Sabaody Archipelago was vast.
Yarukiman Mangrove was the world's largest mangrove, so seventy-nine of them gathered created corresponding vastness.
Each tree was numbered for district identification.
And with Navy Headquarters right nearby plus a garrison station, the Navy basically kept watch.
But Sabaody's vastness meant places inevitably escaped Government and Navy oversight.
Where bounty hunters, pirates, and kidnappers—outlaws—gathered.
Naturally, being bounty heads, Kanata's group had moored near there, which backfired.
"...Let me hear the details."
"That guy tried going somewhere alone, so I told him to take some people... but apparently he was taken by kidnappers along with those who went with him."
"Not everyone with him got caught—they were targeted when they split into small groups to shop. Someone saw the moment of capture, so there's no doubt kidnappers got him."
"...I see."
Closing her eyes briefly to think, she quickly reached a conclusion.
"We search. Even so, we've had a long association—can't just leave him."
"Thought so, already preparing to go out."
Jorge's group showed motivation, weapons in hand.
But they couldn't send everyone. Guarding the ship was also work.
"For ship guard, Zen and... about ten should suffice. Everyone else goes."
"Understood. Leave this to me! Neigh!"
Considering abilities, she assigned ten subordinates to each officer to systematically hit the lawless zone's Human Shops and kidnapper teams.
She wanted to avoid hunters becoming the hunted, but subordinates alone might end up that way.
Rather.
"Even Kuro should easily escape if not sea-stoned..."
"Once caught, they collar you. It explodes if you try removing it, so you need a key."
"Can't you break it?"
"Pretty sturdy but... a Devil Fruit ability or something might break it."
Tiger had been to this island several times, so naturally knew about collars. Had seen them too.
But asked if he could break them, he could only tilt his head. At least, Tiger himself had never seen anyone who could break them.
Even fishmen and giants couldn't break them. Hard to imagine ordinary humans could.
"...Let's think about that after finding them. There might be a breaking method."
"Yeah. Finding them takes priority now."
They split up to search.
Tracking would take time—but taking too long risked them being sold. They needed to move fast.
"Don't hesitate. Crush them no matter who's backing them. Hell, annihilate all the Human Shops and kidnappers in this area."
***
Action was swift after Kanata's orders.
Finding a bounty hunter and forcibly extracting information about a nearby Human Shop, Feiyun visited it and ripped off the building's roof with one hand before subordinates could stop her.
Even buildings easily accommodating normal giants were small to the giantified Feiyun.
Ripping off and discarding the roof, she peered inside.
"Is Kuro here? ...Hmm... nope."
"W-w-wait, what are you doing?! Stop disrupting business!"
Ignoring the flustered emerging staff, Feiyun systematically dismantled buildings barehanded. Searching if they were hiding anywhere.
Stunned subordinates soon grabbed weapons and struck down staff, while Feiyun easily swept aside security guards attempting suppression.
A miss, but rather than leave slaves as-is, better to free them and create confusion—she searched for keys and released cages. She forcibly broke the safe and took only the money inside.
She wouldn't do this to legitimate civilians, but these were villains trafficking slaves. No hesitation warranted.
Finally trampling the entire building, Feiyun started walking to find the next kidnapper or Human Shop.
"Th-that's brutal, Feiyun... maybe she's the most terrifying..."
"Who knows... she's fourth in bounty amount..."
"That one doesn't know restraint. You all be careful. Stay close and you'll get caught up."
Veterans told stunned subordinates, but that aside, having obtained massive money, their eyes were half-turning to berries.
Pirates had no human rights. Bought by Celestial Dragons or powerful people meant lifelong hell.
Pirates deserved it... but the truly dark part was many non-pirates mixed in.
***
Meanwhile, Junshi:
"...Is this everything?"
"Yes, yes. That's all our merchandise here. It's not very spacious, so procurement doesn't go well depending on race, but... we guarantee quality instead."
Visiting a certain Human Shop, he looked around at slaves displayed as merchandise.
All uniformly lifeless, heads down, crushed by despair.
Slaves wore collars and bracelets that would explode if they fled. Lucky meant serious injury—unlucky meant death. So they didn't try escaping.
Junshi confirmed Kuro wasn't there and asked the owner.
"Hmm... I'm looking for a dark-skinned man covered in tattoos. Haven't seen him?"
"Eh? Looking for someone? Hmm... I haven't seen anyone like that."
"I see. Know other Human Shop locations?"
"Yes."
After realizing he wasn't a customer, treatment became quite rough, but he obtained locations. No detailed map, but being competitors, they apparently spread across different mangroves.
