As a slave trader who burned, killed, robbed, and did every evil under the sun, Iggy had done countless vile things. People told him every day that he would face retribution sooner or later, but Iggy never cared.
If this world really had such a thing as retribution, he would talk about it when it came.
As long as he enjoyed himself now, even dying later would not feel like a loss.
Yet when death actually arrived, a nameless terror still rose up from the bottom of Iggy's heart.
He did not want to die.
That iconic white hair, the mature and handsome face, the tall and powerful body... on the entire Sabaody Archipelago, Iggy could only think of one person who fit that description.
"Lord Magnus, please spare me, I swear I will never do it again!"
Iggy fell to his knees with a thud.
The thought of resistance never even crossed his mind. He was just a street thug who did not even dare sail into the open sea. How could he possibly resist Magnus, ruler of the New World?
Forget him. Even the Celestial Dragons were dead men walking if they appeared in front of Magnus.
Others might hesitate to touch a Celestial Dragon.
But Magnus had actually killed Celestial Dragons before, and more than one at that.
What was his cheap little life compared to theirs?
Iggy was already bad enough, but the other trafficker beside him was even worse. The moment he recognized Magnus, he passed out cold from sheer fright.
Magnus had not even used Conqueror's Haki.
Shakky had still been a bit groggy, but hearing Iggy's whining cleared her head, and she tilted her face up to look at Magnus.
"You are White King Magnus, that really strong pirate?"
"Yeah, I am White King Magnus."
Hearing the little girl's crisp voice, Magnus laughed.
"These two clowns grabbed you. How do you want to deal with them?"
Iggy felt a spark of hope at Magnus's words. Judging by Shakky's looks, she was at most eleven or twelve. A child that age probably would not ask for his head, right?
"Should I just kill them directly?"
"No." Shakky shook her head. Before Iggy could even breathe in relief, he heard her add, "That would be way too easy on them."
"Oh? Then what do you want to do?"
Magnus was a bit surprised. He had come here because he heard the two riders mention him, which led him to notice Shakky being kidnapped and come over on purpose.
But he did not know her name, nor who she was.
He might have asked for her opinion, but no matter what she said, Magnus had already decided these two traffickers would die.
People could make mistakes.
But some mistakes could be forgiven, while others could not.
In Magnus's mind, slave trafficking belonged to the second category.
"Empress Petveira said once that the three most unforgivable evils in this world are rape, betrayal, and human trafficking."
The black–haired little girl stood by Magnus's side with her hands on her hips, borrowing his authority.
"I am the cutest girl in the whole world. I do not belong to anyone. Trying to kidnap me is the same as committing the most unforgivable crime there is."
"So I have decided to sentence them to keelhauling!"
Keelhauling was a punishment cruel enough to be infamous the world over. The victim would be tied with ropes and dragged under the hull from one side of the ship to the other along the barnacle–covered keel, suffering both the cutting pain of sharp shells and rocks and the agony of drowning.
Even some fairly strong pirates could only endure that punishment for a short time, never mind a couple of low–level thugs on bubble bikes.
"Sure, we will do it your way."
To Magnus, even slow dismemberment would not be excessive for traffickers like these. Keelhauling was not much different in the end, so he agreed to Shakky's verdict without hesitation.
He just had not expected a little girl like her to be able to calmly name a punishment like keelhauling. Clearly, she was no ordinary child.
But Magnus did not care about Shakky's identity. It was true that she was very cute and would definitely grow into a great beauty one day, but right now she had not grown up yet.
"All right, where are your people? I will take you back."
As he spoke, Magnus put his hat back on.
If you were going to do a good deed, you did it all the way. If he turned around and left now, what would happen if Shakky got snatched again the moment his back was turned?
She was such a cute little girl. What lolicon could resist?
"I do not know!"
Shakky puffed out her chest and bluffed shamelessly.
"So I will follow Magnus oji-san for a while, okay? There is no way you would turn down a super cute girl like me, right?"
She acted cute right in front of him.
