On Island 49 of the Sabaody Archipelago, two riders on bubble bikes sped along the coastline. The sack tied behind their vehicle bulged slightly, as if something was stuffed inside.
"Wahaha, we really struck it rich this time!"
"It is all that White King Magnus's fault. If it were not for White King Magnus, how would we have fallen this low?"
"Hey, hey, keep your voice down. You got a death wish?"
"…"
The mohawk rider pulled a face as soon as he mentioned Magnus. Ever since Magnus made his debut, every single time he came to the Sabaody Archipelago, he stirred up a massive storm.
The entire slave trafficking operation on Sabaody had already been smashed by Magnus five times. With this time included, that made six altogether.
At the very beginning, Magnus was still weak, and the strength of his few crew members was nothing special. To take on the trafficking rings that had backing on both the light and dark sides of Sabaody, they could only move with extreme caution.
So most people never realized that fifty years ago, the very first time Magnus came to the Sabaody Archipelago, he freed several hundred slaves.
Among them was the man who would later become his right-hand, his old crewmate, the sly Roya.
The second time was the incident that made Magnus a pirate.
With help from the World Government, Carmel successfully won the trust of the giants of Elbaf and established the Sheep's House there.
But at the beginning, the Sheep's House was actually a place where the CP organization raised new recruits. Human traffickers would steal away talented children and send them to Carmel to be trained.
In the end, they would be washed clean and join the World Government.
With information provided by Carmel, Magnus led his crew and successfully destroyed that entire supply chain of human trafficking.
From then on, Magnus became a pirate and spent the next several decades continually disrupting that same supply line, until CP had no choice but to give up using the Sheep's House to raise new blood.
The White Wolf Pirates thus became a thorn in the eye and a spike in the flesh of the CP organization.
The third time was the one where he broke Hernandez Solan's leg.
The fourth time was when he saved Kokoro.
The fifth time was the last operation, when Magnus cooperated with Rona and joined forces with Harald to storm Mary Geoise, facing Im for the very first time.
Add this time to the tally…
Magnus had destroyed Sabaody's slave trade exactly six times.
Yet no matter how many times he wrecked it, every time the slave market here rebuilt itself at a speed that defied belief, and each time it came back more prosperous than before.
That was why the two traffickers on the bubble bike dared to keep doing their old business, even knowing Magnus was currently on the Sabaody Archipelago.
In their eyes, Magnus would stay on Sabaody for at most a few days.
They just could not do any buying and selling right now.
Once Magnus left, things would go back to normal.
After all, high-grade "goods" were always in short supply. Royalty and nobles had piles of money to spend on slaves, and if a Celestial Dragon happened to take a liking to one, they could fetch a sky–high price.
"I thought those women from Amazon Lily would be terrifying. Turns out we knocked the girl out and took her right under their noses, and they never noticed!"
"Haha, you think over all these years there have not been plenty of women sold off from that place? Grabbing them by force is the last resort. The best way is still to make them fall in love with you. Then they will deliver themselves to your door!"
"Hahaha!"
Thinking of the little girl they had just abducted, the two riders were grinning from ear to ear, already picturing the scene of selling her for an astronomical sum.
Then they could blow all that money gambling again.
They did not notice that the sack behind their bubble bike suddenly twitched.
A pair of eyes slowly opened inside.
"So noisy."
On an open–air terrace, under a sunhat and behind a pair of sunglasses, Magnus drank Sabaody's specialty bubble juice and dug a finger in his ear.
"Looks like having Observation Haki that is too strong is not always a good thing."
"After all, everyone's Observation is different."
At the start, Magnus's Observation Haki had been no different from anyone else's, only enough to sense nearby killing intent and dodge enemy attacks.
But as his strength grew, the range of his Observation expanded more and more. After he gained the ability to hear the voice of all things, he could hear every sound within that range.
A single mosquito buzzing by your ear was already annoying.
Magnus had more like a hundred thousand mosquitoes. He had to deliberately block out part of it. What he left unfiltered were the sounds directed at him with hostility.
Which mostly meant people cursing him.
Things like "What is White King Magnus doing coming to Sabaody again?", "White King Magnus should just die!", "When is the World Government going to take care of White King Magnus?", and so on.
