Chapter Sixteen: Some Are Born Extraordinary

To give up, or to continue?

Maud gripped the handle of his gun, his brow deeply furrowed.

He was reluctant to abandon this opportunity for which he had waited so many days, yet equally unwilling to risk attempting something he was unsure of.

As he wavered between conflicting urges, Red and his companion had already entered within eighty meters—well inside shooting range.

In those brief seconds, Maud tried to find a reason that would convince himself.

He glanced up at the sky, a touch of unwarranted hope flickering in his heart.

Risk and reward always walked hand in hand. Even if he left one alive, as long as he wasn’t discovered, it would be all right.

With night’s cover and the uneven sprawl of buildings around him, the odds of making a timely escape were high.

At that thought, Maud made up his mind. Even if the timing wasn’t perfect, it was still too soon to give up.

Drawing a deep breath, he held it, eyes locked on the two figures advancing step by step.

Seventy meters.

Maud’s finger hovered on the trigger.

Sixty meters.

His finger pressed ever so slightly.

Fifty meters.

He held his breath.

Just as he was about to fire, Red suddenly quickened his pace and veered toward one of the alley’s walls.

Maud’s eyelids twitched; he almost squeezed the trigger on instinct.

But after witnessing what happened next, his racing heart slowed, and his finger eased off the trigger.

Inside the alley, Red braced himself against the wall, bending over and vomiting violently at its base.

His companion patted him on the back, leaning in to say something to him as he did so.

Suddenly, the clouds parted in the night sky, letting moonlight spill through in beams that illuminated the alley like spotlights.

Watching the two figures huddled together, an audacious idea surfaced in Maud’s mind.

“This angle… not quite. It's still off.”

Maud rose quietly, shifting to another sniping spot a few meters away.

There he half-lay prone, holding his breath as he aimed at the pair by the wall.

He pictured a line of fire—straight down from above, through the side of Red’s neck, and ending right at his companion’s brow.

“It can be done!”

A flash of murderous resolve glinted in Maud’s eyes as he squeezed the trigger.

Bang!

A thunderous shot echoed through the alley.

The next moment, two heavy thuds sounded from within the passage.

Red collapsed, his eyes wide open, mouth gasping like a fish deprived of water.

A bloody hole gaped in the side of his neck, a thin arc of blood spurting out and splattering onto the ground.

As for his brutish-looking companion, he lay silently motionless nearby.

The bullet that passed through Red’s neck had, with its remaining force, drilled precisely into his companion’s brow, killing him on the spot.

Moments later, people roused by the shot peered out their windows.

A cacophony of confused voices rang out in the night.

But Maud had already left, descending the building as nimbly as a monkey and heading toward the weapons shop.

Dozens of meters from the sniping site, Saul stood in the shadow of a building.

His presence seemed to melt into the darkness; even up close, he could easily be mistaken for a statue.

Gazing from afar at the two corpses in the alley, Saul spoke suddenly, “What do you think after seeing this?”

“Confusion, and… disbelief.”

From another shadow a few meters away came Sunny’s perplexed voice.

She stepped into the open, but instead of looking at the bodies, she stared in disbelief at the now-deserted sniper’s perch.

Her scarred face was filled with indescribable shock.

“When Maud took the musket from Jesup, I saw him fiddling with it, his movements awkward, turning it over and over in his hands. It looked like he was handling that type of gun for the very first time.”

“That’s why I’d rather believe he fired that shot with a pistol instead of the musket. How did he… how was it possible?”

Saul glanced at Sunny, who seemed shaken.

He understood exactly how she felt.

He had experienced this himself.

There are some things that, no matter how unwillingly, cannot be changed.

From the moment one is born, the world has already set its ranks.

Some are born in poverty, some in wealth.

Some are gifted from birth, others utterly unremarkable.

“Sunny, the world is never short of monsters—some are born to wield blades, others born for the gun.”

“Then should I… keep learning to shoot?”

Saul frowned slightly, as if seeing his younger self in Sunny.

As he fell silent, Sunny’s expression grew even more defeated.

“I have no talent for the blade, my poor constitution makes martial arts a dead end, so in the end, I settled for firearms.”

“When Jesup praised my marksmanship, I thought I’d finally found my way.”

“But it turns out, what he saw in me then is nothing like what I see in Maud now.”

Sunny’s self-doubt was so palpable that even the night couldn't hide her dejection.

Saul sighed. “Maud’s talent is indeed beyond my expectations, but when it comes to marksmanship, I don’t think you’re inferior to him—even if he’s outpaced you for now…”

“Is that supposed to be comforting?”

“Even if I had nothing better to do, I wouldn’t bother with something so thankless.”

“So it is just comfort after all.”

Saul shook his head, glancing at the distant city lights, his words carrying hidden meaning.

“Sunny, this path is longer than you imagine—long enough to let you truly taste despair. You and Maud have only walked a tiny, insignificant stretch.”

“You should know, when I was young, I dreamed of becoming a famous swordsman, but like you, I… Hey, don’t go! My heroic memoirs have barely begun—come back here!”

As Sunny strode away without a backward glance, Saul’s wrinkled face twitched several times.

“That girl… who knows if she heard a word I said.”

Saul looked up at the night sky, the memories Sunny had stirred growing clearer in his mind.

He too had once been defeated by the limits of talent, had once believed there was no path for him.

Until…

In his mind, the captain’s smiling face surfaced, and Saul couldn’t help but smile himself, sinking into memories of old.

But soon, less pleasant recollections came flooding back.

A man with massive iron fists, his whole body covered in the black sheen of Armament Haki, burst forth into his thoughts, pushing aside the captain’s smile.

Saul shook his head violently, grinding his teeth.

“Damn it, why think of him now?”

At that moment, Saul felt as if he’d swallowed a hundred flies, thoroughly disgusted.

…………

Weapons shop.

Maud returned to his room and carefully put away the musket that had just served him so well.

Exhaling softly, he summoned the Hunter’s Notebook.

A new, noticeably larger star had appeared at the top of the black cover.

Maud lay down on his bed, keenly sensing the changes in his body.

Thanks to Sunny’s intelligence this time, the benefits were much greater than before.

If previously his physical prowess was five times that of an ordinary person, now it was about fifteen times.

In terms of raw constitution, measured by combat power, that is—

150!