"Eat my fist!"
Yato had little to no experience with hand-to-hand combat.
He simply swung his fist by instinct.
But to the stunned, wide-eyed bald captain, this punch was more than enough, he couldn't even dodge.
It was as if the black figure before him radiated an overwhelming sense of dread.
Eyes widening, the bald man braced himself and took the punch head-on.
BAM!
His face contorted from the impact, and his body shot through the air, crashing into the tavern doors with a loud crash.
"Captain!"
His crew cried out in unison.
"Decent strength," Yato muttered as he pulled back his arm.
"Definitely way beyond the average person, but…"
Before he could finish that thought, a flash of cold steel appeared.
One of the pirates had drawn a short sword and lunged directly at Yato's chest.
"Die, monster!"
The attacker sneered, fully confident in his sneak attack.
But the grin quickly vanished,
Replaced by horror.
Shhk.
His blade stabbed cleanly through Yato's chest, as if piercing through a bedsheet.
No blood.
No resistance.
No harm.
The attacker felt no impact.
"He's a Logia-type!" someone blurted, eyes wide in disbelief.
Panicked, the attacker dropped his sword and staggered backward, scrambling for distance.
Yato smirked, then casually reached out and plucked the sword from midair.
Meanwhile, the bald captain, whom Yato had launched across the room, was now back on his feet, eyes filled with a mix of fear and rage.
"Who the hell are you?! Why are you picking a fight with us?!
We're the Battleaxe Pirates! State your name!"
Yato, still playing with the sword in his hand, didn't answer at first.
After a moment, he lazily replied:
"Weren't you just bragging about killing Whitebeard?
I figured I'd see for myself how strong you really were."
The captain's expression twisted.
He'd been drunk, shooting his mouth off, and now look where it got him.
But he couldn't show weakness in front of his crew.
Gritting his teeth, he growled:
"So what if you're a Logia? You think that makes you untouchable?
You messed with the Battleaxe Pirates, don't think you're leaving here alive!"
"Cut the crap. I'm here to mess with you."
Yato's voice was cool and bored.
Without another word, he lunged forward.
Swish!
The black blade in his hand shimmered as it shot toward the captain's forehead like a falling star.
"So be it!"
The captain roared, his rage igniting.
He raised his massive cleaver and met the blow head-on.
CLANG!!
A sharp screech echoed,
Yato's blade snapped in two on impact.
"…What a garbage sword."
Yato looked down at the broken weapon, speechless.
He glanced at its original owner, who looked heartbroken.
"Hahaha! My cleaver's forged from high-grade steel!"
The bald captain roared with laughter.
He followed up with a powerful overhead swing straight at Yato's head.
Ssst!
The blade cleaved Yato clean in half.
For a moment, the crew thought it was over.
But before they could even sigh in relief, the two halves of black mist swirled back together,
Merging once again into Yato's shadowy humanoid form.
"Damn Logia!" the captain cursed, expression twisted.
Silently, his left hand crept toward his belt.
At this point, all the pirates were convinced,
This mysterious attacker had to be a Logia Devil Fruit user.
After all, only Logia types could become fluid, intangible,
immune to normal physical attacks.
"Logia, huh?" Yato chuckled.
"If that's what you want to believe, sure."
Then, under his breath:
"Normal weapons won't do. Looks like I'll have to forge my own."
With a flick of his wrist, inky smoke gathered in his palm.
Within seconds, a sleek, pitch-black sword of condensed shadow formed in his hand.
He was starting to understand the Shadow Wraith's abilities.
The first: teleportation to any shadow across any distance.
The second: shadow manipulation, allowing him to solidify, create weapons, and control the battlefield.
With the Shadow Blade now in hand, Yato wasted no time.
He struck.
He wasn't a trained swordsman,
But even if he didn't train, he'd seen plenty of sword slash.
The black blade slashed through the air.
The bald captain's face twisted.
I can't block that! This guy's immune to damage, he's using a "trade hits" strategy!
He knew that even if he landed a blow, the other guy wouldn't be hurt.
But him? He'd bleed.
So he dodged.
For a pirate worth 75 million Berries, dodging with everything he had,
Yato's untrained swordsmanship wasn't enough to hit him cleanly.
"Tsk. Stop dodging. Come on, hit me."
Yato slashed again, sweeping horizontally this time.
The bald man shivered.
He's clearly not a swordsman, but his angles… they're bizarrely sharp and hard to predict!
He twisted his wide waist again, just barely dodging.
"Boring. I'm already over this."
Yato abruptly stopped, his eyes cold.
The captain blinked.
He's done?
But then,
Yato suddenly hurled the black sword like a javelin.
Fwoosh!
The blade flew so fast it left a trail of shadows.
The captain never saw it coming.
Shhk!
Pain shot through his foot.
He looked down.
The shadow sword had nailed his left foot to the tavern floor.
"ARGHH!!"
He howled in pain, cold sweat pouring down his face.
"I just wanted to test out swordplay.
I've got plenty of other ways to kill you,
but you kept dodging, and I'm tired of this game."
What kind of logic is that?! You're trying to kill me and I'm not allowed to dodge?!
The bald man was seething. This guy was completely unreasonable!
"Anyway… I'm guessing your bounty hit 75 million because of all the terrible things you've done, yeah?
Let me give you some advice,
Don't bother heading into the New World.
At your level, you're just cannon fodder."
The captain stayed silent.
The rest of the crew was frozen in fear, none daring to move.
Yato had no interest in wasting time on these weaklings.
He casually glanced toward the old man drinking in the corner, then raised a hand.
His body began to fade.
"Later. If I'm ever bored again, maybe I'll come back."
As his form blurred and vanished, the bald man suddenly shouted:
"Wait! Who the hell are you?! Name yourself! I'll remember this!"
"Me?"
The question actually caught Yato off guard.
After a moment's thought, he smiled.
"Call me Shadow Wraith. From the Phantom Pirates.
If you're looking for revenge, bring someone Admiral-level."
And with that, he vanished completely.
Only his laughter remained.
The bald man turned pale.
"A powerful Logia user… and he's just a courier?!
What the hell kind of pirate crew is the Phantom Pirates?!"
His whole body trembled.
He had a feeling… he'd just pissed off something massive.
Meanwhile, in the corner, the old man who had quietly watched the whole thing lifted his drink and muttered to himself:
"So he recognized me…
But 'Phantom Pirates'? Never heard of that crew.
Where the hell did that one come from?"
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200 P.S = 1 Extra Chapters