Jinbe of the "Mere Four Emperors"

Chu Yang looked somewhat dazed as he contemplated the future.

To Tiger, Chu Yang seemed utterly lost.

Tiger patted Chu Yang on the shoulder and comforted him. "How about this? Come with me first. We can figure things out afterward."

Chu Yang asked in surprise, "Where to? Fish-Man Island?"

"Do you think I can still return to Fish-Man Island?" Tiger gave a bitter smile. "After tonight, the Marines will probably hunt me across the entire world!"

"If I return to Fish-Man Island under these circumstances, I'll bring an unimaginable disaster upon it."

Chu Yang sighed. "True."

Tiger asked, "Would you be willing to set sail with me?"

The Sun Pirates?

Chu Yang's heart stirred. Since he had nowhere else to go for now, he accepted Tiger's invitation.

The two of them then sneaked toward the harbor, preparing to seize a pirate ship and head out to sea.

Every ship actually had crew members standing guard.

It was just that, at this hour, they were all resting in their cabins.

Since there were only two of them, and considering Chu Yang had little sailing experience, Tiger planned to take a small three-masted sailing ship that would be easier to handle.

Neither Chu Yang nor Tiger felt any psychological burden about robbing a pirate ship. They could consider it robbing the rich to aid the poor, even if the poor they were aiding happened to be themselves.

After choosing their target, Tiger and Chu Yang prepared to strike. There were not many pirates aboard a small three-masted ship, and they were no match for them at all.

After dealing with those lackeys, Tiger was about to sail the pirate ship away when he heard a familiar voice.

"Brother Tiger, I've been waiting for you for a long time. What are you doing?"

Chu Yang and Tiger turned around.

They saw a large group of fish-men standing on the shore, led by a burly blue fellow.

He looked very familiar...

Wasn't that Jinbe, the "mere Four Emperors" himself?!

Tiger's expression turned grave.

To avoid implicating these companions, he had chosen to go to the Holy Land alone. Yet they had followed him anyway.

Watching the towering flames reflected above the Red Line, Jinbe guessed that Tiger had succeeded. He said, "I couldn't stop you from rescuing those slaves, but you can't stop us either."

"Jinbe!" Tiger was furious!

Yet he was helpless. He knew Jinbe was an extremely loyal man.

"Brother Tiger, we may not be able to help you much, but we can leave with you!" Jinbe's eyes shone with a profound light, as deep as the sea.

"That's right, Brother Tiger! Even if the Marines want to capture you, they'll have to get past us first!"

"I've hated the sight of those humans for a long time! Send one my way, and I'll take care of them!"

The other fish-men began clamoring as well.

Though deeply moved, Tiger knew he could not change this group's minds. He could only agree to let them join him and set sail together.

"I'm sorry, little brother. It looks like we'll have to bring some more people with us." Tiger sounded apologetic, because he knew that aside from himself, the other fish-men would not take kindly to the boy before them.

Only then did the fish-men notice Chu Yang, and everyone's expressions suddenly darkened.

Jinbe was not too bad. Though he had no favorable impression of humans either, at the very least, he would not openly display hostility first.

At that moment, a tall fish-man pushed through the crowd.

He stared coldly at Chu Yang and asked, "Brother Tiger, who is this boy?"

Tiger stepped in front of Chu Yang and said in a low voice, "Arlong, he escaped from Mary Geoise with me. He saved me once."

"He saved Brother Tiger?"

Arlong, still very young at this point, did not lessen his hostility toward Chu Yang. With an unfriendly expression, he said, "Brother, you're not seriously planning to bring this human brat to sea with us, are you?"

"Who knows whether he'll betray us someday?"

At those words, the remaining fish-men chimed in one after another. Their words were filled with dissatisfaction at Chu Yang's identity as a human.

After experiencing death's door once, Chu Yang's mindset had already changed.

Faced with such naked hostility, he looked coldly at them.

He could kill jailers. Naturally, he could kill these people too.

"Shut up, all of you!" Tiger rarely lost his temper with his companions. "Do you want me to be as ungrateful as those humans?"

After his roar, the fish-men led by Arlong immediately fell silent, though Arlong still shot Chu Yang a vicious glare.

They saw that I'm young and thought they could push me around? Chu Yang smiled. It seemed that if he wanted to establish himself among the Sun Pirates, he would first have to give Arlong a warning.

Seeing the atmosphere turn awkward, Jinbe stepped forward to smooth things over. "Brother Tiger, most of them have suffered persecution at the hands of humans. They're quite wary, so I hope you can understand."

Tiger sighed. Of course he understood. Even his own goodwill toward humans had nearly vanished. If Chu Yang had not truly helped him, he would most likely have stood by and done nothing as well.

Soon afterward, amid a strange atmosphere, Chu Yang boarded the huge pirate ship with the fish-men.

Jinbe had prepared it before coming here.

Tiger personally raised the legendary flag of the Sun Pirates.

The Pirate Flag danced in the night wind as the ship slowly left the harbor and sailed toward the boundless sea.

Standing on the deck with a smile, Tiger asked Chu Yang's name for the first time.

"My name is Chu Yang!"

The boy's crisp, confident voice echoed through the air.

"A very special name." Tiger found it somewhat difficult to pronounce, but he still remembered Chu Yang's name.

After standing on deck in the wind for a while, Chu Yang intended to rest, but Arlong suddenly volunteered to take him to his room.

Arlong's sudden enthusiasm made Tiger think that his relationship with Chu Yang had eased, so he readily agreed.

A faint cold smile rested on Chu Yang's lips. He did not expose Arlong's little scheme. It just so happened that he wanted to "talk" to him as well.

Arlong led Chu Yang into the cabin and headed downward. Before long, they passed the living quarters and arrived directly at the storage hold on the bottom level.

Standing outside the storeroom door, Arlong suddenly stopped, turned around, and looked coldly at Chu Yang. He sneered, "Human brat, you didn't really think I was taking you to rest, did you?"

Arlong had expected to see panic on Chu Yang's face, but all he saw was amusement.

The young Arlong was not yet the starter boss of Cocoyasi Village. Even if he had been, he would never have been Chu Yang's match.

Having failed to get the reaction he wanted, Arlong's face twisted viciously. He roared, "Brat, you'd better obediently get off this ship while I'm still speaking nicely to you!"

"Too noisy!" Chu Yang raised his right hand. A mass of tree vines extended from his arm and swelled continuously, wrapping around Arlong in an instant and rendering him unable to move.

The trees relentlessly squeezed Arlong's body. The crushing restraint made him feel suffocated. He stared at Chu Yang in terror. "You're a Devil Fruit User?!"

Chu Yang did not answer. He simply continued increasing the pressure until blood began streaming nonstop from Arlong's nose and mouth.

His internal organs had suffered tremendous damage!

Arlong's agonized expression greatly excited Chu Yang, and he revealed an utterly pure smile.

The sight made Arlong's scalp crawl!