Magnus simply followed those voices cursing him, found the ones doing the cursing, and used that to smash several more slave trafficking dens.
So now, although there were still people cursing him…
Most of them were Marines, some hot–headed new recruits.
The old hands did not dare open their mouths at all.
"Captain, do you have any good fruits left? I feel like my strength has hit a bottleneck. Ordinary training probably cannot make me any stronger now."
Opposite Magnus, a girl with a dark–blue ponytail also wore a wide–brimmed sunhat and big sunglasses that covered most of her face.
She had on a white shirt tied at the hem, and tight denim pants that showed off her long, slender figure perfectly.
Even with only a sliver of cheek visible under the sunglasses, it was obvious she was a beauty.
At any other time, someone would probably have come over to flirt with her already.
But right now…
"I heard White King Magnus's women are on this island too."
"If you try to chat them up, you are asking to get killed."
"Do not underestimate White King Magnus's women. They might all be gorgeous, but every last one of them is a big–time pirate. They are way out of our league."
"…"
So the local punks and thugs were smart enough not to come bother Magnus and Tsuru.
Magnus pulled down his sunglasses to take a look at Tsuru, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
"So you are just going to stick your hand out and ask?"
"Or what?"
Tsuru raised an eyebrow.
"Is my dear captain really not willing to reward a loyal subordinate with even one Devil Fruit?"
"That is not it."
Magnus leaned back in his chair and shrugged.
"I do have a pretty good fruit, but I am not sure it suits you. I get the feeling you do not like being in the spotlight."
"A special fruit, huh?"
Tsuru's eyes flashed for a moment at his words, but then she shook her head.
"Forget it then."
She had already been with the White Wolf Pirates for five years. Although she had only formally sworn allegiance recently, Magnus had never stopped guiding her over those five years just because she was originally a Marine spy. It was as if he had always been sure that she would eventually choose the White Wolf Pirates.
Thanks to that, she could already use both Armament and Observation Haki skillfully, as well as the Six Powers. If she could master the advanced applications of Armament or Observation, she would not crumble instantly in front of top–tier powerhouses.
However, that was anything but easy.
Magnus's instruction for his crew focused first on Haki, but once someone's Haki and physical skills both hit a bottleneck, he would not just force them to bash their heads against it forever.
So among Magnus's official core crew, only Rocks, Linlin, Zephyr, and Tsuru herself had not eaten a fruit. Even monstrously gifted Newgate had eaten the Tremor–Tremor Fruit.
Tsuru did not think her talent was bad, but compared to those monsters, there was still some gap.
"I will keep an eye out for you."
In truth, even if Tsuru did not say anything, Magnus had already been thinking of finding her a suitable fruit, at least one stronger than the one she ate in the original history.
Magnus did not know whether, in the original timeline, Tsuru had ever reached Admiral level, but even if she had not, she should not have been far off.
So, a good fruit might help her finally cross that critical threshold.
"…Thank you."
"Haha, I thought you had already fully slipped into your new role."
Magnus laughed.
"A girl should act like a girl. I would rather you stay by my side because you want to, not for some so–called conviction."
Magnus was almost eighty years old now. He rarely indulged in daydreams about sweet romance, and he never assumed that just because he had some strength and still looked decent, women should of course like him.
Looks were one part of it, strength another, but the little things in life mattered just as much.
Tsuru was still learning how to get along with him.
Magnus thought she only needed to be herself.
"Tsuru, why do you think I saved you back then?"
"Captain, did you know from the beginning that I was a spy?"
Instead of answering, Tsuru shot back with a different question. She knew Magnus had long since realized she was a Marine spy, but she did not know when he had found out.
"Of course. Do not forget, I know Rona. Rona saw you at the Marine Training Academy. She might be getting old, but she is not senile yet."
"If Rona senpai heard that, she would make sure you could not get out of bed for a whole day."
"Was that supposed to be a dirty joke?"
Magnus curled his lip. He honestly would not mind Rona "playing" with him all day. After all, she was the only one who could go a full bo5 with him.
Even Ripley could only manage a bo3.
The waist of a female Admiral, even Magnus had to admit it was addictive.
"Let us say it was."
