Settsetse! The Pirate Nemesis

136·The Three Little Ones

They were chatting and rambling in the room, Sett's face beaming with excitement.

Sett himself eventually lost track of what he was saying. But it didn't matter; it was all just bragging anyway, no need to think too much.

One dared to speak, the other dared to believe. Sanji memorized every detail of the outside world described by Sett. Having never left the Germa Kingdom, hearing Sett's vivid description filled him with longing.

It was at this moment that Hawkeye, who had been lying in the pile of debris digesting his food with his hat on his face, paused slightly upon sensing the sounds and malice outside. He then lifted a section of his hat brim and looked toward the steel gate.

Compared to Hawkeye's meticulousness, Sett paid no attention—even with his mastery of Observation Haki, Sett rarely used it. Firstly, Sett had no interest in the foreseeable future. Secondly, pain excited Sett more—from this perspective, Sett seemed like a tremor. But upon closer inspection, it didn't seem like a tremor would become more ferocious in attack simply because of the greater the pain they endured.

If someone like Sett were to join the BDSM community, he'd probably be so high that night that he and the community would be ruined.

Undoubtedly, this perfectly fits Sett's identity as the cancer of the planet. He adds one thing and makes a mess of everything, showing absolutely no intention of harmonious development or healthy competition—or perhaps, all his competitors are dead, so there's no competition anymore!

Just as he was enjoying his boasting, a loud banging came from the door beside him. Hearing the rough noise, Sanji's expression changed drastically. He stood up and quickly shouted, "You guys hide! My brothers are here!"

"Your brothers? Then why are you so agitated?" Sett stroked his chin and said, "You seem a little afraid of them?"

"Because...because of some special things!" Sanji didn't know how to explain. He didn't have Observation Haki or anything like that, but Sanji knew very well that the people outside the door were definitely his brothers. Because while servants and attendants were very cold, they would never bang on the door like this to intimidate people.

Only his own brothers, who have lost their compassion due to bloodline modifications, would dare to frighten him for amusement while opening the door!

In truth, Sanji had long since become numb, because from birth until now, he had always been the one being bullied. His mother died, his father neglected him, and his brothers verbally abused and treated him roughly. This harsh living environment had forged a deep-seated inferiority complex in Sanji. Only when cooking could he barely recall the better memories...

He was used to passively accepting his fate, so this agitated reaction was simply because Sett and the others were there, and Sanji was afraid of dragging them into the mess because of him. After all, whether it was his brothers or his father…

"Why are you hiding? There's a hole punched in your back, I reckon even a blind person could see it!"

Pointing to the large hole behind him that Hawkeye had sawed out, Sett's face was full of indifference.

Sanji, realizing the same thing, froze on the spot. Staring at the large hole in the wall, his face was filled with confusion, seemingly unsure of what to do.

Sett, standing to the side, stretched his shoulders, then walked to the door, twisted the handle, and pulled it inside—but it didn't budge.

"Fine, you even locked it, huh?!" With a smirk, Sett pulled hard, and with a screeching sound of steel twisting, the steel door was yanked into the room.

On the other side of the door stood three little ones, their eyes looking somewhat bewildered. They were holding keys, seemingly making the motion to open the door.

After a pause, Hawkeye sighed, a hint of pity and disappointment in his voice, and said, "This door opens outwards..."

Will Sett admit his mistake?

No.

"That's because their design was flawed!" Sett said, raising a finger with an arrogant expression. "Didn't the brain-dead designer know to put up a safety sign when he designed it? If I were the foreman, I'd wrap two bricks in Armament Haki and slap them in the face!"

"Ah, this..."

Sanji, standing to the side, was still somewhat dazed. Hawkeye sighed, then shifted to a more comfortable position and continued lying on the pile of junk—after a month of diarrhea and a two-week hunger strike surviving only on fresh water, Hawkeye, having finally eaten some human food, had no intention of taking action—Sett would handle it anyway.

As for Sanji's confusion, Hawkeye understood: "Don't pay attention to him, he's brainless. Even if the whole world thinks he's wrong, he'll think it's the world's problem."

Some studies suggest that the more intelligent a person is, the deeper and denser the grooves in their cerebral cortex. Based on this, Hawkeye speculates that Sett's brain should be as smooth as a mirror, covered in dust.

Of course, it's also possible that the inside of the skull smooths out the grooves of the cerebral cortex like sandpaper.

Not only is it becoming smoother and smoother, but it's also getting smaller and smaller—it's hard to imagine that humans have evolved to this point and still have someone like Sett.

He tossed the iron gate aside, stared at the three little ones in front of him, and cracked his fist.

"I had just finished eating and was thinking I should get some exercise, and then this happened!!"

