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Chapter 1143: Killing is That Simple
Chapter 1143: Killing is That Simple
Killing wasn’t just a threat for Kuro—it was a deadly serious intent!
He had no desire to burn bridges with pirate crews of the Four Emperors’ caliber. Such confrontations would only create messy, unseemly conflicts that troubled both sides.
Even between Kaido and Big Mom, who had clashed countless times, their rivalry had never escalated to outright enmity. True irreconcilable hostility only emerged when someone like Marshall D. Teach created irreversible chaos—when one mobilized all their strength for a single, decisive strike.
This was precisely how Kuro approached Shanks now.
The current environment of the Grand Line was a rare opportunity that gave Kuro an overwhelming advantage. He wouldn’t waste it.
Red-Haired Shanks had repeatedly provoked the Navy and obstructed their path like an unyielding roadblock. Naturally, Kuro had decided to eliminate him.
This chance was too precious to miss.
Time to strike the killing blow!
As Kuro’s voice rang out, the six blood-red threads swirling around him snapped forward. Before the Red-Haired Pirates’ officers could even stabilize their footing, the threads pierced through them like serpents striking their prey.
The delicate, floating threads brushed lightly against their bodies—just a single touch.
Boom!
Lucky Roux’s head tilted forward, revealing a gaping hole in his chest. His eyes widened in disbelief, as though refusing to accept reality. Trembling hands reached toward the wound, but not a drop of blood spilled—his circulation hadn’t even registered the damage. Staggering sideways, his expression contorted, and he gasped weakly:
“…It hurts.”
Jesus Burgess fared worse. The thread had swept across his head, obliterating it completely. His headless body swayed, smooth as a freshly cut log at the neck, before plunging backward into the Grand Line.
The remaining four officers fared no better.
The sunglasses-wearing man with a Red Dragon tattoo and ashen gray hair suffered the same fate—his Haki-protected body crumpled under the thread’s touch, his head vanishing as if never there.
The man with a monkey perched on his shoulder and a ferocious expression lost his entire neck when the thread brushed it. His headless skull and torso splashed into the sea together.
The yellow-haired man wearing a pirate-ship-emblazoned headband took a direct hit to the heart, his body flipping backward into the ocean.
The beast-like officer with crimson hair and razor-sharp fangs met his end as the thread tore through his chest. His body split in two, both halves plummeting into the Grand Line.
Only now did the sea surface bloom with crimson. As blood finally surged from their wounds, the water absorbed the crimson stains, as if nature itself had awakened to their demise.
Hmph.
Kuro exhaled slowly. The six blood-red threads encasing his shoulders, waist, and thighs vanished. He turned toward the stunned Red-Haired Shanks and Beckman. With a flick of his finger, the Yokai Blade hovering before them shot toward his hand like lightning.
“This is it,” Kuro said with a smirk. “See? Killing is effortless for me.”
“Lucky! Jesus!!”
Beckman’s scream shattered the silence first. His sclerae turned bloodshot, his entire body trembling. “How dare you—how dare you—”
Red-Haired Shanks’ fury was volcanic. His red hair seemed ready to bristle upright, his pupils narrowing to needlepoints.
Whoosh!
The surging sea swelled violently, as if something monstrous had struck its surface. The sky darkened ominously.
Shanks closed his eyes briefly, a resigned sigh escaping his lips. “Lucky… Jesus… everyone…”
A sailor’s fate was always to die on the Grand Line. Shanks had known this truth since childhood. He’d witnessed countless partings and deaths—even his mentor, Roger, hadn’t escaped the reaper’s grasp.
Though the Red-Haired Pirates had lost many during their decades on the Grand Line, their original companions had endured. Lucky Roux and Jesus Burgess had been there from the start, standing beside him through every storm. Though losing crewmates brought sorrow, new allies joined, strengthening their influence until they rose to Four Emperor status, where losses became rare.
Not that they were immune—no one on the Grand Line could claim invulnerability. Yet Shanks had believed his elite officers were untouchable.
Even when they opposed Kaido before, they’d survived.
Until today.
First, his entire crew had been erased by a single laser cannon. Now, his core officers were slain in one strike by Kuro.
Just a mere flick of those blood-red threads…
But Shanks now understood. Those threads represented Kuro’s full power—an ability-fueled transformation akin to Kaido’s Dragon Demon form or Big Mom’s Soul Scorch mode. Shanks recognized the technique, though he couldn’t fathom its devastating potency. The threads’ lethality had overwhelmed his officers completely.
“Grand Line…”
His eyes swept the churning sea, his voice grim. “You never know what the next second holds. Lucky… Jesus… your journey ends here.”
Kuro narrowed his eyes. “You don’t seem grief-stricken?”
“Surviving on the Grand Line means accepting this reality. I’ve long prepared myself. But—”
Crack!
The air around them seemed to shatter.
Boom!
A towering geyser erupted behind Shanks as he surged forward on his tiny skiff, kicking up a massive wake across the sea surface. In an instant, he closed the distance to Kuro.
Even his Haki-infused skiff disintegrated under the force of this explosive charge.
Shanks maintained his breakneck speed, skimming the water’s surface. His Griffin blade blazed with crimson energy as he swung it overhead in a devastating downward slash.
“I’ll make you pay for this, Kuro!”
With a thunderous roar, Shanks unleashed his Conqueror’s Haki, a force capable of crushing all nearby. For a fleeting moment, even Kuro’s body stiffened—just enough time for Shanks!
Without a skiff, he’d lose mobility after this strike, forced to swim in the sea. And once in the water, Kuro’s relentless whirlpools would tear through steel itself. Against the sea’s wrath, even Shanks would be powerless.
But that depended on surviving this strike!
“Divine Evasion!!”
As Shanks roared into his charge, Beckman raised his rifle in fury. The white lightning patterns across his body flared, channeling all energy into his weapon.
Boom!
The gunshot rang out, a surge of white lightning even faster than a laser. As Shanks’ sword descended, Beckman’s shot arrived at Kuro’s side.
Sword and bullet converged, sealing all escape routes.
As both had realized—Kuro’s deadly threads were gone. This was their one chance.
They wouldn’t squander the opening paid for with their comrades’ lives!
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
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