Pirates' Magic Odyssey: Unveiling Eight Skills At The Beginning - Chapter 25

“General!”

A broad hand held a black knight chess piece and confidently took the white king on the chessboard.

Doflamingo reclined on the couch, crossed his legs, and behind his sunglasses, his eyes squinted into slits as he looked at the figure opposite him with a sly grin.

“Morgans, it seems I’ve won this game, haven’t I?”

Sitting across from Doflamingo, Morgans appeared in the form of an albatross and wearing a black hat with a red and white feather sticking out. He wore a blue shirt, a black cape, a yellow tie, and red and white checkered trousers.

Seemingly displeased with losing at chess, his normally well-groomed feathers appeared slightly ruffled which indicated his inner frustration.

The New World was a place where order and chaos coexisted. Apart from the visible bustling trade, the ongoing wars had given rise to numerous illicit businesses in the underground world, populated by arms dealers and high-interest lenders.

Over the past few years, only six individuals had managed to rise to prominence among these arms dealers and lenders, earning them the title of the “Six Kings of the Underground World.” 

They each controlled one of the six major domains in this world: currency, assassins, entertainment, intelligence, commodities, and transportation.

Morgans, the CEO of the World Economic News Society and one of the Six Kings of the Underground World, was known as the head of intelligence.

He gave Doflamingo a disdainful look while collecting the chess pieces from the board and preparing to leave.

At that moment, a broad hand landed on Morgans’ shoulder, and he felt Doflamingo’s warm breath in his ear.

“I want to know this year’s air routes for transporting Heavenly Gold from each country.”

The World Government’s 170 member countries had to contribute a portion of their wealth, known as “Heavenly Gold,” every year. 

While the Marines provided escorts for these shipments, their day-to-day duties kept them too occupied to plan the shipping routes for each member country, so the task was entrusted to the countries themselves.

This information was highly confidential and not easily accessible to outsiders. However, as the head of intelligence, Morgans was an exception.

After Morgans flew off, Trebol emerged from the shadows.

“Boss, our people below report that Zephyr’s Blade Squad took the bait we deliberately released.”

Hearing this, Doflamingo burst into laughter.

“I’m starting to look forward to seeing the greedy Spandam’s face when he hears this news.”

Human joys and sorrows don’t communicate with each other. Some were delighted while others were sorrowful. 

After Yang Ming and his group defeated the three leaders including Marcullo, the remaining fish-men confessed to their crimes against the Sunshine Pirates, and they provided information about the hidden location of the enslaved people from Habba Hardware Store. 

Surprisingly, it was near the final station of the sea train in the Capital of the Seven Waters.

Initially, Franky and Iceberg couldn’t believe it and followed Yang Ming and his group to the station near Swiftport.

A group of news reporters also followed them like cats smelling blood, and trailing behind.

Ten fish-men were guarding the location. One was monitoring the enslaved people in the containers, and the other was using the cargo operation as a cover.

These fish-men were all defeated one after another, each of them shackled with handcuffs.

Yang Ming and his group arrived at the rows of containers and uncovered the tarps which revealed dozens of beautiful women inside. Some of them timidly raised their arms to block the light.

The women here were diverse, ranging from innocent and lovely to alluring and mature. There were things you had never seen and things you couldn’t imagine.

When people saw the crowd of beautiful women inside the containers, they couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement.

Franky and Iceberg wore gloomy expressions.

This pier was built by Tom’s Workers, and for these fish-men to do this here, it was a huge blow to their hearts!

Today’s events left a deep impression on Iceberg.

So much so that when he established the Karera Company in the future, he would be determined not to hire fish-men as employees.

“Shocking! Tom’s Apprentices Caught in Scandal with Numerous Beauties!”

“Is this a moral decline or the corruption of human nature?”

Jonathan carefully observed the surroundings and counted the number of beauties in the containers.

Jonathan had an excellent memory, and the number of beauties here didn’t match the information from Habba Hardware Store’s underground storage.

“Captain, there must be a pirate ship among the recent arrivals at this port that secretly took some of the enslaved people.”

“It’s impossible!”

Before Yang Ming could speak, Iceberg snapped at Jonathan.

Everyone turned to look at him, and Iceberg quickly waved his hand, saying, “Don’t look at me with those eyes as if I’m the suspect. The reason I denied it is that the containers here mostly hold resources needed for recent construction on Enies Lobby. Only Enies Lobby’s ships dock here to collect these resources. It’s impossible for Enies Lobby to be involved in anything shady, right?”

Silence.

A dead silence.

After Iceberg’s explanation, everyone seemed frozen in place.

The news reporters, who had been ready to write their front-page stories, put their notepads down. One of them even asked the young man who appeared to be the leader among the six:

“Isn’t this action by Enies Lobby an affront to justice? Can the Marines uphold their usual sense of justice and rescue the girls who have fallen victim to Enies Lobby?”

When this reporter raised this question, all eyes turned to Yang Ming.

Dozens of girls who had just been saved were helping each other, their eyes filled with hope. They wished more than anyone that the Marines could step forward and rescue those unfortunate girls from Enies Lobby.

Iceberg and Franky remained silent but appeared hopeful. 

After all, they were just ordinary shipwrights, and they didn’t want to see their own female relatives become slaves and playthings of the privileged in the future.

Why did the world still have expectations of the Marines despite the corruption of the World Government? There was only one reason: justice.

Although the word “justice” may seem lightweight, behind it lay countless passionate individuals who had sacrificed their bodies and shed tears to uphold it.

Yang Ming understood very well that his next response would be crucial.

If he just wanted to go with the flow and be an ordinary Marine, he could easily evade the question and pass the responsibility to others.

However, if he wanted to change this thoroughly corrupted world, Yang Ming knew that he couldn’t do it alone. He needed a group of strong followers and had to build his own force.

Loyalty obtained through force was only superficial. True loyalty could only be achieved by a shared vision and goals, by rallying people with ideals.

Yang Ming glanced around, and from the looks of his five companions, he saw their approval. No matter what decision he made next, they would stand firmly by his side.

Yang Ming unsheathed his sword and touched the blade to his left palm.

He raised his bloodied left hand high and said with a stern expression, “No one can tarnish the word ‘justice.’ Not me, not the Marines, and certainly not Enies Lobby!”

“Before dawn arrives, someone has to shed light on the darkness!”

“No matter who the opponent is, no matter how powerful their background, I will make them pay the price they deserve!”