Walking north along the coastline for about two hours, Luna’s stamina gradually recovered under the effects of her Rubber Constitution and Meditation skills.
The bruises on her arms still ached faintly, but they no longer hindered her movements.
She deliberately avoided the main road, weaving between reefs and bushes, occasionally turning back to look at the sea — Garp’s warship was long gone, but caution was always right.
When the sun rose overhead, a small fishing village built against the mountain appeared in her field of vision.
Over a dozen wooden houses were scattered along the inner side of the bay, and a few dilapidated small fishing boats were docked at the pier, with drying fishing nets exuding a salty, fishy scent in the sunlight.
The village looked quiet and peaceful, but Luna’s acute [Listening] skill captured an abnormality — noisy sounds were coming from the center of the village, not daily labor conversations, but mixed with curses, cries, and the crisp sound of something being smashed.
Luna stopped in her tracks, squatting behind a reef to observe.
She needed rest, food, and even more, a ship, but this village was clearly running into trouble.
“First let’s see the situation.” She lowered the brim of her straw hat, hid her pack in the cracks of the reef, took only her personal pouch and straw hat, and approached the village entrance silently like a civet cat.
The closer she got, the clearer the sounds became.
“Hurry up!
Hand over everything valuable!
Food, Berries, and women!” a rough male voice roared.
“Please…
We are just ordinary fishermen…” came the old man’s pleading voice.
“Cut the crap!
When our Bone-Crasher Pirates were roaming the East Blue, you lowlives didn’t even have the qualification to cry!” another voice said even more arrogantly.
Luna bypassed the last wooden house and saw the scene in the center of the village square: about twenty-odd men in pirate attire surrounded dozens of villagers in the middle.
The pirates held blades, axes, and flintlocks, with cruel grins on their faces.
The villagers were trembling, several strong men with injuries were pinned to the ground, and on one side of the open space were piled up some rummaged grain bags and scattered valuables.
The leader was an exceptionally tall man, nearly three meters tall, with bulging muscles and a ferocious scar on his left cheek running from his forehead to his chin.
He carried a huge, spike-covered club on his shoulder, the head of which was still stained with dark red blemishes.
Most eye-catching was a bounty poster tucked into his waist — Luna’s eyesight was excellent, and she saw the number on it clearly: 17,000,000 Berries.
Seventeen million; in the East Blue, this indeed counted as a “big shot”.
“Bone-Crasher” Brad — this moniker flashed through Luna’s mind, leaving a slight impression.
In the original work, he seemed to be a moderately famous pirate in the East Blue who was later casually taken care of by some supernova, but she hadn’t expected to run into him here.
Brad was using the tip of his club to lift an old fisherman’s chin, grinning and showing a mouthful of yellow teeth: “Old man, I heard your village is hiding a treasure?
Gold jewelry salvaged from a shipwreck?
Hand it out, and I’ll spare your lives.”
“N-No…
Those are all rumors…” the old fisherman said tremblingly.
“Rumors?” Brad’s gaze turned cold, and his club applied slight pressure, causing fresh blood to instantly seep from the old fisherman’s chin.
“I’ll ask one last time, where is the gold?”
The villagers let out frightened low gasps, and several children had their mouths tightly covered by their mothers.
Luna leaned against the back of the wooden house, rapidly assessing the situation.
Twenty-three pirates, the leader with a bounty of seventeen million, and the rest looked like small fry.
The villagers were unarmed, and fighting head-on would only cause more casualties.
She needed a quick resolution, and she had to control the combat range to avoid affecting innocents.
More importantly — she looked toward the direction of the pier, where a two-masted sailing ship much larger than the fishing boats was moored.
Its hull was painted dark red, the figurehead was a ferocious skull, and a pirate flag with crossed bones hung from the mast.
The hull was well-maintained and of the right size, exactly able to replace the destroyed departure.
“That’s it.” Luna’s lips curved slightly; the ship problem was solved.
But she didn’t rush out immediately.
Her combat experience from her past life told her that rashness was not the same as brainlessness.
She observed the distribution of the pirates: Brad stood in the center of the open space, surrounded by five pirates who looked like officers in a fan-shaped defense, while the remaining seventeen were scattered on the periphery, controlling the villagers and entrances and exits.
If she attacked Brad directly, the peripheral pirates might be driven to desperation and harm the villagers.
It was best to clear out the small fry first to create chaos, and then capture the ringleader.
Luna took a deep breath, her Rubber Constitution quietly activating, and the muscles in her legs slightly contracting.
She targeted the three pirates closest to her with their backs turned to her — they were giggling and kicking over a vegetable basket.
Do it!
Without shouting or early warning, Luna’s figure darted out from behind the wooden house like a ghost, her speed so fast it left afterimages in the air!
“Rubber Whip Leg Trio!”
Her right leg instantly stretched and lengthened during the dash, sweeping out like a long black whip!
It wasn’t just a single whip shadow, but three consecutive strikes in a very short time!
Each time accurately hitting the back of a pirate’s neck!
Slap!
Slap!
Slap!
Three muffled thuds sounded almost simultaneously.
The three pirates didn’t even groan, their vision went black, and they collapsed straight to the ground, fainting dead away.
“Who is it?!” The nearby pirates only then reacted, turning around in shock and anger.
Luna landed without stopping, her body spinning like a top, her arms stretching backward simultaneously!
“Rubber Twin Pistols Barrage!”
Her arms, stretched to their limit, suddenly snapped forward, but instead of straight punches, they swung and vibrated at high speed in the air, turning into a blurred mass of fists!
Every single punch accurately slammed into a pirate’s chest, abdomen, or face!
Bang bang bang bang bang—!!!
The five closest pirates were hit consecutively as if by a battering ram, spitting blood and flying backward, crashing into the firewood pile next to them, and never able to get up again.
From Luna’s appearance to knocking down eight people, the whole process took less than five seconds.
The open space was dead silent; whether pirates or villagers, everyone stared dumbfounded at this suddenly popping up black-haired little girl wearing a straw hat.
Brad was the first to snap back to his senses.
He narrowed his eyes, staring at Luna, especially the straw hat on her head.
A trace of doubt flashed in his eyes, immediately replaced by fury: “Where did this brat come from?!
You’re courting death!!”
Luna flicked her wrists, looked at Brad, with a calm expression: “You guys disturbed my rest.”
“…” Brad was stunned for a second, then roared furiously, “Kill her!!”