On the open sea, a ship sixty meters long was sailing smoothly through the waves.
The vessel bore absolutely no markings or flags, making it impossible to tell if it was a standard merchant ship or something far more sinister.
“Hahaha!
Boys, the haul this time is incredibly good,” a man with a sleazy appearance said to his gathered underlings, a greedy smirk plastered across his face.
“Once we reach Sabaody, we can make a absolute killing at the auction houses.
Everyone gets a massive bonus!” “Oh!
Long live the boss!” The underlings cheered wildly, their eyes burning with raw greed.
One of the minions stepped forward, rubbing his hands together in excitement.
“Boss, we really lucked out on this voyage.
I can’t believe we actually caught three rare members of the Longleg Tribe!” “Hahaha!
As long as you work hard for me, money and status will be yours for the taking,” the sleazy man laughed, skillfully feeding his crew empty promises to keep them motivated.
In reality, this was a specialized slave ship.
These human traffickers traveled all over the world to hunt down and kidnap high-quality slaves, transporting them directly to the Sabaody Archipelago.
There, they sold their captives to local auction houses for an astronomical commission.
As the grandest slave trading hub in the world, the Celestial Dragons frequently visited the area to purchase new servants.
Because the mortality rate of slaves owned by the Celestial Dragons was incredibly high, some of the Nobles would send personal agents to coordinate directly with these traffickers to keep their numbers replenished.
This dark connection was the exact reason why most of these human traffickers operated with the absolute backing of the World Nobles.
Suddenly, a lookouts frantically scrambled down from the rigging, running toward the sleazy captain.
“Boss!
A pirate ship just appeared right ahead of us!” “Are you an idiot?
Wouldn’t it be fine to just open fire and sink them?” the sleazy man grumbled, glancing sideways at his subordinate with irritation.
“Do I seriously need to teach you how to handle a tiny distraction like this?” “B-but Boss, the ship opposite us…
it looks exactly like the vessel of the great pirate Whitebeard Edward Newgate, under the Rocks Pirates!” “What?!” The sleazy man’s eyes suddenly widened in sheer horror.
The realization hit him like a cannonball.
As a human trafficker who frequently operated in the dangerous waters of the New World, he knew exactly how terrifying Rocks and his legendary division commanders truly were.
After a brief moment of absolute panic, he frantically screamed out his orders.
“Turn the ship around right now!
Run at full speed!” “It’s…
it’s too late, Boss,” the underling answered, his voice trembling violently as he gripped the railing.
“Our ship is too massive, and we still need a wide berth just to turn around.
They’re closing in too fast!” “Damn it, are they coming straight for us?!
Don’t those pirates know that a portion of these slaves are supposed to be delivered directly to the Celestial Dragons?” After a frantic moment of desperation, the man remembered the powerful backing of the World Nobles, trying to find his courage.
He gritted his teeth and ordered, “Since we can’t escape, open fire with everything we’ve got!” “Yes, sir!” “Boss, Captain Duke, Captain Twilight Allen, there are absolutely no markings on the ship ahead of us,” the helmsman reported, adjusting his binoculars as he stood on the deck of Whitebeard’s ship.
“I can’t tell what kind of vessel it is.” Whitebeard stood tall against the sea breeze, contemplating the situation for a brief moment.
“A merchant ship?
If it’s just an ordinary trading vessel, leave them be and let them pass.” But as soon as the words left his mouth, several loud bangs echoed across the water, followed by the whistling sound of incoming projectiles.
“Boss!
They’ve opened fire on us!” the helmsman shouted.
“Gurararara!
Well, since they’ve made the first move, that means they definitely aren’t peaceful merchants,” Whitebeard laughed heartily, his eyes flashing with excitement as he watched the smoke rise from the enemy deck.
“Boys, close in and ready the boarding planks!” “Ohhh!” The crew members roared in excitement, drawing their weapons.
“Hmph.
They honestly think they can take us down with a pathetic attack like this?” Duke said disdainfully.
He casually drew his flintlock, aiming directly at the incoming salvos.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
With incredible precision, Duke’s bullets struck the cannonballs squarely in mid-air, triggering a series of loud explosions that rained harmless debris into the ocean.
The helmsman kept his binoculars locked on the enemy deck, his expression suddenly darkening as he recognized a face.
“Boss, this is a slave ship!
Years ago, before I ever became a pirate, I saw that exact same man raid our island to kidnap and sell our people.
The scum leading them is named Hank.” “Is that so?” Whitebeard’s smile faded into a cold, dangerous expression.
“Then feel free to tear them apart, boys.” “Ohhh!” “Damn it, Boss!
Every single one of our shots was blocked!” “Curse them…
just let them board,” Hank growled, trying to keep his composure as the massive pirate ship pulled alongside them.
“I refuse to believe they’d actually dare lay a hand on cargo belonging to the Celestial Dragons.” Hank completely underestimated the sheer madness of the Rocks Pirates.
