Sabaody Archipelago, Area Thirty-Six—on the top floor of the highest-class hotel.
The banquet hall was decorated with extravagance taken to the extreme.
Rare fruits, expensive red wine, neatly cut cigars, and delicate pastries covered the tables…
Yet something about it felt strangely wrong.
Aside from a small number of servers, there wasn't a single woman in sight.
In the center of the hall, dozens of provocatively dressed men swayed and danced with abandon, putting on a show for Saint Rosward seated at the head.
"Hahahaha…"
"This new batch is really good quality."
Rosward pulled an androgynously handsome man into his arms, his face full of indulgent satisfaction.
Ever since he'd gotten older, he'd started craving a change of taste.
Who would've thought…
That single change would drag this Celestial Dragon deeper and deeper, until he couldn't pull himself out.
"My lord, please enjoy yourself. I won't disturb your refined entertainment," the captain of the guards said with a fawning smile.
"Leave."
"This is your reward. Don't disappoint me next time."
Rosward tossed him a pouch of gold coins and waved lazily.
The guard captain quickly caught it, piled on more flattery, then turned to go.
But the moment he pushed open the banquet hall doors—
Bang!
A gunshot cracked through the air.
The guard captain stiffened, then crumpled to the floor in a heap.
"Hah…"
"I gave it to you and you really dared to take it?"
"As trash, just do the work trash is meant to do."
Rosward casually blew the faint smoke from the muzzle, contempt plain in his eyes.
His subordinates didn't even blink—clearly used to this.
They moved swiftly, dragging the body away and cleaning the scene until not a trace remained.
The banquet continued.
Soft music flowed once more. The dancers resumed their performance. Rosward even twisted his fat waist along with the rhythm, thoroughly entertained.
Then—
The banquet hall doors were kicked open with a single violent strike.
The music cut off like a blade.
Every gaze in the room snapped toward the entrance.
Two masked men walked in at an unhurried pace.
One carried a cane, dressed in a dark red suit—a gaunt white-haired man with a slender frame.
The other wore a red-faced mask, and over it sat a thin, rimless pair of glasses.
"You really know how to play," Xiao Zizai said with a faint smile. Under his mask, a hint of crimson flickered in his eyes.
"I'd heard some Celestial Dragons had… unusual tastes. I didn't expect it to be true."
"What a grand banquet," Jack the Ripper said, giving a small, polite bow.
"I wonder if the two of us have interrupted your festivities."
Outside, watching the scene unfold, Ron covered his face with a palm.
"Two absolute geniuses…"
"So you planned all afternoon, and in the end you just walked in openly?"
"This is… art."
It was basically the same as robbing a bank with a stocking over your head.
You two were powerhouses in your own worlds.
And this is what you chose to do?
It was beyond shameless.
"You can complain all you want, but could you stop touching other places?" Yoruichi—currently in black cat form—raised her sharp claws and snapped in annoyance.
"Ah…" Ron kept petting the cat and sighed.
"Cats really can't be kept. Unstable temperament. Violent tendencies."
"When I was a kid, I personally saw a cat pull out a gun and shoot a one-eared mouse."
Yoruichi: "…"
So we're doing the Black Cat Detective routine again?
Keep talking—see if my kitty fist doesn't knock you flat.
...…
Inside the banquet hall.
Xiao Zizai swept his gaze across the room, then spoke coldly to the men Rosward had brought to entertain him.
"If you don't want to die, get out. Now."
The moment those words landed, the men who'd been clinging to Rosward just moments ago looked as if they'd been granted a pardon.
They scrambled up and fled in a panicked stampede.
In the blink of an eye, the vast hall was left with only Rosward and his guards.
"I've already lost patience," Jack the Ripper said with a smile, stepping forward.
"Let's begin."
"If the Navy shows up, it won't be easy to clean up."
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap…
His footsteps advanced like a countdown.
Like the Grim Reaper walking in, scythe in hand.
"Kill them!" Rosward screamed, not even having time to pull up his pants, pointing wildly in terror.
The guards surged forward to shield him—
But in the next instant, thin lines flashed through the air.
A beat later, bodies dropped one after another, collapsing like puppets whose strings had been cut.
The carpet—so expensive it looked like it belonged in a palace—was quickly stained and ruined, turning the scene into something cruel and grotesque.
That was Jack's silver wire—refined through his divine artifact.
Before it, human flesh was as fragile as paper.
"This one's mine," Xiao Zizai said, stepping forward and grabbing Rosward's fat face in his hand.
"Killing Celestial Dragons satisfies me far more than killing pirates."
"Suit yourself." Jack shrugged, stepping aside.
A sharp stench spread through the air.
Rosward had completely lost control from fear.
"You're Xiao Zizai—the Navy Vice Admiral who was specially approved to take office, right?!" Rosward shouted, voice shaking.
Normally, a mere Vice Admiral wasn't worth a Celestial Dragon's attention.
But…
That infamous, ruthless reputation had already spread through the Navy and the World Government.
"That's right." Xiao Zizai admitted it without hesitation.
Then—
He reached behind him and pulled out… a frozen fish.
Jack blinked. "What's that for?"
Xiao Zizai's eyes shimmered with a deeper red as he explained, "Rem told me."
"If you freeze a fish hard enough, it works like a club."
"And the visual impact is strong."
"Not a bad idea."
"N-no…"
"Don't… don't kill me."
"If you spare my life, I can give you anything you want!"
"Women, power, money—I can even use my connections to make you Fleet Admiral!"
"Just… don't kill me!"
Rosward begged as he scrambled backward, his stubby legs kicking helplessly across the floor.
Xiao Zizai didn't answer.
He simply stepped forward.
The frozen fish moved in his hand, wrapped in that strange force he called "Qi," and what followed was swift, brutal, and deliberate—done in a way that made the room turn cold.
Rosward's scream tore through the banquet hall.
Jack the Ripper's pupils tightened.
His breathing grew noticeably faster, as if he were intoxicated by the scene.
It was horrifyingly precise—controlled violence, calculated cruelty, a craftsman's cold hand.
"Jack, do you know something?" Xiao Zizai spread his arms, savoring the moment like a believer reciting scripture.
"To me, killing doesn't distinguish between the strong and the weak."
"These are all fragile—yet dazzling—lives."
"To slowly feel the instant a life fades…"
"That is the meaning of existence."
Before Jack could respond—
What happened next pushed his excitement to the edge of trembling.
...…
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