Pig Teammates

Although Steel Cutlass had cast aside all dignity and chosen to flee, his escape plan did not go very well.

After all, he was still bleeding from his wounds, and his stamina was failing. He was already at the end of his rope.

Meanwhile, the beast chasing him had some strange acceleration technique: whenever the greatsword in his hand lit up, his running speed increased by thirty percent out of thin air.

The distance between them rapidly shrank before the naked eye.

Steel Cutlass had not even run a few dozen meters before Garen's blade was nearly upon his back.

At this rate, he would definitely die!

Steel Cutlass saw that cruel future as well.

That powerful pirate finally showed his weak side. Like the weaklings he had once despised, he helplessly prayed for a miracle in his heart.

And at that moment, the lifeline Steel Cutlass had been desperately hoping for actually appeared.

"Stop!"

Steel Cutlass abruptly halted, then turned back and shouted at Garen:

"Take one more step, and I'll blow his head off!"

Garen instinctively stopped the greatsword that was about to fall on the other man's head, then swiftly focused his gaze on Steel Cutlass, who was making his last desperate struggle.

There was a young man in Steel Cutlass's thick, powerful arm.

He had a moderate build and delicate features. Unlike the towering, muscular brutes that were everywhere in this pirate world, he was a normal-looking man by Garen's standards.

The young man wore a neat suit, had tidy short blond hair, and sported gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose. He looked like a refined intellectual.

But he was in an extremely sorry state now. Steel Cutlass, a three-meter-tall giant, held him dangling in midair, while a thick flintlock pistol was pressed tightly against his forehead.

"This..."

Garen asked in confusion, "Who's this?"

This street had long become a bloody battlefield. Even the Peacekeepers had all fled, yet there was still a passerby here?

"A hostage!"

Steel Cutlass answered honestly, "A hostage I caught!"

"D-Don't kill me."

The young man could barely breathe under Steel Cutlass's iron-like arm. With great difficulty, he raised the camera in his hand and panted:

"You can't kill me! I-I'm a reporter here to photograph the battle!"

"A reporter?"

Steel Cutlass froze slightly, and even the savagery on his face faded a little.

On the seas, reporters were a mysterious profession with an exalted status.

High-level reporters ran incredibly fast. Their footwork was bizarre, their movements nimble, their speed extraordinary, their eyesight sharp, and their photography skills practically supernatural.

Even pirates worth over a hundred million could not escape those battlefield photographers' lenses. Before they knew it, their high-definition Avatars would be casually captured for use on wanted posters.

How could reporters capable of getting close-up headshots of such ferocious pirates in the middle of battle possibly be ordinary people?

Low-level reporters also got along quite well on the seas.

Though they did not possess particularly formidable strength themselves, they had enough clout to travel freely across all four seas.

Pirates like Steel Cutlass needed to raise their bounties to improve their status, and to raise their bounties, they needed to raise their notoriety.

Reporters who traveled the sea routes gathering stories were the best way for them to flaunt their martial might and expand their reputations.

Running into one was an opportunity that small-time pirates rarely got.

They all hoped to make a few earth-shattering headlines in front of a reporter's camera.

So although Steel Cutlass had spent years rampaging through the East Blue and killed all kinds of people, he had never killed a reporter.

"A reporter..."

Steel Cutlass muttered, but his expression turned vicious again in an instant.

"A reporter won't do either. He still has to die!"

"As long as that Iron Can moves, I'll blow your head apart!"

If he was about to die anyway, what use were fame and a high bounty?

With that thought in mind, Steel Cutlass tightened the arm holding the reporter.

"So..."

Garen understood the situation before him, and his expression instantly became utterly calm.

"You just grabbed some random passerby to threaten me?"

"Uh..."

Steel Cutlass paused. He realized that his logic did seem rather hard to justify.

"Haha."

Garen took another slow step forward, staring Steel Cutlass down with an ill-intentioned gaze full of mockery.

Steel Cutlass said nothing, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

"Don't move!"

Another deep voice suddenly rang out behind Garen. "I have your wife!"

"What the hell?"

Garen's relaxed expression instantly froze.

Two broad, burly pirate lackeys had Nami tightly restrained between them, each holding one of her shoulders as they rudely marched her over.

They had also placed a gleaming Steel Cutlass against Nami's fair, smooth neck. Its sharp edge was nearly cutting into the faint blue veins beneath her skin.

Garen said nothing. He merely looked at Nami, who had been captured by the enemy, with a helpless expression.

His eyes were filled with endless resentment. How did you get yourself caught too?

One useless teammate after another had greatly increased the game's difficulty and ruined the experience.

Garen was having a hard time taking it.

Nami lowered her head somewhat sheepishly.

Her combat ability was not particularly strong to begin with. She was no match for those physically powerful and numerous pirates.

Earlier, in order to save that middle-aged Peacekeeper, Nami had rashly charged into the center of the enemy formation. Breaking back out head-on had not been so easy.

She had successfully rescued the middle-aged man, but her own stamina had given out, and she had been captured by the enemy.

"Hahaha!"

Steel Cutlass burst into delighted laughter. "Well done!"

Steel Cutlass threw the reporter in his hand to the ground like garbage, then personally took the large blade threatening Nami's life from one of the lackeys.

A random reporter was not enough, but with a wife as an additional hostage, this was surely in the bag!

Having changed careers into a kidnapper, Steel Cutlass became smug and began making outrageous demands, instantly changing his excessive condition of "don't move" into an even harsher request.

"You damned little knight!"

"Want your wife to live?"

Steel Cutlass tossed the flintlock pistol in his hand before Garen, then arrogantly shouted:

"Kill yourself in front of me, and I'll let her leave here alive!"

The scene instantly fell silent. Steel Cutlass, the reporter, Nami, and the lackeys.

Everyone's eyes turned to Garen, waiting for him to make his final decision.

Amid the silence, tangled thoughts quietly fermented in everyone's heart.

The reporter had long since fallen into despair. After all, he was the weakest party in this situation.

The few remaining lackeys were all extremely nervous. They feared that Garen would lash out in desperation and slice both the kidnappers and hostages in two.

But Steel Cutlass remained composed, quietly waiting for Garen's reaction.

As an absolute egoist, Steel Cutlass naturally did not think Garen would be foolish enough to listen to him and "kill himself to save his wife."

He had only made that demand to start high and bargain down.

If things went smoothly, he might not only leave alive, but also use that stupid woman's life to extort a huge fortune from the knight.

At that thought, an anticipatory smile appeared on Steel Cutlass's ugly face.

As for Nami...

Her feelings were complicated, impossible to put into words.

Nami first thought of the money she had yet to save, the villagers suffering under Arlong's rule, and her beloved sister...

Then came the dream she had never even touched.

And after that, upon thinking carefully...

There seemed to be nothing in this world worth missing anymore.

No friends, no freedom, no happiness. There was only pain and betrayal.

By the end, Nami did not even consider the possibility of surviving.

Because unrealistic hope would only bring greater regret—

Those pirates had it wrong. She was not that knight's wife at all.

Nami did not think that Iron Can would give his life for a strange thief who had nearly stolen his Greatsword.

This time, she would probably die for certain.

Thus, everyone waited quietly for Garen's choice, each harboring their own thoughts.

After a long silence...

"What?"

Steel Cutlass finally grew impatient. "Are you going to say something or not?"

"Shut up!"

Garen replied without hesitation. His utterly unrestrained tone made Steel Cutlass, who had never been very confident, shrink back slightly.

Fortunately, Garen's next answer was fairly mild.

"Let me think quietly for a little longer..."

Let me think quietly for a little longer.

My Health Bar will be full again.