On the sea, a ship sixty meters long was sailing; it bore no markings, and it was unclear whether it was a merchant vessel.
“Hahaha, boys, the haul this time is quite good.
Once we reach Sabaody, we can make a killing, and everyone will get a bonus,” a man with a sleazy appearance said to his underlings.
“Oh, long live the boss!” The underlings’ eyes were filled with greed.
“Boss, we’re really lucky this time; we actually caught three members of the Longleg Tribe.” One of the underlings remarked on their good fortune.
“Hahaha, as long as you work hard for me, money and status will both be yours.” The sleazy man was skillfully feeding his underlings empty promises.
This was a slave ship.
These human traffickers traveled all over the world to scout for slaves of good quality, transporting them to the Sabaody Archipelago to sell to local auction houses, where they could earn a considerable commission.
As the largest slave trading center, the Celestial Dragons often went there to buy slaves.
Because the attrition rate of slaves owned by the Celestial Dragons was quite high, some would send people to directly coordinate with these human traffickers to replenish the number of slaves, which is why most of these traffickers had the backing of the Celestial Dragons.
“Boss, a pirate ship has appeared ahead!” a minion hurriedly reported to the sleazy man.
“Wouldn’t it be fine to just open fire and sink them?
Do I need to teach you how to do something like this?” the sleazy man glanced sideways at his subordinate.
“B-but Boss, the ship opposite us seems to be the ship of the great pirate Whitebeard Edward Newgate, under the Rocks Pirates.” “Nani?!” The sleazy man’s eyes suddenly widened.
“Turn the ship around!
Run at full speed!” As a human trafficker who frequently operated in the New World, he clearly knew of the terror of Rocks and his subordinates.
After the initial panic, he hurriedly issued the order to flee.
“It’s…
it’s too late, Boss.
Our ship is too big, and we still need to turn around,” the underling answered nervously.
“Damn it, are they coming straight for us?
Don’t they know that a portion of these slaves are to be delivered to the Celestial Dragons?
Since we can’t get away, open fire!” After a moment of panic, the man remembered the Celestial Dragons backing him, and then frantically issued the order to attack.
“Yes.” …
“Boss, Captain Duke, Captain Twilight Allen, there are no markings on the ship opposite us; I don’t know what kind of ship it is.” The helmsman, holding binoculars, reported to Whitebeard after observing for a moment.
“A merchant ship?
If it’s a merchant ship, let them go,” Whitebeard said after a moment of contemplation.
As soon as he finished speaking, several loud bangs rang out from the opposite ship.
“Boss, they’ve opened fire on us!” “Gurararara, since they’ve made a move, that means it’s not a merchant ship.
Boys, close in!” Whitebeard said happily to his crew members upon seeing the enemy open fire.
“Ohhh!” The crew members were clearly very excited as well.
“Hmph, they want to take us out with this level of attack?” Duke said disdainfully, immediately firing his gun at the cannonballs.
Boom, boom, boom!
The bullets struck the cannonballs directly in the distance, triggering explosions.
“Boss, this is a slave ship.
Back before I became a pirate, I saw this man go to our island to capture and sell slaves.
The one leading them is called Hank.” The helmsman continued to observe with his binoculars for a moment before introducing the origins of the opposite ship to Whitebeard.
“Is that so?
Then feel free to attack, boys.” “Ohhh!” …
“Damn it, Boss, the shelling was all blocked.” “Damn it…
let them come over.
I don’t believe they would dare lay a hand on slaves belonging to the Celestial Dragons.” Hank clearly underestimated the boldness of the Rocks Pirates.
If Twilight Allen had heard him, he would definitely have told him: “You’re overthinking it, brother.
They even dare to mess with the Celestial Dragons, let alone you lackeys.” Before long, the two ships drew close.
Lowering the gangplank, Whitebeard led his crew members onto the slave ship.
The people on the slave ship swallowed hard.
These were the great pirates who rampaged through the New World; just their mere presence was enough to leave these low-life minions, who engaged in shady dealings, unable to catch their breath.
Hank took a deep breath, and a fawning smile appeared on his sleazy face.
“Mr.
Edward Newgate, we are a merchant caravan from Sabaody.
This time, we are delivering goods to the Celestial Dragon lords.
We didn’t see the flag clearly earlier and offended you all; we are truly sorry.
We have prepared good wine and hope you will do us the honor of having a drink together.” Hank was very slick; he first brandished the banner of the Celestial Dragons and then attributed the previous attack to a misunderstanding.
Most ordinary small-time pirates would likely have been bluffed by him.
Whitebeard and the others looked on with amusement, while Twilight Allen frowned.
He already knew from the helmsman’s introduction that the people in front of them were human traffickers.
“Treating people as cargo?” Twilight Allen, who possessed memories of his past life, felt deeply uncomfortable with this.
A terrifying aura erupted from Twilight Allen, instantly sweeping toward this group of human traffickers.
In less than two seconds, only Hank remained standing, trembling, with a face full of terror as he looked at Twilight Allen beside Whitebeard.
Whitebeard and Duke, who were beside him, also raised their eyebrows as they looked at Twilight Allen.
Yes, this past month, besides awakening his Armament Haki, Twilight Allen had also learned to control his Conqueror’s Haki.
His own aura had also grown stronger and stronger due to sparring with First Division Captain Luobuma, Duke, and the others every day.
“Y-y-you, what did you do?
I work for the Celestial Dragons!
I won’t hold you accountable for the deaths of these men.
Leave now, and I won’t tell the Celestial Dragons.” Hank trembled as he threatened Twilight Allen.
He didn’t care in the slightest about the lives of his subordinates, even though he didn’t know that these people had only fainted.
“The thing I hate most is human traffickers like you.
I don’t care who you work for.
You should be glad that First Division Captain Luobuma isn’t here, or you wouldn’t even have a whole corpse left.” Twilight Allen didn’t take the Celestial Dragons backing him seriously at all.
“So what if I’m a human trafficker?
It’s an honor for these lowly people to become slaves to the Celestial Dragons!” Seeing that he couldn’t scare these pirates, Hank roared at Twilight Allen in desperation.
“Haha!
Is becoming a slave something to be proud of?
Then, from now on, you are my slave.
I can decide your life and death at will, right?” Twilight Allen laughed out of extreme anger and drew his Snow Goose, preparing to let Hank experience the fear of having his life controlled at will.
Seeing Twilight Allen draw his sword and walk toward him, Hank became even more terrified.
“Y-you, don’t come over!” “I can…
I can hand all these slaves over to you, as long as you spare my life.” Hank still wanted to use the slaves to trade for his own life.
“Scum like you are better off being fed to the fish.” Twilight Allen remained unmoved.
After speaking, he slashed at Hank with his sword.
Hank clutched his throat, looking at Twilight Allen with eyes full of unwillingness.
“The Celestial Dragons…
won’t let you off.” With a thud, he collapsed onto the deck.
Duke looked at Twilight Allen, who was wiping the blood from his sword, and asked, “Twilight Allen, do you hate human traffickers that much?” “Yes.” Twilight Allen didn’t offer much explanation, walking to the side with a gloomy expression.
Today’s events reminded Twilight Allen once again of the cruelty of this world; the strong could dominate the weak at will, and it wasn’t as wonderful as in the original anime.