Chapter 29:

Empty-Handed

One Piece: The Black Ledger

New chapter is live.

Settle in, take your time, and let's see what waits in the dark 🖤

✦

The gun barrel snapped toward the figure.

Before Corvin could even see the person's face clearly, he pulled the trigger.

Bang.

The lead ball flew straight at the figure's brow.

The figure had not expected Corvin to be that ruthless, firing without leaving even the slightest room for conversation.

Although it happened suddenly, the figure relied on abnormal reflexes and danger sense to lean back sharply, barely avoiding the bullet.

He dodged it, but a cold sweat broke over him.

"You absolute...!"

The figure was Wolf Rat, who had come out of the bar to check on the commotion.

He had only meant to watch. Instead, he had nearly been killed. Rage made him curse on the spot.

Bang.

Another lead ball came flying, this time aimed at Wolf Rat's body.

It came just as he straightened himself.

He was a Zoan user, and his physical ability was solid. He forced his body to twist.

But he still could not get out of the way in time. After the first shot missed, Corvin had immediately aimed the second at the easier target: the torso.

The second ball struck the left side of Wolf Rat's abdomen, spraying blood.

"You maniac! I only came out to look. Was that necessary?"

Wolf Rat clutched his bleeding stomach and stared at the masked Corvin in disbelief.

If he had not identified Corvin by scent, he would not be wasting words right now. He would have already taught him what it meant to speak politely before fighting.

Corvin looked expressionlessly at Wolf Rat, whom he did not recognize at all.

He casually tossed away the two flintlocks he had taken from the targets at his feet, then slowly crouched and pulled the dagger from the swordsman's lower back.

"My finger slipped."

Corvin lowered his voice and gave a perfunctory explanation while slowly backing away.

"My finger slipped?"

Wolf Rat gave a disbelieving laugh.

If he had not instinctively transformed the area around his abdomen while dodging, strengthening his defense...

At such close range, that shot would have hurt badly no matter what.

"You're something else."

Wolf Rat looked at the retreating Corvin with a mix of anger and disbelief.

He fully shifted into his human-beast form, then dug the bloody lead ball out with his fingers and pinched it between them.

The transformation was not preparation to attack. It was to speed up his recovery and suppress the pain.

"A Zoan Devil Fruit user..."

Seeing Wolf Rat transform, Corvin grew more alert. At the same time, he looked at Wolf Rat's clearly expanded body, and a trace of desire appeared in his eyes.

The problem was that all five guns at the scene were empty.

Under these conditions, there was no room to reload.

Without the key weapon, Corvin did not think he could subdue this apparent Zoan user with a dagger alone.

In other words, the timing was wrong.

Time to leave.

"What is that look?"

Wolf Rat shivered under Corvin's gaze.

Maybe the transformation changed his instincts, because for one instant, he felt as if he had been seen as food.

Corvin said nothing. He kept facing Wolf Rat while continuing to back away.

Wolf Rat drew a deep breath, but the movement tugged at the wound and made him frown slightly.

He struggled to calm the fury Corvin had nearly detonated, forcing his expression to soften as much as possible.

"It was my fault. I shouldn't have startled you. I don't blame you, and I'm not looking for a fight."

Wolf Rat kept both hands raised.

"This form only helps me heal. I'm not asking you to pay for anything. Honestly, I respect the reflexes. Maybe we could start over, and I could--"

Corvin looked at Wolf Rat in confusion, and his retreating steps stopped.

Wolf Rat felt a flash of hope, but before he could finish, Corvin disappeared down the alley in a few quick movements.

A cool night wind swept through, carrying scraps of paper past his rigid face.

That bastard had not stopped because he was willing to hear a few words.

He had stopped only long enough to recover the two discarded pistols and retrieve Usopp from the alley floor.

"You absolute bastard!"

Wolf Rat was furious--and somehow offended.

Wasn't he the one who had been shot?

Why was Corvin the one running?

Was it that hard to let him finish speaking?

At some point, Tatamu had arrived outside the bar. Looking at Wolf Rat, who had nowhere to vent, he asked, "Not chasing?"

"Chase, my ass."

Wolf Rat glanced at Tatamu, deeply depressed.

"Not like you," Tatamu said, puzzled.

Wolf Rat sighed. "Because that guy is the killer the Sharp-Horn Pirates are looking for. How am I supposed to chase him? Even if he fired one more shot at me, I would still have to swallow it."

Tatamu fell silent.

He badly wanted to ask Wolf Rat whether, even so, he really had needed to grovel that much.

After thinking about it, he decided silence was better.

Wolf Rat looked down at the gunshot wound in his abdomen and gritted his teeth.

"But that guy really is ruthless. Tatamu, do you know what happened? I made one sound behind him, and he shot straight at my forehead without a word."

Tatamu nodded to show agreement.

A man that ruthless was rare.

But that was also the kind of man who tended to live longer.

"Damn him. If my reaction had been a little slower, I would be cold already."

The more Wolf Rat thought about it, the more frightened he felt.

"Forget it. Let's go in and keep drinking. Wait."

Wolf Rat suddenly thought of something and looked toward the three dead pirates on the ground.

A few seconds later, he searched the corpses and took their money pouches.

"Now I feel better."

Playing with the pouches, Wolf Rat let out a long breath of resentment.

"You really have gotten worse with age, Rat."

A woman's voice suddenly sounded in the alley.