“I-I-h-hai-I…”

Indeed.

I have overdone it.

You can’t even get past the ‘I’ in your sentence.

But it’s not my fault.

You intended to drug us, so I needed to destroy your resolve.

I mean, how was I supposed to know you would break this quickly?

“Mm… ’tis a paralyzing poison. Good thing ya’ noticed em lass.”

I’m not sure why the captain has experience with paralyzing drugs, but good job identifying it.

“These are the culprits? They look too pitiful to be evil…”

You twins should shut your mouth.

If you judge how ‘evil’ someone is by their appearance, nobody will take you seriously.

“I-h-I-ai-hai-…”

But we aren’t really getting anywhere, are we?

Did I traumatize him?

This aura magic is ludicrous.

I barely even turned up the dial and this happens.

Ah whatever…

“You guys interrogate him.”

Let me just go to the tent and listen from there.

I’m sure he will get calmer once I’m out of sight.

…

Also, can someone change his diaper already?

It really stinks.

…

I’m lying in the tent all by myself while everyone else is trying to make that man talk.

It’s taking really long…

Almost half an hour already, and he still can’t even say a full word.

Come on now!

I’m suppressing my aura, so it shouldn’t have any effect anymore!

Why can’t-

…

Oh well…

If the first batch doesn’t work…

I guess we can always ask… the other group.

Four… no, five of them this time.

Damn, where did they come from?

Does the enemy have some sort of instant teleportation?

What a bother.

Let’s go knock them out.

“We should- gha?!”

Hello.

Didn’t expect the back of this tent to suddenly burst open, did you?

“Who- AGH!”

Now now.

It’s dangerous to open your mouth.

You could bite your tongue off.

“Gfu!”

“Egh!”

“Gha!”

There we go.

Knocked them out and nobody wet himself this time.

Hmph…

These people…

I bet they were supposed to ‘clean up’ after we all got paralyzed.

But they ended up getting cleaned up themselves.

“Nina?! What is-… huh?”

Hey, Mable.

Just in time for interrogation part two.

“Who are they…?”

“Janitors.”

…

Now then.

We have seven captives.

And one of them could have some sort of ability to teleport.

This is problematic.

If that someone wakes up and instantly teleports everyone away, we will be back at square one.

So, we decided to separate the five new captives and waited for each one of them to wake up.

Me, Mable, Ignis, Cana each guard one of them while the twins guard the last one.

I guess it’s a good thing we brought those two with us, huh?

Eh, there’s still the captain and his crew, so it’s not like they are irreplaceable.

Anyway…

It took a bit for the man I’m guarding to wake up.

And when he did, I heard a lifetime worth of swears in a few seconds.

What an experience.

But I think he got an even more unforgettable memory from our exchange.

Though, unlike the man we interrogated before, he kept his speaking ability afterward.

“W-we are all just some insignificant underlings…! P-please d-don’t k-”

“Of who?”

“T-…t-the pirate king.”

The pirate king…?

Seriously?

Did I hear that right?

Someone ACTUALLY calls himself a pirate king?

Or is it just those guys calling him that?

“And who is that?”

“H-h-he…”

Stop avoiding my gaze and answer.

Or what?

Are you telling me that the ‘pirate king’ is scarier than me?

“He… l-looks like some kid. But he’s stronger… than anyone…”

…

Argh, looks like a kid, but is overpowered?

This smells of reincarnation.

“Stronger than anyone? What does that mean?”

“H-he… you… no matter what you use against him… he can use it too… he’s unbeatable…”

…

A copy skill?

Is that what you are saying?

What a cliche.

And…

What a bother.

Hmm…

There are only a few ways to beat someone who can copy skills of his enemies.

Let’s see…

a) Defeat him in a single blow.

A surefire way to beat almost anyone.

b) Use an item he doesn’t have and can’t copy.

A master swordsman will still lose to another master swordsman if he lacks a sword the other one has.

c) Keep changing your strategy into something that beats your previous strategy.

Bait him into copying something and then use something that counters it, simple.

…

But all of those assume that copying is all he can do.

If he has another ace up his sleeve however…

I have to prepare another plan.

“Gyaaaah! L-Leo!”

A scream came from the twin girl.

What happened?

I let go of my captive and rushed to where the twins were supposed to be.

But instead of the twins and their captive, only Lina, the girl twin, was sitting there.

“Where did they go?”

“T-that man said he would tell Leo some secret, so he got closer for him to whisper into his ear and…”

… I already can’t help but facepalm.

“And then they both glowed and disappeared!”

Did you really fall for something like that?!

You not only let the guy with teleport escape, but he also reverse-captured your brother?!

“What happened?!”

The rest of the gang is here.

Ugh…

The second time around, your explanation makes you look even dumber.

And I’m not the only one who thinks that.

Look.

Mable is livid.

“I-it should be fine! It’s Leo, after all! I’m sure he can just teleport back without a problem! J-just wait a few minutes…”

Right, he can instantly teleport, can’t he?

…

Except, why should it take a few minutes?

Is the teleport not instant, after all?

Or is there something you aren’t telling us…?

…

A few minutes later.

We finished interrogating the people we had while we waited for the idiot twin’s heroic return.

Turns out that the two people who were here to poison us were just disposable slaves to the pirate king.

They had no other choice but to obey him.

After them, the ‘janitor’ squad arrived to transport the new captives back to their base.

Just in case the slaves wouldn’t do their jobs, the whole group was supposed to be strong enough to beat any average sailor group with force.

Of course, with just me being here, we aren’t an average sailor group anymore.

Apparently, this was the first time they were beaten, let alone beaten by a single person, in a few seconds.

…

Anyway…

What happened to the twin who was supposed return in a few minutes?

It’s been quite a bit longer than that.

“Any second now…”

Are you doubting your own words?

I don’t like the expression you are making.

“Any s-?!”

Oh, there we go-

…

That is not the other twin.

It’s a teen girl, I have never seen before, dressed in ragged clothes.

Looks like yet another slave.

She’s trembling while looking at the ground and holding up a sign…

‘If you want to see the boy again, send your strongest to duel with me. This girl will be your guide. -The pirate king’

…

Oh, you have got to be kidding me…

“W-what?! L-Leo…”

This girl is breaking down.

What happened to your cocky attitude?

“The strongest one to duel…?”

Yeah…

It’s a letter of challenge from the final boss.

This sure escalated quickly.

…

And I’m pretty sure this is a trap.

But still…

It’s not like I can decline, can I?

Hah…

I’ll show him who the true king is!

…

The hell?

I’m a girl.

Why would I need the title of a king?

Must be lion soul infecting my brain…

“What do we do Nina…?”

Well, it’s simple.

“We-gha!”

Wha-?!

“Nina?!”

What… the hell?

My aura just shrunk back into me and shook my entire being.

I coughed out some blood.

What is this?

Was there a time limit on this?

Did I exceed it?

Shit…

Why now!

If I keel over now, who will face the pirate king?!

“P-panther?!”

What…

My hand…

It’s giving off the black smoke…

The same I give off when I’m in panther soul.

“Tiger?!”

“Cheetah…?”

It seems like…

I cycled through all of the other souls.

Anger, depression, sleepiness…

Each cycle shook my entire being again.

I feel like I got hit by a storm of razorblades.

But I’m not bleeding.

What the hell…

What the hell?!

Is this the drawback of lion soul?!

Why?!

All the other ones were psychological!

What’s with this insane physical pain?!

Argh…!

I can’t…

“””NINAAAA!”””