13: Chapter 13 Chaos at Koya Manor

On the hilltop, Kaya's mansion.

As the wealthiest family in the village, the grounds of Kaya's estate were not only surrounded by towering iron fences, but were also guarded by numerous workers and security personnel, making it impossible for ordinary people to easily approach.

However, when Rice and his group arrived at the main gate, they immediately attracted the attention of the steward, Merry.

"Good heavens... Is, is that a lion?!"

The villa's steward, Merry, who had a hairstyle resembling a sheep's head, stared in terror at the giant lion, Richie, who was crouching docilely at the gate, and at Makino, who stood beside Richie looking extremely well-bred and approachable.

"Greetings, Mr. Steward."

Makino stepped forward, lifted her skirt elegantly, and bowed. Her gentle smile and approachable demeanor instantly caused Merry to lower most of his guard.

"We are adventurers traveling the seas."

"We heard at the port that the young lady of the estate, Kaya, has been sickly and depressed since childhood, so we specifically brought this 'Giant Beast Richie,' tamed in the Grand Line. Although it looks fierce, it is actually very gentle and sensible, and can perform all sorts of funny tricks."

"We thought that perhaps this exotic beast might cheer Young Lady Kaya up."

Nami, who was also present, utilized her superb acting skills, leaning forward and chiming in with a face full of sincerity and concern.

Coupled with Rice's unique aura—bare-chested yet possessing a noble, powerful demeanor—Merry had almost no suspicions.

In the East Blue, it was common for all sorts of adventurers and travelers to bring strange things to please the nobility.

In order to bring joy to the long-suffering, hothouse flower Kaya, Merry gratefully welcomed the group into the estate.

...

"Excuse me, Lord Rice, Miss Makino, and Miss Nami. My young mistress is feeling a bit unwell and is resting in the greenhouse. Please allow me to prepare black tea for you two first."

In the villa's spacious and luxurious reception room, a steward with a meticulously combed-back hairstyle, wearing round-rimmed glasses and a neat black suit, was holding an exquisite silver tray and bowing with extreme elegance.

His manners were impeccable—humble, gentle, and polite—with a smile that made people feel as if they were bathed in a spring breeze consistently on his face.

This person was none other than the perfect steward who had taken care of Kaya for three years and was praised by all the villagers—Butler Klahadore.

However, Rice's gaze did not fall on the teacup, but rather, with great interest, on Kuro's action of adjusting his glasses.

He noticed that Kuro did not use his fingers to push the frame, but habitually used the joint of his wrist to push the glasses up.

This was because he had worn the ten-bladed 'Cat Claws' gloves for years; to avoid the sharp blades scratching his own face, he had been forced to develop this strange and peculiar habit.

Even though he had lived peacefully in Kaya's home for three years, this combat habit, ingrained in his bones, had not been erased by time.

"Butler Klahadore, your glasses seem a bit loose, don't they?"

Rice picked up the black tea and asked with a faint smile.

Kuro's hand paused slightly, then a subtle glint flashed across his lenses, and he smiled elegantly: "You flatter me, Lord Rice. Perhaps I have been a bit negligent in my grooming recently."

"Is that so?"

Rice set down the teacup with a clear clink.

"I thought it was because you've been wearing those 'Cat Claws' for three years that you've forgotten how to use your fingers to push up your glasses, Captain Kuro."

"BOOM!!"

The air seemed to be forcibly drained in that instant, and the temperature in the entire reception room plummeted to freezing.

The villa steward, Merry, who had been directing servants to organize documents nearby, dropped the files in his hands instantly.

He stared at Rice in shock: "Lord Rice... what are you saying? This is Butler Klahadore, who has accompanied Young Lady Kaya for three years..."

However, Kuro did not speak.

His eyes behind the glasses narrowed slightly, reflecting an extremely cold and sharp light on the lenses.

Although he maintained a gentle smile on his face, his right hand had already subtly assumed a strange, ready-to-strike arc.

"What, are you going to keep acting, 'Kuro of a Thousand Plans'?"

Rice sneered and gave Nami a look.

Nami took a deep breath, stepped forward, untied the heavy cloth bag from Richie's back, and slammed it onto the coffee table.

The bag opened, revealing the heart-shaped hypnosis ring of the Black Cat Pirates' Vice-Captain Jango, as well as a stack of assassination secret letters and plans bearing the Black Cat emblem!

"Butler Klahadore! No... Kuro! We found these on your pirate ship in the North Bay!"

Nami pointed to the physical evidence on the coffee table, her voice crisp and sharp.

"You colluded with Jango, planning to force Miss Kaya to sign an inheritance transfer document in the near future, and then wipe out the entire estate and Miss Kaya herself!"

"This... this is impossible... how could this be..."

Merry looked at those familiar Black Cat emblems and Kuro's unique handwriting, feeling as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

Just then, hearing the sound of the argument in the reception room, the pale and frail blonde young lady, Kaya, walked in slowly, supported by a servant.

