Chapter 150: Psychiatric Patient

Silvers Rayleigh stood quietly in front of the crowd of Marines, holding the black-bladed Shusui, his stance as steadfast as an abyss and as immovable as a mountain peak.

The moment his legendary moniker was dropped, the Marine soldiers—who held an overwhelming numerical advantage—were the first to lose their composure.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, a handsome young blonde swordsman leaped up and landed on the deck, standing shoulder to shoulder with Rayleigh.

"Who is this guy?"

That exact question popped into everyone's mind.

"'White Horse' Cavendish."

Only Onigumo called out his name with a grave expression.

As a dedicated and diligent Marine officer, he kept himself thoroughly informed even about rookie pirates who had just begun making a name for themselves on the vast seas:

"The notorious Moonlit Murder Demon of the Rommel Kingdom, responsible for the deaths and injuries of dozens of civilians and Marine soldiers."

"He fled after his crimes were exposed and became a pirate, currently serving as the captain of the Beautiful Pirates, with a bounty of 63 million berries."

Hearing Onigumo's explanation, even Rayleigh, who was standing right next to Cavendish, couldn't help but give him a peculiar look.

Rayleigh genuinely hadn't expected that this promising young newcomer he thought so highly of possessed such a notorious title as the "Murder Demon." As a core member of the previous generation's protagonist team, he harbored not a single ounce of goodwill toward anyone who slaughtered civilians.

Realizing that his dark history had been exposed on the spot, Cavendish's expression darkened instantly.

In a slight panic, he hastily explained to Rayleigh beside him:

"Senior Rayleigh..."

"Those things weren't done by 'me'..."

Rayleigh observed Cavendish's eyes for a moment, noticing that while his gaze flickered slightly, it still seemed sincere and innocent, as if there really was some hidden secret behind it.

Rayleigh shook his head and decided not to pry; after all, he had seen enough miscarriages of justice in his lifetime where the World Government and the Marines forced good people into piracy.

"Rayleigh! Cavendish!"

After a brief moment of shock, Onigumo regained his composure, his hands already gripping the hilts of his unsheathed blades.

"What do you think you're doing here?!"

"It's nothing serious..."

Rayleigh stood calmly under the gaze of the Marines, wearing an effortless and relaxed smile.

"I came here to kill someone—"

"A Warlord of the Sea, Gecko Moria."

"Uh..."

Garen's expression immediately turned peculiar, and he couldn't help but speak up: "Then you've really arrived at a most inconvenient time."

"How so?"

Rayleigh asked, somewhat puzzled.

"If you had arrived just a little later..."

Garen casually pointed to Gecko Moria, who was trussed up like a slaughtered hog in Seastone handcuffs and arranged in a thoroughly submissive state beside him:

"I would have already hacked him to death."

"This..."

Rayleigh looked closer and realized with a speechless expression:

Gecko Moria's body was covered in gruesome wounds, with dried red and black blood caked onto his tattered clothes, leaving him in a pathetic, dying, and powerless state.

Moreover, because Moria's wrists were too thick, the Seastone handcuffs had been repurposed as a collar and leash tied around his neck, making his predicament look even more wretched.

Rayleigh suddenly understood:

Although he knew Garen had taken up the position of Warlord, Garen hadn't joined forces with scum like Moria as he had imagined. Instead, Garen had acted righteously to deal with the unhinged Gecko Moria.

"Then what did I even come here for..."

Rayleigh suddenly realized that all his serious mental preparation for a one-versus-three fight had gone to waste.

However, Onigumo stepped forward resolutely, his stern expression giving Rayleigh a fresh reason to warm up his muscles:

"The Dark King Rayleigh!"

"Don't even think about killing Moria right in front of us Marines! I will stop you even if it costs me my life!"

"What?!"

The first to speak out was Garen, who asked in utter astonishment:

"What are you thinking?"

"A guy like Moria deserves to die! I was going to kill him anyway! Why bother..."

"No need for further words."

Onigumo's voice was cold and resolute, a desperate determination to fight to the death gradually solidifying in his eyes.

"No matter how deserving of death Gecko Moria is, he is still a Warlord of the Sea recognized by the World Government!"

"As a fellow Warlord, you engaged in an internal struggle with him, and naturally, I wouldn't interfere."

"But a pirate showing up here and clamoring to kill a Warlord is something I, as a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral, cannot simply sit back and ignore!"

"......"

Garen was left speechless. He couldn't fathom why Onigumo—who had just demonstrated flexibility of thought a moment ago—had suddenly lost his mind and decided to provoke the Dark King Rayleigh.

Yet Onigumo was precisely that kind of person:

If someone was a pirate, he would arrest them.

Regardless of the target's background or strength, Onigumo, driven by a sense of duty and justice, would never take a single step back.

Then, Onigumo's justice cloak suddenly billowed without wind, and the messy hair flowing down his back began to writhe eerily, swelling into a dark mass resembling rampaging evil spirits.

Immediately afterward, the hair at the nape of his neck grew dense and tough amidst its writhing, instantly consolidating into six hair-woven tentacles.

These six hair-tendents were extremely flexible, quickly extending outward to each wrap around a sharp saber.

Combined with the two long Katanas tightly gripped in Onigumo's hands, these eight blades looked like the eight limbs of a spider, clawing the air with a terrifying aura.

Onigumo derived his name precisely from this technique, but this ability to control his hair was not the result of a Devil Fruit; it was the ultimate mastery of the Six Powers—Life Return.

