c8: No humanity, no worth living
In the past two years, Lu Kai had already known clearly what the nobles of Gaocheng looked like through little Lu Kai's memories and the descriptions of the guards. Their cruelty reminded him of the aristocrats in Dressrosa before Doflamingo's fall, wearing false smiles while crushing lives beneath their heels.
But among all the nobles, the Lusides are undoubtedly the most hideous, cruel and ruthless. They were Gaocheng's version of the Celestial Dragons in everything but name: untouchable, tyrannical, and drunk on power.
Little Lu Kai did not grow up with the Lusides, but was raised by Luside's father, the old Marquis Lucas. Lucas was like King Riku of Dressrosa—noble, wise, and beloved by the common folk.
As one of the few kind-hearted nobles, Lucas always used his noble status to help the common people. He even opened the estate gates during a plague and let doctors treat peasants in his own hall.
Lucas often told little Lu Kai that even though people's identities might not be equal, their lives were equal, and no one could trample on the lives of others at will. "Status comes from strength, but worth comes from kindness," he once said.
It was also under Lucas' training that Lu Kai became so kind since he was a child. He was the kind of boy who'd hide injured animals in the stable, or bring food to the kitchen servants without being asked.
Moreover, Lucas does not like his eldest son, Lucide, who is cruel and evil-minded. Lucide was infamous for torturing servants for amusement and rumored to have bribed a Cipher Pol agent to silence a former maid.
The old man had always wanted Lusaid's younger brother, Luz, little Lu Kai's uncle, to inherit his title. Luz had studied law in Baltigo and was rumored to be part of a secret anti-noble society.
The title succession system of the Kingdom of Lafia is "one son inherits, and the remaining sons are demoted". A policy modeled after the lower-tier nobility laws of the World Government-affiliated Goa Kingdom.
If the old man really does this, Luz will become a marquis, and Luside will automatically be demoted one title to an earl. And in Lafian law, an earl cannot control a standing militia or hold a seat in the Royal Council.
Lusaid, who was full of resentment, took advantage of the time when Luz's family was out to sea, bribed the pirates to kill his brother's family, and teamed up with Olive to poison his father Lucas. The pirates were the "Black Fang" crew, infamous for erasing entire island villages off the charts.
In the end, the couple staged a drama themselves, creating the illusion that Lucas was missing, and finally successfully inherited the title. They forged a will, staged a fake shipwreck, and burned the family registry logs.
Later, in order to consolidate his position, Luside resorted to all means, using cruel means to eliminate all those in the family's side branches who believed that his title was not obtained legitimately. One cousin was exiled to a labor camp; another "disappeared" after being summoned to the manor.
At that time, the precocious little Lu Kai suspected that his grandfather and his uncle's family were killed by the Lusides, because the Lusides had the motive and were ruthless enough to do it. He noticed Olive wore Lucas' heirloom ring, one that Lucas never removed until his final days.
But little Lu Kai didn't want to believe it, and still had a glimmer of fantasy about his parents in his heart. However, the last glimmer of fantasy of little Lu Kai was eventually shattered. Even Robin once said, "A child always hopes... until hope itself becomes pain."
Two years ago, the Celestial Dragon Saint Dorjila came to the Kingdom of Lafia for an inspection. The entire Gaocheng was deserted, and almost everyone flocked to the port to welcome the Celestial Dragon, wanting to catch a glimpse of the Saint's face. Their visit was like a tidal wave of terror, as in Sabaody: collars, chains, kneeling.
Little Lu Kai, who was considered a heretic since childhood, was kept at home by the Lusides, and they only took Lu Kai's sister Rubis to pay homage to the Holy Face. Rubis was gentle and obedient, the kind of child nobles showed off to curry favor.
As a result, after Saint Dorjila landed, Rubis's cat suddenly broke free from her arms and ran past the Celestial Dragon. In a rage, Saint Dorjila immediately pulled out a gun and shot Rubis to death. Just like when Saint Charloss shot a man for brushing his coat; to them, commoners were less than animals.
The Lusides didn't even dare to collect Ruby's body. Her remains were discarded by Dorjila's guards like trash, and the blood wasn't cleaned up until days later.
Even after they came back, not only did the two of them not feel sad about Rubis' death, they kept cursing Rubis for offending the Celestial Dragons and saying that she deserved to die. They thanked the "Holy One" for his mercy in sparing them, even offering compensation to the World Government.
And they were very grateful that the two of them were not implicated, and they kept thanking the great Celestial Dragons for their grace.—"We could've been turned to slaves!" Olive cried with relief, as if her daughter's life was a fair price.
I had just heard the news of my sister's death, and then I heard the Rubis couple madly praising the enemy who killed my daughter. Even a marine would've called it dishonorable; even a pirate would've spat at them.
In addition, when little Lu Kai eavesdropped on the conversation between the Lusides, he confirmed that Lucas and the Lutz family were killed by them. Little Lu Kai felt endless sadness and despair in his heart. They laughed about how well the poison worked and how gullible Luz had been before the pirates struck.
At this point, little Lu Kai's last bit of fantasy about the Luside couple was finally shattered. It was like the moment Nico Robin realized Ohara was truly gone irreversible.
This led to the incident where little Lu Kai stole a gun and assassinated the Celestial Dragon.—An act so rare, even the Revolutionary Army hadn't dared it within the Holy Lands.
Little Lu Kai was very smart. He knew that with the tight security around the Celestial Dragons, he was doomed to fail.—Dozens of CP0 agents, Holy Guard escorts, and surveillance Den Den Mushi surrounded the harbor.
But his real intention was to drag such a vicious Lusaid to death with Olive. It wasn't about justice. It wasn't even revenge. It was about making them feel what Rubis felt in her final second.
