The Naive Snake Princess Sisters

The crowd that had previously surrounded the mysterious sail-less ship had long since dispersed.

In their place were several pirates in tattered pirate clothes, their faces full of greed as they bent over and rummaged through every corner of the cabin and deck.

Iron hooks and daggers were casually tossed aside as they continued cursing, trying to scrape even the slightest valuable item from the dilapidated ship.

Behind a pile of reefs not far away hid a group of punks with brightly dyed hair and flashy clothes.

They hunched over, peeking at the pirates on the ship and occasionally glancing around.

Beiyuan Heng's gaze swept across the empty cabin, and he frowned slightly.

There had been so many refugees on the ship. He truly could not understand where those unarmed people could have hidden in such a short time.

But on second thought, since they had made it here, they presumably would not be captured again...

The punks behind the reefs spotted the conspicuous white Marine cape on Beiyuan Heng from afar.

They immediately shuddered in fright. One of the bolder ones hurriedly shouted toward the pirates on the ship:

"The Marines are here! The Marines are coming!"

After shouting, the punks did not care whether the pirates had heard them. Afraid that Beiyuan Heng might notice them, they fled into a nearby alley like startled rabbits.

Beiyuan Heng glanced in the direction the punks had fled, not having any spare time to deal with a few insignificant brats.

But when he saw that the pirates on the ship seemed not to have heard the shouting at all and were still searching the ship with their heads lowered—

Some of them even picked up broken planks and slammed them into the cabin walls, trying to smash out hidden valuables.

Beiyuan Heng frowned.

Had these pirates gone too many days without being dealt with? Had they grown this bold?

The Marines' usual patrol range only covered Areas 60 to 69 and Areas 1 to 5.

Yet over the past few days, he had practically visited every area of the entire Sabaody Archipelago.

He had shown himself in every area and taken care of several groups of pirates who did not know their place.

By all rights, every pirate on the island should have known there was a Marine like him.

Yet these pirates, seeing him standing so openly on the shore and even walking toward the wooden ship, had no intention of running at all?

Just then, a pirate with a scar on his left cheek suddenly crawled out of the cabin as if he had found some treasure.

He held a bizarre fruit tightly in both hands, threw back his head, and burst into wild laughter.

"Hahahaha! I'm going to be invincible! With this thing, I'll conquer the entire Grand Line sooner or later!"

He laughed madly and clutched the fruit even tighter.

Beiyuan Heng looked closely. The fruit was a deep blue, round like a small coconut, its surface covered in irregular swirl patterns.

It was a Devil Fruit.

A clear trace of surprise flashed through Beiyuan Heng's eyes.

How could something like this appear on a broken ship carrying slaves and refugees? And no one had eaten it?

But when his gaze landed on the ship's bare mast, where there was not the slightest trace of a sail, he immediately understood.

Without sails, the ship could only drift with the wind and could not control its own course.

If someone ate a Devil Fruit at sea, they would gain powers but lose the ability to swim.

If something happened to the ship, would they not be stranded at sea until death?

...Of course, there was another possibility: the refugees and slaves on the ship simply had not known what that strange fruit was.

Without the slightest hesitation, he opened his mouth and bit into the fruit's skin, tearing off a large chunk of flesh.

But the next second, an indescribably strange taste flooded his mouth, sour and astringent with the stench of rot.

He could not help letting out a violent retch and spat out the fruit flesh. The Devil Fruit, now bearing a bite mark, dropped onto the deck and rolled several times.

The scar-faced pirate bent over, clawing at his own throat with both hands. His face turned red as he retched and cursed:

"What the hell is this? Why does it taste so awful? Is this rotten fruit poisonous?"

Standing on the shore, Beiyuan Heng took in the entire scene without a ripple of emotion on his face. Instead, he gave a slight nod.

A Devil Fruit user was good. Compared to arresting an ordinary small-time pirate, arresting a Devil Fruit user would earn far greater merit.

