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Chapter 35: The Rules of North Blue
The screams of the Celestial Dragons echoed through the World Government official ship. In the cabin, a bruised woman lay in a pool of blood, staring vacantly at the screaming "god" as her mind became blank. This Marine had injured a Celestial Dragon. No, he was trying to kill one! Was he insane? Did he not fear death?
Offending Celestial Dragons was a sure way to provoke the World Government's wrath, with even Marine Admirals being dispatched for retaliation. It was an untouchable boundary at sea.
"You're too noisy," Darren said, frowning and waving his hand dismissively. Two steel bars shot out from the floor, impaling Shields Saint's feet like sharp blades, pinning him to the wall. Blood poured from his piercings, pooling on the ground within seconds.
The excruciating pain made Shields Saint scream. As a Celestial Dragon, born on a mountaintop and revered as a god, such violence had never touched him.
"I thought the blood of a high-and-mighty god would be golden, but it's no different from anyone else's. Celestial Dragons aren't gods after all," Darren mused with a smile.
Shields Saint's eyes turned bloodshot as he glared at Darren, that infuriating smile both hypocritical and mocking. What irked him most was the lack of fear in Darren's eyes; where was the commoner's fear of nobility?
"Aren't you afraid of the world government's revenge? Do you think you can escape?" Shields Saint roared.
"Revenge?" Darren laughed. "Who would know it was me? Besides, to everyone on Bhatia Island, it will seem as though I, the scoundrel of the North Blue Marine, have sent a large sum to the great Lord Shields Saint to gain his favor. Who would think a Marine would dare strike a Celestial Dragon?"
Realizing his fatal mistake, Shields Saint said weakly, "Why attack me... Is it about the little girl?" Darren's silence was answer enough. Shields Saint couldn't believe it was all for a mere civilian.
"She's not just any civilian. She is a civilian under my jurisdiction," Darren stated calmly.
"Why do you care about a civilian's life?" Shields Saint raged, accusing Darren of hypocrisy for profiting from civilians by backing the mafia. He argued that they were no different from each other.
Darren laughed, tightening the steel around Shields Saint's arm until it snapped off. As Shields Saint wailed in agony, Darren continued, "I'm here because I'm not a good person. If I were, I probably wouldn't dare."
He went on to explain how he took money from the father and daughter involved. When an increasingly frantic Shields Saint offered him money, women, or power—to promote him to Vice Admiral even—Darren simply sighed.
"Can you give me whatever I want?" he asked.
The weakened Celestial Dragon nodded eagerly, thinking he could negotiate his way out, but Darren's demands were clearly not going to be swayed by mere offers of wealth or power.
In the true style of the Celestial Dragons,
"I do have something I really want," Darren said, looking at Shields Saint with a tilt of his head and a sinister smile slowly forming on the corner of his mouth. "I want to kill you."
Shields Saint was taken aback, but the next second, he laughed wildly. "Kill me... you'll have to die too!"
"Darren, you didn't expect that, did you?" he exclaimed. "The official ships of the World Government are loaded with secret surveillance phone bugs! At this moment, the World Government has already seen what's happening here! You're dead! Hahahahahaha!"
His frantic eyes stared at Darren, searching for terror and fear in the latter's gaze, but he found none. Darren, the Marine Rear Admiral, still kept that annoying smile on his face. A wave of extreme uneasiness surged into Shields Saint's mind, making his heart beat wildly.
"Shields Saint, you're the smart one compared to other Celestial Dragons," said Darren with interest. "I can give you a chance."
As he spoke, all the steel binding Shields Saint loosened without any visible movement. The Celestial Dragon slid from the wall like a puddle of mud, panting. Darren pulled out a military phone bug and tossed it casually.
"Try it, if you can dial in the signal."
Facing the Rear Admiral Marine's half-smiling look, Shields Saint's heart trembled. He gritted his teeth and tried to dial the phone bug in disbelief.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. The military phone bug remained asleep. No response.
All the blood drained from Shields Saint's face, leaving only paleness. The communication signal was blocked.
"Impossible..." he murmured blankly, his expression dazed and dull.
"The communication signals of the phone bug... are all blocked. How is this possible?"
The signal was blocked, which meant no one in the world would know what happened on this official ship. Shields Saint trembled, and deep despair finally appeared in his eyes. Darren watched him silently, a faint flicker of movement between his fingers. He was not an idiot who would act recklessly out of passion. From the moment Shields Saint had refused to give face and insisted on taking the little girl away, Darren had decided to kill this repugnant man. While pretending to seize the girl, he had secured his own safety in her hands, learning Shields Saint's route. By taking on the security mission, he also gained intelligence on the CP members in the escort. Now, with only one issue left in killing Shields Saint—surveillance—he knew the official ships had monitoring phone bugs installed, but his own ability rendered them pointless. His Magnetic Fruit allowed him to create a magnetic field with a diameter of a hundred meters, shielding any signal within its range, enough to cover the entire ship. This was his confidence to dare to attack a Celestial Dragon.
"No!! Why!? Since you know I'm stalling for time, why don't you just kill me?" Shields Saint suddenly looked up at Darren and roared frantically. He didn't understand why Darren, with the ability to kill him easily, had not done so already.
Darren narrowed his eyes and a teasing smile curled up on the corner of his mouth. "Because killing you simply and neatly would be too kind," he said. The despair in the faces of the father and daughter on Bhatia Island flitted through his mind. "At least, before you die, I want you to taste the flavor of despair."
Darren slowly drew out his pistol. In the terrified, despairing eyes of the Celestial Dragon, the gun's muzzle rested lightly on his forehead.
"No!!" Shields Saint's eyes filled with unparalleled fear, and he screamed, "I am a Celestial Dragon; if you kill me..."
Boom! The gunshot echoed. Darren pulled the trigger without hesitation. The bullet passed through Shields Saint's forehead, exiting the back of his head and puncturing a large hole in his skull. Red and white fluids splattered against the bulkhead in a fan shape. Shields Saint's body convulsed, and the light quickly faded from his eyes.
"Damn... took money... just... because of an... untouchable..."
He fell slowly, with a mix of puzzlement, doubt, astonishment, and fear frozen on his face.
He was dead.
Darren stood over the corpse of the Celestial Dragon, looked down at him condescendingly, and said calmly, "When you get paid, you have to do the work. It's North Blue's rule."