Chapter 11: Stay Your Hand

“Hahaha!”
Garen’s blunder drew raucous laughter from the band of pirate lackeys, who pointed at him and jeered loudly:
“This guy’s girlfriend ran off!”
Garen’s face darkened considerably.
He didn’t even have a girlfriend.
“She left her lover behind and took off alone with the treasure?”
Captain Steelblade eyed the now gloomy Garen with keen interest, a greedy, predatory glint growing in his eyes:
“That woman really has no vision…”
“It’s what this tin can is carrying that’s truly valuable!”
“Heh… Don’t kid yourself!”
Garen once again raised his greatsword and looked across at Captain Steelblade:
“You’ll die by this sword.”
Steelblade narrowed his eyes, remaining silent.
He simply lifted his massive blade high—but its edge was not aimed at Garen, his adversary, but at the middle-aged sheriff still kneeling before him.
“What are you doing?!”
Garen cried out in shock, “Let him go!”
This turn of events had taken him completely by surprise.
“Hahahaha…”
A mocking, satisfied smile spread across Steelblade’s face:
“You’re so far from me, but my blade is so close to this ant’s throat…”
“Knight boy!”
Steelblade’s eyes were wild, his shout like the roar of a lion or tiger:
“Who are you to command me to stop?!”
“You—!”
Fury blazed in Garen’s eyes once more, nearly tangible in its intensity, so much so that the pirates surrounding him couldn’t help but tremble.
Steelblade, meanwhile, carelessly rested the heavy blade on the trembling shoulder of the middle-aged man, letting its cold, shining edge dance along the sheriff’s neck as though toying with an ant.
The sheriff dared not breathe, closing his eyes in resignation.
Behind him, the wounded young deputy could only watch in silent anguish as the blade hovered above his mentor’s life.
At last, a cruel smile appeared on Steelblade’s lips:
“I told you—it’s too late…”
“I want blood!”
The blade began to bite into the sheriff’s neck, drawing a crimson line.
Whoosh!
A sudden rush of air split the silence.
From a distance, a metal pipe—still clinging to a scrap of battered sheet iron—hurtled toward Steelblade like a javelin, just as he was about to strike.
Caught off guard by the fierce attack, Steelblade instinctively pulled his blade back and, with a swift motion, sliced the flying pipe clean in two.
“Who’s there?!”
He barked the question.
The answer came at once:

An orange-haired girl vaulted high from behind a towering warehouse shelf, swinging a long staff as she landed amidst the fierce pirates.
“Nami?”
Garen stared in surprise at the orange-haired girl who had suddenly leapt into the fray, and blurted out:
“You didn’t run?”
A flush crept up Nami’s face, but she had no time for explanations.
She called out sharply to Garen, “What are you waiting for? Move!”
Nami had indeed not run far; in fact, she hadn’t truly run at all.
For her, this was almost unthinkable: in her years as a thief, running away was second nature, and her talent for turning one foe against another, escaping with loot while others fought, was legendary.
She could leave victims to tear each other apart and slip away with the spoils without a shred of guilt.
But this time, she hesitated.
Because Garen was an honest man…
On these seas, honest men were a rare breed.
Nami, the Cat Burglar, had seen all kinds, but never had she met someone with both strength and wealth—who was still earnest, like Garen.
So, after escaping safely, Miss Nami found herself, for the first time ever, worrying about the man who had shielded her, wondering whether he would die because he had blocked the blade meant for her.
She hadn’t gone far; instead, she lurked nearby, watching in secret.
But what truly drove Nami to abandon all her thief’s instincts and charge in like a fool was the middle-aged sheriff.
A man who seemed unremarkable, whose skill at bowing and scraping had become second nature…
Yet, to protect his junior, he stood between a ruthless pirate and his prey, refusing to back down.
He really did remind her… of Bellemere.
So, with only a half-baked grasp of martial arts, Nami charged out in a moment of reckless courage, intent on saving a stranger.
“Foolish!”
Steelblade sneered, summing up Nami’s actions perfectly.
Nami herself thought much the same.
But she didn’t regret it, even though the moment she appeared, she found herself surrounded and barely holding her own.
All she cared about now was whether she could save the middle-aged sheriff she had never met.
“You won’t save him!”
Steelblade grinned maliciously, raising his sword to resume his unfinished business.
The sheriff closed his eyes in despair once more.
But another whoosh split the air—a second projectile weapon.
This time, it was Garen’s greatsword.
“Hundred-Pace Flying Sword!”
After all, his name was Garen. Without hesitation, he gave his reckless throw a grandiose name.
The sword was heavy, and Garen threw it with tremendous force, its flight tearing through the air with a shrill wail.
This attack was far more terrifying than the iron pipe Nami had thrown.
Steelblade had to abandon his killing stroke for the third time and focus all his strength on blocking Garen’s “Hundred-Pace Flying Sword.”
Sweat broke out on the sheriff’s brow as he watched, and he couldn’t help but mutter,
“Will this ever end?”
Three times the blade had come for him, and three times he had somehow survived.
But no one had time for the sheriff’s emotional rollercoaster.
Steelblade poured all his might into deflecting the oncoming sword, nearly stumbling from the sheer force bound within it.
At last, he managed to catch the flying weapon and held it firmly in his grasp.

“Hahaha…”
Steelblade gazed at the splendid golden hilt in his hands, letting out a triumphant laugh:
“You fool! You’ve handed your sword over to me!”
“Let’s see how you plan to fight me now?!”
The pirates surrounding Garen, emboldened, tightened their ring and bared their teeth.
“Hmph!”
Garen responded with a cold, disdainful snort, then, with an air of pride, stretched his broad hand toward the empty sky and called out:
“Sword, return!”
“Huh?”
Steelblade barely had time to react before the grand sword in his hand began to tremble violently, as if about to soar into the heavens.
As a greedy pirate, he couldn’t bear to see such a treasure slip from his grasp;
and as a brawny man who prided himself on his raw strength, Steelblade believed nothing could pry this sword from his fingers.
So, like Nami before him, he refused to let go.
But the system’s rules were absolute and irresistible.
And so…

The nearly three-meter-tall giant was yanked skyward with the sword, soaring like a rocket.
The sword, of course, returned to Garen’s hand, while the overconfident Steelblade crashed down to earth, landing face-first in a spectacular fall.

The street fell silent; the pirates stared at each other in disbelief.
The first to react was the middle-aged sheriff, who had survived three brushes with death.
The moment the blade was gone from his throat, he seized his chance, hoisting his wounded young deputy onto his back and fleeing for his life.
Nami noticed as well, swinging her staff with all her might to clear a path for the sheriff through the pirates.
In a matter of seconds, the sheriff and his injured young comrade had disappeared.
“Damn it!”
Covered in dust, Steelblade sprang up in a rage, clutching a fistful of shattered bricks, crushed by his own monstrous strength.
He had failed to kill, and had just performed a humiliating aerial act and face-plant in front of his men…
How could the mighty Captain Steelblade suffer such disgrace?
He fixed a murderous gaze on Garen and Nami, his voice distorted with fury as he roared:
“You two are dead!!”
“Dead!!”
Bang!
A sharp crack, like a watermelon bursting, mingled with the metallic shriek of shattering steel.
Garen’s greatsword was now slick with fresh blood.
“Dead?”
The blade gleamed brightly, its silver-white edge wreathed in radiant, righteous light:
“Indeed. That’s exactly what I intend.”