Tsuru was sure Magnus was not telling her the whole truth. Rona might have recognized her, but Rona had not been at Magnus's side at the time.
Still, the answer to that question did not really matter anymore.
"So why?"
Tsuru circled back to Magnus's original question.
"Was it not because you wanted to see a female Marine make a fool of herself?"
She had thought she was hiding herself perfectly, only to find out in the end that every move she made had been inside Magnus's expectations. In the end, she had even been talked around by Magnus, willingly betraying the Marines and becoming a pirate.
"Haha, of course not."
Magnus shook his head and pointed at Tsuru with a smile. Under his handsome features, his deep gaze felt as if it might swallow her whole.
"Obviously it is because, from the very beginning, I wanted you by my side."
His blunt words made Tsuru's heart skip a beat.
But she quickly thought it through. Five years ago, when she first met Magnus, she had been nothing more than a female slave. Aside from her looks, what else about her could have attracted him?
"So you are saying, Captain, that five years ago you already had designs on me?"
Tsuru looked at him like he was scum.
"I was not even an adult five years ago."
"Pff, hahaha!"
Seeing her expression, Magnus laughed so hard he slapped the table.
"Why would you think I would be interested in a little brat?"
"Were you not?"
"Ahem, fine, I admit I was interested, but only a tiny bit."
Magnus pinched his thumb and forefinger together.
"But compared to your looks, I value you as a person more. I value your mind more. I believe you can help me make the White Wolf Pirates even better."
Five years ago, when Magnus had been on Sabaody, he had said that Tsuru would be the future brain of the White Wolf Pirates.
"Tsuru, I believe in you."
Magnus looked at her and spoke with a gentle smile.
Sitting across from Tsuru was the strongest man in the world. She knew that while Magnus liked to joke, once he got serious, he did not say things just for fun.
And now, he was telling her that what he valued was not her looks.
He valued her.
There was no one else around them, but after hearing Magnus's words, Tsuru still felt like her face was on fire.
She could only pull the wide brim of her hat down to keep Magnus from seeing her expression.
Too sly.
Tsuru finally understood why Magnus was called the most heinous criminal in the world.
He did not just trick others.
He tricked his own crew too.
That was it.
Magnus was obviously lying to her, just to make her work harder for the crew.
So why was the corner of her mouth curling up?
Luckily, at that moment, Magnus seemed to notice something.
"Huh?"
Sitting in the open–air restaurant, sipping his drink and enjoying the company of a beautiful crewmate, Magnus's Observation Haki covered the entire Sabaody Archipelago, just in case.
Suddenly, his eyebrow twitched.
"Looks like some people really are not taking me seriously."
His Observation Haki could pick up voices filled with malice toward him, so in the instant those two traffickers started cursing, Magnus heard them.
"Tsuru, I am going to step out for a bit. I cannot just sit and watch when this kind of thing happens."
Tsuru was still trying to calm herself down, but when she looked up, Magnus's seat in front of her was already empty.
"Captain?"
Shakky was a young warrior from Amazon Lily.
How young?
Twelve.
This was her first voyage.
So while she had kept her guard up on this strange island, with an experienced warrior nearby she had still let herself wander a bit farther than she should have.
Then someone knocked her out.
When she woke up again, everything around her was pitch black and rocking back and forth. Even a girl as slow as she was understood.
She had been caught by slavers.
Twelve–year–old Shakky bit down on her lip and forced herself not to cry.
The vice–captain had warned her before they set sail.
The outside world was dangerous. If she was not careful, bad people would snatch her away.
Why had she not taken that to heart?
"Someone… save me…"
The thought rose up, and Shakky tried to push it back down.
She was a warrior of Amazon Lily. How could she rely on others?
But, but…
The little girl squatted in the swaying sack, pouting, looking utterly wronged.
Just then…
"Yo, little girl. Did you get separated from your elders?"
"You should not be getting into strangers' vehicles so easily."
"What if they are bad guys?"
The sack was suddenly opened. The darkness turned bright all at once.
A man grabbed her in one hand and hauled her out.
"All right, it is fine now."
The white–haired middle–aged man held her in one hand, his other resting on the hilt at his waist. He looked ahead, full of spirit.
"But someone else is about to be in big trouble."
(End of Chapter)
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