However, little Lu Kai was caught by the Lusides not long after he ran away. The moment he was discovered hiding near the eastern granaries, Luside's men dragged him back like a captured beast.
The Lusides were furious and beat him to death, and finally his body was abandoned in the wilderness. Just like how the World Nobles discarded failed slaves in Mariejois, Lu Kai's body was dumped near the wild dog-ridden cliffs outside Gaocheng.
During the past two years, when Lu Kai was suffering, he pointed the source of all the pain to the Lusides and the Celestial Dragon Dorjila Saint, especially the Lusides. He would whisper their names every night before passing out from exhaustion, his hatred burning hotter than the Red Line.
People like this don't deserve to live in this world! He remembered Sabo's words from the Revolutionary Army bulletin: "A noble without humanity is just a beast in a mask."
That's why Lu Kai was so eager to go to Gaocheng. He would never be at peace in his life unless he killed the Luside couple. Not for justice. Not for redemption. But for the dignity of Rubis, of Lucas, of every life trampled beneath that cursed name.
And with Lu Kai's current strength, it is entirely possible to do it as long as he is careful. In fact, with sufficient stealth and timing, even a Vice Admiral could fall to Lu Kai's well-placed Observation Haki and precision strikes.
"System, check the basic attributes!" While rushing to Gaocheng, Lu Kai checked his current attributes according to his daily routine. As always, he activated the scan via the small interface that hovered before his spiritual eye.
[Lu Kai (human, male, 8 years old)
Character level: 17
Attribute value: 292
Status: Tired
Fruit ability: none
Mastered skills:
Six Marine Styles: Shaving (Proficiency: Elementary), Moon Step (Proficiency: Elementary), Storm Kick (Proficiency: Entry)
Bengquan: A boxing technique that can release Bengjin at a short distance, increasing the instantaneous explosive power of the fist. The punch has a certain degree of penetrating power (Proficiency: Primary)
Observation Haki: The ability to strongly sense the breath of others, to read the position and number of enemies outside the line of sight, and the actions that the opponent will take in the next moment, is an innate ability of a person. (Proficiency: Primary)
Props to carry: none
Carrying weapons: None
1. System function: Guidance: When the host is exercising, the system provides the most scientific and accurate guidance based on the items that the host has mastered and gotten started with.
2. Scan 1: Can scan targets within 10 meters, up to 5 levels higher than host, up to 3 times a day. Current usage: 3/3.
3. Scan 3: Can scan the basic properties of all touched objects. Daily limit: 3 uses. Current usage: 3/.
4. Treatment: As long as the host is not dead, the host's body can be treated to the best condition. Available times: 1/1, cooldown: 1 year.
5. Clear: Passive. At 6:00 a.m. daily, all negative states from exercise, combat, injury, poisoning, etc. are cleared. Usage today: 0/1. Cooldown: 1 day. ]
The attribute value given by the system is a comprehensive value that includes all basic physical attributes such as vitality, strength, physical strength, explosive power, physical strength, recovery, agility, etc.—In a way, it resembled the data sheets maintained by the World Government for elite CP0 agents.
The level is a quantitative standard to measure the attribute value. The higher the attribute value, the higher the level.—By Level 20, a person was theoretically strong enough to challenge a New World veteran if properly trained.
According to the system's classification, the average attribute value of an 18-year-old adult is 3, and the average attribute value of a well-trained third-class soldier in the Navy Headquarters is 10. A rank comparable to Tashigi's unit back when she was stationed at Loguetown.
Lu Kai didn't know whether the system referred to the Taoism value of CP9 in the One Piece world when making such a division. In CP9, the Tao Power metric (道力) assigned a value of 10 to the average Marine, and 800 to someone like Blueno.
Because the attribute values and Dao power values are based on ordinary naval headquarters soldiers, and the average value is 10. Blueno had 820 Tao Power, which would likely translate to about 270–300 in the system's attribute logic.
But in fact, there is still a big difference between attribute value and Tao power value. The former is holistic, while the latter measures brute force and martial ability.
The Dao force value tests only pure strength. Lu Kai recalled how Rob Lucci's 4,000 Tao Power didn't account for his stamina or agility, only his sheer destructive force.
The attribute value is a comprehensive reflection of all the attributes related to a person's foundation. This meant a fighter like Sanji, whose agility and recovery were abnormally high, would have a very different attribute graph than Zoro, who focused on raw durability and attack.
Attribute values are more like attribute points in playing games. Whether to add points to defense, health, speed, health recovery speed or attack power depends on the individual. Just like how some pirates, like Bartolomeo, focused on defense, while others, like Cavendish, went all-in on speed and technique.
Therefore, just looking at the attribute value cannot explain a person's specific attribute tendency. A swordsman with 300 attribute value could still lose to a sniper with 180, depending on mastery and battlefield control.
In the world of pirates, there are some people whose bodies are extremely strong, but whose attack power is very weak, such as the guy wearing a jacket. That was Kelly Funk, who could wear his brother as armor, yet had no real attack power of his own.
There are also some people whose physical defense is average and who rely mainly on Haki for defense, but whose attack power is unparalleled, such as Garp and Roger. Roger could slice islands in half with a single clash of Haki, but wasn't known for taking hits the way Kaido did.
However, the attribute value still has a high reference value because this intuitive quantitative standard is very practical.—It allowed Lu Kai to track his growth like a logbook, cold and precise.
In the past two years, under the guidance of the system, Lu Kai has been training all the time, and his basic attributes have reached 30 times that of a private in the Navy Headquarters, which is exaggerated for an 8-year-old child. He was now stronger than most East Blue pirates and faster than the average Marine officer, with enough Observation Haki to outmaneuver even a seasoned swordsman.
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