The value of life... Isn't measured by time.
It's measured by money.
And if you touch Lord Kakuzu's reverse scale, Even if an admiral shows up, he won't save you.
Tap!
Just as Kakuzu, radiating murderous intent, stepped out of the ship's cabin he came face-to-face with a group of unwelcome guests.
Spandam and his crew had just boarded.
But when they saw someone walk out from inside, with eerie green eyes and a suffocating aura of bloodlust,
They froze.
That killing intent—it felt solid, like a living, breathing thing.
Everyone's scalp went numb, faces stiffening.
It didn't feel like a person was standing in front of them.
More like some beast that had just broken free during spring mating season.
The air turned deathly tense.
After a long, awkward silence…
The injured man suddenly broke it, pointing at Kakuzu and shouting:
"That's him, sir! He's the one who killed Sagan!"
"Hmm?"
Kakuzu, still brimming with killing intent, blinked at the accusation.
Then he finally noticed—oh.
There really was a body lying on the deck.
Judging by the outfit, the dead guy was with this crew.
He couldn't be bothered to explain.
His eyes stayed cold, his murderous aura unrelenting, gaze locked on the group.
Spandam, meeting Kakuzu's stare, felt his bladder tighten.
Only when he glanced at his own men did he remember he was here on behalf of the World Government.
And in the name of justice, even a paper tiger could roar like a lion.
With that thought, his confidence inflated again.
"W-Who are you?!" he demanded.
"Your daddy."
Kakuzu had three great passions in life:
making money,
counting money,
and stitching corpses.
And for people like this—who dared come for his money?
He didn't even feel like wasting words.
The fact he hadn't killed them on the spot? That was him being nice.
"Bastard! My father is Spandine! You've got a death wish!"
Spandam blinked, then jumped up and pointed furiously at Kakuzu.
"Kill him! I want him in a body bag!"
"Kill me?"
Kakuzu looked them over with a strange, almost amused glint in his eye.
A smirk curled beneath his mask.
Buddy… I've been a corpse for years.
Right then—a man in a crisp white suit suddenly appeared in front of Kakuzu.
"Puchi!"
With a sharp motion, the man's finger pierced into Kakuzu's chest like a dagger.
"Hmm?"
Kakuzu looked down at the spot where he'd been stabbed.
Then slowly looked back up, eyes locked on the attacker.
His voice was low, almost disappointed:
"You bastard."
Did you pay me first? And you already stabbed me?
"…What the hell is going on?"
The man's eyes went wide with disbelief as he stared at Kakuzu, who had just been hit point-blank by Shigan—a lethal finger-pistol strike.
How is this possible…?
The hit landed. It pierced through.
Shouldn't there be blood?
This guy…Was he even human?
There was just something off, Just standing there, the man gave off the feeling that he wasn't a person at all.
That crushing pressure—where the hell did it come from?
"You're the one asking to die…"
Kakuzu's cold voice cut through the air, his eerie green eyes void of any emotion.
"The last guy who dared to stab me… was a bull-headed freak with a 3 billion bounty."
"I think his name was… Kaido."
"WHAT?!"
The CP5 agents practically reeled.
This guy—this shady monster with only his murderous eyes showing—had fought Kaido?
Kaido, the "Strongest Creature Alive"?!
No wonder this lunatic went after the Celestial Gold.
If he had the guts to square up with Kaido, what wouldn't he do?
The CP5 agent who still had his hand stabbed inside Kakuzu—
Suddenly felt like his scalp was going to fly off.
I… stabbed someone who can throw hands with Kaido?!
"Scared now?"
Kakuzu's voice dropped even lower.
"Too late."
"Anyone who lays a finger on my money… dies."
As he spoke, his arms erupted with jet-black threads—like living wires, slithering and writhing.
"Shhhk-shhhk-shhhk…"
The threads whipped out like demonic tendrils, each one precise and merciless, tearing into the CP5 agent who had stabbed him.
"G-GYAAAH! H-He's a Devil Fruit user!"
"Run—RUN!!"
"HELP MEEEEE!!"
With the first man's scream, the floodgates opened.
The black threads writhed like endless strands of hair, lashing and slicing with terrifying precision.
With each shriek, blood bloomed like grotesque flowers across the deck.
Everyone was frozen in horror.
This guy, He really had fought Kaido.
And judging by this massacre, he'd held his own.
In just moments, most of the intelligence agents were shredded to ribbons—mowed down like weeds.
"This… this can't be real…"
As Spandam stared at his slaughtered men, his once-proud bladder gave in to fear.
A warm stream soaked his trousers as he collapsed straight onto the blood-slick deck.
"M-Monster! That guy's not human—he's way too strong!!"
"Get that idiot Spandam out of here—NOW!"
