask you one last time."
"Who gave you the nerve to attack me?"
Kai's lips curled slightly.
"Y-you—!"
Miss Bakkin's eyes widened.
She swallowed hard, face pale with fear.
She had been completely unprepared for Kai to appear right next to her without warning.
"Anyone who attacks me…"
"I treat as an enemy."
"And right now…"
"you are my enemy."
"And for my enemies, I give the highest possible respect."
"That is…"
"I blow them apart with my own hands."
Kai smiled.
But in Miss Bakkin's eyes, that smile looked like a devil's grin.
It made her scalp go numb.
"No! You can't kill me!"
"If you kill me…"
"My son will avenge me! Weevil will kill you! He'll hunt you—and your entire Navy—until the very end!"
"Without me to restrain him, he'll go completely insane. The destruction he causes will be far beyond anything your Marines can imagine."
"And you'll die too!"
"So I advise you to spare me! I'm the only one who can keep Weevil under control. Otherwise, once he goes berserk, every Marine here dies today!"
To save her own life, Miss Bakkin desperately began throwing out threat after threat.
Her ugly face had gone deathly pale.
Fear had turned her entire body weak and shaky.
"Is that so?"
"You're the only one who can restrain Weevil?"
Kai smiled faintly.
"In that case…"
"if I kill you, and then kill him too, doesn't that solve the problem?"
"Then he won't be left alive to keep causing trouble on this sea, right?"
The moment those words left his mouth—
Miss Bakkin's pupils shrank.
Her face changed completely.
"N-no! You can't!"
"His father is Whitebeard—the strongest man in the world!"
"If you kill him…"
"Whitebeard will come for you!"
"That's the strongest man in the world!"
"Your entire Navy will be buried with you!"
"Spare us—spare me and Weevil!"
"I swear I'll keep him under control from now on. I'll make sure he never causes chaos in these waters again."
"I can even take him away and disappear completely. We'll never show ourselves on this sea again!"
At this point, Miss Bakkin no longer doubted it—
the five-year-old in front of her really might have the strength to defeat Weevil.
And that realization had terrified her completely.
"Then let Whitebeard come."
"I'll be waiting."
Kai laughed.
Looking at the near-hysterical, utterly pathetic state Miss Bakkin had fallen into, he no longer had any interest in continuing the conversation.
Anything more would just be a waste of time.
As for her begging—
he didn't care.
In Kai's memory, Zephyr's future misfortune at Weevil's hands—the severed arm, the massacre of his students—
likely began here.
Kai had already pieced together the rough outline in his mind.
If he had not been here today, then Zephyr would have been the one to fight Weevil.
At this stage of life, Zephyr had not yet declined with age.
Against a Weevil who also had not yet reached his peak, Zephyr would most likely have won.
Then, because of Weevil's obvious mental disability, coupled with Miss Bakkin's pitiful pleading and Zephyr's own soft-hearted nature—
the man known as the Marine who "does not kill" would very likely have spared them.
And that would have been letting a tiger return to the mountain.
A few years later—
Weevil would reappear, now at the peak of his strength.
By then, Zephyr would be old.
Miss Bakkin, still holding a grudge, would lead Weevil back to him.
An aging Zephyr facing peak Weevil…
would naturally lose.
And from that, the tragedy of his severed arm would follow.
That was the chain Kai had assembled in his mind.
Otherwise, why would Weevil attack a Marine Admiral for no reason?
No.
The enmity had to begin here.
Except now—
because Kai had stepped in—
the one meant to become Weevil's enemy was no longer Zephyr.
It was Kai.
"Letting an enemy go after this?"
"As if I'd ever do something that stupid."
"I'm not the same as Teacher Zephyr."
"He's merciful toward pirates. That's why he's known as the Marine who doesn't kill."
"But me?"
"I never let an enemy walk away."
"Since we've already become mortal enemies today, and since I have no intention of waiting for the day you recover, grow stronger, and come back to seek revenge…"
"I'll just strike first."
Kai looked deeply at Miss Bakkin, his mind made up.
Today—
he would personally erase the tragedy waiting in Zephyr's future.
With that thought in his heart, Kai threw a punch at Miss Bakkin without the slightest hesitation.
"No—!"
Miss Bakkin's eyes bulged, blood vessels bursting across them.
Her face was filled with terror and disbelief.
Kai really was going to kill her.
No hesitation.
No mercy.
A five-year-old child—
yet not even her desperate pleas could stir pity in him.
This little monster…
was a born calamity.
The more she realized that, the deeper her regret and despair became.
And then—
in the depths of that terror—
Kai's fist arrived.
The punch was wrapped in Armament Haki and exploded forward with a sharp sonic boom.
Boundless power erupted from it—
and struck Miss Bakkin's tiny body head-on.
BOOOOOOM—!
A thunderous explosion rang out.
Kai's single punch crushed not only Miss Bakkin herself—
but the sea within nearly ten meters around her.
The force was utterly overwhelming.
It pulverized her body on the spot.
Her whole body burst apart like a smashed melon.
Splatter.
A cloud of blood exploded into the air and scattered everywhere.
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