Isaac slowly woke up, white clouds leisurely changing shapes in the sky.
Did he just have a nightmare? Probably... It felt quite real...
"Yo, kid, you're awake?" a rough, boisterous voice came.
Isaac looked up, only to see his Mama's corpse.
It wasn't a dream... It wasn't a dream... He was the one who killed his Mama...
Isaac froze, staring blankly at his Mama's corpse, unsure of what he felt.
Perhaps it was too much grief, too much fear, that plunged Isaac's mind into temporary chaos.
"Hey, ignoring me... will make me very unhappy," the boisterous voice rang out again.
Isaac looked beside him and saw a Haki man over two meters tall, wearing a red coat, with spiky Red Hair, and slightly reddish skin.
It wasn't that his attire was particularly Haoshoku, but rather that his mere presence made one feel he was the center of this world.
"You are..."
"Captain, you're mistaken, how could it be this Child? So dull?" a bald, muscular man, three meters tall, said from behind him.
"For a Child to stand like this in front of a great pirate with a 500 million Berries bounty is already quite impressive," a man with blue-white shoulder-length hair, also wearing a red coat, holding a bottle of beer, and about 1.7 meters tall, looked at Isaac with a playful gaze.
"I'm a pirate; I saw a Government ship here so I came to check it out.
Now, the Government people have all been killed by us." He looked at Isaac, concluding that the Haoshoku that had made his heart palpitate earlier was released by this cute-looking Child.
As for why? It could only be the intuition of a hero of the sea.
"Pirates? Are you going to kill me?" Isaac stared blankly at the man.
The idea he had been taught since childhood was that pirates were bad people.
"This Child doesn't seem very smart," the blue-haired man took a sip of his drink, his tone laced with amusement.
"I don't want to kill you," the man looked at Isaac.
"Hey, you... follow me and become a pirate."
"Huh?" Not just Isaac, but the other pirates around the man also looked at their Captain in surprise.
Inviting a Child? Is he joking?
"If you don't agree..." A cruel smile appeared on the man's face.
"There are still a few survivors on this island.
I'll kill them all, including you..." The man's murderous aura erupted, that terrifying aura, having killed thousands of lives, made Isaac's breathing difficult.
Interesting... The blue-haired man took a sip of the beer in his hand, watching Isaac with keen interest.
A three or four-year-old Child enduring the Captain's murderous aura... Could that Haoshoku really be his?
That would be too terrifying.
Such a monster, if he couldn't be brought under their wing... he would just have to disappear.
"You... you..." Isaac was suppressed, unable to speak.
"Kid, are you agreeing or not?!" Overwhelming pressure, centered on the man, spread wildly, the ground cracked, the sea seemed to be churned by a giant beast, and people's vision was affected.
Isaac's brain buzzed.
To him, this guy was no longer human; he was... a Shura from hell!
"Cough, cough, cough, Captain, don't just unleash your Haoshoku!" The blue-haired man choked on his drink, coughing wildly, while the other pirates, except for one or two who were barely holding on, all rolled their eyes and fell to the ground.
"This guy..." The blue-haired man squinted.
The Captain's Haoshoku still affected him, but at this moment, he actually saw... that Child hadn't fallen!
He hadn't even finished being surprised when, a similar pressure erupted from the Child, beginning to contend with the Captain's Haoshoku.
Under the clash of the two Haoshoku, black and red lightning exploded in his ears.
Even the blue-haired man couldn't withstand such a Haki clash, rolling his eyes and falling to the ground.
"Didn't... expect..." This was his last sentence.
"thief rocks, I was right!" The man laughed loudly, dispelling his Haoshoku.
Isaac's Haoshoku also dissipated, having lost its target for confrontation.
Isaac knelt on the ground, gasping for breath, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.
"Wh-why... why is it like this? Why did you kill us... What did we... do wrong?"
"Because you are too weak! Weakness is the original sin!" the man said, placing a foot on Isaac's head and pressing Isaac's face hard into the dirt.
The man bent down, getting as close as possible to the crying Isaac.
"Think about it, if you were strong enough, would this have happened?"
"I don't know what happened here, and I don't want to know what happened here... But I know if you were strong enough, these things wouldn't happen."
"Why... what did we... do wrong..." Isaac still cried.
Mama, Village Elder Grandpa, Uncle Kahn... and everyone else... Why?
Why were we treated like that?
"Tsk, listen to me, kid, you really didn't do anything wrong, but... if a strong person wants to destroy you, you are destroyed, understand?"
"But... Mama said... strong people... strong people should protect... the weak..."
"thief rocks, that's the most idiotic joke in the world.
It seems your Mama was a stupid and weak piece of trash! That's why she raised a similarly stupid and weak you!"
As soon as the man finished speaking, he felt a huge force from under his foot.
"You're not allowed to talk about my Mama!"
That immense force actually made the man stumble for a moment, almost falling.
As soon as he regained his balance, Isaac punched him in the stomach!
What great strength! This was the only thought that flashed through the man's mind.
He staggered back a few steps, steadying himself, his eyes glinting with bloodlust.
Interesting, too interesting.
A three or four-year-old Child could actually hurt him and make him retreat a few steps.
Moreover, the hostility emanating from Isaac made the man's eyes light up.
If... he could properly guide this kid... he would definitely gain a powerful and loyal subordinate in the future...