Few shops per numbered mangrove.
Junshi thanked him—and pierced the owner's chest with his fist.
"Eh... cough...?!"
Leaving the owner who fell coughing blood, he started breaking cages holding slaves.
Junshi's group didn't want slaves. But main clients were Celestial Dragons and powerful people. If troubling them brought money, no reason not to.
More importantly, some shops' sponsor was the Golden Lion.
"I-is this really okay...?"
"Fine. An enemy we once opposed. If it's a funding source, better to crush it. You all search for handcuff keys and safes."
Since they used slave auctions as a funding source, crushing here could cut some money flowing to the massive organization.
Thinking they'd inevitably fight again in the New World, they should do maximum sabotage here.
Approaching a freed slave, he observed the explosive collar on their neck.
"Sturdy... won't break through normal means?"
"D-don't touch it carelessly. It explodes if you try removing it."
Tapping it, the sound indicated considerable sturdiness. The collared man sweated nervously, pacifying Junshi, waiting for subordinates to find keys.
Unknown if sea stone was inside from outside, but without it, destroying or removing via Devil Fruit ability was probably possible.
Though only the World Government or Navy possessed sea stone handcuffs. Extremely low probability.
Before long, subordinates found handcuff keys, freeing slaves one after another.
Arms crossed before rejoicing freedmen, Junshi asked something that suddenly occurred to him.
"You all, freed now—have anywhere to go?"
"...That's..."
Some former pirates, some ordinary civilians just brought by kidnappers.
The former aside, the latter lacked both destinations and survival skills even freed from slavery. Left alone meant recapture by other kidnappers or dying in streets—two options. If they'd lived on this island maybe, but some were brought from other islands.
Looking at him with pleading eyes, all apparently had nowhere to return.
"...Prepare a Den Den Mushi."
Even Junshi, thinking he'd just release them randomly, was caught off guard. He couldn't decide this alone.
***
Meanwhile, Jorge and Scotch:
"Yeah, doesn't matter. We hit the same problem... said anyone wanting to follow can follow."
"'Is that okay?'"
"Well, we've got spare rooms."
They'd cut down the Human Shop owner, staff, and security guards together.
Wiping sword blood, searching for keys, ordering subordinates to open locks one after another. In terms of leadership, none were more experienced than these two.
"Can hold about 800. Adding another hundred or two hundred now doesn't matter."
"Plus temporary income. Best of all, there are beauties."
Some beauties meant to be sold as slaves, some bounty-bearing pirates. Quite diverse here.
The No. 1 GR apparently had an auction house with even more select slaves.
Jorge casually sat in a chair, smoking while watching subordinates collect safes and slave keys.
"We're not attacking wanting slaves... but call it a perk."
"Apparently there are rare races, but they're auctioned off."
Scotch wiped sword blood on the cut-down owner's clothes while mentioning this as if remembering.
Though entranced by beauties, he'd apparently listened to that part.
"'Auction, huh... what do you think?'"
"Kuro's an ordinary human, but a rare natural Logia ability user. Possibility isn't low they'd take him to auction to drive up value."
"'Then head there. But need to return to ship once to drop these people off.'"
"Right... hm?"
Crack-crack-crack!! The ceiling was ripped off with thunderous noise.
Giant fingers pierced the wall, forcibly tearing off the roof.
With the roof gone, sky became visible from the building, a giant shadow covering the structure blocking the sun.
"Kuro? Oh, you two were here?"
"Feiyun—don't startle us..."
"What brute force... how many have you destroyed?"
"Hmm? About five."
Feiyun herself didn't particularly care, but subordinates following behind were all out of breath. Her stride was far larger than ordinary giants. Following was exhausting.
Plus, destroying everything and leaving all other work entirely to them meant massive workload.
Moving while carrying large amounts of money was tiring too.
Moreover, freed slaves apparently understood following Feiyun was safest and voluntarily came along.
"Ah... well, whatever. You all look rough too."
"Shut up! We didn't need to fight a bit!"
Against Scotch's detached manner, veterans accompanying Feiyun half-angrily threw cash-filled cases.
Catching them saying things like "Oh, nice weight," checking contents.
Considerable amounts inside. Slave trading was apparently profitable.
Moving again now, but with this many people, movement was exhausting. Better to return to ship once to drop off baggage.
"Feiyun, return to ship once. These people have nowhere to go, right? Anyone wanting to board our ship can board."
"Is that okay?"
"Yeah. If they're useless, we just throw them overboard."
Not running charity. Just recruiting to increase personnel for the future.