If it had been anyone else, Shakky might have obediently returned to the Kuja Pirates.
But who was standing in front of her?
White King Magnus, the strongest pirate in the world, the ruler of the New World, the madman who ripped the New World right out of the World Government's jaws.
The Kuja Pirates kept tabs on every famous crew on the seas, and over the last ten years, none had had more impact than the White Wolf Pirates.
They were living legends.
So when Shakky thought about how the legendary man was right next to her, not only handsome and not the least bit scary, but had just saved her, she could not help recall the romantic encounters that so many of her seniors dreamed about back before she set sail.
With a once-in-a-lifetime chance like this right in front of her, if she did not take it, she was sure the others would mock her to death when she got back.
"That will not work."
But to her shock, the man in front of her turned her down without even thinking, despite facing the cutest girl in the whole world.
"Being around me is very dangerous. Let me see… your clothes… you look kind of like one of those women from the all-female island… there, found them. They are not far. You are a new recruit in the Kuja Pirates, right? You should be more careful next time. The outside world is not safe."
The two traffickers actually had not gotten very far. With his overwhelming Observation Haki, Magnus easily located the Kuja Pirates on the other side of the island.
From here, he could see that the women of the Kuja Pirates had already noticed Shakky was missing and were combing the entire island for her.
In the first half of the Grand Line, the Kuja Pirates could practically steamroll any rookie pirate crew.
After all, the captain of the Kuja Pirates usually possessed Conqueror's Haki and was proficient in both Armament and Observation Haki, and every crewmate knew how to use Haki as well.
Even in the New World, there were not many crews who could say the same.
However, if Magnus had not stopped the traffickers, then no matter how strong the Kuja Pirates were, they would never have been able to flip the entire Sabaody Archipelago upside down just to find Shakky.
The Marines would never have allowed that.
"Shakky!"
A woman's shout echoed in their ears, and Magnus laughed.
"Looks like your comrades have found you."
As he spoke, Magnus rubbed his chin. For a moment earlier, he had considered forming an alliance with the Kuja Pirates and using their ability to sail through the Calm Belt to expand the White Wolf Alliance's influence into the two seas bordering the New World.
But after thinking it over, he gave up on the idea.
The Kuja Pirates sailed the Calm Belt thanks to their unique method of taming giant sea snakes. The venom of those snakes made the Sea Kings of the Calm Belt ignore them.
But for anyone else, taming those venomous sea snakes would not be easy at all.
One pirate ship alone was nowhere near enough to call it an expansion of influence.
Still, Magnus might have decided not to push the matter, but someone else was not planning to let him walk away so smoothly.
"You damn trafficker, how dare you try to kidnap one of my people? Die!"
Trafficker? Who, me?
Magnus glanced at the two traffickers who he had already frozen into ice statues, immobilizing them. Then he felt the sweet fragrance drifting up from behind.
Good grief.
With his powerful Observation Haki, Magnus could easily tell whether an attack aimed at him carried killing intent.
This one did not.
The whole "trafficker" accusation was just an excuse. When he turned around, he saw a long–haired woman with pink hair lunging at him.
Just as she was about to hit him, the instant she saw him turn, it was as if she had twisted her ankle mid–run. Her body suddenly went weak.
"Ah, no, I lost my footing."
She let out a breathy moan, and her whole body fell toward him.
The one attacking him, of course, was the Empress of Amazon Lily, current captain of the Kuja Pirates, Gloriosa.
Had Gloriosa recognized Magnus?
Of course she had.
She was not an idiot. How could she not tell Magnus apart from a couple of traffickers?
Besides…
As captain of the Kuja Pirates, Gloriosa was well versed in both Armament and Observation Haki. She might not have reached the point of internal destruction or future sight yet, but she was not far off.
So the moment she laid eyes on Magnus, she felt as if she was staring into a bottomless abyss. It seemed empty, yet sucked at her gaze like a whirlpool.
Ordinary people could not sense the aura Magnus gave off.
