Chapter 110: A Sense of Crisis

The Six Powers of the Navy were already well-known to Maude. Therefore, simply securing Robbie’s name meant he had sufficient intelligence. His goal now was to harvest Robbie’s experience points as quickly as possible. Glancing at the dying man, Maude swiftly pulled the quill from the spine of his notebook and flipped it open, writing Robbie’s name down first.

During the battle, Maude had been careful to set aside time to record intelligence. He had intentionally avoided vital points with his final strike. However, while an attack imbued with Armament Haki could pierce Robbie’s Iron Body, it inevitably inflicted severe trauma. Even though Maude had spared his vitals, the strike had still caused massive damage. Seeing that Robbie was fading fast, Maude felt a surge of urgency. He had hoped to detail the intricacies of the Six Powers to maximize his gains, but if Robbie died before he finished, a large portion of those potential rewards would slip through his fingers.

Racing against time, Maude prayed for Robbie to hang on a little longer while scribbling words onto the page with frantic speed. Robbie lay slumped on the ground, oblivious to Maude’s writing. As he drew his final breath, he never imagined that his killer was hoping for him to linger. In his final moments, Robbie felt nothing but resentment and regret. He could have simply restricted the movements of Maude and Sunny; there were plenty of low-risk strategies that would have spared him this fate. Why had he chosen the path of highest risk? Was it because Gion viewed Maude as a dangerous individual, or was it simply... jealousy?

"My... my future..."

Robbie’s mouth opened slowly, attempting to speak, but no sound emerged. A white mist suddenly clouded his vision. Within the fog, a scene materialized: Robbie saw himself ascending to the rank of Admiral. Like a final flicker of a dying lamp, his lips twitched once more, then suddenly went still.

Robbie was dead.

Maude closed his Hunter’s Notebook. He had finished recording all known intelligence three seconds prior, just in time. As Robbie breathed his last, the substantial rewards flooded in immediately. Not only did they fill the final gap in the second star frame, upgrading his physique to a two-star rating, but the overflowing energy even condensed into a third star frame. As the upgrade completed, the baptism began.

First, warm currents flowed through his limbs, instantly sweeping away the fatigue from using Haki. This was followed by an indescribable sense of comfort, as if his body were soaking in a hot spring, with countless nimble hands kneading every part of him. It was the same familiar process. Yet, Maude had no time to indulge in the sensation; he briefly closed his eyes to check his progress:

[Physique: ★★☆]
[Swordsmanship: ☆]
[Haki: ☆]

After taking less than two seconds to assess his progress, Maude opened his eyes, feeling refreshed.

"Beyond filling the second star, it even condensed a third. The experience points from this guy were unexpectedly generous."

Maude pulled his blade, Chidori, from the ground. With a sharp flick, he shook off the blood and sheathed it. He cast a glance at Robbie’s lifeless, wide-eyed corpse before running toward Sunny. The obstruction was cleared, but he still had to race toward the pig farm.

The pirates watching from the wall were still baffled by Maude’s Devil Fruit ability, even after witnessing the entire fight. However, they were delighted to see Robbie dead. "Usopp, well done!" many thought to themselves before squeezing into the wall opening. Survival was more important than cheering.

Maude reached Sunny and crouched down, his back to her. Sunny naturally wrapped her arms around his neck. Maude stood up, carrying her, and sprinted toward the wall.

"What was that just now?" Sunny asked, her chin resting on his shoulder, tilting her head to look at his sharp profile.

"What do you mean?"

"The black notebook."

"Oh, can we not talk about that?"

"Sure."

"Good."

After ending the trivial conversation, Maude looked back at Mad Hat Town and whispered, "I wonder how Saul is doing."

Sunny was silent for a moment. "Saul will be fine. His legs are short, but he runs fast. Besides, without a burden like me to slow him down, he can escape whenever he wants."

Maude glanced at her, remarking, "You really don't spare even yourself when you're being sharp-tongued."

"I’m just stating the facts."

Maude didn't know how to respond. Soon, they were within three hundred meters of the wall opening. There were only three holes at the base of the wall—one large and two small. The large one was relatively normal, but the smaller ones were more like doorways. Given that the pirates and underworld figures present weren't the type to respect queues, the area was incredibly crowded. Though people were constantly passing through, more kept fleeing from the town, so the crowd never seemed to thin.

Watching this, Maude felt like hurling a cannonball into the mob. "This is a problem," he muttered. He was tempted to carve a path through, which might accidentally net him more experience points from targets he had already registered in his notebook. But if he acted now, he would instantly become a target for everyone. This situation highlighted the importance of Conqueror’s Haki.

As Maude reached the back of the crowd, nearby pirates cast glances his way—the look of the weak gazing upon the strong. It was a common occurrence in the pirate world. Ignoring the stares, Maude frowned at the impenetrable wall of people. *What is the point of waiting?* He resisted the urge to draw his sword and looked up at the wall. *Should I just climb?*

Just as the thought crossed his mind, a sound as piercing as a needle scratching glass came from behind. It was from the direction of Mad Hat Town. Maude instinctively looked back. Dozens of pirates who had just fled the town were cut down by a sword slash five or six meters long.

"A sword beam..." Maude’s eyes twitched. "Who is it?"

Even though his Observation Haki wasn't strong, he could sense an intense crisis. He hadn't even felt this level of danger when facing Aokiji.