The guards hung back, afraid that any move they made would get Kaya hurt.
Lister stepped forward. "Miss Kaya, need a hand?"
"What would I have to pay?" Kaya asked, face pale. She didn't believe a pirate like Lister would help out of kindness.
"Half your estate," Lister said.
Before Kaya could answer, Kuro wrenched his arm tighter around her neck so she couldn't speak and snarled at the guards, "Kill them, or I kill her."
The guards looked at one another, trapped. If they didn't act, their mistress might die before their eyes. If they did act, they might die themselves, whether by Lister's hand or at the hands of his pirates. They were caught between advance and retreat.
"If you don't answer, I'll take that as a yes," Lister said to Kaya with a faint smile.
He vanished and reappeared in front of Kaya. In a blur he pried Kuro's arm off her, shoved her clear, and drove an elbow into Kuro's chest, knocking him back.
Kuro, though thrown far, hadn't taken serious damage. He sprang up, eyes cold and murderous, staring at Lister as his killing intent surged.
"I'm curious," Lister said. "Why go for Kaya just now instead of me?"
"I have no reason to explain anything to you," Kuro said icily.
"Everyone fall back," Lister called to the villagers. "If you don't, you'll be caught up in what comes next."
The villagers looked at him in surprise. For a man who called himself a pirate, he was oddly considerate. After what they had just seen, their view of Lister shifted a little. They obediently backed away, leaving a fifty-meter ring of open sand between Lister and Kuro.
Kuro didn't care. He fixed his gaze on Lister and flexed the ten bladed claws.
He vanished without a sound and reappeared in front of Lister, the claw flashing at Lister's throat so fast it tore the air.
Lister was faster. His katana knocked the claw aside. He reversed and cut for Kuro's chest.
Cloth ripped. Kuro twisted at the last instant and the blade missed flesh.
Lister pressed in, the katana scything across Kuro's neck.
Kuro raised the ten-claw to block. Steel rang. Sparks flew. Kuro was driven back more than ten steps.
"What's wrong, Kuro? Can't keep up? Sixteen million feels a bit generous. With skills like that, you're not worth it," Lister taunted.
Kuro ignored him, thinking fast. "His speed is too high. I can't match it like this. Then I'll use that."
He began to sway like a zombie, the twin claws clacking against each other with a harsh clatter.
"That move," Lister's eyes lit. Shakushi. The one thing worth seeing from Kuro. Maybe there was something to learn.
Kuro's windup was long, but Lister didn't interrupt. He watched.
When the timing was right, Kuro burst into motion.
Lister switched to Overclock.
The world snapped into razor clarity. Everything around him seemed to slow. What others could barely track became as slow as a turtle to Lister. Every nuance of Kuro's movement, the mechanics beneath it, unfolded vividly before his eyes.
Watching Kuro's Shakushi and combining it with his grasp of Soru from the Navy's Six Styles, he grasped Silent Flash Step.
"It's over," Lister murmured.
In Overclock, his sight, reactions, and speed soared. His blade drew a clean line.
Blood spurted from Kuro's chest in a long gash. Mid-dash, Kuro halted, staring blankly at Lister.
"Speed?"
"You could call it godspeed," Lister said.
"Godspeed. It really is fast," Kuro whispered, and collapsed.
He wasn't dead, only stripped of the ability to fight.
"Medic. Bandage him."
A First Division medic sprinted over, checked the wound, and quickly dressed it so Kuro wouldn't bleed out.
Only then did the onlookers seem to catch up.
"It's over?"
"Looks like it."
"What even happened?"
"No idea. One moment Kuro was moving, and then he just fell."
"So weak," someone muttered, then corrected himself. "No. That pirate Lister is too strong. Did you see his movement just now?"
"I couldn't see anything."
"That's why, to him, we're like chickens to the butcher. Kuro was fast, but Lister is faster."
"Thinking we could fight people like that was ignorance."
"Lucky for us he isn't that kind of bad pirate. With strength like his, he could have blood-washed Syrup Village a dozen times. Why bother trading with us?"
After this fight the villagers had seen Lister's power, and a measure of trust took root. At the very least, they no longer thought he was that kind of pirate.