"So, you single-handedly contributed to this 'turmoil'? Just want to get your hands on the coveted Devil Fruit? ”

Maud looked at Arthur with a worried look on his face.

After Arthur's explanation, he learned that the black-robed pirate who was responsible for taking the lead in the call was Arthur's thread.

"That's right......"

Arthur smiled bitterly, looked down at his hands, and said unwillingly:

"For a Devil Fruit, I have been running for more than ten years and have never slackened...... But no matter how hard I try, I just can't get a Devil Fruit......"

"Sometimes, I really can't figure out why other people's luck is so good that they can find a Devil Fruit when they, and I ...... I don't even want to let go of a business with tens of thousands of profits, and I finally saved enough money after working hard, but I still can't buy a Devil Fruit! ”

Maude asked curiously, "Since you have saved enough money, why do you want to get the treasures in Dragon Palace City?" ”

"Ugh."

Arthur sighed deeply, took out a delicate little wine bottle from his pocket, uncorked it, and took a sip.

The bitter wine entered his throat, I don't know if it was the spicy sensation brought by the alcohol, or the tragic memories were remembered, and the corners of the eyes of this man who was already quite old couldn't help but burst into tears.

"The money was saved enough, and the seller found it, but on the way to the delivery location, I encountered a storm, and although I survived, the boat capsized, and I sank into the sea with the money I had saved so hard."

Speaking of this, Arthur poured another sip of wine and choked up: "If it is like this once or twice, I think I am unlucky, but fucking counting this time, Lao Tzu is already the ninth time to 'capsize' the boat!" ”

"I just can't figure it out, every time I finally save enough money, but when it comes to delivery, there will always be accidents!"

Maude was surprised to hear this, and couldn't help but ask again: "Since there have been so many accidents, why don't you stay in one place and wait for the seller to deliver the goods to you?" ”

"I want to too, alas."

Arthur smiled bitterly: "But the guys in the underground world, before selling goods, always have to temporarily set a trading location, and then pay the money with one hand and deliver the goods with the other, and say that this is a sense of ceremony." ”

“……”

Maud was speechless.

"Woo, that's too sad, isn't it?"

Perona, Bailey, and Brooke wiped tears from their eyes.

Bei squeezed out a handful of snot with her strength, smeared it on Brooke's pants with her backhand, and proposed, "Stinky breasts, you can give him a negative ghost." ”

"Why?"

Perona wiped away her tears and asked suspiciously.

Bailey sighed: "As long as he is negative to the extreme, this sad experience will become a trivial matter." ”

"I see, I really didn't expect that your skunk would also have a spirit."

Perona wiped away tears as she summoned the Negative Ghost.

Brooke looked at Bailey, who was giving advice, and Perona, who was ready to put it into action, and was moved: "You two are so kind, you can think so well for him!" ”

"That's it!"

Perona tilted her head slightly, waving away a negative ghost.

A white spirit passed through Arthur's body without hindrance.

"I want to make a piece of poured on Devil Fruits in the next life."

Arthur, who had been pierced by the ghost of negativity, fell to his knees with a helpless expression.

“……”

Maud looked at Arthur with pity.

It's hard to imagine that this guy who also came out of Mad Hatter Town would have such a tragic experience.

After the negative time was over, Arthur, who returned to normal, politely declined Perona's offer to send another negative ghost.

He finally recovered and immediately gritted his teeth and said, "If I can get a Devil Fruit, not to mention attacking Dragon Palace City, even attacking the Holy Land Mary Joya, I will do it too!" ”

"It's not a good thing to be obsessed too deeply."

Maud said casually.

Before Lafayette finished handling the tail, listening to Arthur's own narration of the tragic experience was also a passing time.

Arthur slowly looked up, looked at Maude, and sighed, "You won't understand"

"Well, I really don't understand."

Maude nodded, raised his right hand, and the shadow waves flowed in his palm, and three devil fruits with different appearances slowly surfaced.

"After all, I don't have a shortage of Devil Fruits, and they take up quite a bit of space."

“？？？！！！”

Arthur seemed to have received 10,000 critical damage, and he was stunned to see the three Devil Fruits that Maude took out casually, and almost couldn't carry them in one go.

What you dream of, in the hands of others, is just a thing that takes up too much space?

Until this moment,

He finally understood that people's joys and sorrows are never connected.

Maud puts away the Devil Fruit.

At this moment, Lafayette approached from the edge of the square.

Behind him, followed by several panicked pirates.

On the shoulders of the pirates, each carrying a young female mermaid, in addition to an octopus fish man.

"What's going on?"

Looking at the person Lafayette had brought over, Maud was a little surprised.

