Dragon-Human

"Don't touch mine!"

Carl could hear the arguing inside before he even went in.

"Yours? I say it's mine."

"Call out to it and see if it answers you. Yours, my ass!"

"Get lost."

A burly pirate kicked a scar-faced pirate to the ground.

"If you don't give it to me, you're dead."

The other man immediately scrambled to his feet, drew his long sword, and attacked him.

The two of them instantly started fighting fiercely.

After dealing with the slaves from the auction house, Carl had just arrived at the palace when he heard the pirates inside fighting over the loot.

Carl had said that half the wealth would be distributed among them.

So they hadn't bothered carrying their plunder to the ship first. Instead, they'd started fighting over it right there. After all, whatever they managed to grab would be theirs.

"Are there any Devil Fruits?"

Carl saw Clay waiting off to the side.

Carl didn't try to break up the fights. Although he'd only been on the island for a day, he'd already seen this sort of thing far too often.

Fighting among comrades was commonplace in the Rocks Pirates.

He had no attachment to these pirates. They were only his subordinates for the time being, so he didn't care whether they lived or died.

"My lord, there are only these three iron chests in the vault. They were tucked away at the very back. Everything else is gold and other precious treasures."

Clay immediately popped out from the side. On the tray were three locked iron chests that looked like they'd been used to store Devil Fruits.

"What happened to the royal family?"

Once Carl suspected that the king of this island might have been involved in human trafficking, he'd taken a strong dislike to the people here.

Human trafficking was nothing unusual in the New World, but that didn't mean Carl liked people who engaged in it.

"Don't worry, Lord Carl. Not a single member of the royal family was left alive."

"Good. I'm heading back to the ship. Keep an eye on them and have them carry everything aboard. I'll wait for you there!"

Carl hadn't wanted to spare these people from the moment he heard that the country was involved in human trafficking. Wherever they were, traffickers were universally despised.

"Rest assured, Lord Carl."

The Phil Kingdom was only a small Affiliated Nation, so the island was tiny, with a population of fewer than fifty thousand.

Carl took the three iron chests back to the ship.

"All right, stop fighting and get the goods aboard!"

In front of Carl, Clay was all respect and deference. But to the others, he was the very image of a vicious villain.

When he saw two pirates still wrestling, he rushed over and punched them both, sending them flying.

Clay watched as they finally calmed down.

Then he sternly ordered the pirates there to carry everything onto the ship. They were about to return to Hachinosu and couldn't waste any more time here.

On his way back to the ship, Carl sensed two boys huddled together in a small alley.

"Hide well, brother."

"I know, little brother. You hide too."

The brothers were hiding behind a trash can at the end of the alley.

Perhaps because he possessed Titan's talent, Carl could sense a hidden energy within their bodies.

He guessed it might be a special trait unique to the Pirate World, like Kaido's Oni Race. His interest was immediately piqued.

"You two, come out."

Carl stood at the entrance to the alley and called to them.

"Have we been found, brother?"

Long Er looked frightened. He didn't want to be caught again and forced to endure that dark, miserable life as a slave.

"Don't speak, little brother."

Long Yi gave a faint smile.

First, he reassured his little brother. Then he slowly poked his small head out of the trash can.

As soon as Long Yi peeked out, he saw Carl looking at them with a smile.

"Come out, little guys."

The two little ones were probably orphans. After they'd attacked the island and raided the auction house, many of its slaves had escaped. Since many of the slaves had been brought in from other islands, most of the children were orphans.

"Come with me. From now on, you'll be free."

Carl's gaze flickered as he noticed the shackles on Long Yi's hands.

They were probably two of the slaves who'd escaped. Since he'd found them, he might as well take them along.

"Really, big brother?"

Long Yi remembered nothing but the dark, miserable life of a slave. He'd long since forgotten his parents, and had even forgotten who he was.

"Of course. From now on, you can just call me Carl. I'll look after you."

"Thank you, Lord Carl."

Long Yi hurriedly pulled Long Er out of the trash can. The two small figures bowed to Carl at a ninety-degree angle.

"Enough. You two are skin and bones. Come with me."

It was obvious that the children had been starved.

Carl led them toward the pirate ship in the harbor.

"Do you still remember your names?"

"Lord Carl, my name is Long Yi, and my little brother is Long Er."

"We were taken as slaves when we were little."

"They thought we were too weak, so even after putting us up for auction many times, they never managed to sell us."

"But that's because they never gave us anything to eat."

"We made lots of friends at the auction house, but they all escaped in the chaos just now."

"My little brother and I couldn't run anymore, so we found somewhere to hide."

Long Yi and Long Er took turns speaking.

Carl looked at the two children. There wasn't an ounce of flesh on them; they were skin and bones.

He couldn't help thinking that if this had happened on Blue Star, his home, it would almost never have come to this. A little publicity would have brought them help from the community, and they wouldn't have had to live like this. He felt a pang of sadness, but didn't let it show on his face.

Carl walked ahead while Long Yi and Long Er supported each other as they followed behind him.

"Get them something to eat. Nothing too greasy."

"Yes, Lord Carl."

As soon as Carl got aboard, he sent the cook to prepare some food.

He didn't ask the cook to make much at first, just a little. After all, if two boys who'd been hungry for a long time suddenly ate too much, they might feel sick and end up worse off. Of course, if their bodies absorbed the nutrients quickly, that wouldn't be a problem.

The two children were so weak that even a gentle breeze seemed like it could blow them over.

"Thank you, Lord Carl. Thank you, Lord Carl."

Long Yi and Long Er bowed at a ninety-degree angle once again.

"Enough. Go wash up in the bathroom first. You two smell awful."

Long Yi and Long Er hurriedly sniffed each other. They were used to the smell by now.

They'd just crawled out of a trash can, so they reeked of rotting food. But after hearing Carl say that, they could only nod and agree.

After sending the two of them off with the cook, Carl headed straight to his room.

He shut the door.

"Creak!"

Since he didn't have a key, he forced the chests open, splitting all three down the middle as easily as if he were cutting open watermelons.

"What a shame."

After opening the three iron chests, Carl found that two of them were empty. The chests were quite heavy, so he hadn't realized at first that only one contained anything.

Even though there was only one, it was still a Devil Fruit, so the trip hadn't been in vain.

The Devil Fruit was shaped like a banana, its color a deep gray, with mysterious patterns running over its surface.

"It should be a Zoan Devil Fruit. I just don't know if it's still usable."

"System, what kind of Devil Fruit is this?"

"System scan complete. This Devil Fruit is the Rhino-Rhino Fruit, a Zoan-type."

"Not bad. That's an unexpected bonus."