Enemies Could Not Break Through the Defense

"For pirates, treasure could be even more important than life..."

Henry Evan, who had lowered his head, swiftly pulled a dagger from his clothes.

A savage grin suddenly spread across his face. He was only one step away from Jin An. At this distance, he was confident he could kill him in a single blow. This was the opportunity he had been waiting for, his final opportunity.

He had stolen this knife from the treasury when the Rocks Pirates had disbanded. It could cut through anything and break anything.

"Take this!"

Bullets and cannons could not kill this Marine, so he would use a sharp blade.

With that thought, Henry Evan licked his trembling lips in excitement. He lunged forward, the dagger whistling sharply through the air as he approached Jin An from behind and to the side, thrusting hard at his neck.

But in the next second, he discovered in shock that the dagger he had swung with all his strength felt as though it had struck a steel plate. It stopped against the skin, unable to advance another inch.

"Sigh, I gave you a chance, but you were useless."

Jin An shook his head. He had deliberately exposed such a huge opening, wanting to see whether this man could injure him. Yet there had still been no surprise.

Bzzz...

The dagger resting against Jin An's neck trembled continuously, unable to move any farther.

"Forget it. I'm done playing with you."

Jin An turned around, grabbed the blade of the dagger, and pulled.

The next moment, the dagger flipped up and down in Jin An's hand, as light and nimble as a wooden practice sword.

"This is how you use a blade."

Before Henry Evan's horrified eyes, the dagger lightly swept through the air. Centered on Jin An, every pirate within his line of sight was instantly beheaded.

Blood gushed out in bubbling streams. The pirates' expressions remained frozen as they had been before death, while their heads rolled across the ground.

In mere moments, crimson blood dyed the earth a different color.

"Don't make that face. I still preferred that arrogant look you had at the beginning."

Henry Evan gritted his teeth, yet they continued to chatter. He suddenly roared, "You clearly had the strength to kill us from the very beginning!"

He had given him hope, only to mercilessly crush it.

Jin An smiled faintly and drove the dagger into Henry Evan's head.

"In your next life, remember to be a good person..."

"Mm... no, that's not right. Scum like you, who have committed so much evil, would be better off as livestock in your next life..."

With Henry Evan's death, the entire battlefield fell silent.

"The wind is especially noisy today..."

"Listen, it seems like there hasn't been any noise from the coast for a long time."

"Did Major Jin An win?"

"Probably. We can't hear any pirates shouting and fighting anymore."

The people gathered together and discussed it, while the Marines remained silent, fully alert as they watched for any movement nearby.

Tap... tap... tap...

The sound of leather shoes striking the road drew closer and closer.

"Yo, is everyone all right?"

He was bare-chested, revealing wheat-colored skin. Under the sunlight, his powerful muscles showed off beautiful contours.

"Gasp..."

The sound of people swallowing rose and fell across the square. Shy women hurriedly covered their eyes with both hands, yet a sliver of their gaze still peeked through their narrow fingers.

"Major Jin An!"

Kuzan stood at attention and gave a military salute.

"Take some men and clean up the battlefield. Gather everything and transport it back to the base. We'll distribute rewards according to merit afterward."

Jin An casually took the coat Kuzan handed him and draped it over himself. It was clearly daytime, so why did he suddenly feel a little cold? He had been fine just moments ago.

"Whew, much better..."

He accepted the tea handed over by a Marine and took a satisfying sip.

"You all go get busy. Don't worry about me."

He did not like being watched all the time. It made him feel like some kind of monkey.

So he simply closed his eyes and rested.

Some time later.

Kuzan approached with one hand resting on his sword, his shoes stained with a little red.

"Major, confirmation is complete. Every pirate was killed in a single strike. There were no survivors."

Jin An opened his eyes and gave a slight nod. He knew perfectly well what he had done.

"There were no Devil Fruit users among these pirates. They were just small-time thugs, nothing more than an easy cleanup."

"Understood. I'll include that in the report."

Kuzan took out a notebook and completed the record of this operation.

When dealing with Devil Fruit users, the Marines generally avoided killing them outright. Instead, they would capture them alive and escort them to Impel Down for strict confinement, preventing the Devil Fruits from ending up elsewhere.

"Our forces and the civilians suffered zero casualties in this operation." Kuzan paused before continuing, "All pirates were eliminated. There were 502 pirates in total."

"All bodies have been cremated..."

This was standard Marine procedure for handling corpses. Burying or discarding a large number of bodies could easily spread disease, and rain could contaminate the water supply afterward.

"There were twenty-two women imprisoned in the ship's hold. They have all been rescued and arranged aboard the warship. Once we return to the branch, we will contact their families."

Jin An nodded. "Handle these matters as you see fit. Make sure they are properly settled."

Kuzan hesitated slightly. "What if some of them no longer have families? How should we arrange things for them?"

Jin An pondered for a moment. "Ask those people what they want first. If there's really no other way, we can arrange suitable work in the Sorbet Kingdom for anyone who needs it."

Next came the pleasant part of the discussion.

"This is a huge haul. The pirate ship contained five million Berries, one thousand taels of gold, and ten crates of gems and jade."

"Six hundred and fifty guns, fifty cannons, and one thousand and fifty assorted cold weapons."

Jin An nodded in satisfaction. The haul was indeed quite good. At least it comforted his heart, which the system had wounded so deeply.

[Ding!]

[Mission completed. Distributing rewards...]

[Points +2000. Training time +1 hour.]

[Please keep up the good work, host. Marry a beautiful rich woman soon and reach the pinnacle of life.]

Pinnacle my ass. And it had the nerve to hand out such scraps? Why not just give him a Devil Fruit or something? What were these measly rewards even good for?

[You killed a minor lackey and already want a Devil Fruit? Do you want to fly into the sky and stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun next?]

Heh, what a temper he had...

Over the past few years, the system had become increasingly improper...

[Friendly reminder: the System Shop has everything you could want. As long as you spend points, you may choose any Devil Fruit you like.]

Jin An looked toward the System Shop.

Animal Fruit: Commoner Form: 100000

Door-Door Fruit: 5000000

Dark-Dark Fruit: 10000000

...

Jin An rolled his eyes. He could search the entire world for those fruits and still find them faster than he could exchange for them in the shop.

The more he looked, the more helpless he felt, so he simply blocked the system interface.

"Major Jin An, Captain Kuzan, the troops are ready. Shall we return?"

"Return to base."

Jin An took the lead and headed straight for the warship. The soldiers standing in formation followed closely behind him, advancing toward the harbor.

Behind them were tens of thousands of civilians, voluntarily seeing the Marines off. They truly felt fortunate to live in the waters under Jin An's protection.

If they had lived somewhere else, the grass on their graves would probably already be taller than a person...