Koala and her mother embraced tightly, crying tears of joy.
Tiger turned and left with a relieved smile, but suddenly heard Koala's voice.
"Thank you, Captain Tiger, and everyone from the Sun Pirates! I will remember you forever!"
Tiger had his back to Koala, waved his hand, and walked away without looking back. At this moment, Koala, enveloped in happiness, never dreamed that Tiger would die on this island because of her.
After walking back for a while, Koala's Village gradually disappeared from Tiger's sight.
He was genuinely happy for Koala.
But at this moment, he couldn't smile at all.
Suddenly, a large number of Marine appeared in front of Tiger, surrounding him completely, with countless muzzles pointed at him.
"Fisher Tiger, you madman who dared to burn down the Holy Land! Today is your death day, go to hell and atone for your sins!"
Vice Admiral Strawberry, then a Marine Rear Admiral, said expressionlessly.
Seeing the Marine appear, Tiger was first shocked, then seemed to think of something, and gradually became disappointed.
Tiger asked softly, "Why?"
"That little girl you sent back."
Strawberry said, "People marked as slaves by the Celestial Dragons are slaves for life."
Tiger suddenly understood that they were using their lives as a transaction to exchange for Koala's freedom.
Immediately after, Tiger's heart was filled with rage.
It was both because of human selfishness and hatred for the Celestial Dragons.
"Send him on his way."
Strawberry ordered the attack. Instantly, the sound of gunfire and cannons was deafening. Tiger spread his arms, laughing wildly in grief and despair, welcoming his death.
Just then, the ground beneath Tiger's feet suddenly rose, and trees as thick as a waist broke through the soil's restraints, just in front of Tiger.
The bullets failed to penetrate the tree trunks, instead making clanging sounds as if hitting iron plates.
"This is…"
Tiger was stunned; he was very familiar with this ability, and a figure suddenly flashed in his mind.
"Sir, what do we do now?" the major beside him asked in a low voice.
"Keep firing!"
Strawberry gritted his teeth.
Thus, even stronger firepower covered the area where Tiger was.
Under the rain of bullets, the trees around Tiger continuously grew.
While protecting Tiger, the underground tree roots also quickly spread to the Marine's feet.
More trees and vines broke out of the ground. In a few breaths, Strawberry and all the Marine soldiers were enveloped by a dense forest.
"Sir, this ability, I seem to have heard about it at headquarters…"
The major suddenly remembered someone, then began to tremble, stammering, "It's that person on the Red Hair Captain's ship, who is called the right-hand man alongside First Mate Benn Beckman…"
"Shut up!"
A furious roar scared the major into quickly retracting his head. He glanced at his superior and found that Strawberry was trembling even more violently than him.
Strawberry, of course, knew who his subordinate was talking about!
Just half a year ago, he, his direct superior Vice Admiral Borsalino, and several other Vice Admirals were patrolling in the central New World and happened to encounter the Red Hair Pirates.
The battle was almost a one-sided defeat!
In that battle, only two people from the other side made a move.
First Mate Benn Beckman and Vice Admiral Borsalino fought to a standstill.
And the remaining Vice Admirals were instantly wiped out by a single young man!
Shanks, one of the Four Emperors, did not make a move from beginning to end.
Strawberry still remembered the horrifying scene where the warship deck was covered with towering trees, and his comrades were strangled one after another by the trees, their blood dyeing the entire warship red…
The young man held a wooden sword and approached him step by step.
Just like now.
Strawberry froze for a moment, then looked up in horror. Chu Yang was already standing in front of him, raising the wooden sword in his hand.
With one slash, Strawberry's head flew into the sky.
In the dense forest, screams constantly echoed, then returned to silence.
All Marine became nutrients for the trees.
"Yang?"
Tiger looked at the newcomer with surprise.
"I said I would come back to see you all."
Chu Yang helped Tiger up, checked his injuries, and then treated him with pure life energy.
"If you hadn't shown up this time, I would definitely have died," Tiger said with a bitter smile. "I didn't expect that what almost killed me was my goodwill towards humans."
