Xia's Joining

"Xia, we're truly sorry. We were blinded by greed before. For the sake of us all being the same kind of people, please spare us." A villager swallowed hard before speaking.

"We were forced into it too. You should understand how people of our lowly status have no control over their own lives, right?"

"Why not lead us out of this hellhole? You're so strong—shouldn't you consider protecting us?" Some villagers spoke with jealous, resentful expressions.

"Exactly! Since you have such incredible strength, why didn't you reveal it from the start? How selfish."

Aside from the few villagers who had initially been stunned, most of them did not fear Xia at all. They feared pirates because pirates were the upper class, the rulers of this land.

Though Xia possessed formidable strength, she had been no different from them before—just another member of the lower class. Deep down, they still regarded her as their equal.

Moreover, as more and more villagers chimed in, they began to believe that what they said was the truth, and started relentlessly condemning Xia.

"Heh. Truly ugly. But that's fine. This way, I won't have any psychological burden. As long as I kill all these scum, I should have fulfilled your expectations, right?"

A scarlet glow flickered in Xia's eyes. Having broken through the Human Limit twice, she could not yet be called strong, but on some pirate ships, she would at least be qualified to serve as a squad captain. These villagers were naturally no match for her.

A bloody feast of slaughter began.

"No, no, spare us! I was wrong! I shouldn't have repaid kindness with hatred! Please, spare us one last time!"

"Ah! You devil! I curse you to go to hell!"

"I hate this! Why wasn't I the one with such strength?"

Cries, pleas for mercy, and curses blended together. But as time passed, the sounds in the clearing grew fewer and fewer, until they vanished completely.

Xia collapsed helplessly to her knees in the river of blood, like an evil ghost crawling out of hell. She was still an ordinary person, after all. Displaying such immense strength was bound to come at a cost.

Xia felt as though every part of her body had been torn apart. Forget standing up—even moving a finger took effort. Her eyelids seemed burdened by enormous weights, too heavy to lift. All she wanted was to sink into a hazy sleep.

Clap, clap, clap! "Not bad. Very good."

A familiar voice entered Xia's ears, but her consciousness was already blurred, and she could not remember who it belonged to. Then, a strange force enveloped her. It felt as though she had been immersed in a hot spring, or returned to her mother's embrace—warm and comfortable, making her want to fall into a deep sleep.

"Still not getting up? There's nothing good about lying on the ground." Hearing the teasing voice, Xia sprang to her feet with a start. Only then did she realize that her body seemed to have recovered to how it had been before.

Before her stood a large group of strange-looking people: a bald man three or four meters tall, a grass-chewing young man with a Sniper Rifle on his back, and a wandering swordsman standing with impeccable posture.

At the very front stood a young man with a longsword at his waist. One look was enough to tell that he was the backbone of this small group, and those familiar yet unfamiliar words from before seemed to have come from his mouth.

"Y-you're that mysterious being?" she blurted out.

"That's right. From today onward, your life belongs to me."

Xia's little face tightened as she said solemnly, "Yes! I will uphold my promise and become the sharpest blade under your command."

"Heh, you're not very big, but you sure talk big." King could not help mocking her. He had always had a sharp tongue. After all, aside from Roy, whom he did not dare provoke, he had mocked practically everyone in the entire grand fleet. Patch had suffered the most.

"You..." Xia's face flushed red. If she had not thought it inappropriate to attack someone immediately after joining Roy's ranks, she would have taught this annoying fellow a lesson long ago.

"Don't think you're all that strong now. I can tell you responsibly that the captain currently has over five thousand subordinates. With your addition, you've successfully set a new record for being the weakest member of our fleet."

Roy did not stop him. After all, when a weak person suddenly gained tremendous power, it was inevitable for their mentality to become inflated. Letting her recognize the vastness of the world early on could only be beneficial.

Sure enough, Xia, who had thought herself strong after defeating so many pirates, fell silent upon hearing those words. She was deeply shaken. She wanted to question it, but when she recalled Roy's method of pulling her back from the brink of death, she felt that it was not impossible.

"Alright, alright, stop trying to put others down all the time." Roy decisively stepped forward to play the good cop. "You don't need to be too discouraged either. The others have all spent many years making their way across the seas. It would be strange if a little girl like you surpassed them so easily."

Looking at Roy's handsome face, Xia really wanted to say, You don't seem much older than me either. But recalling the immense pressure brought by Roy's earlier cold words, she did not dare say it aloud.

"Right, introductions. I'm Roy, captain of the Phantom Sword Pirates. These are my subordinates: the bald Patch, sniper King, chef Kayou, and swordsman Kenkon. Welcome aboard."

Upon hearing that Roy and the others were pirates as well, Xia's little face became conflicted. She secretly glanced at Xun, who was still unconscious, wanting to speak but hesitating.

Roy naturally knew what she wanted to say, so he spoke first. "You don't need to worry about your sister. In truth, she is even more valuable than you imagine. We won't be like those trash pirate crews, thinking only of exploiting her value."

"If I'm not mistaken, your sister ate some kind of Devil Fruit related to life force, right? The reason she became so weak after healing those villagers was because she gave away her own life force. You were worried that after those pirates captured your sister, they would endlessly drain her life force and slowly send her toward death. Am I wrong?"

Xia staggered back two steps in disbelief, feeling as if she had been completely seen through. Before Roy's sharp eyes, it seemed she could not keep even the slightest secret.

With Roy's level of Observation Haki, peering into a little girl's heart was simply too easy.

"Heh. That's why I said you two sisters entered a treasure mountain and left empty-handed. Such a powerful Devil Fruit Ability, yet you could only use it to this extent. A Devil Fruit user was even bullied by a group of insignificant little pirates. You're simply disgracing Devil Fruit users." Roy said, frustrated by their failure to meet expectations.

Xia lowered her flushed face and said softly, "Y-yes. I was the one who told Xun to use that ability as little as possible. I was afraid it would make her weaker and weaker."

"Forget it. I'll wake your sister up first."

As he spoke, Roy opened his right hand, and a dreamlike seven-colored halo enveloped Xun's frail body.

Xia held her breath and did not dare make the slightest movement, afraid of disturbing Roy. Yet inwardly, she wondered, Was this the ability that brought me back to life?