Upon seeing Sett, Sanji's three brothers quickly recovered after a brief moment of astonishment—due to their bloodline modifications, they felt no fear. They were already familiar with Sett's appearance, and coupled with their assassin training from a young age, their surprise quickly turned to excitement.

"Hahaha! I never thought the guy Dad was talking about was hiding here!!!"

"No wonder we couldn't find them after searching for a month! It turns out that good-for-nothing Sanji hid them!!!"

"If it weren't for Sanji, we probably would have finished the mission long ago!"

Looking at Sett, Sanji's three brothers were filled with excitement. Just like their father, they were extremely passionate about honor. As their father's prized prey, the three of them were also competing amongst themselves to see who could be the first to take Sett's head.

Standing not far away, Reiju's face was filled with solemnity—having not been stripped of her emotions, Reiju could sense Sett's power. Taking a deep breath, Reiju silently took out her alarm device, preparing to contact the Germa Kingdom's army.

137 · Weakness Strike

Looking at the group of malicious children in front of him, Sett's face broke into a smile.

"Do you know what I like to do most, Sanji?"

Before the bewildered Sanji could even process what was happening, Sett continued, "Use violence to subdue people! Especially those once unruly thugs! Violence for violence, my favorite!!!"

As he spoke, Sett adopted an arrogant and condescending attitude, looking at Sanji's three brothers.

"Let me tell you how a reliable adult male should discipline a disobedient brat!!"

Upon hearing Sett refer to himself as a reliable adult male, the hat covering Hawkeye's face trembled slightly as his expression changed beneath the brim, but he ultimately said nothing more.

In contrast, the three little kids standing to the side appeared extremely angry. In the Germa Kingdom, their status was second only to their father; in fact, they showed no fear even when facing their father. This was because such negative emotions had been eliminated from their genes.

The reason they still obey their father's orders is simply because the gene for obeying their father's orders has been implanted in their genes.

If they went out into the outside world, it would be almost impossible for them to survive. Only under the training of Judge in the Kingdom of Germa were they able to grow up safely.

Similarly, precisely because of this, their personalities became extremely eccentric. Hearing their companions clamoring to "educate" them, Sanji's three brothers—red hair, blue hair, and green hair—all showed anger on their faces.

"How dare a lowly commoner defy royalty! Die!!"

As she spoke, extending her palm, the red-haired Yizhi was the first to rush forward. Due to bloodline factor modification, the young Yizhi already possessed tough skin capable of withstanding the piercing of sharp knives. Upon reaching adulthood, according to scholars' calculations, she would even be able to withstand bullets with her physical strength alone, without using any technology.

With his five fingers spread out and clenched into a claw shape, Smoker's wisdom was not only used in genetics. In order to give his children greater power and restore the glory of the entire family, he specially crafted battle suits for his children that matched their own abilities.

Although the suit is not yet complete and is only an experimental version, it has not yet met Judge's own strength requirements. However, it is still ready for use in actual combat.

Just like now, as the battle begins, combined with her own abilities, the white glove bursts forth with intense heat. Thanks to genetic modifications, Ichi possesses the ability to burn. While she can't yet rival Devil Fruit users, with the enhancement of her equipment, her offensive power is by no means inferior.

In particular, the physical strength after the modification may even be comparable to that of a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user at the same level!

Unfortunately, the gap between him and Sett is simply too great.

The arm that could easily tear rocks was completely useless against Sett. When his fingers touched his body, it felt like he had stabbed a thick steel plate. Not only did it have no effect, but the pain from his fingers made him grit his teeth.

With a sneer, Sett said disdainfully, "A bunch of brats, I'll fuck you all later."

As they were talking, Sett seemed to remember something and turned his gaze toward Sanji behind him.

"You seem to respect your mother a lot, don't you?"

"Mmm!" Although he didn't understand what was going on, Sanji nodded seriously: "Mother is the only one who encourages me. Wait, Mr. Sett! My brothers are beating you up again!"

"It's nothing, just an itch."

Sanji chatted nonchalantly, completely unfazed by the attacks from the three kids. He reached out and grabbed the red-haired kid who was the first to charge, saying dismissively, "This kind of attack isn't even scraping; the bathhouse guys in Northeast China are much tougher!"

That's for sure! Those bathhouse guys who scrub you so hard they practically peel your skin off. Compared to that, this level of aggression from scraping (gua sha)? No, it's more like moxibustion at best.

Seeing Sett's nonchalant attitude, the three already arrogant brothers became even more enraged. Although their eldest brother was being held captive by Sett, the other two showed no intention of rescuing him; feelings of pity and sorrow did not even cross their minds. Moreover, they could tell that even if they tried, they would definitely not be able to save him. Therefore, they might as well try to take advantage of this opening to inflict more damage!

