Pirates' Magic Odyssey: Unveiling Eight Skills At The Beginning - Chapter 22

“…”

Habba’s jaw dislocated, leaving him unable to speak, only able to stare helplessly with wide eyes.

“You can’t even answer such a simple question. It seems like I need to use torture to get information from you!”

Yang Ming shoved a wad of toilet paper into Habba’s mouth and covered his eyes with a towel. He then placed Habba on the ground, turned on the tap slightly, allowing water to continuously drip onto Habba’s forehead.

The water torture was a cruel method comparable to branding in ancient times. Though it didn’t seem very harmful, when a person’s eyes were blindfolded, their sensitivity to the outside world would be heightened. Over time, it could even induce a terrifying sensation, as if the water droplets were penetrating their skull.

While Habba endured the water torture, Yang Ming checked the messages on his system.

“Ding!”

“Congratulations to the host for quoting a classic line from Tokyo Ghoul. You’ve earned a chance to draw a prize. Do you want to activate the prize wheel?”

The prize wheel appeared, showing a limited number of prizes.

Prizes: RC cells, ghoul package.

?RC cells?: …

Before Yang Ming could even check the prizes he received, his food cells reacted strongly like a shark detecting blood. He immediately absorbed all the RC cells that had fused into his body.

The food cells brought excellent feedback which enhanced Yang Ming’s physique at the cellular level.

He could clearly feel that his physical qualities had significantly improved.

Clutching his fist and feeling the strength in his hand, Yang Ming speculated that the enhancements from the food cells probably saved him at least a year of arduous training.

Detecting a foul smell in the air, Yang Ming frowned.

He turned his head abruptly and glanced at Habba.

Habba’s pants were already wet, and his legs were twitching slightly.

It seemed Habba had reached his limit. If the water torture continued, he would likely be driven to insanity. Yang Ming turned off the tap, removed the towel covering Habba’s eyes, and restored his vision.

Regaining his sight, Habba burst into tears.

Habba had never felt the beauty of life like he did now.

If he had a chance to start over, he definitely wouldn’t have defied the navy like he did!

Yang Ming fetched paper and a pen from the hardware store and tossed them in front of Habba, saying, “You should know how to write. Confess the truth to me.”

Habba looked at Yang Ming with reverence. He had truly underestimated him. The seemingly harmless kid was actually the most terrifying one among the navy.

To avoid undergoing the water torture again, Habba held the pen shakily and left crooked and twisted handwriting on the paper.

The general knowledge literacy in this world wasn’t high.

Although Habba was responsible for an important base, he hadn’t read many books, and his handwriting was barely legible.

After deciphering the information with some effort, Yang Ming finally understood it.

“The third row, second wrench from the left on the counter on the left side of the hardware store is the mechanism to open the basement. Turn it clockwise one full rotation to open the basement door. Half of the slave population has already been transported to Tom Shipbuilding Company.”

Having obtained this information, the group quickly found the wrench.

“Click!”

Turning the wrench clockwise, the wall behind the hardware store’s workbench split open to the left and right, revealing a winding staircase leading downward.

Descending the stairs, the air gradually grew more polluted.

Two pirates were stationed in the basement, but perhaps due to their privileged treatment over the years, they had lost their vigilance. They were still drinking and eating, showing no response to the arrival of the navy.

One of the pirates, with bleary eyes from intoxication, mumbled, “Huh, why are people in the basement again? Didn’t we just take a batch of cargo away not long ago?”

Before he could finish speaking, a bullet pierced his brain.

The other pirate, upon hearing the gunshot, jolted awake immediately. But all he met was a cold bullet.

“Thud!”

This pirate was also shot in the forehead, his head tilted, and his face landed directly on a plate of good food on the table.

Daddy Masterson blew on the gun barrel, then spun the flintlock pistol in his hand before tucking it back into his holster.

The basement was damp and chilly. Behind iron bars, a group of slaves were confined based on their types. There were young men, children, teenage girls in their prime, and attractive women with good looks and figures.

Elderly people were obviously not valued, so there were no old people in the basement.

To prevent the imprisoned slaves from causing trouble, they were only given one meal a day, keeping them in a state of constant hunger and weakness.

When Yang Ming’s group arrived in the basement, most of the captives were curled up in corners, sleeping to conserve energy and alleviate their hunger.

Looking at these people, each of them emaciated from hunger, the faces of the group turned rather grim.

They were all still young, holding their own sense of justice, and unable to accept that their fellow countrymen had fallen into such a state.

Tashigi found a set of keys from one of the pirates’ bodies, unlocking each iron grille one by one, and said, “We are from the Navy. We’ve come to rescue you!”

A little girl woke up from her slumber, rubbing her drowsy eyes. She mumbled:

“I’m not dreaming, am I?”