Having honed his physical martial arts to an extraordinary realm, Onigumo's physical prowess had surpassed human limits, allowing him to use his willpower to manipulate any part of his body at will.

Even soft strands of hair could be made as tough as steel under his sheer willpower.

The mere display of this technique made Garen cast a sidelong glance, and it thoroughly piqued the Dark King Rayleigh's interest in a good fight.

Rayleigh also held his sword horizontally across his chest, gradually fading the slightly mocking smile from his face and according Onigumo the most basic respect.

"Garen!"

Onigumo glanced back at Garen, who wore a look of embarrassment and hesitation, and shouted loudly:

"Although you are young, you are also a powerful Great Swordsman!"

"No matter how strong the Dark King Rayleigh is, he's just an old-timer past his prime. Why should we fear him!"

"A Great Swordsman?"

Garen opened his mouth, instantly wanting to retort with a denial.

However, because Garen's performance as a model Warlord had been too convincing, Onigumo subconsciously regarded him as an ally in the same boat.

After shouting words of encouragement to his teammate, Onigumo charged toward the Dark King Rayleigh without a moment's hesitation.

The Dark King Rayleigh swung his black blade to parry Onigumo's strike, and a violent gale instantly whipped across the deck.

Onigumo was an elite among Headquarters Vice Admirals, practically representing the pinnacle of Marine combat power alongside monsters like Garp and Sengoku.

Garen's face darkened instantly:

Just by witnessing the brief clash between the two, Garen knew that his phony title of "Great Swordsman" meant he had zero capacity to meddle in a fight of this caliber.

As Garen hesitated, a sharp blade-wind suddenly lunged toward him:

"Fine Sword: Bluebird!"

A sharp screech resembling the melodious cry of a luan bird exploded, and a tapered, turbulent current of air rushed straight at Garen, accompanied by a slender, thrusting blade.

Cavendish's rapier was light and ethereal, specializing in piercing strikes. With his full power behind it, his speed was lightning-fast, and its piercing force was astonishingly formidable.

This incoming thrust gave Garen an inescapable feeling.

However, there was no need to dodge this at all.

Cavendish would eventually grow into a 300-million-berry mega-pirate, but at this moment, he was merely a rookie pirate who could barely protect himself in front of Moria.

Faced with Cavendish's inexplicable attack, Garen simply flashed with green light, enveloping himself in the shield of [Turtle Stance], activated the 40% damage reduction of [Courage] as his armor gleamed with golden light, and met the attack head-on.

The violent airflow slammed into Garen, yet it merely managed to shatter his green energy shield.

Cavendish's rapier pierced straight through Garen's chest, driving all the way through thanks to its immense penetrating power and running him clean through.

By the time Cavendish snapped back to his senses, his famed sword Durandal was completely buried inside Garen's body, the hilt disappearing right into the wound.

Cavendish's hand, still gripping the sword, pressed flat against Garen's chest, leaving him somewhat dumbfounded:

"Th-that's a win?"

The powerful supernova described by Senior Rayleigh—one who could rival a young Pirate King—had been easily pierced through the chest by a single sword stroke from him?

Could it be that I am the true pirate supernova destined to rival the Pirate King?

That's right... It has to be!

Someone as handsome as me is usually the protagonist.

Narcissistic Cavendish completed the complex psychological transition from astonishment to self-admiration within a single fleeting second.

"Uh..."

Garen said with a gloomy expression: "If your goal was sexual harassment, then I suppose you win this round."

Cavendish's face turned pale, but it was already too late to escape.

A strong, powerful hand had already clamped tightly around his wrist, locking it like an iron vice so that he could neither draw his sword nor run away.

Garen gripped Cavendish with one hand and said with annoyed exasperation:

"If you wanted to kill Moria, fine, but why did you attack me?"

"Wait..."

Garen suddenly realized: "You were trying to steal my kill..."

An elite boss like Gecko Moria—how could Garen possibly surrender the kill credit to this random Cavendish who had popped out of nowhere?

Furthermore, since Onigumo had exposed Cavendish's dark background as the "Moonlit Murder Demon," Garen felt even less goodwill toward him.

Even knowing that the guy had come along with Senior Rayleigh, Garen couldn't help but teach him a lesson:

"Demacian Justice!"

A brilliant golden radiance shone once more between the sea and the sky, mercilessly crashing down upon Cavendish's head.

The sword light, brimming with upright righteousness, even caused Rayleigh and Onigumo—who were locked in fierce combat—to pause in admiration.

With Cavendish's mediocre personal strength and unhealed injuries from his previous entanglement with Moria, he collapsed under this single strike while steam billowed from his entire body.

Looking closer, Cavendish had completely lost consciousness.

Yet Garen remained immersed in profound astonishment, muttering to himself in disbelief:

"This Moonlit Murder Demon who slaughtered dozens of civilians..."

"The damage amplification is barely 30%?"

Such a level of evil made him practically a breath of fresh air among pirates.

However, just as Garen stood there dazed, Cavendish—who had lost consciousness mere moments before—wobbled back to his feet, the expression on his face twisted with an eerie, murderous ferocity.

"Could it be?"

Garen suddenly remembered who this Cavendish character was:

Normally a kind, handsome knight, but upon losing consciousness, he manifested an uncontrollable second personality of a homicidal maniac.

"This..."

Garen's expression grew solemn:

"He's actually the kind of guy who can single-handedly suppress chaos-makers, unruly kids, and reckless seniors..."

"Acute brief psychotic disorder?!"