If they'd gratefully help voluntarily, perfect—if they got in the way, cut them down. Not enough leeway to keep freeloaders.
Even women and children could do some work. Having obtained sufficient funds, if they ever held territory, they'd need personnel to manage it.
Though unnecessary for now.
"Can't contact Kanata?"
"'Yeah, I tried contacting her first, but couldn't connect.'"
"Then she's probably talking to someone else. For now, we'll have Feiyun collect slaves and money. If we can meet you en route, we'll send her there too."
"'Right. Better that way.'"
A slight detour, but they decided to send Feiyun back once to protect increased personnel and money.
Deciding on a meeting place, Scotch and Jorge headed to No. 1 GR first.
Hoping to find Kuro at the auction house.
***
And then:
Near No. 1 GR, a woman fled while holding a young girl.
"Hah, hah, hah... really, so persistent...!"
"Heh, can't escape!"
"We've got bikes! You did well just not getting caught on foot!"
Multiple figures on bikes using bubbles as frames chased the woman.
Even a woman who'd lived on this island fairly long couldn't easily escape opponents who knew this area inside-out for kidnapping.
She wouldn't lose fighting, but unable to fight properly while protecting the young girl in her arms, she could only flee.
At this rate, she'd be caught before long—just as she thought that.
"You two there, run! Kidnappers are coming!"
She encountered a group of about ten heading somewhere. The woman leading them was dazzlingly beautiful—definitely enough to be a kidnapping target.
No sooner had the woman thought this than the approaching kidnappers shifted their gazes sharply.
"Ooh, a prize catch!! Better grab her than some brat!"
The kidnappers changed targets, charging straight at that woman—at Kanata, who'd been heading to the auction house.
Surely that woman would sell for a high price. Right, the Navy would take her for about 1.5 billion berries.
If they could catch her.
"————"
Her gaze turned toward the kidnappers, red eyes capturing their forms. Setting down the Den Den Mushi receiver, she narrowed her eyes annoyedly.
Judging the chased woman fairly strong—she released Conqueror's Haki directed at the entire area.
Kidnappers collapsed in succession. Thanks to directionality, subordinates didn't faint, but the chased woman took distance reflexively receiving that Haki.
Confirming the kidnappers stopped moving, retracting her Haki, she had subordinates strip them.
Meanwhile, she called to the chased woman.
"Hmm. Strong enough not to collapse from my Haki."
"Y-yes... so that was yours... my spine chilled. A sensation I haven't felt in a while."
Not particularly out of breath despite being chased. Not fainting from Kanata's Conqueror's Haki head-on meant fairly substantial ability.
The chased woman finally saw Kanata's face head-on at that stage and gasped.
"You...?!"
"? I don't believe we've met."
"...No, I see. A different person."
Wiping cold sweat and exhaling, the woman collected herself and thanked her.
"Anyway, I'm saved."
"Your child?"
"No... this child was abandoned by her real parents as disgusting. I picked her up, but while my eyes were off her, kidnappers took her once..."
She'd successfully retrieved her but was being chased again, apparently.
A picked-up child, but having picked her up once, she couldn't ignore her.
"I'd like to thank you..."
"Unnecessary—I'd like to say, but if you have information about the New World, I'd like to hear it."
"The New World... I'm a former pirate, I have information. But it'll be long..."
"Hmm..."
Hearing the location, Kanata conveyed she'd visit later.
Anyway, other priorities now. After finishing that business.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Gloriosa."
"Kanata. This shop called 'Shakky's Rip-off Bar'—that's it?"
"Yes. I'm going there after this too. Even if I'm not there when you visit, mentioning my name should get you accommodation."
A shop fully intending to rip people off from the name, but if Gloriosa said so, probably true.
Even deceived, she had two weeks free anyway. Wasting some time posed no problem.
Nodding to Gloriosa's question about having business, she turned her gaze toward the nearby visible auction house.
"We have business at the auction house now."
"...Buying slaves?"
"Several comrades were taken. While searching, we're crushing the kidnappers and Human Shops around here."
Though Sabaody had many Human Shops, most were now in devastated state.
Kidnappers had probably decreased considerably. Though this work, reducing them somewhat, would increase again like bamboo shoots after rain.
Though also difficult to govern.
Government intentions to keep this place for securing Celestial Dragon slaves, plus impossibly putting this archipelago under pirate governance with Navy Headquarters right there. Maintaining this state permanently was impossible.
No obligation to go that far, so she wouldn't.
"I see... praying you find them safely."
"Yes, please do."
Well, they'd crush the auction house anyway.
***
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