Mud Golem

Julian shouted, "Worororo! Everyone, kneel and surrender, or the Mud Eight Trigrams will smash your heads!" Saying that, he pointed the enormous mud spiked club at the soldiers opposite him. The soldiers who had wanted to resist immediately surrendered and threw down their weapons. Some simply ran away, but one man in magnificent armor remained standing and resisting. He shouted, "No surrender! For the kingdom, everyone, kill these pirates!" Julian figured he was the commander of the kingdom's allied forces. Julian yelled, "Great Vigor Earth Dragon Eight Trigrams!" With one swing, he sent the commander flying dozens of meters away. Julian estimated that those injuries shouldn't kill him.

Julian looked at the several hundred people kneeling on the ground and said, "Get lost." The surrendered soldiers all scattered and fled in every direction. Julian mocked them, "They can't even run properly. Some of them even ran straight at my face. So stupid." George asked, "Captain, what's the next step?" Julian said, "Surround those nobles."

Julian led his men to the nobles' territories. Many nobles had already fled, but Julian did not care about them. "Gold, silver, and treasures come first," Julian said. His first target was Dog-Eye Count, the closest noble to him. Julian appeared at Dog-Eye Count's castle, opened the earl's dungeon, and found many slaves inside.

Julian immediately assigned tasks. "First Division, rescue the slaves. Second Division, search the castle for anyone else. Don't hit anyone you find. Bring them all to the lawn by the main gate." Julian added, "Anyone from the noble's household, strip them naked and hang them at the entrance."

Julian did not enjoy killing indiscriminately. There was no meaning in it. Excessive bloodlust would encourage his subordinates to imitate him. Eventually, they would all become executioners, their humanity twisted. They would become workers with warped values, and that would be ugly. Besides, these nobles had never offended Julian. Seizing their property was merely an expansion of pirate business. As for what other pirates did, Julian could not be bothered to care.

Julian entered the castle's treasure room and saw a room full of Berries, gold, Gold Coins, and a short firearm—a pistol-type flintlock gun. Julian did not hesitate in the slightest and packed everything into his Mud Space. While checking for anything he might have missed, he discovered a hidden chamber. Julian entered and found only weapons: swords, sabers, and long spears. He packed them all up as well, but there was also a box inside, 1.2 meters long and thirty centimeters wide. Julian opened it and found a katana. Its scabbard was black. Pulling out the blade, Julian found it incredibly sharp. He tested its toughness and found it exceptionally sturdy. Black patterns covered the blade like tattoos, densely wrapping around it.

Julian gave it a few swings and found it extremely light. It even made a sound as it sliced through the air. It was damn impressive. Julian planned to give it to Herbert. Herbert used two swords, and one sword truly could not bring out his full strength. When Julian walked out of the castle, he found many servants and maids gathered at the entrance. They were all household slaves belonging to the earl.

Julian had Pierre count them all and bring them aboard. Then the three divisions headed for the territories of the remaining noble earls. Including this one, there were nine families in total. Julian led the logistics unit out from different directions and began calling on the nobles one by one. He spared no gold, silver, jewelry, weapons, or ammunition.

King Ilufagukula sat upon his throne, looking at the returning army with a troubled expression. "I'll ask the South Blue Marine base for help first and have the Marines eliminate these pirates." A guard picked up a Den Den Mushi and made the call. Before long, a voice came from the Den Den Mushi. "Hello, Your Majesty. This is the South Blue Marine Base. How may we assist you?" King Ilufagukula took the Den Den Mushi and said, "My kingdom has suffered a pirate attack. My citizens are being robbed by pirates." The voice from the other end replied, "Please wait. The Marines will deploy immediately."

At that moment, a Major General at the South Blue Marine Base was gathering his troops. This Major General was broad and brawny, and his name was Gilmi. In the future, he would become the Marine Vice Admiral stationed at G2 Branch. His hair had not gone bald yet. Standing over two meters tall with two katanas at his waist, he led his troops aboard a Marine warship. Their destination was the Iluxi Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Julian had begun counting all the spoils. The gold, jewelry, Gold Coins, and Berries totaled more than two billion. There were also various weapons and ammunition, several thousand guard sabers, flintlock guns, long spears, noble clothing, high-quality cloth and leather, grain, fruit, and meat. Julian laughed. "As expected of nobles. They really know how to suck blood. This is all the blood of the local people." Julian looked at the crowd standing before him. There were more than 2,600 people in total. He noticed that most of them were young. The youngest was not yet twelve, while the oldest were in their forties. Most were slaves, exploited by those nobles.

