Sabaody Archipelago, Island 40, Commercial Street.
At the entrance of a shop selling gold and jewelry, the atmosphere was tranquil. However, that tranquility was abruptly shattered when a burly man, two meters tall, strode inside. His body was covered head to toe in shimmering gold, wearing full golden armor, and with short blue hair, he exuded an aura of menace.
"Robbery! Hand over all that gold to this great master!" he roared.
Hearing those words, inside the jewelry shop, four employees in black suits simultaneously pulled out machine guns from under the counter and aimed them at the newcomer. Their movements were swift, well-practiced, indicating that such situations were nothing new.
"Sir, this is a small business, and we don't have much gold. Please try somewhere else!" a stout, heavily bearded man, wearing a purple suit, said with an oddly calm tone. He was the Boss, and he placed his hands on the table, holding a grenade in his left hand and a revolver in his right. "If you want gold, you can go to Island 69. That island has the largest gold exchange in the Sabaody Archipelago and vast gold reserves. Of course, if you have a good offer, we can sit down and discuss it..." His words were polite, but his threat was clear. The Boss dared to run a jewelry business on this island, so naturally, he wasn't an ordinary person. He himself was part of the underworld, specializing in fencing stolen goods. He often dealt with criminals, Pirates, and similar groups. Opening a shop was merely a front to attract more business.
"Hahaha! You think I'm a fool? I am the Super Rookie Pirate... Hunter, the Gold Warrior, with a bounty of 150 million Berries!" The blue-haired man sneered, disdainful. "Island 69 is very close to the Marine Base. I haven't even walked to the gold exchange, and the Marines might find me."
"In that case, it seems there's nothing to discuss..." The Boss's eyes sharpened. His body quickly swelled, black boar bristles grew all over him, and two large tusks sprouted from his mouth. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a boar-human, the result of the Zoan Devil Fruit power he possessed.
"Kill him!" At the Boss's command, the four black-suited employees raised their machine guns and frantically sprayed Hunter with bullets.
Da da da...!
Amidst the heavy rain of bullets, Hunter controlled the golden armor on his body, which instantly covered all parts of him. He only left a slit for his eyes to observe the outside world. There were no other weaknesses. The machine gun bullets battered the golden armor like a storm, only producing large sparks, but unable to injure him in the slightest.
"Hahahaha! Useless! Useless!" Hunter laughed loudly, his voice filled with arrogance. He completely ignored the five people's attacks and rushed towards the nearest counter, smashing the glass with a punch. His right hand, covered in golden armor, immediately swept away the golden ornaments on the counter.
However...
Something that surprised Hunter happened. The golden ornaments he touched only shed a layer of gold, which adhered to his gauntlet, while the ornaments themselves transformed into a pile of white metal. Hunter's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Bastard! You actually sell fakes!!!" Seeing this, Hunter immediately cursed, his expression turning furious. He was causing trouble in the Sabaody Archipelago, risking capture by the Marines, wasn't it just to replenish his golden combat material before entering the second half of the Grand Line, the New World? His Goru Goru no Mi ability was good, but it was too expensive to use in battle! During battle, if the gold couldn't be recovered accidentally, it would cost hundreds or even tens of millions of Berries. On his way to the Sabaody Archipelago, he encountered some strong enemies and spent a large amount of gold, so he had to come and replenish a wave of gold. But... he never expected to meet a dead fencer!
"How funny, you actually thought those cheap things were pure gold, are you insane?" The boar-human sneered, a cunning smile on his face. He threw the grenade in his hand, which landed at the blue-haired man's feet.
"Boom!"
The deafening sound, accompanied by a fierce blaze, made everyone's ears ring. However, Hunter, who was in the center of the explosion, was unharmed, not even a scratch on his golden armor.
"I told you, it's useless!" The blue-haired man grinned, showing his sharp teeth. He immediately charged towards the four people who were still firing machine guns. The golden armor covering his two arms also rapidly deformed, forming two sharp blades on his forearms.
Thump! Thump!...
Hunter swung his arms continuously, and in an instant, he cut down the four people holding machine guns, blood spurting from their chests. Their bodies slumped to the floor, lifeless.
"You bastard!" After firing all the bullets in his revolver, the Boss roared, pushed with his legs, and rushed towards Hunter. He swung his fist and punched Hunter's chest, but he didn't move at all.
"How many times do I have to tell you before you understand? Useless!!!" Hunter sneered, raised his left hand, and grabbed the Boss's right wrist.
The next moment.
He activated his Goru Goru no Mi ability, controlling the gold on his body to rapidly wrap around the boar-human's entire right arm, causing the two of them to cling tightly together.
"Die!"
Puff!
Hunter melted the golden armor on his right hand into a sharp blade, which instantly pierced through the other party's chest.
Thump!
After waiting for a moment, after the Boss had completely deactivated his human-beast transformation and died, the blue-haired man retracted the gold from the other party's body, causing his corpse to fall limply to the ground.
"What a waste of this great master's time!" Hunter flicked the blood off the golden blade in his right hand before restoring the gold to its original state and walking towards another counter in the shop, beginning to search for gold there.
However, to his surprise, he found a large box of gold in the warehouse behind the shop. He obtained over forty kilograms of gold just by extracting the gold from that box. His trip was not in vain! It was originally stolen goods the Boss had acquired and hadn't had time to deal with, now it was his.
Squeak squeak...!
Hunter looked towards the sound and found that at the entrance of the warehouse, a swarm of black bats quickly formed a person wearing a black cloak and a grinning ghost mask.
"Bounty Hunter Roronoa Zoro!"
"Oh! I didn't expect you to know me..." Hunter said, a faint hint of surprise in his voice.
"Of course, you frequently hunt pirates with bounties under 100 million Berries in the Sabaody Archipelago. This has been reported in the World Economic Journal... What?... Are you planning to attack a Super Rookie Pirate like me, whose bounty exceeds 100 million Berries?" Hunter sneered, an arrogant smile appearing on his face. He gathered the gold he had extracted from the warehouse in his right hand, forming a large golden sword, and swung it casually in the air, demonstrating his power.
"Well!... Actually, I didn't want to try fighting with you Super Rookie Pirates so soon..." Sephiroth began, his voice calm yet containing strong determination. "...But the Goru Goru no Mi ability you possess makes me have to try and see if I can take your head..."
The attempt to obtain this Devil Fruit must succeed! Sephiroth muttered to himself, his gaze fixed on Hunter. With the rapid development of Umbrella Corporation, many people felt envious. Perhaps one day, they would kill Tesoro, the Company's Boss, whose strength was mediocre. Therefore, helping Tesoro increase his strength had become urgent.
There were many ways to become stronger, but eating a powerful Devil Fruit was the fastest way. The reason Sephiroth was able to grow stronger so quickly could be attributed to his Mythical Zoan Vampire Fruit. Thanks to the Vampire Fruit's assistance, he could ignore and repair all physical injuries, which allowed him to achieve levels that others needed years, or even over ten years, to reach, in just half a year. If Tesoro and the Goru Goru no Mi ability were not destined to be together, Sephiroth would have to let the other party eat the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Wolf that he had already obtained.
"Heh! If you want to take my head as a bounty, you'll have to see if you're capable first!" Hunter sneered, the fire of challenge blazing in his eyes. He raised the large golden sword in his hand and swung it at Roronoa Zoro, breaking the silence with a golden flash.
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