“Then you probably don’t know this, but that freckle-faced old hag you mentioned already agreed to give all of her treasure to me.”
Karl looked at the little thief with a teasing grin.
“Don’t believe me?
Ask them.”
Behind him, the battered pirates who had just received a thorough beating naturally didn’t dare contradict him.
They nodded frantically, as if hesitating for even a second would get them thrown into the sea to feed the sharks.
“You…”
Seeing this, the young thief immediately understood what was going on.
“I-I didn’t steal anything!
That treasure was stolen from other people in the first place.
I was just returning it to its rightful owners!”
She stubbornly refused to back down.
“You’re an interesting little thief.”
Karl crossed his arms.
“But I’m not interested in debating right and wrong right now.
Since I caught you, your life is in my hands.
That means what I say goes.”
“And what exactly are you planning to do?”
Karl looked her up and down.
Then he suddenly reached forward and pulled off her headscarf.
A head of short orange hair spilled out instantly.
“As I thought.
A girl thief.”
“You—!”
The thief glared at him like an angry kitten with its fur standing on end.
“Then you can stay on this ship and work for me.”
Karl shrugged.
“When you’ve earned enough money to buy back your freedom, I’ll let you leave.”
“You stole my money, so you can work off the debt yourself.
Sounds fair, right?”
“Work?”
“That’s right.”
Karl waved a hand toward the surrounding pirates.
“Not just her.
The same goes for all of you.”
“You’ve been pirates long enough to understand how things work.”
“For losers like you, there are usually only two choices: join the victor or die.”
“But I’m giving you a third option.”
“I won’t kill you, and I don’t need you to join me.
Once we reach an island, I’ll hand all of you over to the Marines.”
“The Marines?!”
The pirates’ faces immediately turned pale.
“Don’t act like it’s the end of the world.”
Karl waved dismissively.
“You’re not some notorious pirates with massive bounties.
What’s so terrible about going to the Marines?
It’s still better than being dead.”
Sounds better than being a pirate to me.”
He continued patiently:
“If you don’t like the idea, you’re free to kill yourselves right now.
I won’t stop you.”
Karl rummaged through the treasure pile, found a reasonably decent sword, and tossed it onto the deck in front of them.
“Go ahead.”
The pirates looked at one another.
Not a single one of them dared pick it up.
“See?
You all want to live.”
“Then this becomes simple.”
“You don’t need to be so scared.
I’m giving you a chance to turn over a new leaf.”
“As long as your crimes aren’t too serious, I doubt the Marines will wipe you out.”
“The Marines aren’t like pirates.
Their whole thing is rehabilitation.
You understand that, right?”
“Otherwise, why would prisons exist?
If they just wanted to kill everyone, they’d build execution grounds instead of all those prisons.”
“When you get there, you won’t even be bored.”
“The Marines will assign you jobs.
They can’t exactly feed you for free, can they?”
“Probably simple stuff like construction work, handicrafts, cooking, or moving cargo.”
“They definitely won’t work you to death.”
“When you think about it that way, doesn’t it sound a lot better than losing your head?”
After Karl’s lengthy sales pitch, the pirates nodded like chickens pecking at grain.
“And besides, you all have families, don’t you?”
“Following Alvida around, I doubt any of you dare go home.”
“You may be willing to rob strangers, but I bet you wouldn’t want to see your own hometown or your own family robbed.”
“If you go to the Marines, reform yourselves, and behave well, those of you who haven’t killed anyone might be released in a few years.”
“Then you can go home openly and honestly.”
“Man…
when you think about it, I’m really a great person.”
The more Karl talked, the more moved he became.
At this point, he felt less like a pirate and more like a savior of mankind.
The pirates standing before him had red eyes as well, clearly touched by his “good intentions.”
Only the young thief remained unconvinced.
She stared at Karl suspiciously, not believing a single word he said.
“Anyway, before we reach a Marine base, you’ll all be working aboard this ship.”
“You should know that not all jobs are equal.”
“There are good assignments and bad assignments.”
“How you perform on this ship will determine whether you end up doing simple labor…”
“…or spending your days mining coal in some miserable pit.”
“I’m sure you understand the difference.”
“And those who work hard will have a much easier time while they’re here.”
“If any of you were forced into piracy and haven’t actually done anything bad—people like that pink-haired kid Koby—I might even show mercy and let you go.”
“Of course, that depends entirely on your performance.”
“U-Understood…”
“I can’t hear you!
Haven’t you eaten?”
“UNDERSTOOD!”
The pirates shouted so loudly that the sound echoed across the sea.
Only after several repetitions did Karl finally nod in satisfaction.
“Good.”
“First task: go bring over some explosives and metal from your ship.”
Karl pointed toward the pirate vessel.
“And anyone who works gets an extra chicken drumstick at lunch.”
He paused.
“Uh…
you do have chicken drumsticks, right?”
“I’ll go!”
A pirate wearing a white headscarf immediately sprinted toward the stairs leading below deck.
The others rushed after him, practically ready to start a brawl over the opportunity.
“Alright, alright!”
Karl hurriedly stopped them.
“Five people—no, eight!
That’s enough!
Don’t rush.
There’ll be more work later!”
Only then did the chaos settle down.
Meanwhile, Karl muttered to himself:
One chicken drumstick gets them this excited?
Looks like they haven’t exactly been living the good life.
“You, you, and you.”
Karl pointed at several pirates.
“You should have paper and pens aboard your ship.
Go bring some over.”
“And you…”
Before long, everything Karl requested had been neatly piled onto the deck.
“Cannonballs, huh?”
Karl picked up a pitch-black cannonball from one of the crates and examined it.
“Cheap metal.
But it’ll do.”
Activating his Devil Fruit ability, he liquefied the cannonball.
The metal melted and flowed through his fingers.
Then he began reshaping it.
A few moments later, a crude black metal collar emerged.
Its rough appearance practically screamed poor craftsmanship.
“You.
Come here.”
The pirate Karl pointed at—a one-eyed man—walked over trembling.
Without another word, Karl snapped the collar around the pirate’s neck.
He circled him once, inspecting the fit.
Perfect.
“Now try to break it.”