Chapter 5: One Shot, One Head
Su Xiao held D·Assassination level, wisps of green smoke curling from the muzzle. He had fired twelve shots in total, and twelve pirates from the BIG·MOM Pirates had their heads blown off.
Although these were all elite pirates, under the terrifying power of D·Assassination, they were all killed with a single headshot.
Su Xiao took out a spare magazine to reload. Just then, a notification from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[Notification: The Hunter has killed a member of the BIG·MOM Pirates. You will now be hostile to the BIG·MOM Pirates.]
[Due to the Hunter's outstanding performance in the naval battle, you may choose to temporarily join the Don Quixote Family. When you obtain more than 5 points of Pirate Prestige, you can formally join the Don Quixote Family.]
[Notification: The Hunter has obtained 27 points of Pirate Prestige and is now eligible to join the Don Quixote Family. To join, you need to find a cadre or higher-ranking member of the Don Quixote Family.]
[Pirate Prestige can be obtained through killing enemies, completing major events, fully completing hidden tasks, etc.]
[You have activated the Pirate Prestige Leaderboard. The leaderboard will be settled at the end of the derivative world. The top five will receive generous rewards. The current rankings are as follows.]
[First Place: Kutu (Fifth Rank), Pirate Prestige 1506 points.]
[Second Place: Qianmeng (Fifth Rank), Pirate Prestige 287 points.]
[Third Place: Sen (Fifth Rank), Pirate Prestige 76 points.]
[Fourth Place: Saerfu (Fourth Rank), Pirate Prestige 51 points.]
[Fifth Place: Bai Ye (Third Rank), Pirate Prestige 27 points.]
...
Seeing the Pirate Prestige Leaderboard, Su Xiao's brows furrowed. According to his understanding, fifth-rank contractors were the last batch to be teleported to the pirate world. But even so, that contractor named Kutu had obtained over 1500 points of Pirate Prestige. What exactly had he done?
There was no doubt that this contractor named Kutu had terrifying strength. Compared to Kutu, the name Qianmeng made Su Xiao even more concerned. He had seen that person before...
The fifth-rank contractors were not located near Dressrosa, but near Cake Island. That sea area was the gap between the territories of Charlotte Linlin and Kaido. These fifth-rank contractors were directly participating in the conflicts between the Four Emperors.
From the Pirate Prestige rankings, it was clear that all contractors were eligible to compete for Pirate Prestige. This meant that the rewards for the top five would be very generous, especially since fifth-rank contractors were involved.
Even if he couldn't get first place, just obtaining the fifth-place reward would be a huge benefit for Su Xiao. Those rewards were meant for fifth-rank contractors, so their value was unimaginable.
But holding onto the top five would be extremely difficult. Su Xiao's opponents included not only a large number of fourth-rank contractors but also six fifth-rank contractors.
Su Xiao closed the leaderboard. He had already chosen Doflamingo's faction. The reason he chose the weakest of the three factions was entirely due to Doflamingo's personal abilities.
Although Doflamingo was a pirate, he was different from those stupid pirates who only knew how to loot and pillage. After he became famous, he basically stopped plundering at sea and instead started doing business with pirates.
Arms, slave trading, Demon Fruits, freshwater transport—anything illegal, he would get a piece of the action.
Don't think freshwater transport is low-class. In the pirate world, 90% of the area is ocean. On some islands, freshwater is more precious than gold. Freshwater transport can sometimes be more profitable than arms dealing. It's just that there are too many pirates at sea, making transport too risky. Doflamingo didn't care about that at all; he was a pirate himself, and a Warlord at that.
After gaining some power, Doflamingo used his background to obtain the position of Warlord, transforming himself into a legal pirate. That was his cleverness.
In the eyes of other pirates, the Warlords were dogs of the World Government, but Doflamingo had a different view. He believed that being a Warlord was a privilege.
After becoming a Warlord, Doflamingo's power grew explosively. He controlled 70% of the arms trade in the New World, could even influence the course of wars in some countries, and eventually became the boss of the underworld. People in the underworld called him Joker.