But it was too late.
None of the CP5 grunts were a match for Kakuzu—not even close.
They were torn apart in seconds, left strewn across the deck like broken puppets.
"This guy…"
Inside the ship, Kisame rubbed his temple in frustration.
"I told him not to kill anyone unless he had to."
And what did this guy do?
Slaughtered the entire squad like he was cashing in overdue rent.
Kisame had a sinking suspicion Kakuzu was using these poor government schmucks to blow off steam from that humiliating beatdown he'd gotten from Kaido.
"…Ah, whatever. Let him vent."
Sure, killing World Government agents was bound to cause some trouble.
Might even cost him his sweet gig with the Navy.
But Kisame Hoshigaki?
He didn't give a damn about things like that.
While he mulled it over, the chaos outside was winding down...
---
"S-Stay back! Don't come any closer!"
Spandam sat trembling in a pool of blood, scrambling backward in a panic.
Problem was, the deck was slick with gore—his hands and feet kept slipping, and he barely moved an inch.
He couldn't believe it.
His elite agents—completely annihilated.
Not a single one could even scratch the monster walking toward him.
"Y-You bastard… just die already!!"
BANG!
In his desperation, Spandam's hand fumbled across a pistol—dropped by some poor soul beside him.
He didn't think. He just grabbed it and fired.
That first gunshot lit a spark in his eyes. Fear twisted into manic hope—like a dying man grabbing hold of one last miracle.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The muzzle flashed red, bullet after bullet flying.
Spandam started laughing, a crazed grin splitting across his face.
"Haha… So what if you're a monster? These bullets—they'll still kill you!"
But...His voice stopped mid-sentence.
The manic expression on his face froze…
Then warped into sheer, bone-deep terror.
"Impossible…!"
Kakuzu was still walking toward him.
Unfazed.
Unhurt.
Unstoppable.
Black stitches squirmed at his joints like something alive.
"There's nothing impossible about it."
"You mess with my money—you die. Doesn't matter who you are. Doesn't matter if it's just a thought."
As Spandam's horror peaked, the black threads writhing from Kakuzu's arms lashed out—fast as lightning.
They wrapped around Spandam's neck like a serpent, coiling tight, pulsing with lethal intent.
The threads tightened
CRACK!
His neck snapped like a twig.
Head lolling to one side, Spandam dropped, lifeless.
"AH!!"
Just then, a round-bellied fishman climbed up onto the ship and froze at the scene before him.
Blood everywhere. Bodies everywhere. And at the center of it all…
Kakuzu, surrounded by twitching corpses.
"Uh… you here for the money too?" Kakuzu asked, eyes narrowing.
Kakuzu's gaze turned icy the moment he spotted the strange, round figure who had just climbed aboard.
The cursed stitches on his arms began to squirm again, crackling with the promise of violence.
But before he could strike
"Wait! He's a friend!"
Kisame burst out from the cabin, waving his hand to stop him.
Kakuzu paused, his arms still twitching with barely-contained bloodlust.
"So you're telling me… there's no one left?"
"Nope. That was the last of them."
Kakuzu nodded, calm returning to his green eyes.
"Alright then. I'm going to count my money."
"You do that." Kisame gave a lazy wave.
But behind his back, his fingers flicked into a quick hand sign.
Kakuzu froze.
"You bastard… Kisame, what the hell are you doing?!" His eyes narrowed sharply, panic flashing in them.
"Release of Edo Tensei!"
FWOOOOOSH
Paper-like fragments peeled off Kakuzu's body as the technique unraveled, his form starting to dissolve into the wind.
"You lying bastard!! You tricked me! You absolute con artist!"
"Relax, relax…" Kisame smirked, watching Kakuzu crumble away.
"I'll take excellent care of your money. Cross my heart—not a single beli out of place."
Kakuzu vanished mid-rant, disintegrating into nothing.
"…You seriously just killed off a bunch of CP5 agents. And that guy…"
Tom the fishman finally found his voice, his gills fluttering as he took in the carnage left behind on the deck.
Blood. Corpses. Chaos.
"Heh… wasn't exactly how I planned it."
Kisame shrugged.
"But hey—shouldn't be a big deal."
With that, he clapped his hands together and formed another seal.
"Water Style: Aqua Current Technique!"
A surge of seawater rushed up from the ocean and swept across the deck, pulling the bodies along in a whirling tide. Then...
"Five Feeding Sharks!"
Five chakra-forged sharks erupted around the drifting corpses.
They didn't hesitate.
Like starving wolves, they tore into the bodies, devouring them until all that remained was blood-soaked seawater… which quickly faded into nothing.
Kisame dusted off his hands, turned to Tom
"You're not gonna tell anyone about this, right?"
(End of Chapter)
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