Chapter 2: The Naturally Evil Lunarian Brat!
"Rat! Morgan!"
"Are you two slacking off again?" A stern reprimand echoed across the deck, startling a few seagulls that were resting on the warship.
On the deck of the warship, two skinny chore boys were crouched down, scrubbing the floorboards with rags. They answered weakly, "No, Lieutenant Commander, sir. We're working, not slack—"
BOOM—
A humanoid figure descended from the sky, causing destruction like a meteorite impact. The massive warship was instantly smashed, a huge crater appearing in its deck as cracks spread across the entire vessel.
The violent tremor sent many soldiers on deck flying into the sea.
Flames from an unknown source instantly ignited the sails and spread from the masts to the rest of the ship. In moments, the entire deck was a sea of fire.
The soldiers who had been gathered inside the cabins rushed out, desperately trying to extinguish the blaze.
Just then, a figure about two meters tall kicked down a cabin door and flashed into the inferno. He swung a katana, severing the mast and sending the burning sail crashing into the sea.
He then looked up sharply, scanning the area for the culprit amidst the flames while issuing a command, "Lieutenant Commander Doran, get to the armory and dump all the ammunition into the sea to prevent a chain explosion!"
"Understood, Rear Admiral!" Lieutenant Commander Doran immediately led a dozen soldiers into the ship's interior, heading straight for the armory, the most dangerous place in the inferno.
Thump... Thump... At this moment, the sound of heavy footsteps caught the attention of the soldiers.
They raised their guns and fired toward the source of the sound. Gunshots roared. A dense volley of round lead bullets pierced the flames, striking a tall, shadowy figure barely visible in the fire.
WHOOSH... As the footsteps grew closer, the fire intensified, the temperature soared, and billowing smoke made the soldiers' eyes red as they coughed incessantly.
In the next moment, the sea of fire before them parted, creating a path. A boy, about two meters tall, wearing a magnificent toga with a long train, and with a pair of snow-white wings on his back and short, pale-golden hair, strode powerfully into their view.
The flames encircled the boy like guards protecting their monarch. The scorching heat and thick smoke could not affect him in the slightest.
Seeing this, Marine HQ Rear Admiral Stylet frowned, his expression grim and incredibly serious.
Louis walked forward step by step, carrying a four-meter-long metal spear, completely ignoring the Marines who were pouring bullets into him.
As he walked, he raised a hand. A golden light glowed in his palm before scattering into brilliant rays that merged with the surrounding flames and sea breeze.
In the next instant, the scorching flames pulsed and the sea breeze swirled. They then autonomously formed into featureless, humanoid shapes that charged toward the Marines.
Suddenly, figures wreathed in flame were rampaging through the crowd. They used no special techniques, just pure, brute force. Any Marine they passed through was instantly set ablaze.
At the same time, the Marines positioned at the ship's island who fired at the flame figures in an attempt to save their comrades only felt the air currents get disturbed. They were then swept up by a fierce gale and turned into a shower of crimson rain that fell from mid-air.
Rear Admiral Stylet's face changed dramatically. He used the Rokushiki technique, Soru, and instantly vanished, reappearing behind Louis a moment later.
He knew that rather than trying to save his soldiers, the most important thing was to eliminate the culprit behind this chaos as quickly as possible.
"Attacking a warship, killing Marines! Who in the world are you?!" With a fierce shout, he imbued his katana with Armament Haki and swung it through the air, aiming directly for the back of Louis's neck.
Louis completely ignored the Rear Admiral's words. He turned sideways, giving his enemy a cold, indifferent look, then swung his spear in a wide arc.
CLANG—
The metal spear clashed with the Haki-infused blade, sending ripples through the air. The Marine soldiers dozens of paces away were knocked down by the shockwave, only to be passed through by the flame humanoids.
There was no stalemate. Stylet's eyes widened as he staggered backward, using his katana to absorb the force and barely steadying himself more than ten meters away.
He looked at his trembling arm, from which sharp pains shot through, his face ashen with disbelief. "Is this guy a giant?"