Just then, the scar-faced pirate's body suddenly began hunching violently as he convulsed nonstop. Tufts of snow-white wool burst from his neck, arms, thighs, and other parts of his body, covering him entirely!

His head gradually deformed amid waves of intense pain, eventually turning into that of a sheep!

His horns curled, his eyes became somewhat muddled, and his pirate clothes were stretched into tatters.

"A Zoan type. Judging by its appearance, it should be the Zoan Sheep-Sheep Fruit."

Beiyuan Heng crossed his arms and said calmly, "But his strength is truly poor. He cannot even perfectly control the fruit's power."

If one was strong enough to fully bear a Devil Fruit's power, then even after consuming the most violent Zoan Fruit, their body would not undergo such obvious changes.

Someone capable of bearing a Devil Fruit should be able to freely control its abilities.

For a weak pirate like this, even if he received a bounty because of the Devil Fruit, it would not be very high. Even with the Devil Fruit's value included, it would be at most ten million Beli.

Seemingly having gradually adapted to the changes in his body, the scar-faced pirate shook his horns and turned to glare at Beiyuan Heng on the shore.

"Marine brat, since you've seen it, don't even think about leaving! You'll become the first stepping stone in my conquest of the sea—"

Before he could finish, Beiyuan Heng vanished from where he stood, leaving only a faint white afterimage.

The next second, he appeared directly above the scar-faced pirate. His right hand gripped the long sword at his waist, and with a flash of cold light, he slashed fiercely at the transformed sheep-like body.

The scar-faced pirate did not even have time to react, much less feel pain. His eyes instantly turned blank and white, and his body went limp as he collapsed.

Fortunately, the powerful physique granted by the Zoan Fruit allowed him to withstand the slash without being cut in half on the spot.

The battered, weathered wooden ship, however, was violently shaken by the impact of the blow.

Then, with a crack, it split cleanly in two. Bubbles rose from the broken hull as it slowly sank into the cold seawater.

Beiyuan Heng lightly tapped off the sinking ship with his toes, using Geppo to leap away. He grabbed the scar-faced pirate, who was limp as a dead dog, and casually tossed him onto the beach.

He looked around, and his gaze suddenly settled on a dark corner not far away.

Without any hesitation, Beiyuan Heng raised his foot and walked straight toward that corner.

It was not because his Observation Haki was so advanced.

Rather, [Calm (White)] had keenly detected several fearful, wary gazes secretly watching his every move.

In the corner, the three girls watching the battle outside stiffened the moment they saw Beiyuan Heng walking toward them.

The eldest and most beautiful of them, a black-haired girl, was the first to force herself to calm down.

She turned slightly and shielded her two younger sisters tightly behind her.

Lowering her voice, she spoke urgently yet firmly to her sisters behind her:

"I'll go out and stop him in a moment to draw his attention. You two take the chance to run in the other direction. Run as far as you can, and don't look back."

As she spoke, she instinctively tightened the clothes around herself, trying to cover up the slave mark.

"Big Sister... I don't want to leave. I want to stay with you!"

The youngest girl, who had soft orange hair, clutched the hem of her sister's clothes tightly. Her voice trembled with tears, and she refused to let go.

"Listen to me!"

Hancock gritted her teeth and let out a low shout. She tried to make her voice sound commanding while deliberately keeping it down, afraid that Beiyuan Heng outside might hear her.

"One of us has to survive. Only if you escape will you have a chance to find hope. Do you understand?"

The other girl, with long emerald-green hair, reached out and tightly grasped the orange-haired girl's hand, giving her a resolute look.

Then she looked up at Hancock, her eyes brimming with tears, yet she still nodded firmly and said through sobs:

"Okay, Big Sister. You have to come back..."

Their hearts were filled with despair. They had only just escaped that hellish place, yet they were about to be captured and taken back.

"You must find that person." Hancock took a deep breath, suppressing the fear in her heart as she instructed them, "I heard the Empress of Amazon is here. You must find her."