The history of piracy in the Mediterranean has a long history, from the end of the three Punic Wars, the unwilling loser Carthage, a large number of elite sailors went to sea, began a centuries-long revenge raid on the Romans, with the expansion of the Roman Empire, Greece, Pontus, Phoenicia, one civilization after another joined the ranks of piracy, especially Rome's own slavery economy is becoming more and more mature, and increasingly mob landless civilians have also poured into the ranks of pirates.

The terrain of Rome also provided a paradise convenience for piracy, the Italian peninsula where the city of Rome is located, the entire coastline is 3,200 kilometers long, and there are many nearby islands, Corsica, Sicily, everywhere is an excellent place for pirates to live.

During the civil war between Marius and Sulla, the arrogance of the pirates in the Mediterranean also reached the extreme, the pirates raided various towns along the coast, forcing the local government of Rome to pay tribute to the pirates, and even once went deep inland, the pirates also kidnapped two Roman * officials and a series of * official retinues, demanding a huge ransom, and the pirate strength was given before, which can be seen.

Egypt, North Africa is rich in rice, about two-thirds of the shipment to Italy fell into the pockets of pirates, this situation until the former three Pompey sent 120,000 troops to completely declare war on the pirates, the situation has improved, but unfortunately the good times did not last long, Caesar and Pompey's civil war, once again let the pirate power revived.

Even the famous Julius Caesar, when he was young, was kidnapped by pirates in Asia Minor and paid fifty tarrants in gold to be ransomed.

Ironically, piracy has always been a major problem for the Roman Empire, but since the crisis of the third century, the Roman Empire has rapidly declined, its naval power has plummeted, cities have been abandoned, handicrafts have withered, and large slave owners who had been rich and engaged in maritime trade for a long time have gone bankrupt.

The merchant ships that shuttled endlessly were gone, and the people on land were poorer than them, and they went to plunder wherever they went.

It would take about a thousand years for Italian commerce and trade to flourish again, the rise of a large number of urban republics such as Venice and ******, and the Crusades once again connecting the Eastern and Western worlds, and the Golden Age of Discovery, when piracy was fully revived.

But only three or four hundred years later, the opening of the Suez Canal and the sudden intrusion of Fujian merchants into the Western world broke the peace of the Mediterranean.

The Fujian merchant ships that departed from Suez were very rich, and the African coast became war-torn and impoverished by Islamic conquest, and Asia Minor in the north was a bloody battlefield between the Arabs and the Byzantines.

About five years ago, the problem of piracy has increasingly become a threat to the trade routes of the Great Fujian, as a last resort, Admiral Liu Renliang had to go to the imperial court, specially formed a 20,000-strong Mediterranean fleet, and in the face of the ubiquitous pirates, and released the ban on warships, began to allow some wealthy chambers of commerce to have their own private armed forces in the Mediterranean, almost the prosperity of the Suez Canal, is accompanied by the flesh and blood of the war with pirates.

In the face of rampant pirates, many nimble businessmen simply fight while buying, exterminating the armed forces that oppose them, and at the same time buying a group of pirates for their own use, while protecting their own fleets and striking at the merchant ships of competitors, killing two birds with one stone.

In Northern Italy, the most powerful is Zhong Huang's She Chamber of Commerce, she is also the one who raises the most pirates, such as Hou Jie's table, there are almost more than 30 leaders, plus his subordinates and family members There are almost more than 30,000 people, more than 400 ships, all of which are about to catch up with the navies of some small countries. Naya, the Pirate Convention, is really rare in the history of piracy.

Especially in the face of this young man who calls himself One Piece on the throne, in addition to admiring his young and handsome red-haired pirate queen Katarina, a large number of pirate leaders who prey on sharks are still quite despised by the mouths of sharks.

With the cigarette coming from the Fujian Kingdom in his mouth, the black-bearded pirate Barbary arrogantly spit out circles of smoke, the smoked Li Yuer frowned in disgust, and Hou Jie's tough face also showed a little dissatisfaction.

After the strange meeting, after smoking half a cigarette, Barbary looked at Hou Jie from above, and said contemptuously: "Lao Tzu's time is gold, Shopkeeper Zhong called everyone to come this time, and he didn't come forward, so he called a hairy boy to perfunctory us, what is the reason?" ”

"That's right! Boy, you're still too young, this is not the place for you to stay, so let's go home and nurse quickly. ”

"One Piece, what a big name, haha."

