Thanks to "Oula Remembered to Save Me" for the Six Monthly Tickets!

Aboard the warship

"John! You damned bastard!"

Reed grabbed John by the collar and roared, his bloodshot eyes filled with the regret and pain of having trusted the wrong person.

"A great swordsman cuts the sea with his blade! He doesn't throw my beloved Greedy Wolf out like you did!"

"Waaah! Pay me back for my Greedy Wolf!"

That was right. John had not used the blade to unleash a flying slash. He had hurled Reed's beloved sword like a cannonball!

"Hey, hey, calm down."

John disdainfully pried away the hand clutching his collar, then impatiently shoved the close-up Reed back several steps.

"What's wrong with making a little sacrifice for justice?"

"It's just a lousy sword. I'll compensate you with a Supreme Grade Blade later. You should be secretly thrilled."

"Really?"

Upon hearing the words "Supreme Grade Blade," Reed's expression instantly changed from gloomy to bright.

A Supreme Grade Blade was every swordsman's ultimate dream. Though he asked in doubt, he believed John, who could casually produce twenty million Beli, could get one.

"Then we have a deal. This is a promise between men, so you can't go back on it!"

"Stop wasting time. Go supervise those pansies rowing and catch those pirates for me."

"Yes, sir!"

For a moment, Reed was so excited that he forgot he was the superior officer. He gave John a crisp naval salute and eagerly rushed toward the lower cabins to supervise the work.

Meanwhile, aboard the pirate ship.

The hull heaved up and down in the aftermath of the raging waves. Unable to keep their footing, the pirates swayed and collapsed across the deck, the shining purple streak still lingering in their vacant eyes.

The pirates remained stunned for an unknown length of time, only snapping out of it when a sharp screech rang out.

"What are you idiots standing around for? Row! Run!"

At this moment, Savage Cat no longer harbored any resentment over following Captain Morgan's orders. He had completely abandoned any thought of confronting the Marines alone.

That Marine was absolutely not someone he could handle!

"We need to join Captain Morgan. Only he can kill that Marine monster!"

"That's right! We still have Captain Morgan!"

Hope returned to the pirates' lifeless eyes. That towering figure appeared in their minds, and his savage, cruel image now gave them endless reassurance.

The pirate ship's oars moved desperately, sending it forward even faster than before.

Beyond Soul-Loss Bay, where countless reefs lay hidden, stood a desolate island covered in jagged rocks, with a broad, sprawling coastline.

Wooden buildings stood along the shore, their scattered lights glowing in the night. Shadows of many people could faintly be seen moving among the structures.

This was a place similar to Mock Town on the Grand Line, a gathering place for pirates of the East Blue.

Pirates traded, indulged in pleasure, and made merry here. It was a harbor for the lawless.

As the Marine warship approached the shore, Soul-Loss Town, home to pirates, slave traders, and other outlaws, seemed to come alive all at once.

Clusters of bonfires were lit, and dense crowds of outlaws gathered along the coast, staring at the warship as though it were prey.

"Captain Morgan, I followed your orders and brought the target Marines back!"

Savage Cat hurried over to a middle-aged man, acting as docile as a cat that had spotted its owner as he grinned ingratiatingly.

The middle-aged man was tall and had a long horse-like face. His narrow eyes tilted slightly upward at the corners, as though he always wore a cold, sinister smile.

He was the master of Soul-Loss Town, the great pirate with a ten-million-Beli bounty—King Snake Morgan!

"Mm, not bad. Not bad at all."

Morgan raised a hand and lightly patted Savage Cat on the head, treating him entirely like a pet.

The pirates gathered around did not look down on Savage Cat for willingly becoming someone's pet. Instead, they envied him and wished they could take his place.

In truth, Morgan did not have the highest bounty in Soul-Loss Town. There were plenty of pirates with bounties higher than his.

Yet those high-bounty pirates were willing to submit to him and recognize Morgan as the boss here.

"Hey, hey, hey, is this some kind of joke?!"

Reed followed John off the warship and onto the shore. When he saw so many familiar faces from wanted posters, his expression turned utterly grim.

"Butcher Wade, bounty: fifteen million Beli!"

"Ghost Axe Beckett, bounty: twenty-seven million Beli!"

"Death Coil Moro, bounty: fifty-five million Beli..."

"Why are all these terrifying bastards here? And judging by where they're standing, they seem to be subtly centered around Morgan?"

Seeing those pirates with higher bounties standing behind Morgan, Reed furrowed his brow in confusion.

After all, among pirates, status was determined by bounty amounts. Why would pirates with higher bounties willingly become the underlings of someone with a lower bounty?

"Don't make such a fuss. You look like some country bumpkin who's never seen the world."

John took out a cigarette and lit it. His gaze swept across the pirates through the rising smoke, and he quickly formed a preliminary judgment of the situation.

Pirate bounties were assessed based on combat strength and the acts they had committed. In essence, they reflected the danger they posed to the world.

Take John himself, for example...

Even after he took all the treasure from God Valley, the World Government had not raised his bounty at all.

Because his threat to the World Government had not increased!

The Underworld, on the other hand, had raised his bounty to ten billion Beli because of his personal wealth and the hatred he had drawn by taking the treasures of so many pirates.

This King Snake Morgan was likely in a similar situation. Somewhere beyond the World Government's sight, he must have achieved certain "great deeds" unknown to outsiders.

Just as John had previously guessed, without the Pirate King's "great treasure" to draw them in, pirates would always remain within their own little territories.

To grow bigger and stronger, they naturally had to build up their forces.

But once those forces grew, they would inevitably draw the attention of the Marines and the World Government. To avoid suffering stronger blows, they had to hide themselves.

Morgan had clearly conquered most of the East Blue's pirates in secret, then established a set of underground rules, replacing mindless plundering with long-term operations.

So on the surface, Morgan's threat to the World Government was worth only ten million Beli, but his actual strength far exceeded that figure.

"I have to put in the effort worth a hundred million, maybe even several hundred million Beli, for the credit of ten million Beli. What a huge loss!"

John took a deep drag from his cigarette and glanced sideways at Reed beside him.

"Can you write reports? Can you make Morgan's threat sound like it's worth a billion Beli?"

"If I had that kind of skill, I'd have gone to work at Marine Headquarters long ago!" Reed rolled his eyes irritably.

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