A Battle of Acting Skills

"First time in the Holy Land?"

Shanks looked at Ron with a faint smile.

"Yeah."

Ron nodded. "It's so busy here, it's hard to find your way around."

"Funny." Shanks folded his arms. "I thought so too."

They exchanged a glance and chuckled at the same time.

"Sir Knight! Rear Admiral Ron!"

Just then, a squad of Holy Land Guards came running over, panting. Their commanding officer's eyes lit up when he saw the two men.

"A large number of slaves are escaping on the west side! Please make sure you two seal the exit!!"

They answered in unison, "Got it."

As soon as they spoke, Ron turned left, while Shanks headed right.

The officer stared in disbelief. "Sirs?!"

Ron waved a hand. "We'll split up and surround them."

Shanks nodded in agreement. "More efficient."

The officer paused, and the more he thought about it, the more sense it made.

A guard beside him leaned over and whispered, "Sir... neither of them is heading toward the west exit..."

The officer turned and smacked him on the head, then glared at him and shouted, "What the hell do you know?! Experts have their own routes!!"

In a dead-end alley in the old prison district on the west side, dozens of slaves had been cornered by Cipher Pol agents.

A stone wall ten feet high stood before them, and a row of gun barrels pointed at their backs.

"Everybody on your knees!"

The Cipher Pol captain raised his gun and roared, "Run again and I'll shoot your legs off!"

Suddenly, a white Justice Coat appeared in the firelight at the mouth of the alley.

The slaves' faces instantly went ashen. The Marines were here, and all hope was lost.

"Rear Admiral Ron!"

The Cipher Pol captain was overjoyed and hurriedly shouted, "Quick! Send them all back to the slave district!!"

Ron glanced over the crowd. Nearly everyone had a rusty iron collar around their neck, and their eyes were full of fear.

"Mm."

He acknowledged the request and raised a hand.

Click.

A huge Air Door opened out of nowhere in front of the crowd, like a gaping mouth.

"Get in."

With their pursuers at their heels and nowhere left to retreat, the slaves gritted their teeth and rushed inside.

The door slammed shut and vanished without a trace.

The Cipher Pol captain breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his face. "They're all back?"

"Probably."

"What do you mean, probably?!"

The Cipher Pol captain stared at the empty alley entrance, his lips twitching.

But another alarm sounded in the distance. With no time to think it over, he cursed and led his men off to provide support.

Elsewhere, Shanks was leading a squad of guards in pursuit of a group of people.

"Sir Knight! It's a dead end up ahead! They can't escape!!"

"Oh?"

Shanks drew his sword and swung it casually.

Boom!

The sword wind swept past, bringing down the entire wall along the left side of the street. Dust billowed up, revealing a path that led straight to the outer ring.

The fleeing people froze for half a second, then darted in without a word and disappeared.

The guards stared openmouthed. "S-sir! You slashed in the wrong direction!!"

Shanks looked down at the sword in his hand, then up at the smoke. With a perfectly serious expression, he said, "Did I? There's too much smoke tonight. I can't see clearly."

"What are you standing around for? Go around and chase them!"

By the time the guards had huffed and puffed their way around three streets, there was no one in sight.

Not long afterward, at an intersection.

More than twenty slaves were blocked in on both sides by Cipher Pol agents and guards, with nowhere left to retreat.

Ron and Shanks arrived at the same time, one on the left and one on the right, and took their places at either end. The crowd fell into utter despair, and some began to tremble.

"Please... don't take us back..."

Swish!

Shanks suddenly raised his sword and slashed, sending a blade of sword wind flying past Ron's shoulder.

"Hey!"

Ron raised a hand and opened a spatial door, swallowing the sword wind.

The next second.

Another door opened in front of the street wall to the slaves' side!

Boom!

The sword wind sliced straight through the wall, revealing a narrow alley leading to the outer ring.

Ron raised his hand and waved again.

Click!

Two spatial doors opened at once, and a mass of rubble suddenly came crashing down on the Cipher Pol agents and guards.

"Look out!"

Their pursuers hurriedly scattered.

Dust billowed up, completely obscuring the view on both sides.

The slaves finally realized what was happening and scrambled into the narrow alley.

Ron turned to look at Shanks.

"Hey, hey, hey, you almost hit me."

Shanks spread his hands. "Can't help it. It's my first assignment, so I'm a little nervous."

"Is that so?"

Ron suddenly smiled.

He gave a light flick of his fingertip.

Swish!

An extremely thin black line skimmed past Shanks's shoulder and sliced through the wall behind him.

Shanks tilted his head to look, then turned back.

"Your aim isn't much better."

"Right back at you."

They exchanged a glance, and neither said another word.

The guards who arrived behind them stared at the empty street and the two men once again heading in different directions, lost in thought.

Were these two here to catch people or to fight?

Deep in the prison district.

Fisher Tiger was leading a group of slaves in a breakout. Several children still wore explosive collars around their necks, and no one dared touch them.

Fisher Tiger had seized a large bunch of keys, but their numbers had long since been jumbled up. He searched through them over and over without finding the right ones, his palms sweating with anxiety.

"Damn it..."

A young red-haired man suddenly stepped out of the firelight ahead.

A bunch of keys hung at his waist, their metal tags engraved with the numbers of the prison district.

"Out of the way."

Fisher Tiger clenched his fists.

Shanks drew his sword. "I'm just doing my duty."

Clang! Clang!

The two exchanged several blows in quick succession.

Shanks suddenly tilted his wrist.

Click!

His blade grazed his waist, and the cord holding the keys snapped.

Clatter!

The whole bunch of keys fell at Fisher Tiger's feet.

