Jinbe watched Ronglin slowly raise his head to look at him, his gaze clear and resolute. Jinbe smiled, a deeply relieved smile.
Ronglin turned to face the notorious bandits and asked loudly, "Are you willing to submit to me? Are you willing to advance and retreat with me from this day onward? Are you willing to curb your ferocity and accept my control from now on?"
More than a dozen powerful men shouted in unison, "We are willing!"
Ronglin looked at them coldly. "Making a promise to someone is easy, but making a promise and fulfilling it is difficult. Are you sure that if I forbid you from killing people in the future, you can do it?"
The dozen or so men immediately fell silent. Some of them whispered among themselves, exchanging thoughts.
Anrield dragged his heavy iron chains and asked, "Can we kill those who deserve to die?"
"The innocent must not be killed. As for those who deserve to die, that depends on the circumstances," Ronglin said after thinking for a moment. Wantonly slaughtering innocent weaklings was always wrong. If he wanted to manage this group of subordinates properly, he first needed to establish rules. Whether they could kill people was the first rule.
"But we're pirates!" Someone in the crowd spoke up, unable to accept Ronglin's words. "Murder and arson are perfectly normal! And those weak people should be serving us!"
"But I'm not a pirate, and my philosophy has never been to live by plundering ordinary people!" Ronglin looked at the man and said, "Leave. From now on, never set foot in this country again, and don't entertain any improper thoughts about it."
The man was furious that Ronglin would not accept him. "You insignificant ant, you're abandoning me for their sake? What gives you the