However, Louis's figure had already vanished from before his eyes. An instant later, a spear tip filled his vision.
"Tekkai!" Without time to think, Stylet instinctively raised his katana, used the Rokushiki technique Iron Body, and coated himself in Armament Haki.
SPLAT... With the dull thud of steel sinking into flesh, the Rear Admiral's Haki and Tekkai were instantly shattered. The blood-soaked spearhead burst through his back.
Expressionlessly, Louis lifted his spear, hoisting the enemy—whose eyes were wide with disbelief—on its tip, holding him high.
As Louis moved, blood flowed from the Rear Admiral's body, quickly staining a small patch of the deck red.
In just the second exchange, the Marine Rear Admiral had been defeated in the sudden battle, left on the brink of death.
Stylet coughed up blood, his whole body impaled, a searing pain in his chest. He knew his heart had been pierced; there was no coming back. The massive blood loss drained his life and strength, his body growing cold as his vision began to blur.
"You villain, attacking a warship without reason!" Stylet roared, glaring at his assailant, his eyes filled with defiance and fury.
In the next moment, with indomitable will, he endured the agony, reached out his blood-soaked arm to grab the metal spear, and tried to pull his body closer to Louis.
Then, gripping his katana, he used the last ounce of his strength and Haki to swing a final strike at Louis.
The blood-stained blade cut a red arc through the air, landing squarely on Louis's neck.
CLINK!
However, when the blade touched Louis's neck, it made the sound of metal striking metal.
The fine blade shattered from the impact, its broken tip embedding itself deep into the severed mast. Shards of metal flew, reflecting the sunlight before falling onto the deck.
"How... is that possible..." Seeing this, Stylet's bloodshot eyes widened as he coughed up more thick blood.
Louis took in Stylet's counter-attack with a flicker of surprise. He hadn't expected the first Marine he met in the Blue Sea to act with such valor. He abandoned his initial thought of turning him into Marine paste and decided on the spot to give this brave Marine a dignified death.
Louis quickly withdrew his blood-drenched spear and quietly watched as the life drained from the man before him.
At the end of his life, the Rear Admiral's eyes slowly closed, his consciousness fading. Even so, he was still concerned for his men. "Retreat..." he muttered as if to himself. "You're no match for him..."
Louis showed no reaction. In his Observation Haki, there were no more signs of life on the ship. Even if there were, he would not have let a single Marine he had targeted escape. When the Marines participated in the siege of his people, they had shown no mercy. Leaving this Rear Admiral's body intact was already a sign of respect.
After all, back on the sky island, when he fought with the trainers brought up from the Calm Belt, he had torn them to pieces, staining a vast stretch of the Island Clouds a red that couldn't be washed away even with Sea Clouds.
CRACK... With a grating screech that tortured the ears, the warship, damaged by Louis's initial impact, finally gave way and broke apart along the massive fissures.
On a corner of the deck, Louis's gaze fell upon the corpse. "If I wasn't born a Lunarian," he said coolly, "perhaps I wouldn't have specifically targeted Marine soldiers."
Louis bore the mission of returning his people to the Red Line and making the Lunarians great again. Naturally, he could not be lenient with any force connected to the World Government. Before he left, a tribesman with extreme hatred for the World Government had even suggested that once Louis was strong enough, he should even settle the score with the families of World Government personnel to avenge the blood debt from decades ago.
But Louis wasn't some madman who killed on sight and recklessly started wars; he didn't agree with that clansman's idea. On the contrary, he was relatively friendly to ordinary people. If he was in a good mood, he didn't mind helping normal folk in the Blue Sea treat their external injuries.
Speaking of which, he was very popular among the Skypieans on Baal. On an average outing, his cheeks would be pinched by a dozen sky-island ladies. The same clanswoman he'd beaten to tears had once publicly declared that Louis must be a succubus, which is what earned her the beating.
Of course, those Skypieans never saw the miserable state of the ferocious beasts from the Calm Belt that served as his training partners.