Lafayette smiled, her eyes narrowed slightly, and said seriously: "It's a group of 'human traffickers', and I just happened to be caught." ”

As he spoke, Lafayette deliberately amplified his voice, even accentuating the tone when referring to the three words trafficker.

Such a deliberate move was obviously intended for the residents of Fish-Man Island who had gradually gathered from all directions.

And he wasn't wrong.

Although these people are pirates, they are doing the work of human traffickers.

"It's human traffickers!!

The surrounding fishmen or merfolk all glared angrily at the pirates who had been brought over by Lafayette.

Disgust, hatred, anger.

All kinds of emotions were mixed and intertwined, turning into sharp eyes that fell on these pirates one after another.

The reaction of the residents of Fish-Man Island was quietly taken into Lafayette's eyes, and he immediately pursed his lips and smiled silently.

Maud didn't think as much as Lafayette, frowned, looked at the trembling pirates in front of him, and then looked at the mermaid who was carried by the pirates on his shoulder.

One of them was familiar, like somewhere I'd seen it.

There is also another mermaid girl with waist-length red hair......

Looking at the red-haired mermaid girl, the corners of Maude's mouth twitched slightly, revealing a reaction similar to that of Lafayette at the time.

"This woman ......"

Maud really didn't know what to say, shook her head slightly, and turned to look at the seriously injured octopus fishman.

With a horn-like mouth and a pointed hairstyle, it is Hachi, who was born in the Evil Dragon Pirates.

Maud didn't know what was going on, and was not interested in digging deeper.

"The next time you encounter this kind of trafficker, just kill it directly, you don't need to bring it over."

Maud looked at Lafayette and pronounced the pirates to death with an understatement.

"That's right, after all, the captain has always hated human traffickers, so how could he leave 'mercy' to them."

Lafayette slowly drew his sword and smiled, "It was my negligence. ”

As soon as the words fell, Lafayette slashed out with a sword, and slashed the throats of these pirates who had just moved.

"Goo......

The pirates clutched their severed necks and stared at Lafayette.

Lafayette smiled and made up for it.

Puff –

Several pirates fell to the ground and died.

Maud looked strangely at Lafayette, who was behaving a little strangely.

It's just killing a few traffickers.

In normal times, Lafayette basically doesn't move his hands, how can he deliberately say so many words.

And there is no need to bring these traffickers to the square, just kill them in the street, and there is no need to bring the mermaids caught by the traffickers with them.

Maude was surprised, and out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the residents of Fish-Man Island at the edge of the square, and suddenly he was surprised.

Lafayette this guy ......

I don't miss the "opportunity".

Maud looked at Lafayette and chuckled.

Lafayette didn't speak, but kicked the ground a few times, making a pleasant sound.

In order to let the influence of your captain penetrate into any corner of Fish-Man Island, it is good to do big and small, and you must not miss any opportunity.

This is also his duty as Maude's guide.

If nothing else......

In the square, there was a battle of 10,000 enemies, a battle with the general Shinmuji, and the execution of the traffickers in public.

Various factors add up.

The inhabitants of Fish-Man Island who have witnessed everything with their own eyes should completely let go of their hostility towards them, and may even worship them as heroes who saved Fish-Man Island.

"After that, just wait for the king of Fish-Man Island to personally welcome the captain into Ryugu City...... Everything will fall into place. ”

Lafayette thought to herself.

Maud doesn't mind Lafayette's assertions.

In fact, Lafayette's abilities never let him down.

The previous practice of live broadcast in the square was actually proposed by Lafayette.

All the starting points are to build Maud into a top powerhouse that will benefit Fish-Man Island.

Only in this way can Fish-Man Island be divided into the territory without much effort.

But for Maude, in addition to the "slave phenomenon", what he values more is Princess Shirahoshi who has the identity of an ancient weapon.

And what they did on Fish-Man Island would eventually become a key factor in mastering ancient weapons.

"Hmm......"

Suddenly, the red-haired mermaid girl woke up.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Maude and couldn't help but be stunned.

"Am I dreaming......"

In a trance, the red-haired mermaid girl only thought that she was in a dream.

Otherwise, how could he be so lucky to be rescued by Maude when he encountered danger.

"Why did you get caught again?"

Maud looked at the red-haired mermaid girl who woke up.

Every time they meet in this way, Maude's impression of this mermaid girl is even more profound.

Although until now it was not known what her name was......

"Huh?"

Hearing Maude's words, the red-haired mermaid girl slowly came back to her senses.

She stayed for a few seconds, and suddenly bit her tongue hard, and only then did she realize that everything in front of her was not a dream, but a reality.