If Twilight Allen had heard his thoughts, he would have laughed in his face and told him: You’re overthinking things, brother.
These monsters literally plot to murder the Celestial Dragons, you think they care about a few lackeys?
Before long, the two vessels slammed together, and the heavy gangplank dropped onto the slave ship’s deck.
Whitebeard stepped across first, with Twilight Allen and Duke right at his flanks.
The traffickers on deck swallowed hard, their hands shaking as they held their weapons.
These were the legendary pirates currently rampaging across the entire New World; their mere presence created a suffocating pressure that left these low-life criminals struggling to breathe.
Hank took a deep breath, forcing a disgusting, fawning smile onto his sleazy face as he stepped forward to greet them.
“Mr.
Edward Newgate!
We are simply a peaceful merchant caravan from Sabaody.
This time, we are delivering high-grade goods directly to the esteemed Celestial Dragon lords.
We didn’t see your flag clearly in the mist and accidentally offended your crew; we are truly sorry!
We have prepared our finest wine inside, and we hope you will do us the honor of sharing a drink.” Hank was incredibly slick.
He deliberately brandished the terrifying name of the World Nobles first to intimidate them, then brushed off the previous attack as a simple misunderstanding.
Most ordinary, small-time pirates would have probably been bluffed by the threat of Marine retaliation, but he was dealing with the wrong crew.
Whitebeard and Duke simply looked down at him with pure amusement, while Twilight Allen’s brow furrowed into a deep, angry scowl.
He already knew the truth from the helmsman’s words—the monsters standing before him were human traffickers.
Treating living people as mere cargo?
Allen, possessing the memories and morals of his past life, felt a wave of deep, unfiltered disgust twist his stomach.
A terrifying, oppressive aura suddenly erupted from his body, expanding outward in a massive shockwave that crashed directly into the group of traffickers.
In less than two seconds, the entire deck went silent.
One by one, the slavers crumpled to the floor, completely unconscious.
Only Hank remained standing, his legs trembling violently and his face pale with absolute terror as he stared at the young teenager standing right next to Whitebeard.
Whitebeard and Duke raised their eyebrows in surprise, looking over at Allen with approving glances.
Over the past month, besides successfully awakening his Beginner Armament Haki, Allen had also learned to perfectly control his Conqueror’s Haki.
Through grueling daily spars with First Division Captain Luobuma, Duke, and the other powerhouses on the ship, his raw willpower and aura had grown exponentially stronger.
“Y-you…
what did you just do?!” Hank stammered, backing away until his spine hit the ship’s railing.
“I work directly for the Celestial Dragons!
Listen, I won’t hold you accountable for the deaths of my men.
Just leave right now, and I promise I won’t say a single word to the World Nobles!” Hank sneered, trying to sound brave.
He didn’t care about the lives of his crew at all, and he was too terrified to realize they had only fainted from the burst of Conqueror’s Haki.
“The thing I hate most in this world is human traffickers like you,” Allen said, his voice dropping to a freezing whisper.
“I don’t care who your boss is.
You should be glad our First Division Captain Luobuma isn’t the one standing here right now, or you wouldn’t even have a whole corpse left to bury.” “So what if I’m a trafficker?!” Hank screamed in desperation, realizing his threats weren’t working.
“It’s an absolute honor for those low-life subhumans to become slaves to the divine Celestial Dragons!” “Haha…
an honor?” Allen laughed, though his eyes were completely devoid of warmth.
His fury had reached a boiling point.
He slowly reached down and drew his newly acquired sword, the Snow Goose.
“Then, from this moment on, you can be my slave.
That means I can decide whether you live or die at any second, right?” Seeing the snow-white blade slide from its sheath as Allen walked toward him, Hank’s composure completely shattered.
“Y-you!
Stay back!
Don’t come any closer!” “I can give them to you!
I can hand over all the slaves in the cargo hold for free, as long as you spare my life!” Hank shrieked, still trying to use human lives as a bargaining chip to save his own skin.
“Scum like you are better off being fed to the sea Kings,” Allen said coldly, his expression entirely unmoved.
With a swift, blinding motion, Allen swung his sword.
Hank instantly clutched his throat, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief as blood seeped through his fingers.
“The Celestial Dragons…
will never…
let you…” With a heavy thud, his body collapsed limply onto the wooden deck.
Duke watched Allen casually pull out a cloth to wipe the crimson stains from the pristine steel of the Snow Goose.
“Allen, do you really hate human traffickers that much?” “Yes,” Allen replied shortly.
He didn’t offer any deeper explanation, turning away to walk toward the edge of the ship with a dark, gloomy expression.
Today’s encounter served as a harsh reminder of the grim reality of the One Piece world.
Out here on the sea, the strong could dominate, enslave, and crush the weak at a whim.
It was a brutal, unforgiving world, and it wasn’t nearly as romantic or wonderful as the anime had made it seem.