Fisher Tiger looked down, his pupils shrinking slightly.

These numbers...

They were the same numbers on the slaves' collars!

Shanks raised his sword again, a smile on his lips.

"What? Not going to keep fighting?"

Fisher Tiger said nothing. He snatched up the keys, turned, and led the children into the alley.

Shanks casually sheathed his sword and said mildly, "They ran pretty fast."

Once around the corner, Fisher Tiger took the keys and tried them in the locks one by one.

Click.

A collar sprang open. The little boy touched his newly freed neck, tears pattering down his face.

Fisher Tiger gripped the keys tightly in his palm and didn't look back.

On a distant rooftop, Ron watched it all.

Shanks also raised his head, and the two met each other's gaze from afar through the flames filling the sky.

Neither said a word.

The three Kuja sisters

In another abandoned corridor, three shackled girls were running desperately forward.

The black-haired girl in the lead was sixteen-year-old Boa Hancock. Her clothes were in tatters, and her wrists were covered in red marks from the chains.

Her two younger sisters, Sandersonia and Marigold, followed behind her.

"Sister... I can't run anymore..."

With a thud, Marigold tripped over the chains on her feet and fell to the ground.

"Sister! They're coming!"

"Run!!"

Hancock immediately turned and stood in front of her two sisters, bending down to pick up a short knife from the ground.

Her hand shook violently, but she didn't retreat a single step.

They had finally escaped. They absolutely couldn't go back!

"We've found three Kuja slaves! We must take them alive!!"

Three Cipher Pol pursuers blocked the exit, lewd smiles on their faces. "The nobles love this kind most. Once they're tired of playing with them, we might get a turn!!"

Hearing that, the three sisters went deathly pale.

Click.

Just then, a slender black line suddenly appeared in front of the pursuers' feet.

The ground shifted neatly apart along a crack, and the Cipher Pol agents stumbled back in fright.

An Air Door slowly opened.

Ron stepped out, placing himself directly between the Cipher Pol agents and the three sisters.

He glanced back.

Hancock was helping her sister up. Her torn collar had slipped down, exposing part of a slave brand on her back.

Noticing Ron's gaze, her expression changed abruptly, and she hurriedly pulled her clothing tight.

Ron only glanced once before turning around.

"Rear Admiral Ron!"

The Cipher Pol agent in the lead hurried forward.

"These three women are valuable private property of the Celestial Dragons!"

"Oh."

Ron's tone was flat. "And?"

"Please assist us in capturing them, Rear Admiral!"

He then hinted with a lewd expression, "Since the three of them were captured, their noble owner hasn't even begun to enjoy them yet!"

"Bring them back, and their noble owner will surely reward us handsomely!!"

Ron ignored the Cipher Pol agent indulging in his lewd fantasies and turned to the three sisters.

"Have you ever killed anyone?"

Hancock didn't understand, but she hurriedly shook her head.

"Stolen anything?"

"No! We were kidnapped and brought here to be sold!!"

Her voice was thick with tears, but she gritted her teeth and refused to show weakness.

Ron nodded. "Promise me one thing. Don't do evil after you get out."

"If you can do that, I'll let you go."

All three sisters froze.

"Rear Admiral Ron! Have you gone mad?!"

The Cipher Pol captain shrieked at his words. "They're the nobles' property!"

Hancock was the first to react. Gripping her two younger sisters' hands tightly, she looked up at Ron's back and said each word distinctly, "I swear! After we get out, we'll never do anything bad!!"

Ron glanced at her. "I hope you remember those words."

"Stop!"

Seeing this, the three Cipher Pol agents drew their swords and charged, their eyes red. "No one is allowed to let them go!"

Clang!

Zhenyuan came out of its sheath, and three hair-thin black lines spread out at once.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The three Cipher Pol agents and their swords were all cut in half and fell to the ground. Ron sheathed his sword, turned sideways, and opened the door beside him.

"Still not going?"

Hancock stood there, not daring to move. She had never believed anyone would save slaves for no reason, especially not a Marine.

Ron glanced at her. "Waiting for me to change my mind?"

Only then did Hancock abruptly pull her two sisters along and rush toward the Air Door.

Just before stepping through, she suddenly looked back.

The young man in the Justice Coat had already turned away, without so much as another glance at her.

Hancock opened her mouth.

In the end, she said nothing and disappeared through the door with her sisters.

In a secluded forest at the foot of the Red Line.

The Air Door suddenly opened.

Three girls stumbled out.

Not far away, Rayleigh and the others, who were helping the escaped slaves, all turned their heads.

"More people came out?"

Gloriosa was just about to step forward when her gaze suddenly fell on the black-haired girl running at the front.

"Wait..."

"Are you from the Kuja?!"

Hancock stopped abruptly and shielded her two sisters behind her.

Beside them, a man wearing glasses smiled gently.

"Don't be afraid. You're safe now."

A short-haired woman standing nearby and smoking also looked over.

When the Holy Land caught fire, Shanks had already contacted Rayleigh through a secret channel and asked him to help receive the escaped slaves.

Rayleigh and Shakky had arrived at the foot of the Red Line ahead of time.

Gloriosa had also been on Sabaody at the time. Hearing that someone was going to rescue slaves tonight, she had come along.

None of them had expected that they would actually rescue children of the Kuja.

Rayleigh looked toward the Air Door that had just faded away, his smile tinged with surprise.

"Looks like Shanks isn't the only one stirring things up behind the scenes tonight."

"Come with me. I'll take you back to Amazon Lily."

Gloriosa spoke softly to the three panicked sisters and reached out to take their hands.

Hancock's eyes instantly turned red.