"Kindness itself is not wrong; what's wrong are those who exploit kindness," Chu Yang looked back at the small Village and asked, "How do you plan to deal with those people?"
Tiger was lost in thought for a moment, then slowly shook his head, "I went to so much trouble to send her home, I can't possibly destroy her home with my own hands, can I?"
Chu Yang sighed, "Tiger, you're still the same."
Tiger looked at Chu Yang seriously and said, "No, if you hadn't come today, I would definitely have grown to hate humans deeply, even until the moment I died."
"Ultimately, you didn't disappoint me."
"However, today's experience also taught me one thing: for those who were once Celestial Dragons' slaves, gaining freedom isn't as simple as just removing the mark on their bodies."
Chu Yang listened silently to Tiger's words, then said as if sensing something, "Unless the root problem of the Celestial Dragons can be solved."
Tiger smiled.
Yes, that's exactly what he was thinking.
All along, Tiger's goal had been to rescue slaves, and conflicts with the Celestial Dragons only occurred when unavoidable.
But now it was different. Tiger realized that as long as the Celestial Dragons existed, no matter how many slaves he rescued, new slaves would still be created.
The only thing to do was to completely overthrow the Celestial Dragons' rule.
"Yang, can you help me? I want to try and change this world." Tiger looked at Chu Yang with eager eyes.
Chu Yang had no interest in changing the world; he had only one goal.
Revenge!
Even after a long time, Chu Yang still remembered the treatment he received when he first arrived in this world, and every time he touched his chest, he could feel the lingering warmth of the branding iron.
"Anything that is detrimental to the Celestial Dragons interests me greatly."
Hearing Chu Yang's reply, Tiger's eyes lit up.
A little later, the two returned to the Sun Pirates together. The Fish-Men were greatly surprised when they saw Chu Yang.
"Hey! Am I seeing things? I actually saw that kid Yang!"
"Probably not, because I saw him too!"
"Didn't Captain go to take Koala home? How did he bring Yang back too? That's amazing."
"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and go greet them!"
A large group of Fish-Men rushed down the pirate ship and surrounded Chu Yang, all asking where he had been for the past few years.
Chu Yang also exchanged pleasantries with them.
Jinbe walked over to Tiger and quietly asked what had happened. Tiger just gave a few perfunctory replies, not mentioning his recent encounter, planning to bury the matter forever.
It had been hard enough to change these Fish-Men's views on humans; Tiger didn't want years of effort to go to waste.
Feeling that his big brother was a bit tired, Jinbe didn't keep pressing and joined everyone in welcoming Chu Yang back.
In the evening, the Sun Pirates held a banquet. While everyone was having fun, Tiger and Chu Yang sat by the bonfire discussing their next moves.
"Tiger, have you heard of the Revolutionary Army?"
"It sounds familiar. I remember it's an organization active on land."
"That's right, the Revolutionary Army is mainly active on land, liberating countries bullied by the World Government."
"Are those the countries that can't afford the Heavenly Tribute?"
"Yes, those countries not only cannot receive protection from the Marine but are also threatened with annihilation by the Celestial Dragons."
"Damn Celestial Dragons." Tiger cursed angrily, then asked, "You suddenly brought up the Revolutionary Army, do you want me to cooperate with them?"
"Exactly." Chu Yang nodded, "Although the Revolutionary Army is still in its early stages, I think they will eventually become the main force against the World Government."
Tiger fell into thought.
He was not averse to cooperating with other forces, provided that the force had a basic bottom line.
Tiger didn't know much about the Revolutionary Army, only from news reports of their actions, which suggested they weren't bad people.
"How can I contact the Revolutionary Army?"
Tiger suddenly asked.
"Their headquarters are in Baldigo."
Chu Yang replied.
"You know a lot about the Revolutionary Army! You even know where their headquarters are."
Tiger was surprised, yet also puzzled.
"After all, I'm a crew member of a Four Emperors now, so I have this level of intelligence," Chu Yang said with a smile.
Even the Four Emperors themselves might not know the Revolutionary Army's headquarters, right?