A Petty Bourgeois's Confession

Chapter 002: A Petty Bourgeois Confession

"I'm a petty bourgeois. Do you know what that means?"

"The kind who never worries about food or drink, whose life is better than most people's. I do some light work every day, read the news, curse the government or whatever dissatisfies me, rant and rave, moan without cause. I neither exploit others nor am exploited by others. I just have abundant resources and time, squandering what others dream of."

His words struck the Empress as strange, but recalling the lavish lives of those on Sabaody Archipelago, she understood somewhat. Indeed, there existed such a group in this world. Perhaps the officials of the World Government in Mary Geoise and the families of the Marines lived just like that.

"Then, a Celestial Dragon took a liking to me." The man sitting on the floor casually yanked a cushion from the bed, placed it under himself, and lifted himself off the cold floor. His casualness made the Empress slowly furrow her brow.

But as she leaned back, a pink-patterned great snake suddenly shot out from behind the curtains, forming itself into a sofa for her to sit on comfortably.

His eyes twitched. Though he recognized this great snake from the manga, he hadn't expected it to be this fast, this big—nearly twice his body length. As for its speed, he hadn't even seen it clearly before it appeared behind the Empress.

The high-end combat power of this world was stronger than he'd imagined.

He chuckled. "As fellow slaves, you should know, right? Some slaves can win their master's favor. Like me. Like you."

The Empress's expression turned icy. For her, the days of slavery were a scale—something absolutely forbidden to be uncovered. But this man seemed to have cast life and death aside, speaking without any restraint at all.

Perhaps because they were both slaves, perhaps because only the two of them were here, the Empress said nothing. She only kept a cold expression, silently listening to this man's words. Deep in her heart, there might have been some resonance—the resonance between fellow sufferers in hell.

She would never pour out her heart, but this feeling truly existed, spoken through this man's mouth.

"So, our treatment among the other slaves was a little different."

"We were 'slightly' freer."

"That 'slight' gave me plenty of opportunities."

"I didn't dare eat a Devil Fruit. Too easy to counter. Not only would Seastone leave me powerless, but at critical moments, I couldn't jump into the sea to escape."

"I obediently played the role of a favored vassal. Sometimes I even thought maybe I could just keep going like this. After all, compared to ordinary people from the Four Seas, I didn't need to worry about pirate threats or corrupt Marine extortion. I had no strength to begin with, so I didn't need to train. I really did live better than most people in this world. Maybe continuing like this wasn't so bad."

The Empress let out a disdainful snort. Though she had been the most beautiful among the slaves, she had two sisters who weren't. So she knew all too well the fate of slaves who weren't favored by their master. If not for her protection and pleas, her two sisters would have long been discarded and separated by the Celestial Dragons.

This kind of favor was far too fleeting. And the Celestial Dragons were like children—their attention span even shorter than ordinary kids'. The Empress was first valued for her cuteness, then they grew bored. For entertainment, they brought three Devil Fruits and made them eat them.

Then, soon after, they grew bored again...

His thinking was pitifully naive, nothing but self-deception in hell.

Sure enough...

"But because of some incident, I lost their trust... and then..." Pain appeared on his face. Veins bulged on the back of his hand. Clearly, that was no happy memory.

The Empress didn't gloat. She too recalled her own experience. When she was first favored, wasn't she happy? In the end, when she was cast aside, she was thrown away like used trash.

His pain flickered and vanished. That feeling was etched into his bones. More importantly, it shattered his foolish illusions, making him utterly resolute, ready to fight.

"Then I escaped. Somehow, I drifted to this island and met you." He lifted his head to look at the Empress, his gaze full of fervor. Unlike those despicable men who coveted her body and got turned to stone, there was something different in his eyes when he looked at her.

"The Shichibukai. What is it?" The Empress was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked.

"The Shichibukai is a system I heard about when the Celestial Dragons were talking to the World Government." The black-haired man smiled at her.

"Since Pirate King Roger died, the World Government has been unable to suppress the growing number of pirates. So they came up with a plan to recruit powerful pirates as their enforcers and lackeys, letting pirates fight pirates." The black-haired man's words made the Empress snort. "Who would be the World Government's lackey? Have they lost their minds?!"

"But what if it meant amnesty, legal plundering, and guaranteed legitimacy for your territory so the Marines wouldn't attack?" He rested his hand on his knee, extending one finger after another. Just these few points slowly changed the Empress's expression.

"So what? My Amazon Lily is in the Calm Belt. Why would I fear a Marine attack?! Their conditions hold no appeal for me!" She crossed her arms, dismissing the Marines with contempt.

"But what if the World Government has already developed warships capable of sailing through the Calm Belt?" The man extended a fourth finger, his smile growing wider. After leaving the Celestial Dragons, the taste of freedom was intoxicating. More importantly, he could now act without restraint. His intelligence advantages made handling certain matters very smooth—like dealing with the Empress before him now.

He watched as she furrowed her brow, falling into silent contemplation. Clearly, the Calm Belt was the Kuja Pirates' foundation for survival. If the Marines possessed ships that could cross it, the pressure on Nine Snake Island would increase dramatically. The Kuja Kingdom would have to choose between submission or death in battle.

There was no third path.

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