"Maud ......"

The joy of escaping and the joy of reuniting with her admirer made the red-haired mermaid girl unable to suppress her emotions and cry loudly.

Emotional, the red-haired mermaid girl stretched out her hands and flew towards Maud.

It seems that he wants to wrap his arms around Maude's neck, and then snuggle up in Maude's arms to vent his emotions.

Facing the red-haired mermaid girl's flutter, Maude turned directly sideways, allowing the red-haired mermaid girl to fly in front of her, and then fell heavily to the ground with a bang.

There was a sudden silence in the room.

Lafayette and the others, and even the inhabitants of Fish-Man Island in the distance, all looked at Maude who was standing sideways with different expressions, and the red-haired mermaid girl who fell to the ground, as if she was a little confused.

Then, I saw the red-haired mermaid girl crying even louder.

Hachi and the other kidnapped mermaid girls woke up one after another, staring blankly at the red-haired mermaid girl lying on the ground crying.

Perona on the side couldn't stand it anymore and helped the red-haired mermaid girl up.

Seeing this, Maude raised her finger and scratched her cheek.

That kind of flutter just now is like an attack, and normal people will dodge it as soon as possible.

Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed that Lafitte had pushed out the staff sword a little, and Jim had already raised his fist.

"What are you doing here?"

Maud was shocked.

"Ho-ho."

Lafayette pursed her lips and smiled, without explanation, but slowly pushed the sword back into its sheath.

"Captain, I thought the merfolk were going to attack you."

Jim lowered his casserole-sized fist and explained in a muffled voice.

If it weren't for the harmless movements of the red-haired mermaid girl at the end, Jim would probably have put his fist on the red-haired mermaid's face.

“……”

Maude suddenly felt that the two companions beside him were probably going to die alone.

"Hachi, your injuries ......!"

Among the awakened mermaids, there was a mermaid with short light green hair, who was nervous and worried, looking at Hachi, who was covered in injuries.

"Kemi, it's okay, don't worry about me."

Hachi struggled to get up, and with every movement, blood seeped out of the bandage and dripped onto the ground.

Looking at the blood that kept dripping from Xiaohachi's body, the mermaid named Kemi covered her mouth and turned slightly pale.

"Maude, did you save them?"

Hachi looked up at Maude, who was much taller than him, and his eyes were quite complicated.

More than two years ago, the picture of Maude destroying the dragon's territory is still vivid in Xiaoba's mind.

At that time, Hachi deeply felt that Maude was a complete monster.

To this day, this being, which he considered to be a monster, is now beyond his knowledge.

"Sort of."

Maud said casually.

When Xiaoba heard this, he was both stunned and grateful.

Puff ——!

Not knowing how to express his gratitude, he dragged his seriously injured body and knelt down without warning, his head slamming on the ground.

"Thank you...... Then...... Button...... I don't have what it takes to save them...... I can only watch them being taken away by human traffickers...... Button...... If it's not you...... I'll never forgive myself for the rest of my life......"

Hachi's forehead was dead on the ground, and tears were faintly visible.

He hated his powerlessness.

"Little Hachi......"

Kemi: They looked at Hachi at a loss.

Maude calmly looked at Hachi, who was kneeling and kowtowing.

It seems that there have been many similar pictures.

What these experiences have in common is that they are all related to the phenomena of "human traffickers", "trafficking", and "slaves".

It's just a gesture, but for these people, it's like a grace of recreation.

"Sunny used to ...... Have you had such an experience? ”

Maud suddenly remembered Sonny.

Many of the things I promised her have not yet been completed......

The edge of the square.

More and more Fish-Man Island residents gathered, silently watching everything that was happening in the field.

If it weren't for this powerful human being in ......

The countless pirates gathered in the square will attack Ryugu Castle!

Those merfolk who are abducted by human traffickers will become the next victims of human persecution.

There is no doubt that it was this human powerhouse who saved Fish-Man Island from crisis!!

Suddenly.

Someone noticed Neptune falling from the sky in a bubble wrap.

"Look, it's His Majesty Neptune!"

The inhabitants of Fish-Man Island looked up at Neptune falling from the sky.

Facing everyone's gaze, Neptune slowly landed in front of Maud.

He glanced at the scene, he was very familiar with human crimes, and he immediately guessed what was going on.

"Mr. Maude, please go to Dragon Palace City for a while."

Neptune respectfully extended an invitation to Maude.

This scene was seen by the surrounding residents of Fish-Man Island, and the [recognition] of Maude in their hearts had reached an unchangeable level.

people, once they have accepted the facts they have seen with their own eyes...... will be convinced!

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