He owned a large island, controlled 70% of the New World's arms trade and 80% of the slave trade, had an auction house on Sabaody Archipelago, and successfully cooperated with the Four Emperor Kaido.
In terms of wealth, Doflamingo could rank in the top three in the New World. Apart from his subordinates being a bit stupid, Doflamingo had no obvious flaws.
In fact, Doflamingo was too sentimental. Of his three top cadres, aside from Pica who was useful, the other two were not great. His other capable subordinate, Vergo, had infiltrated the Marines and held a high position.
Doflamingo himself was not weak. More importantly, he was originally a Celestial Dragon. That was exactly what Su Xiao valued.
If Su Xiao wanted to shake off the CP department's harassment, joining Doflamingo's faction was the best choice. The CP department dared to infiltrate the territories of the Four Emperors, but they wouldn't easily set foot in Doflamingo's domain. That involved too many issues.
Su Xiao chambered a round in D·Assassination, aimed at a pirate from the BIG·MOM faction, and pulled the trigger.
Pfft.
D·Assassination emitted a gunshot so faint it was almost negligible. The suppressor at the tip of the barrel was also of Legendary quality, so one could imagine how subtle the sound was.
D·Assassination's unique construction and its distinctive gunshot gave it excellent shooting feel. With Su Xiao's Strength attribute, he almost completely ignored its recoil.
As the gunshot rang out, a pirate on an enemy ship dozens of meters away had his head blown off. Bones and flesh fell silently to the ground.
How many people were in the Big Mom Pirates? That was hard to count. The Four Emperors each controlled a vast sea area, and they had an enormous number of subordinate pirates.
After pirates endured countless hardships to reach the New World, they had two choices: join under a Four Emperor or hole up in some godforsaken sea area. One could imagine how many affiliated pirate crews the Four Emperors had.
What Su Xiao needed to do now was to kill as many enemy pirates as possible to gain Pirate Prestige. The derivative world had just begun. Judging by the current battle situation, the battlefield would soon push onto Dressrosa Island, where the final battle would take place.
The naval battle Su Xiao was participating in was just a routine skirmish between the two sides. If not for that storm, the battle wouldn't have been this intense.
Every time Su Xiao fired, an enemy pirate fell. He was essentially exchanging Paradise Coins for Pirate Prestige. Killing an ordinary enemy pirate probably gave 2 to 3 points of Pirate Prestige. The amount for a leader was unknown for now.
The more Pirate Prestige one gained in the first battle, the higher the position they could obtain in their chosen faction, making future actions more convenient.
While Su Xiao was taking down one enemy per shot, the enemy ships were suffering terribly. In less than three minutes, they didn't even dare to fire their cannons. Anyone who exposed themselves outside the ship's railing would be shot in the head in the next moment. As for the portholes inside the ship, don't even joke about that—they were death zones. Anyone who dared to show their head would have a bullet flying toward them, piercing through their skull and the ship's hull behind.
Pfft, pfft, pfft...
Su Xiao fired at a steady rhythm, completely ignoring a lead bullet that flew past his face. The gunner who had dared to expose himself had already been shot in the head.
Bubu Wang lay behind Su Xiao, using his nimble dog paws to help reload.
Five minutes later, the area where Su Xiao was located fell silent. That was the power of a nearly max-rated Legendary firearm. Su Xiao alone had suppressed the firepower of four large ships.
The sound of someone swallowing saliva came. The small leader from before was hiding not far away, looking at Su Xiao with a terrified expression.
"Something wrong?"
Su Xiao tossed the empty magazine to Bubu Wang.
"N-no... nothing. You go ahead."
"Oh."
D·Assassination was chambered. Su Xiao raised the pistol, and a pirate sniper who had just shown his head was shot dead.
Su Xiao now had 106 points of Pirate Prestige, ranking third overall.
PS: (The Qidian backend crashed, and the update took an hour to display. This is force majeure.)