Following Blackbeard, several other pirate leaders also laughed and coaxed, and some even shouted for Li Yuer to take off her mask and let the uncle take a look at Yunyun, the only one who still supported Hou Jie, Katarina, but it was not because of how powerful he was, but because he stared at Hou Jie for a long time, and scolded a group of pirates fiercely.

"Shut up to the old lady, such a handsome little handsome Fujian guy is covered by the old lady, who can't get along with the old lady's One Piece, just can't get along with the old lady! The old lady cut off his tongue and threw it into the sea to feed the sharks! ”

Caterina half-jokingly threatened, some of the little leaders really didn't dare to speak anymore, this beautiful French female pirate is a real pirate family, her family is entrenched in Corsica, once established a country in history, a pirate country composed of raiders, this era of pirate revival, relying on the old relationship of the previous family, her people also belong to the king level among all kinds of pirates.

However, there are still those who don't buy it, Barbary laughed contemptuously, and Henry, the one-eyed dragon on the other end, simply screamed with a lewd monster.

"Since Sister Caterina thinks so highly of this kid, let's divide it equally, you ask Shopkeeper Zhong for your One Piece to go home and hurt, I want this girl with a mask, uncle, I've slept with Egyptians, Romans, and I haven't slept with Tang people, haha."

The arrogance of the pirates is really revealed, this Hou Jie is still presiding over the pirates' party, and on the other hand, Henry actually regards the two of them as trophies that can be plundered, because they often trade with the Min people, and one pirate leader has also learned the lame Tang language, and Li Yuer, who has always been upright in temper, has turned pale with anger.

However, before Li Yu'er jumped up and lifted the table, next to Hou Jie, a ball of fire exploded violently, and with a bang, the luxurious captain's banquet room was buzzing, and everyone was stunned, and after a while, the one-eyed dragon Henry jumped up with an unbelievable scream in his left hand.

"You, you despicable slave, dare to sneak attack Uncle Ben!"

"Don't take yourself too seriously, we Fujian people look up to you, so we let you live like a character, if you are useless to me, in a few days, your body will have to be hung on a certain port to feed the crows."

Contemptuous words came out of Hou Jie's mouth, and Li Yu'er was comfortable again. Looking at Hou Jie's indifferent face in disbelief, and then looking at the surprised or joked eyes of other pirates, after a while, Henry, whose face was blue and white, simply threw his hat on the ground in anger.

"This will be Lao Tzu no longer open, tell you shopkeeper Zhong, if you don't send your despicable maggot head to Lao Tzu within three days, I will let her She people go around without eating!"

With that, One-Eyed Henry really walked out of the captain's banquet hall in a rage.

didn't seem to take Henry's threat to heart at all, and slapped the still smoking fire gun on the table, Hou Jie easily crossed his arms and asked, "Who else wants to quit?" Now just go! ”

Looking at his calm appearance, Barbary and Caterina were silent, looking at the bronze delicate fire gun in awe.

In order to exterminate the pirates, Pompey dispatched an army of 120,000, or the success of the entire Roman Empire, the Fujian people were only forty or fifty thousand, but these invincible pirates had to cooperate with them, relying on the skilled navigation technology of the Fujian people on the one hand, the sturdy Qi ship, the lucky ship, and on the other hand, this terrible firearm.

A row of grape bombs were hit, and the pirate ship that was paddling was basically paralyzed, and the Min people could fight as much as they wanted, looking at Hou Jie's determined appearance, all the pirate leaders had different thoughts for a while, but they didn't really stand up and leave.

The room was strangely silent for about five minutes, but another pale young man in a tuxedo suddenly burst in, panting and trembling and sitting on the chair that Henry had just made.

"Little Henry, why are you here?"

They are also pirates, most of them know each other, this kid is the nephew of One-Eyed Henry, Caterina was the first to ask in surprise, and this murderous and unblinking gentleman who didn't want to ask was actually trembling.

"Now, starting today, the One-Eyed Pirate Regiment, it's mine."

"Where's your uncle?"

"In, out there!"

Barbary was the first to jump up, ran to the window of the boat, opened the telescope tube and looked out, and in just a moment he felt a chill run over his tail vertebrae.

Not far from the opposite side of the heat. On the gallows of Naya Harbor, a new pirate was hung, and in his binoculars, he happened to see a familiar one-eye!

"Now, can you hear the purpose of this One Piece's invitation?"