The blue-haired one is the second brother, Nichi. Actually, you can tell what Sanji's family names mean from the pronunciation. Ichi, Nichi, Sanji, and Yuichi. One, two, three, four, including the Yuichi's Yuichi. It sounds strange in Chinese, but it's the Japanese pronunciation of four.

Niji's ability is to manipulate electricity, but this level of current cannot even penetrate Sett's skin. It was at this moment that Yongji, the fourth brother, discovered Sett's weakness.

Yuichi doesn't possess any special abilities; if one had to categorize him, it would be that he's stronger than his brothers, including Ichi and Reiju. Yuichi is the strongest child in the entire Smoke family. Similarly, his combat equipment is all designed to enhance his striking power.

Looking at Sett standing there with a disdainful expression, Yongzhi aimed at his crotch and, without saying a word, leaped up and unleashed a powerful Rising Dragon Fist!

Sensing the hostile intent, Sett raised an eyebrow, his expression visibly darkening. At the same time, Armament Haki rapidly enveloped him. He threw a punch, and Yongzhi felt a sharp pain in his arm. Far from being injured, the recoil shattered his finger bones.

But before he could let out an angry scream, Sett, who was standing next to him, grabbed one of his legs and lifted him up with a displeased look on his face.

"You son of a bitch"

Squeezing those words through clenched teeth, Sett's face was filled with shadows.

There was no fear in this. Seeing Sett's anger, Yongzhi even laughed out loud with excitement.

"Haha! They're getting desperate! Hit him in the balls! Hit him in the balls!!"

Upon hearing Yongzhi's words, Yizhi, who had broken free from Sett's grip amidst the chaos, and Nizhi, whose arms were crackling with high-voltage electricity, exchanged a glance.

Hawkeye: "Wow."

138. Raisin Deadlock

"You little brat!!"

Seeing the fighting spirit in their eyes and the target of their attack, even Sett, with his temperament, couldn't help but let a suppressed anger, a half-smile, rise on his face.

What's depressing is that no man can be indifferent to his sexuality, while what's laughable is that these kids are completely unaware of the seriousness of the problem.

"Didn't Sanji say that?" Not only Sett, but even Hawkeye standing to the side became interested. He lifted the brim of his hat, revealing a half-smile in his eyes—this was the first time he had been curious about what Sett would do next.

Hawkeye said, "Sanji said that they have all had their bloodline factors modified, so death has no effect on them."

Meanwhile, watching the men's fighting style, Reiju, who had just taken out her alarm to call the police, paused slightly. A hint of curiosity flickered in her eyes—do boys always fight like this?

Reiju didn't know that, especially around elementary school age, girls' fights usually involved pulling hair and kicking, while boys were different; their targets were almost always the groin. Especially when it came to close friends, the "grip-grabbing" tactic was always effective. Once it hit, unless they managed to grab the opponent's "grip king" first, they could only bend over and beg for mercy.

Girls mature psychologically faster than boys, and their physical development also occurs earlier in life. Having undergone arduous training as an assassin for an extended period without her mother's guidance, Reiju is ignorant about matters of the heart and extremely curious about them—Judge doesn't seem like the type to educate his children about sex at all.

Previously, when Ichi and the others bullied Sanji, they mostly just used harsh words, isolated him with indifference, or even picked fights and punches. But this was the first time Reiju had ever seen them attacking a certain spot with such a grin.

Knowing she shouldn't look, she couldn't help but want to. Her hands, which were covering her eyes, peeked out from between two small gaps. Once she realized no one was watching, she widened her eyes even more, peering curiously.

Just as boys enjoy watching girls fight, girls also enjoy watching boys fight—especially when it has nothing to do with them.

Upon hearing Hawkeye's words, they quickly realized that Hawkeye was right—threats like death were completely ineffective against these modified kids.

Don't you see those kids on QQ Space lining up all day to become evil demons, saying things like "The taste of blood is sweet," "I love darkness," and "My life is as lonely as snow"? Without a clear understanding of death, threatening with death is completely ineffective.

Moreover, Sett never intended to kill them from the start—Sanji was kind, and Sett could sense that. These three brats, though wicked, were still Sanji's brothers. Sett wasn't about to let an innocent child bear the infamy of killing his own brother for his own momentary pleasure.

Especially since this child was already insecure and had done him a favor.

Thinking for a moment, Sett paused, then slapped his forehead. Turning his gaze to the other two brats who were about to carry out a dark groping of his crotch, Sett then looked at Hawkeye beside him; "Is there a camera?!"

"...It got soaked in water."

Hawkeye shook his head and said, "It will probably take some time to fix."

“…Hiss.” Hearing this, Sett stroked his chin and went to the large hole to the side.