Seeing that the little girl was shivering from the cold due to her thin clothes, Tashigi held her in her arms, passing on her warmth, and reassured her:

“Don’t worry, this isn’t a dream!”

Other people woke up one after another, stumbling out of the iron grilles and back up the stairs into the hardware store.

Regaining their freedom, many of them shed tears of joy upon seeing the long-lost sunlight outside.

Yang Ming’s peripheral vision caught sight of Habba lying in a pool of blood, a steel pen used for writing intelligence notes inserted into his neck. His eyebrows furrowed slightly.

A glimpse could tell that Doflamingo had a rather thorough way of controlling his subordinates.

Looking at the crude handwriting on the intelligence report, Yang Ming murmured to himself, “Tom Shipbuilding Company?”

“How could this be related to them?”

Yang Ming and the others first contacted the nearby Navy stationed in the Capital of Seven Waters, arranging for them to come and take the slaves. They helped the rescued people return home one by one before heading to the location of Tom Shipbuilding Company.

As a world-renowned company, Tom Shipbuilding Company was situated in the heart of the Capital of Seven Waters.

From a distance, the unique logo of Tom Shipbuilding Company, the bull-headed fishman, could be seen.

It had to be said that in this world regardless of race, everyone liked to showcase their most distinctive features, whether it was used to create a pirate flag or as a company logo.

Upon arriving at Tom Shipbuilding Company’s location, the sound of bustling work could be heard everywhere, with a group of shipwrights busily constructing new ships. The scene was bustling with activity.

A group of fishmen with their strength ten times that of ordinary people were transporting materials needed for shipbuilding.

Iceberg was riding on a pedal ladder, a mouthful of screws held between his lips. With a hammer in his right hand and a piece of wood handed to him by a fishman in his left, he removed the screws from his mouth and firmly hammered them into the wood.

Iceberg gave a thumbs-up to the newcomers and said, “Marcullo, thanks to all of you. Otherwise, this project might have been delayed.”

Marcullo, a swallowtail fishman among the fishmen, had a skin tone that was algae-green, an ugly appearance, small eyes, a big mouth, and a white and purple mixed headscarf tied around his head. He wore only a simple work uniform, revealing his muscular chest.

Marcullo scratched the back of his head, revealing a shy smile, and said:

“You’re too kind. If it weren’t for Tom Uncle’s willingness to take us in, we’d still be wandering aimlessly outside.”

Suddenly, a commotion erupted at the entrance of the company’s location.

Iceberg descended from the pedal ladder, stretching his slightly numb legs, and walked toward the entrance of the company’s location.

“Is there trouble?”

Initially, when Iceberg saw a group of company shipwrights gathering at the entrance, he thought someone had come to cause trouble.

However, when Iceberg pushed through the crowd and stepped forward, he realized the situation wasn’t so simple.

Six men and women dressed distinctly stood at the company’s entrance, with a teenage boy at the forefront holding a Navy identification card in his hand. He said expressionlessly:

“Based on the clues provided by informants, we suspect that your Tom Shipbuilding Company is harboring human slaves and involved in human trafficking with the notorious pirate Doflamingo.”

The group of shipwrights, holding tools like hammers, glared angrily at Yang Ming.

“Nonsense!”

Franky put his hands on his hips and rebuked loudly:

“Tom Shipbuilding Company has always operated lawfully. How could we possibly be involved in human trafficking?”

“You’re just slandering us!”

“I’m starting to doubt whether you are really from the Navy!”

Franky, one of Tom’s apprentices, made these statements, and to some extent, his words represented Tom Shipbuilding Company’s stance.

The group of shipwrights were fervent in their emotions. If it weren’t for the fear that Yang Ming and the others might really be Navy personnel, these robust shipwrights would have swarmed them and given them a good lesson.

Even some members of the Straw Hat Pirates’ team were starting to waver.

Before coming to Tom Shipbuilding Company, the Straw Hat Pirates had conducted an investigation. The profits generated from Tom Shipbuilding Company’s annual ship construction and repair projects far exceeded what they could gain from human trafficking. It simply wasn’t worth the risk. 

Iceberg adjusted his somewhat disheveled clothes, walked up to Yang Ming’s group, and carefully inspected the Navy identification in Yang Ming’s hand. Stamped with the seal of the Navy Headquarters, it was clearly authentic. He couldn’t help but give a bitter smile and said:

“Honorable Navy personnel, I believe there might be some misunderstanding in this matter?”

The other five people all fixed their gazes on Yang Ming, letting him make the decision.

Yang Ming felt somewhat hesitant. Judging from the original plot development, Tom Shipbuilding Company had no connection with human trafficking. It seemed that all of this might be Habba’s malicious prank.