If it had only been honorific like “Your Majesty,” Bishop would not have panicked. Perhaps they simply knew Nereus, or had met him a few times.
Maybe they had been rescued from those slave catching ships.
But among the many forms of address, he had also heard someone call him “Captain Nereus.”
There were not many people who would call Nereus “Captain,” but anyone who dared to address him that way had to be a member of the original Fish-Men Pirates. That meant that among this group of people… there were Nereus’s old subordinates.
In fact, that was exactly the case. Apprentices from the later period had likewise been members, and in essence, there was no real difference.
Naturally, someone of Bishop’s rank had no idea what sort of agreement existed between Nereus and the highest levels. All he knew was that if he died here, the higher-ups definitely would not fall out with Nereus over him.
As for letting her go and surrendering…
He did not dare do that either.
Bishop still had a sufficient understanding of these monsters. Since Nereus could arrive silently behind him, he also had the ability to kill him without the slightest effort.
The only reason he was still alive now was because he still had a hostage in his hands, and Nereus must also have learned about his ability.
It wasn’t just that he didn’t dare let her go now. Bishop’s ability could only be bound to one person at a time, and when switching targets, the effects on the previous one would be lost.
And Nereus himself was also a key observation target within Cipher Pol. Back in the era when Nereus was still wanted, someone had analyzed his personality.
This department’s job was to analyze the behavioral habits of various pirates. These monsters of the New World were all famous names on their list.
Heavy killing intent and a tendency to hold grudges—these were both Nereus’s habits.
If he gave up this hostage today, even if he managed to leave here alive, he might suddenly commit suicide during his next mission, and the cause of death likely being seven gunshot wounds to the back. [TN: The meme originated from a real and widely discussed news story about a South Korean mayor who was found dead. The official explanation was that he had committed suicide, but the report stated he had died from seven gunshot wounds to his back.]
“CP0. Haven’t dealt with you lot in a while.”
“I didn’t know they were your people… This was an order from above. I was only acting under orders…”
“Everyone who does things has that kind of excuse. Those Marines I killed were all acting under orders too. But what you’re doing now, no matter whose orders you’re following, has nothing to do with me.”
As Cipher Pol agents who had undergone systematic training, their mental fortitude was fairly good. Seeing that Nereus was only talking and had not attacked immediately, Bishop instead gained a bit of confidence.
Powerful Haki could neutralize the effects of a Devil Fruit on oneself, but it could not solve the effects inflicted on others.
Sometimes Devil Fruit abilities were just like that. Relying on strange and bizarre powers, they were even enough to overturn the course of a battle.
“How about we pretend this never happened… I won’t use my ability to influence this woman in the future. Everyone minds their own business, and we act as if it never happened…”
Bishop proposed his idea, but Nereus acted as if he had not heard it. After all, the meaning behind Bishop’s words was clear enough.
What he said was “I won’t use my ability to influence her in the future,” not “I’ll cancel the ability,” which was enough to show his unease. But if he died outside while carrying out a mission, or gets set up by some Celestial Dragon in a bad mood, there’ll still be trouble.
“Being understood too clearly doesn’t seem to be a good thing either. Looks like you’re very worried I’ll settle accounts afterward…”
As he spoke, Nereus looked toward Kuma beside him.
“Kuma, a very serious question. Remember to answer me honestly. How far have you two progressed?”
“Progressed? Ginny and I are very good friends. My situation…”
“Enough. I understand.”
Kuma’s tone was enough to show that the progress between the two of them was still zero. In that case, things would be much easier.
While Bishop was still thinking about how to escape, Nereus had already moved. And his target was not Bishop, but Ginny.
“It’s useless. Even if you take her to the deep sea, my ability will still take effect…”
Having the hostage snatched away did not make Bishop panic, but Nereus’s next action left him bewildered.
Nereus did not attack Bishop. Instead, he extended a sharp fingernail and stabbed it into Ginny’s neck.
In order not to be threatened by a hostage, killing the hostage first was a measure the World Government might take when facing a hostage situation, and Bishop was no stranger to it.
But Nereus…
The others were still here. Doing this in front of his subordinates, wasn’t he afraid of losing their loyalty and trust?
“Relax. It’ll hurt a little, and you might feel a bit dizzy, but once you get used to it, you’ll understand what this is.
Someone come take care of her. I’m going to deal with that guy.”
Bishop off to the side had already begun fleeing frantically the moment he saw Nereus “go mad” and kill the hostage himself, but it was meaningless.
There was a disparity like a fault line between their strengths, even if he had run several dozen meters ahead first.
……
“Hiss… My head kind of hurts… Why are you all looking at me like that? Is something strange? Speaking of which, what exactly just happened…?”
Ginny felt as though she was missing a stretch of memory and had no impression of what had just happened. That was also the effect of Bishop’s ability. When he controlled someone, the other party would enter a puppet-like state.
Only, as soon as she came back to her senses, Ginny discovered that everyone else had gathered around her, looking at her as if they had seen a ghost.
“This… You should look for yourself.”
Luna took out a mirror and placed it in front of Ginny. At this moment, there was an extra bloody hole in her forehead. It looked extremely fatal, but not only was there no blood flowing from the wound, the wound was even gradually healing at a slow pace.
“So my head was shot through… No wonder it hurts a bit… But why am I still alive?”
“Just now… and then His Majesty Nereus arrived. After that…”
The others did not know what had happened either, so they could only summarize what had just occurred. By the time they finished explaining, the wound on Ginny’s forehead had already healed completely. Aside from the bloodstains on her clothes, she did not look injured at all.
“From a biological perspective, you no longer belong to the category of human. You should be classified as a ‘vampire’ instead. Naturally, you’ve gained some traits beyond those of humans, such as the ability to heal yourself.
As long as your heart isn’t pierced through, injuries to other parts of your body will consume stamina and slowly recover. If I put it that way, can you understand?”
Dealing with the fleeing CP0 was a small matter for Nereus. After casually piercing the other party’s skull, he returned to Little Garden.
Although the damage had been synchronized, once the head was no longer a fatal injury, that restriction no longer meant much.
Just now, Nereus had only seemed to pierce Ginny’s neck. In reality, he had converted her blood through the carotid artery, completing something similar to he Embrace. [TN: The Embrace” is the sacred or core ritual in which a vampire turns a human into a vampire.]
The current Ginny had already been affected by the power of his Devil Fruit and had obtained a portion of a vampire’s abilities.
“I originally only wanted to come see how things were progressing between you two. I didn’t expect to run into this. Is there anything else you don’t understand? I can tell you directly.”
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