Thank You to "Moon God Virgil" for the First Monthly Pass!

"Then mind your own business less."

John pulled his index finger from Reed's palm and disgustedly wiped it on the shoulder epaulet of his justice coat.

He felt wronged too. Wasn't the whole point of being alive to seek pleasure once one was fed and warm?

He hadn't acted like some scumbag, spinning every sweet lie imaginable just to get laid. He had honestly laid everything out in the open.

Yet somehow, he was the one who got played.

That was too much!

"Sigh, you should still be careful. The mayor won't let you off."

Reed stood on tiptoe, leaned close to John's ear—John was a whole head taller than him—and lowered his voice.

"The mayor had intended to marry Sabrina off to the Minister of Military Affairs' son, but the talks never worked out for certain reasons, so the matter was put aside."

"Now that you've taken Sabrina's virginity and made such a huge fuss of it, the mayor and the Minister of Military Affairs will definitely act to save face."

"What, do they dare lay hands on an outstanding Marine soldier? Are they pirates?"

John raised a brow and immediately started slapping labels on people.

From now on, anyone who opposed him was an evil pirate who deserved to die!

"Uh..." Reed was speechless.

You? An outstanding Marine soldier?

Don't make me laugh!

Still, John was indeed an obnoxious bastard, but with that shameless personality and monstrous strength, Reed had to admit that he would surely climb to a very high position in the Marines someday.

Reed needed to invest early and cling tightly to this thigh!

"Forget this boring mundane stuff. Let's talk about this mission's target." John was already itching to earn some merit.

Reed nodded, his expression turning solemn.

"This time, our target is 'King Snake' Morgan, with a bounty of ten million Beli."

"The Morgan Pirates have been roaming between several kingdoms, including Leon and Felose, intercepting merchant ships and collecting protection money."

"To say nothing of elsewhere, even the local gangs in our town and the Felose Chamber of Commerce have to hand over twenty percent of the profits from their smuggled liquor to the Morgan Pirates."

"His nickname is 'King Snake'? Is he a Devil Fruit user?" John immediately caught the key point.

Pirate nicknames came in all shapes and forms, usually derived from their professions before going to sea, Devil Fruit abilities, distinctive styles of conduct, clothing, and so on.

With a nickname as obvious as "King Snake," the first thing John thought of was a king cobra.

"That's right. Morgan is a Zoan-type Snake-Snake Fruit, King Cobra Model user."

Reed nodded, confirming John's guess, then continued with the relevant information.

"The East Blue Marines have had their eyes on Morgan for a long time, but strangely, he always gets wind of every arrest operation beforehand, leaving us empty-handed time and again."

Reed paused there.

He knew perfectly well that he was a corrupt Marine who only cared about money, so judging others by himself, he suspected that the Morgan Pirates might be colluding with some high-ranking Marine officer in East Blue.

"This operation began when a merchant ship belonging to the local gang sent a distress call, claiming that the Morgan Pirates had intercepted them and demanded protection money."

"Didn't they used to pay protection money normally? Why did they suddenly think of asking the Marines for help this time?"

John's eyes flashed as he looked at Reed with a smile.

Reed frowned and lowered his voice.

"I think something is very wrong too, so I planned to take it slow. Better to get reprimanded than lose my life."

"Smart man."

John made no attempt to hide his admiration for this "superior."

The sea was different from land. Though there were fixed routes, there were escape routes in every direction, so the easiest method of waiting for prey to come to you simply didn't work.

And the open sea stretched as far as the eye could see, leaving nowhere to hide and set an ambush like on land.

Under such circumstances, the Marines' only advantage at sea was that their warships were faster than pirate ships.

But against pirate crews with better resources, even that sole advantage in vessels vanished.

Thus, justice was always late.

Under these circumstances, a method like the Morgan Pirates', where they only collected protection money without murdering and robbing people, was something passing merchant ships could accept.

They merely had to give up some profit. Once the goods reached land, they could raise the prices a little and naturally recover the losses from the buyers.

Furthermore, after taking protection money, the Morgan Pirates would drive off or eliminate other pirates in order to keep their golden goose laying eggs and secure their long-term profits.

For merchant ships, that meant they only had to deal with the Morgan Pirates and no longer had to worry about encountering other pirates who would murder and loot them.

In a sense, the Morgan Pirates were actually much like the Marines. Since they were pirates themselves, they even knew better than the Marines where their fellow pirates might be hiding.

The Morgan Pirates were more efficient than the Marines at cracking down on pirates.

That was actually more beneficial for merchant ships!

Yet this time, that mutually beneficial arrangement had been broken. A merchant ship that had paid protection money for so long had actually taken the initiative to report the Morgan Pirates.

Judging from their actions and the logic of profit, something was seriously wrong!

"But as partners of justice and heroes of the people, how can we back down just because of a little difficulty?"

John grabbed Reed by the collar and spoke in a commanding tone.

"Tell those sissies to put out the oars and row! Pick up the speed! I'm going to wipe out the evil Morgan Pirates once and for all!"

"Uh... are you serious?"

Reed let John hold him by the collar as he blinked and stared at him in disbelief.

What was this guy going crazy over now?

"Justice never retreats!" John's expression was incomparably serious, making it clear that he was not joking.

As a T1 powerhouse on the current seas, even if he ran into the entire Roger Pirates, he could still retreat safely even if he couldn't defeat them.

He refused to believe that the mighty Morgan Pirates would be too much for him to swallow in one bite!

They had to become a stepping stone for his promotion!

Meanwhile.

Out at sea, two three-masted sailing ships lay anchored side by side, with cheers and applause rising in waves as though they were holding a joint banquet.

Yet one flew the merchant flag of the Isaiah Gang, while the other flew a pirate flag bearing a king cobra coiled around a skull!

On the merchant ship's deck, gang members and pirates gathered together. Some draped their arms around each other as they drank and boasted about past exploits, while others crowded around tables, gambling with dice.

In a corner, a young girl with long red hair and freckles across her face hugged her knees beside a pile of barrels, watching everything uneasily.

Her name was Noreen. She was a waitress aboard the merchant ship and a Felose native.

To survive, it was common for Felose people to sail with the locals of Shells Town, though they only did menial work and received meager wages.

But today was strange!

Only after boarding did Noreen discover that she was the only Felose person on the ship!

And not long ago, the merchant ship's captain had actually joined the captain of the King Snake Pirates in calling the Marine 153rd Branch for help...