She stared blankly at the shocking, ironclad evidence on the coffee table, tears sliding silently down her cheeks.

"Butler Klahadore... is what they said true?"

Kaya's voice was trembling; she had always regarded this steward who took such meticulous care of her as her most trusted relative.

Faced with this near-hopeless, ironclad accusation, the mask on Kuro's face finally began to peel away bit by bit.

However, his extremely high IQ allowed him to react quickly.

He knew that if he resisted now, not only would his plan fail, but he would also face endless pursuit by the Marines.

Kuro suddenly went limp in his legs, and with a posture of extremely realistic panic and grievance, he knelt in front of Kaya with a thud, his face full of tears and indignation:

"Young Lady Kaya! This is absolutely a despicable slander!"

He pointed at Rice and Nami, shouting hoarsely:

"I am just a weak, ordinary steward! These so-called secret letters and pirate emblems must have been forged by these bounty hunters who covet your family's property! They are the real robbers who want to steal your fortune!"

Kuro's 'acting,' combined with the perfect reputation he had built over the past three years, instantly caused the servants outside the door and the gravely ill Kaya to waver.

"A wonderful performance, Kuro."

Rice stood up, looking down at Kuro who was kneeling on the ground feigning pity.

In those deep pupils, there was not a trace of anger at being deceived, only endless indifference and disdain.

"However, my style has always been that I don't like to waste words with dead people."

Rice slowly clenched his right fist, terrifying muscles bulging instantly, and the airflow around his fist emitted a harsh roar.

"Then go to hell!"

Without any unnecessary probing, and not even a shred of willingness to listen to him continue to argue, Rice threw a punch!

This punch, carrying the force of a thousand winds, compressed the air in front of his fist into a visible white semi-circular shockwave due to extreme speed, emitting a terrifying sonic boom like a White Dove flapping its wings!

[White Dove · Iron Heavy Strike]!

This heavy punch went straight for Kuro's head, which was defenseless on the ground.

If it landed, Kuro's high-IQ head would be violently smashed in an instant.

Kuro's pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks in an instant.

He had thought that with his intelligence and acting skills, he could at least stall for time and find a flaw to escape.

But he never expected that the black-haired man in front of him did not play by the rules at all—he couldn't even be bothered to prove his innocence, directly intending to kill him with one punch in full view!

Under the suffocating, terrifying pressure of death brought by this punch, Kuro's pirate instincts hidden in his bones, as well as his battle reflexes honed over countless trials, exploded completely.

He didn't have time to think; if he didn't dodge, he would die right now!

"Whoosh!!"

With an extremely faint sound of breaking wind, like a cat stepping on fallen leaves, Kuro's body, which had been kneeling on the ground, moved at a speed that almost defied the laws of physics, turning into a black afterimage and sliding horizontally several meters along the wooden floor the moment before the fist was about to smash his skull!

An assassination technique using cat-like footsteps to move at high speed—[Silent Step]!

"BOOM!!"

Rice's iron fist, having lost its target, smashed heavily into empty space.

The violent wind from the punch tore the sturdy Persian carpet on the floor directly, and the solid mahogany coffee table in the reception room was instantly shattered into pieces under the aftermath of this punch.

In the flying mahogany debris, Kuro stood quietly several meters away.

His gentle and humble steward demeanor had completely disappeared.

His suit was covered in a few wood shavings, and due to the extremely violent, superhuman, and bizarre movement just now, his round-rimmed glasses had flown off to the side, revealing those cold, cruel, narrow eyes filled with bloodthirsty fanaticism.

The entire reception room fell into a deathly silence once again.

Kaya, Merry, and all the servants in the mansion were completely stunned.

The speed Kuro had just demonstrated was simply not something an ordinary person could possess.

That speed, fast enough to turn into an afterimage, had completely revealed his true identity—the heinous Captain of the Black Cat Pirates hidden in the dark.

"Steward... Klahadore..."

Merry muttered to himself, his face as pale as paper.

"Hehehe... Hahahaha!!"

Kuro slowly pushed up his nose bridge where he was no longer wearing glasses, and then let out a hysterical, wild laugh.

He slowly straightened his body, his previously hunched and docile spine standing straight at this moment, and a terrifying murderous aura belonging to a big boss with a 16 million Berry bounty permeated the room like a physical substance.

"That was a pretty good punch, kid."

Kuro licked his somewhat dry lips, a bone-chilling, bloodthirsty cold light flashing in his eyes:

"For three years... I acted so well that I almost believed it myself. I didn't expect that today, I would be forced to reveal my true colors by a brute like you in such a savage way."

He slowly reached both hands into the inside of his suit, and accompanied by a crisp sound of metal friction, two 'Cat Claws' gloves with strange designs, with sharp blades extending dozens of centimeters from the ten fingers, were slowly put on his hands.

"Since I've been exposed, then there's no other way."

Kuro laughed coldly, the ten blades intersecting in the air, drawing chilling lights that made people's hair stand on end.

"Today, everyone here... is going to die!"