West Blue, an island somewhere along the main shipping route.
...
Inside the luxurious mansion of a certain gang boss under the cover of night.
A gang boss sat restlessly, staring toward the direction of the main door. Around him were more than a dozen subordinates holding muskets, all of them also tightly fixated on the door.
From outside the door came the continuous sounds of fighting, accompanied by the miserable screams of lackeys. The sounds grew closer and closer, more and more pitiful.
Very soon, after the nearest scream rang out, everything fell into silence.
The hearts of everyone in the room were about to jump out of their throats. It was only because they were gang enforcers who handled guns all year round, with stronger mental fortitude than ordinary people; otherwise, there definitely would have been more than one accidental discharge by now.
Clang! Clang!
A cross-shaped flash of blade light streaked across the thick main door.
Now, no matter how well-trained they were, the gang members could no longer restrain their urge to fire. Without waiting for the boss's order, all the gunmen pulled their triggers.
Bang bang bang…
One of them even pulled out a device like a rocket launcher and fired a shot straight at the door.
Boom!
In an instant, the originally ornate door—after being slashed, shot, and finally struck by a shell—was blown apart into fragments.
Boss: "Dead… is he dead? You two, go over and take a look."
Two lackeys drew their swords and walked toward the doorway still filled with smoke and dust. Very quickly, the two of them were also engulfed by the haze, leaving only their vague silhouettes visible.
Slash! Slash!
Two streaks of blade light cut through the blurred silhouettes of the lackeys, and then the two shadows split apart, becoming four.
A rather tall shadow replaced the lackeys' silhouettes and slowly emerged from the smoke and dust.
One lackey still had bullets left in his gun and fired a shot at the shadow.
Clang!
It hit—but the sound of the bullet striking the shadow was like hitting steel.
"N-no… is that not a human?"
As the smoke dispersed, it was indeed a person—a man with dark skin and hair so sparse it looked almost nonexistent.
"Venom Serpent Gang vice leader, identity confirmed."
The man looked toward the person on the sofa, confirming his target.
"G-go! Kill him!"
The lackeys all pulled out melee weapons—smashed beer bottles, swords, clubs, stools—and surged forward.
The man, however, stood perfectly still, not moving an inch, letting their attacks fall on his body.
The broken beer bottles shattered further, swords chipped and broke, and clubs and stools all snapped apart.
"Such weak attacks."
With a flick of his arm, wounds appeared on the bodies of the surrounding people, as if they had been slashed by blades.
"Devil!"
"He's an ability user!"
Realizing the gap between them, all the lackeys who could run fled at once, leaving only the boss sitting alone on the sofa, trembling as he aimed a short musket at the opponent.
Bang! The final shot of resistance was still useless. The lead bullet struck the man's body and sparked, leaving not even a white mark behind.
"I can give you money, give you more—"
The attacker did not bother listening to the nonsense. One side of his arm transformed into a sharp blade, directly beheading the boss.
He did not hurry to leave. Instead, he picked up the Den Den Mushi in the room and dialed a number.
"Buru buru~ Buru buru~~"
"Is that Bonez? Looks like you've perfectly completed the mission the organization assigned to you again."
Daz Bonez: "This vice leader and his lackeys were just so-so. Their strength was completely lacking."
"Don't rush. I've just received another mission that suits you. The target is in the Thorn Rose Sea. The target has consecutively defeated three pirate captains with bounties over 20 million Belly. Are you interested?"
Being able to consecutively defeat three captains with bounties over 20 million Belly did indeed indicate some strength.
But it was only slightly challenging. He was someone who had even killed a captain with a 30 million bounty.
"I'll take this mission."
...
Shell Island.
Lena's ferry once again arrived at this island. This time, there were not many people aboard. With pirates running rampant, no one dared to casually go out to sea. Even Lena herself had made many preparations, but her luck was good—she did not encounter any pirates along the way.
"Axe Potter crew… the Blood Coral isn't here. Looks like the ones spreading the news are remnants of the Blood Coral Pirates."
The ferry docked.
Because of the lesson from the sudden pirate attack last time, Rocket Team grunts had been stationed at the pier for guard duty ever since. They were not expected to repel pirates—just providing an early warning would be enough.
"Halt! What are you here on Shell Island for?"
Only one woman disembarked from the ferry. She did not look threatening, but the grunt still carried out his duty and asked her purpose.
"I'm here to do business with your boss. The ship is carrying supplies your boss needs."
These supplies were items Vane had ordered last time. She figured he would probably still need them, so she brought another batch over. Even if he did not need them, taking them back would not cause any loss.
One grunt went back to report the situation.
Very soon, Vane appeared at the pier.
"So it's Ms. Lena. You came at just the right time. Those pirates will only waste food if they stay with me."
Vane had no way to contact the local gangs, so he could only passively wait for them to come knocking.
The pirates who could be reconditioned and recruited into the Rocket Team had already been selected. The rest were just wasting his food. Even though each person did not get much per day, once the numbers went up, the accumulated cost was still significant.
Moreover, quite a few pirates had troublemaking tendencies—some even cursed nonstop.
If this were the first time, he would have thrown them into the sea to feed the fish long ago. But now that he knew gangs would buy these people, he naturally could not waste money.
Let them curse—just treat it as Belly cursing people.
Was he, Vane, really that petty?
"Why do these few look like they're about to starve to death?"
When Lena inspected the captured pirates, she found a few who looked like they had not eaten for a very long time, and probably had not even drunk water.
Although the other pirates looked bad, they could still move around a bit. At that level, it would be best to save strength so they would not resist once aboard the ship.
But these few were a bit excessive. If their chests were not still rising and falling, she would have suspected they were corpses.
Vane said very seriously, "Some pirates have backbone. They'd rather die than eat the food I provide."
The pirates present felt that this man was shameless beyond belief. Was that backbone? Wasn't it just because they cursed you and you held a grudge, refusing to give them food…
"It's fine. Treat these few as extras and pay a little less. If they survive, you'll make a profit."
Anyway, Vane did not plan to keep them. If Lena was unwilling to add more money, he could even give them away for free.
The total price for two pirate crews and five wanted criminals was 70 million Belly. The remaining sixty-plus pirates to be sold were much cheaper, making up a total of 80 million Belly.
The gang did not bring that much cash, but brought a large amount of materials to offset the cost.
This money was going to be converted into resources anyway. With the other side bringing so many resources, Vane was quite satisfied. The two sides completed another friendly transaction. The only unhappy ones were the pirates.
The fortunate ones were the group selected to join the Rocket Team as grunts.
Those selected were basically residents originally from the Thorn Rose Sea, recruited by these two pirate crews after suffering some losses and replenishing manpower in the Thorn Rose Sea.
These people had not experienced many raids and could be kept and trained into grunts.
They did not know what their future would be like, but judging from the present, it was definitely better than those companions they had only sailed with for a short time. Being bought by a gang, it was impossible that they would be treated like honored guests.
"The gang business ends here for now. Next are some personal needs."
Lena took out a snail. At first glance, Vane thought it was just a snail, but he quickly reacted—it was a Den Den Mushi.