Two years had passed, and the flawless reputation Longinus had painstakingly cultivated was already beginning to bear fruit. Not only members of his own class, but even trainees from the next one or two classes came to join him by reputation.
Even after he had used up all his colonel and lieutenant colonel slots and could only offer the rank of major, there was still no sign of this trend slowing down.
If anything, it only intensified.
As a result, the pirates in the waters around Lodestar Island suffered terribly. Whenever one or two pirates made even a slight name for themselves, they would be swarmed by ten or twenty majors, lieutenant colonels, and colonels from Marine Headquarters who had even made their way through the New World.
It was utterly insane!
And this repeatedly thwarted someone's Hero Plan!
Alabasta, the port city of Nanohana.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Listen up, all of you! We're only after money. Hand over your valuables, and everything will be fine." The one-eyed pirate fired several shots into the sky, desperately putting on a vicious appearance to conceal the trembling in his heart.
Strangely enough, the surrounding civilians showed no fear at all. Instead, they looked at him as though he were an idiot.
"Mr. Pirate, if you run now, there's still time." Quite a few kind-hearted citizens even tried to persuade him.
"Bastard! I'm a vicious pirate! Can't you show me some respe—" Before the scar-eyed pirate could finish, his underlings desperately grabbed hold of him from behind.
"Boss, didn't we agree we'd just calmly borrow some money and leave?" The scar-eyed pirate's limbs were tightly restrained by his underlings. "This place, this place is Marine Hero Longinus's territory!"
"If we cause trouble here, we'll really die! Sob..." As they spoke, the pirates began