But Gloriosa was not ordinary.
The instant she tried to probe deeper, she felt a crushing pressure, as if some ancient beast had fixed its gaze on her, making her heartbeat speed up despite herself.
This had to be a fated encounter.
Seeing the two traffickers frozen into ice statues in the distance, Gloriosa thought that this had to be heaven's arrangement, using Shakky to give her a chance to meet Magnus.
So she grabbed the first excuse that came to mind and threw herself at him. In her mind, with the world's most beautiful woman flinging herself into his arms, there was no way any man could resist.
White King Magnus would be no exception.
Who knew Magnus would simply step neatly back and let her slam into the ground with a solid thud.
Gloriosa stared blankly for a heartbeat, then scrambled up and exploded.
"You damn old man, why did you not catch me?"
"Haha, were you not attacking me? Of course I dodged an attack."
Magnus replied cheerfully.
He was a lecher, sure, but not the kind who lost all self–control at the sight of a pretty face. And while Gloriosa was beautiful, he had plenty of women at his side who were not a bit inferior to her.
"That is right."
Tsuru, who had seen through Gloriosa's attempt to cop a feel at a glance, hurriedly stepped in front of Magnus to block her from getting any closer.
"Empress Gloriosa, please do not misunderstand. Magnus rescued me from those two traffickers. He is not a bad person."
"Hah, he is not a bad person?"
Gloriosa's voice shot up several notes.
"He killed Celestial Dragons, slaughtered a Marine Admiral, invaded the Holy Land Mary Geoise, pushed allied nations to quit the World Government, sparked a world–level war, destroyed Acropolis Port, and is the one responsible for the world being split in two."
She jabbed a finger into Shakky's cheek over and over.
"And you are telling me that monster is not a bad guy?"
"Of course he is not!"
The little girl retorted without hesitation. "What do Celestial Dragons and Admirals have to do with me? We are not an allied nation. Even if he is a big villain, as long as he saved me, then in my heart he is a good person."
The most fearsome pirate in the world, killer of countless people, who openly defied the Marines that represented justice and tried to overthrow the World Government, could still be a good person in someone's eyes?
Not bad.
Magnus's mood brightened for no reason at all. He let a bit of his aura leak out, instantly shocking Gloriosa, who had been about to pinch Shakky's cheek again, into stillness.
"So you already knew who I am, and still chose to call me a trafficker?"
Magnus's eyes narrowed, and the pressure rolling off him made cold sweat stream down Gloriosa's back.
I will die.
I will die, I will die, I will die.
Her Observation Haki was screaming warnings. Even the merest hint of malice that Magnus released was more than she could bear as a newly minted Kuja captain and freshly crowned Empress of Amazon Lily.
The Kuja Pirates might roam freely through the first half of the Grand Line and even rule a corner of the New World, but in front of Magnus, king of the New World, the title of Kuja Empress sounded laughable.
"Lord Magnus, please be merciful!"
A breathless voice rang out from not far away.
When she heard her subordinates say that Gloriosa had attacked someone who looked very much like White King Magnus, Petveira had almost fainted on the spot.
That was White King Magnus.
The empresses of Amazon Lily might be supremely confident in their own looks, but none of them dared to bet on whether Magnus would be moved by beauty and show mercy.
"The Kuja Pirates, huh? I will remember that."
Ignoring both Petveira and Gloriosa, Magnus picked Shakky up and slung her over his shoulder. Then he grinned.
"Since you say I am a trafficker, I may as well play the role for once."
"I am taking this kid."
His words made both Petveira and Gloriosa freeze in shock.
Gloriosa reacted the loudest.
"Why?"
She puffed out her chest.
"How am I worse than this little brat?"
"You cannot compare to her at all."
Magnus snorted and turned away with Shakky on his shoulder. As he did, he gave the girl a quick wink, and she instantly understood he was not actually angry.
She had said she wanted to follow him, and now he was granting her wish.
Of course, only for a while.
(End of Chapter)
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