"Listen up, your chance has arrived! For guys like you, normally there's only one way out, and that's to mine until you die!
But now, Lord Jack is giving you a new opportunity. Join his crew, and as long as you survive ten battles, you'll shed your prisoner identity and earn the right to join us!
Of course, I know many of you don't like us, and you can also choose freedom. Just survive, and you can go wherever you want!"
The composition of Udon Mine's members is primarily divided into two parts: native prisoners of Wano Kuni and external prisoners of war. Those who were caught doing petty theft are not a big deal, but in the earlier years, many resistance forces refusing Hundred Beasts' rule were also brought in.
Those samurai groups were quite powerful and simply mining was a waste, so Kaidou generously recruited some of them. As for those stubborn remnants, they were gradually worn down through this method in external wars.
After all, these people are quite hard-headed, unwilling to integrate into the new Wano Kuni, nor to hide themselves, but choose to fight the deeply rooted Hundred Beasts with paltry strength.
"Lord Jack, everything is ready. Do you have any other requests?"
"None, let me see how many of these stubborn people still have courage."
Babanuki wasn't saying this to these prisoners for the first time, yet few stood up.
Staying here mining is a slow death, going out to fight might mean dying faster.
Especially those pirates from the outside world, many have already had their spirits crushed by the cruelty of the New World, preferring to die waiting here than go out fighting desperately.
Staying here means living a few more years, but going out, they might not survive a week.
Only Drake felt a headache, if it weren't inappropriate, he really wanted to question Babanuki about what not willing to surrender meant.
He originally wanted to join the other side but didn't wish to fawn like Apoo, planning to keep some dignity.
His intention was to hold out for a while and join the other side when Hundred Beasts recruited prisoners, the reason being for his future underlings, but ideal results veered far from his expectations.
This past year, no one has actively recruited.
Kaidou was busy training himself, Queen was playing happily with his two mischievous underlings, and Arceus didn't care about these prisoners' futures, leading to Drake, who didn't want to actively mention surrender, being forgotten until today and given this so-called opportunity.
If only Hundred Beasts had recruited sooner, he would've compromised long ago, it wouldn't have dragged on so long. If Hundred Beasts delayed any longer, he'd likely become king of miners.
Some chose to conform to the status quo, others chose to make a gamble, eventually Jack recruited some people including Drake.
"Not bad, you guys have some guts. Lord Jack has now been upgraded to a new Disaster. Don't be so rigid, maybe we'll be colleagues later, if you survive."
Most people ignored this remark, Jack's status had nothing to do with them, but Drake was different.
Prior to carrying out his undercover plan, he'd looked over some intelligence about Hundred Beasts. While there were big discrepancies in terms of personality, the assessment of strength was still somewhat referenceable.
Hundred Beasts' hierarchy was very strict, being an officer of Disaster Level signified their strength could cause large-scale calamities on a battlefield, which was undoubtedly bad news for the Navy.
Before he could think much more, Babanuki led these people to another room, processing prison release paperwork while arranging a meal.
As the prison warden, Babanuki oversaw their last meal, which was no longer just simple rice balls but a meal with alcohol and meat.
In Babanuki's view, such missions were simply a way to send prisoners to their deaths, meant to squeeze their last bit of value, hence this was their last meal.
And dying in battle was better than cowardly waiting to die, which prompted exception for good food.
Jack's action was quick, within a few days he took his fleet to start a new journey, about this time Drake was unable to send any intelligence, his current position offered no chance to contact a Radio Snail.
Apart from battling, this batch of people were kept under watch in specially prepared cabins, with Jack only allowing them to engage in boarding battles to prevent escape during the vast sea journey.
Even if they tried jumping into the sea to escape, out on the sea they wouldn't be a match for fishmen, although Jack's own speed wasn't fast, on his ship he had a special battle commander - Kawamatsu.
After Kozuki Hiyori completely turned against them, the mindset of the three who still followed her had undergone huge changes.
The greatest change was in Kikunojo, due to his increasingly close relationship with Drake, without extraordinary circumstances, he had accepted this situation.
Kawamatsu always felt guilty about Kozuki Hiyori's plight, and seeing Wano Kuni's current state, he too experienced a change internally, only Denjiro was unwilling to fully accept this reality but hadn't done anything, merely somewhat despondent.
Plus Kozuki Hiyori's present cooperation, the trio had long shaken off initially being forced into dangerous missions, and Kawamatsu along with Kikunojo even participated in some special operations.
Such as Kawamatsu serving as the supervisor here.
His task efficiency was directly tied to Kozuki Hiyori's living provisions next month, in such circumstances, Kawamatsu worked hard, ensuring those attempting to jump into the sea to escape stood no chance against his pursuit.
Under hard fighting, this batch continuously saw deaths, Drake too suffered numerous wounds in several battles but persisted smoothly, a year of mining may not have been crash-course but did yield some benefits.
To obtain more food, he had to mine hard, under automatic actions, his body maintained high-intensity training and wasn't wasted.
...
Bang!
Drake kicked a navy person into the sea, Jack's target was always random, whether it was pirate ships unauthorizedly entering their territory or the Navy, they were his battle targets.
While fighting pirates, Drake acted decisively, but facing former comrades, he inevitably hesitated. Yet, for the undercover mission, he couldn't not fight, resorting to such methods to reduce Navy casualties as much as possible.
Leveraging his understanding of warship structures, Drake charged into the ship cabin during combat, finding the storeroom inside and locating a Radio Snail in a hidden compartment of the cabin. After confirming no one was around, he finally dialed the phone number that should have been dialed long ago...