Rescuing Someone

So much blood had been spilled here that it was bound to attract bloodthirsty sea beasts. Fanxin had no desire to be besieged by thousands upon thousands of them, only to be torn to pieces and die here.

"Black Cat, keep an eye on what's behind us. If any sea beasts follow us, tell me right away," Fanxin said to Black Cat in the air.

"Got it. Oh, right, if you don't mind, I can lend a hand," Black Cat said with a nod and a smile.

"Do as you like, but don't make too big a commotion. Otherwise, I won't be able to get back for the next few days," Fanxin said. If Black Cat stepped in, success was guaranteed, because Black Cat had an outrageously powerful Devil Fruit ability!

Once Black Cat activated its automatic turrets, this entire area would be within its attack range, and no one could stop it.

Still, he didn't want Black Cat to go on a killing spree. The more sea beasts it killed, the stronger the smell of blood would become, drawing even more sea beasts. They wouldn't leave for days.

And he had to pass through this area to get back to the deserted island. If sea beasts took over the place, it would be extremely dangerous for him to pass over it.

"Got it. Don't worry!" Black Cat nodded and slowly descended, hovering a meter above Fanxin's head as it kept a careful watch behind him.

With Black Cat helping, Fanxin didn't stand on ceremony. He picked up speed and headed toward the island ahead.

After another hour, no sea beasts had followed them. Fanxin breathed a sigh of relief. Now he could easily reach the other island.

"Haha, we're almost there, almost there."

After another hour, Fanxin finally reached the edge of the island. He slowly emerged from the sea and crawled onto the beach. He lay on his back by the shore instead of immediately looking for ore. After swimming for hours on end, he felt utterly exhausted.

He had to get a good rest and wait until his body recovered. There were all kinds of dangers on the island, and if he wasn't in peak condition, he could easily come to grief.

Black Cat descended and stood guard beside Fanxin.

They hadn't rested for long, however, when a cry for help interrupted them.

Fanxin immediately sat up and listened carefully. Once he had determined where the voice was coming from, he grabbed his weapon and rushed toward it.

Black Cat followed close behind.

After running for half an hour, Fanxin finally reached the place where the cries for help were coming from.

Looking ahead, Fanxin spotted a pirate ship moored on the other side of the island. Its crew had all come ashore and were resting by the edge of the island. A cook was preparing delicious food and handing it out to the resting crew members.

In one corner, several tall men with lecherous grins were harassing a beautiful woman in a long white dress. The hateful men had already torn her dress, exposing quite a bit of the fair, delicate skin on her upper body. It was extremely enticing. No wonder the men wanted to possess her. Who wouldn't like a beauty like that?

"Black Cat, can you rescue that woman?" Fanxin watched for a while, then pondered for a moment before speaking to Black Cat beside him.

"That would be difficult. The woman is an ordinary person, but these guys are pirates with plenty of combat experience. After I rescue her, if she can't run fast enough, they'll still catch her," Black Cat said, shaking its head.

"Then how about this? I'll rescue her and carry her away on my back. You help me hold those guys off. Is that all right?" Fanxin said after a moment's thought.

"No problem. But Fanxin, those guys all have guns. If you don't dodge, you'll get hurt. Are you sure you still want to go?" Black Cat asked.

Fanxin nodded without hesitation. "That's right. This woman is pitiful. No matter what, I don't want to let her be violated. So I'm going to rescue her, whatever it takes."

"All right, then. Be careful. I'll go over there now and draw those guys away. You take the chance to sneak over." Seeing the determination on Fanxin's face, Black Cat said no more. It had known Fanxin for ten years and understood his character very well. Once Fanxin decided to do something, not even nine oxen could drag him back.

Without further hesitation, it shot toward the place where the pirates were resting.

Fanxin, meanwhile, slowly approached from another direction. He kept low and moved gently, making no sound at all, as though his feet weren't even touching the ground.

He concealed himself so well that the pirates didn't notice someone slowly approaching them.

Fanxin continued forward until he was close enough to the pirates' resting place. Then he immediately crouched down and went no farther.

He was less than ten meters from the pirates. If he continued, he would surely alert them, and then those vicious pirates would surround and attack him.

Although he considered himself fairly strong, he had always firmly believed in one principle: "There are always people beyond people and heavens beyond heavens." There were probably pirates stronger than him, and if he ran into those experts, he would die. He wouldn't take a risk like that.

He stayed where he was, waiting for Black Cat to create an opportunity for him to rescue the woman.

Over on Black Cat's side.

Black Cat had fewer misgivings than Fanxin. It charged ahead and soon reached the pirates' resting place.

It glanced around and spotted Fanxin's position, putting its mind at ease. Then it walked into the middle of the area and shouted, "Everyone, listen to your grandpa cat! Leave everything you have and get lost, or don't blame me for what happens next!"

Its voice was so loud that it instantly rang out across the entire area.

The unexpected arrival stunned all the pirates. Even the leering men stopped what they were doing and looked at Black Cat.

Black Cat thoroughly enjoyed having everyone's eyes on it, believing that its bravery had intimidated them all.

But a moment later, its face fell. The pirates who had been stunned were laughing wildly, occasionally spitting out nasty remarks. They weren't taking it seriously at all.

"Hey, little black cat, where'd you come from? Come be my pet. Don't worry, you won't be short of fish bones. I'll give you a big plateful every day," a fat, completely bald man said after laughing for a while.

"I've never eaten cat before. This one's pretty interesting. Let's catch it, skin it, clean it up, and put it on the grill to see how it tastes!" said an ugly, one-eyed man, licking his lips.

The pirates spewed countless nasty remarks, completely drowning out Black Cat's voice.

Black Cat glared at them, puffed up with anger and looking murderous. If it hadn't eaten a Devil Fruit, it might have put up with them, since there were so many of them and they were quite strong. But now that it had eaten a Devil Fruit and had some time to get used to it, it wasn't going to let this go.

It had already decided to teach these guys a proper lesson. How dare they ignore their grandpa cat? Weren't they courting death? It would show these bastards their grandpa cat's divine might.