Not long after leaving the restaurant, Broly ran into some new amusement.
In front of an inconspicuous small house, a commotion was in full swing.
A slender pregnant woman, with a noticeably protruding belly, was tightly clutching the arm of the man in front of her.
The man's clothes were sloppy, his cheeks flushed red. He held a bulging cloth bag in one hand while swaying a half-finished bottle of rum in the other.
"Don't go! Please don't go!"
The pregnant woman's crying was broken and desperate. "I don't care about your drinking, I really don't care anymore! Don't go become a pirate. If you leave, what will happen to me and the baby?"
"Get lost!" The man shook his arm impatiently, spraying the smell of alcohol onto the pregnant woman's face. "I'm going out to sea! I'm going to become the freest man in the world! When I find the One Piece, you and the kid just wait to enjoy a life of luxury!"
"Enjoy a life of luxury?"
The pregnant woman cried even harder, her voice full of despair. "You can't even win a fight against bar thugs, yet you took the last Berry in the house to buy a boat! The sea is full of man-eating pirates and sea beasts. Whether you can come back alive is hard to say, let alone finding the great treasure..."
Broly scratched his chin, leaning against a streetlamp by the roadside, full of interest.
Along the way, he had seen many such scenes.
Quite a few reckless youths, about the same age as that "Son of the Plane" Luffy, were pocketing their parents' or family's hard-earned money and rushing out to sea despite dissuasion. They were just like those delinquents in his previous life who stole money from home to race motorcycles late at night, all thinking they were awesome, but ending up dead.
"So annoying!"
The man, having his sore spot poked, pushed violently.
The pregnant woman stumbled backward. Just as she was about to fall onto the rough stone road, a small figure suddenly rushed out.
It was Smoker!
He steadily supported the woman and asked worriedly, "Are you okay?"
The pregnant woman had just mumbled a "thank you" when she turned her head to see her husband had already stumbled far away, leaving only a blurry back view.
She slumped to the ground, crying and reaching out her hand: "Don't go... come back..."
"I'll go chase him!"
Smoker gritted his teeth. Just as he was about to lift his foot, a dark green laser flashed past his face, the sound of breaking air piercingly sharp.
Before Smoker and the pregnant woman could recover from their shock, they saw the laser accurately pierce through the man's forehead.
It was the exact same way Buggy died in the plaza yesterday.
The man fell straight to the ground. Berries rolled out of the cloth bag, clinking and clanking on the stone slab.
"Freedom, what a good excuse."
Broly sneered, his eyes full of disgust as if looking at trash.
From the restaurant to here, he had seen many idiots who shouted "freedom" and went out to sea on a whim. These two words were what he heard the most.
It reminded him of the "Son of the Plane," King Luffy. That kid loved to shout, "The Pirate King is the freest person in this sea."
These lowlifes all spoke with righteous indignation, but in the end, they just wanted to do whatever evil they pleased.
Smoker finally recovered from his shock and turned his head violently to look in the direction the laser came from, his voice trembling: "Demon Child... why did you do that?"
"Huh?"
Broly's eyebrows instantly furrowed.
The image of an ugly little brat from a certain movie he saw in his previous life immediately popped into his mind. "What did you call me?"
I'm much more handsome than that kid, okay?
"I asked you why you killed him!" Smoker almost roared his question.
Broly glanced at him as if looking at a fool. "He was going to be a pirate. You're a future Marine, at least; shouldn't you be thanking me instead?"
Smoker was instantly rendered speechless.
If it were him twenty years later, maybe he could find some arguments to refute, but the seven-year-old him now couldn't find a decent sentence.
The pregnant woman beside him was already scared silly. Slumped on the ground, she even forgot to cry, just staring blankly at the corpse on the ground.
Smoker held it in for a long time, but in the end, he couldn't find words to refute Broly. He could only point in the direction of the pregnant woman: "Then... what about her? Without a husband, how will she and the child in her belly live?"
"What does that have to do with me?"
Broly lifted his chin, indicating the cloth bag on the ground. "At least compared to being taken away by that beast, this money can stay with the mother and child."
Smoker was stunned, then quickly ran over to pick up the cloth bag and hand it to the pregnant woman.
After taking it, the woman didn't even say thank you. She stumbled back into the house and locked the door with a "bang."
Smoker didn't mind, but his heart was still twisted into a knot.
That man was indeed a scoundrel, but he hadn't actually become a pirate yet, and he was killed just like that... wasn't it too excessive?
"Um, thank you."
Smoker finally blushed and thanked Broly. No matter what, Broly at least gave a slightly better solution.
"You seem to have misunderstood something." Broly's voice sounded abruptly. "I didn't act to help that woman. I just simply found trash who use 'freedom' as a moral shield an eyesore."
Honestly, in this fucked-up world, Broly didn't think being a pirate was anything special.
After all, the Marines basically didn't protect non-affiliated countries, not to mention that many Marines slacked off on the job.
But if you choose to be a pirate and still fucking set up a bunch of moral shields, that's a bit disgusting.
Broly paused, then added, "Besides, don't think she'll live much longer."
Smoker's expression changed drastically.
Could it be that this devil won't even let a pregnant woman go?
But seeing that Broly had no intention of chasing after her, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. However, doubts surged in his heart like a tide. Just as he was about to ask, Broly spoke first: "By the way, what did you call me just now?"
Smoker was stunned. "Haven't you read today's newspaper?"
Seeing Broly's frown deepen, he fished out a yellowed newspaper clipping from his pocket—it was Broly's wanted poster.
"Only 5 billion?" Broly glanced at the number, his face full of dissatisfaction.
With that move yesterday, it should be at least 10 billion Berries, right?
Smoker was dumbfounded, the expression on his face exactly like a Husky meme.
Good grief, 5 billion is too little?
"Can't you ask if you don't know the name? What kind of crappy nickname is this?"
Broly scoffed and tore the wanted poster to shreds.
He lifted his foot and walked toward the right, his target being the Loguetown Marine Base.
Smoker jumped in fright. After hesitating for two seconds, he gritted his teeth and followed.
The two Seamen Recruits at the base entrance caught a glimpse of Broly's figure. Their legs went weak with fright, and they fell directly to the ground. They couldn't even shout "Halt," only watching him swagger through the gate, trembling like sieves.
Passing through the gate to the training ground, a large number of Marines soon discovered the uninvited guest.
Like the soldiers guarding the gate, everyone froze in place, cold sweat dripping down their foreheads. Let alone stopping him, they didn't even have the courage to look up and face Broly directly.
Only one person gritted his teeth and pressed the alarm.
His name tag read his Marine number and name—Morgan.
Beep beep beep—
The ear-piercing alarm resounded throughout the entire base.
Soon, the Marine Colonel stationed in Loguetown rushed over with a group of key personnel.
But even as the highest-ranking officer here, facing Broly, he could only clutch his saber tightly. His brain was frantically lacking oxygen due to nervousness, and large drops of cold sweat smashed onto the ground.
"What... what do you want to do?" He bit the tip of his tongue fiercely, forcing himself to steady his voice, but only despair remained in his heart.
This demon is finally going to make a move against the Marines. I'm afraid the Marines of Loguetown will all be buried here today.
Broly said with a scowl, "Change the name on my wanted poster."