Many of the older ones had already been worked to death, while some had become retainers in the nobles' territories. Julian gathered all the pirate crew members and told the slaves, "For those of you who are older, I'll give you settlement money. Everyone will receive 10,000 Berries. Take the Berries, move to another city, and start a new life properly."

Julian then said to the pirate crew members, "Everyone I rescued gets 10,000 Berries. So how many Berries will those who follow me to conquer the world receive in the future? One billion!" Julian transformed into a master of success studies and continued, "Pirate crew members who retire early will receive 100 Berries. Crew members who follow me and earn military merits will receive one billion directly. If you understand, applause!"

All the members applauded and said, "Captain is righteous, fair, and just! Captain is mighty and domineering!" Julian dismissed over a thousand of the slaves, mainly because they were too weak. He gave every one of them 10,000 Berries. Julian then told the younger slaves, "From now on, you are members of my Mud Dragon Pirates. Starting today, you are no longer slaves or servants. Your lives belong to you. Once you board my ship, you must obey my orders."

Julian had Pierre bring them aboard. The young ones were distributed among the divisions to train hard and become Rookie Pirates. The women could become ship doctors, cooks in the kitchen, or logistics personnel. In any case, Pierre would handle it properly. Julian also found two treasure maps and put them away for now, planning to study them once they returned to the ship. The treasure had already been stored in the Mud Space within his body, and it would be distributed aboard the ship that evening. Julian led a large group back to the ship at an unhurried pace. Once aboard, Julian called the division captains together for a meeting. He first checked the casualties and discovered that no one had died. Only a dozen or so people had suffered minor gunshot wounds.

In the captain's cabin, all five officers had arrived. Julian took out 500 million Berries and said, "Split this money up and hand it out to your crew members." Julian now had a large household and plenty of resources. He was no longer a small pirate who had just set sail. However, he wanted them to continue following the ship's rules and training. There would be an exam on the first of every month, and new crew members had to study too. Crew members without souls would not revere their captain. He had to cultivate the crew's faith. As long as he held tightly onto these division captains, why should he fear the betrayal of minor pirates? These were the High-End Combat Power. Julian wanted a pyramid-style fleet. How could it lack its foundation? After the officers took their Berries, George spoke first. "Thank you, Captain."

After watching all the division captains finish dividing the Berries, Julian continued, "Today was the first battle of the Mud Dragon Pirates. In this battle, we made the Mud Dragon Pirates famous and took the first step toward becoming the strongest pirate crew." Several officers said, "We only achieved victory because Captain led us." Julian shouted, "Pierre, brothers, get ready. We're holding a feast!"

Julian and the senior officers all moved to the deck. Everyone who could board Julian's ship was an Elite Crew Member of the Mud Dragon Pirates. The other Rookie Pirates and ordinary pirates were aboard their own division captains' ships. The newly boarded young slaves had already been assigned to the various divisions. Julian also reorganized Leo's marksman unit into the Fifth Division. Six ships were no longer enough, so Julian seized six of the largest merchant ships from the port. Merchant ships had more space and more usable room. The largest merchant ship was 220 meters long and 120 meters wide. It should have been King Ilufagukula's personal vessel. Julian immediately took a liking to it and named it the Mud Dragon. He would use it as his flagship, while the previous Mud Dragon would be given to Herbert as his division captain's ship.

The king's personal vessel was truly luxurious—luxurious to an outrageous degree. It practically blinded Julian's dog eyes. The ship had four decks. The first deck was where the guards lived, with more than three hundred rooms. The second deck housed the king's retainers and other professionals, with more than fifty rooms, as well as an infirmary, kitchen, game room, and private independent toilets. The third and fourth decks were the king's exclusive quarters. The third deck had the king's throne, a private bathing pool, a dining room, and more than a dozen enormous rooms. The fourth deck was a lawn covering over 5,000 square meters, filled with all kinds of flowers and trees, along with various musical instruments. It was simply perfect.

Julian said, "This guy really knew how to enjoy himself. The only flaw is that it's a twin-sailed ship, not one of Water 7's future steamships." Julian felt that did not matter. It could all be modified later. Thinking of the Sky Covenant Ark on Sky Island, Julian had already regarded it as his own property. It was a pirate ship that could fly. Powered by the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, it could achieve High-altitude Flight. Julian walked onto the raised platform and shouted to his subordinates below, "Brothers, the feast is starting! Come on, everyone, eat and drink! Today, we drink until we drop!"