NOVEL WEB Chapter 142: 142. How would I know if you don’t tell me?
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Hawkeye let out a cold snort, his black blade "Yoru" trembled slightly behind him, as if also expressing disdain.
His long, slender fingers swiped across the screen, and the video immediately switched to a live stream of a young swordsman, who was practicing the most basic slashing motions, covered in sweat.
"Brothers, two thousand slashes a day is the correct path to becoming a great swordsman!"
"I dare say, even the World's Greatest Swordsman doesn't work as hard as me! Why? Because our talent isn't enough, we must work hard to create miracles!"
"Like the stream, brothers, the more likes, the more slashes I'll add!"
Following that, a large group of people in the live stream started liking, and the man also slashed wildly, thanking after each slash.
"Boring." The World's Greatest Swordsman muttered a comment, then swiped past the stream.
Meanwhile...
"Fake! Absolutely fake!"
The middle-aged man who called himself the "East Blue Sword Saint" had a flushed face, veins bulging on his temples, and was spitting everywhere at the live stream camera.
"The World's Greatest Swordsman scrolls through TikTok? And even specifically came to my live stream to comment? What kind of joke is this!"
The dozen or so disciples in the dojo exchanged glances. Several of the younger ones had already quietly pulled out their phones and trembling clicked on his ID – an avatar of a hawk's eye on a black background.
The profile only had a simple line of text: "Dracule Mihawk".
The latest update was a Marine swordsmanship competition video forwarded ten minutes ago, with the caption: "More flash than substance, lacking in practicality."
"M-master..." A disciple wearing a headscarf's voice trembled. "This account... it seems to really be..."
"It seems our deceptive methods... seem to have been exposed."
"Nonsense! When did we deceive anyone? We are real!"
"..."
The viewer count in the top right corner of the live stream was jumping wildly, instantly surging from the original few hundred to over fifty thousand.
The comments were refreshing at a speed invisible to the naked eye:
"Holy crap, it's really him! This is unbeatable!"
"This is damn scary, I didn't expect it to really be Hawkeye himself, then this person is indeed trash."
"@Marine Headquarters, come and catch him alive!"
"The Marines catch squat, he's a Shichibukai, part of the system, if he robbed you, you'd have to kneel and thank him."
"Holy crap?"
"Sword Saint-sama, quickly perform seppuku (dog head emoji)"
"..."
A sudden "thud" came from the dojo's wooden floor – the "Sword Saint" plopped down onto the ground, his elaborately decorated sword clattering to the side.
He stared intently at the pinned comment on the screen with a special effect border: "Your sword is duller than a chef's knife."
Signed with the two words "Hawkeye" at the end.
The entire live stream fell into dead silence, even the sound of cicadas from the dojo in the background was clearly audible.
Three seconds later, the comments erupted like a tsunami, and gift effects instantly flooded the screen.
And the man in front of the camera was ashen-faced, even his lips had lost their color – paler than Hawkeye's famous golden vertical pupils.
"Hahaha, a noob recognized by Hawkeye!"
"Duller than a kitchen knife, probably can't even kill a chicken."
"Sending a gift, wishing your swordsmanship becomes more and more dull."
"..."
...
In the waters near Kuraigana Island,
Hawkeye closed the live stream, a nearly invisible curve on his lips. The setting sun gilded the edge of his black top hat, and the shadow of his small boat stretched long across the shimmering sea.
Just then, a three-masted sailboat flying a skull flag was approaching from the northwest.
The lookout on the deck suddenly let out a strange cry, and his telescope "clattered" onto the deck.
"C-Captain!" He scrambled down from the crow's nest. "Ahead... I found... found..."
The bearded captain impatiently snatched the telescope, and the next second, all the blood in his body froze.
In the afterglow of the setting sun, the iconic coffin boat was silently drifting on the sea, and the man wearing a black top hat adorned with white fluffy feathers had already rested a black blade, comparable in size to a door, on his shoulder.
"Full speed turn!!!" The captain's hoarse voice echoed throughout the ship. "Hard to starboard! Throw all the ballast overboard! Quickly!!"
As the sailors fumbled with the operations, someone discovered in horror that a straight silver line had suddenly appeared on the sea a thousand meters away.
It was the sea water parted by sword energy, spreading outwards at a terrifying speed.
"No matter the swordsmanship..."
Hawkeye's voice seemed to carry through the sea breeze.
"One slash is enough."
"Boom!!!"
A massive wall of water surged up behind the sailboat, and that slash passed precisely by the stern, splitting a distant rocky island in half.
The entire ship shook violently in the shockwave, and all the crew members collectively collapsed onto the deck, their pants wet.
When the still-terrified pirates looked back, the ghostly canoe had already disappeared into the twilight.
...
Dressrosa - Central Street
Ron stood on the sun-drenched street, watching the Neo Marine soldiers marching in formation, their justice cloaks flapping in the wind.
The person leading the group was loudly announcing through a loudspeaker Den Den Mushi:
"Princess Rebecca can return to the palace at any time! The Neo Marines will, in the name of justice, ensure that Dressrosa will never again suffer under tyranny!"
The surrounding people erupted in cheers, and many excitedly pulled out their phones to film this scene.
Ron then continued walking, raising an eyebrow. He noticed that on almost every street, people were looking down, scrolling on their phone screens.
Small vendors were using phones for payment, couples were huddled together watching short videos, and even the toy soldiers by the roadside were holding phones, awkwardly swiping the screens with their newly restored fingers.
"Tch, no wonder user growth is so slow..."
Ron casually stopped a juice vendor: "Boss, how much did you buy this phone for?"
"300 Berry! Made a huge profit, it used to be 60,000 Berry!" The vendor happily showed off his new phone. "Thanks to those damn Donquixote Family guys getting out, the price has dropped back to normal levels now!"
Ron's eye twitched.
The factory price he requested for the phone was only 100 Berry, but it was marked up layer by layer by middlemen, and on some islands, it could actually sell for 60,000 Berry!
Six hundred times the price!
No wonder the number of phone users is growing so slowly, it would be a ghost if it could grow!
Not far away,
Several children were gathered around the latest vending machine, using their phones to follow the kingdom's official account to receive free ice cream – this was Rebecca's effort to restore the kingdom.
In the corner of the street,
Ron stared at the bustling crowd on the street, his fingers unconsciously tapping the edge of his phone.
On these islands controlled by the black market, the 100 Berry entry-level phone was even hyped up to the sky-high price of 60,000 Berry, a full 600 times the price!
"These unscrupulous merchants..."
He sneered and opened his contacts, sending an encrypted message to Morgans:
"You'll never guess what happened in Dressrosa."
"???"
Morgans: How would I know if you don't tell me?