The Maid Who Wanted to Repay Him with Her Body

Several dozen slave traders tightly escorted a batch of slaves. Any slave fit for auction was high quality; someone like Sal, priced at 500,000, was not even qualified to go on the block.

Most of the slaves were human, including human women and pirates. There were even members of rare races among them.

A male Giant stood head and shoulders above the slave crowd. He was sixteen meters tall, with a weathered face, making Sal look at him several times.

A middle-aged Giant was no weakling.

Giants could live for several hundred years. Even an ordinary adult Giant was at least worth tens of millions in bounty strength. Their elite elders could rival, or even surpass, Supernovas, not to mention the powerful Giants who bore the title of hero.

As for the leader of this slave convoy, Sal had asked around about him. He was a Paramecia Devil Fruit user who used poison. Three years ago, he had captured a pirate with a forty-million bounty and was a somewhat famous bounty hunter.

"To be safe, if I round things up, he's probably close to Supernova level. I can't hold back, then."

The long escort line passed beneath the mangrove trees. The slaves, already numb with despair, could only obediently follow because every one of them wore an explosive collar. As long as the person holding the controller wished it, they could take their lives at any moment.

Among the slaves, a young girl fell to the ground. Her face was pale, and her whole body trembled. Seeing this, the slave traders raised their whips and lashed down without hesitation.

The young slave girl was fairly ordinary-looking. The only thing valuable about her was her pair of beautiful blood-red eyes.

Suddenly, a beautiful slave with long blue hair and a dancer's outfit stepped in front of her. A deep wound was slashed across her delicate face.

Seeing a valuable piece of merchandise's face damaged, the lead trader angrily punched his subordinate to the ground before snarling viciously.

"Cintanxi, are you looking to die?"

The dancer named Cintanxi merely bit her lip stubbornly and remained silent. She knew that if she stepped back, the little girl behind her would die. Her young body could no longer endure the beatings.

Seeing that the merchandise was disobedient, the trader leader was about to deal with the now less valuable dancer when a man's voice suddenly came from above.

"Woman, you did well. Leave the rest to me."

Bang...

With the sound of impact, Sal descended from the sky in full view of everyone and stomped on an unlucky trader. As for the poor fellow beneath his foot, he was surely more dead than alive.

"Enemy attack!"

Seeing an enemy attack, all the slave traders drew their weapons and surrounded Sal.

The trader leader said viciously,

"I don't care who you are. How dare you offend our Dra—"

Before he could finish, Sal unleashed an astonishing wave of Conqueror's Haki. Dark crimson lightning swept through the area, seemingly twisting even the air and plunging the surroundings into dead silence.

Sal felt a tightness in his chest. Physical strength was like a dam, while Conqueror's Haki was like water. If the current was too fierce, it naturally put pressure on a poorly built dam.

Amid repeated thuds of bodies hitting the ground, the trader leader's eyes slowly rolled back. Foam spilled from his mouth as he fainted, utterly unable to resist. Even some of the slaves were caught in the blast.

[B-rank character developed negative emotions toward you: high fear. Gained 50 experience x5]

[C-rank character developed negative emotions toward you: high fear. Gained 12 experience x29]

[D-rank character developed negative emotions toward you: high fear. Gained 3 experience x49]

[Level increased to 13. 231/700]

Under the stunned gazes of the slaves, Sal habitually searched the bodies, finishing off anyone who needed it and taking their money and keys. Once he was done, the system notification sounded.

[Greatly altered the fates of multiple people. Received another 731 points.]

Sal handed the keys to the still-dazed girl.

"Help them unlock their collars. You're free from now on."

"..."

As time passed, the formerly numb slaves finally burst into cheers and tears. Ever since they had entered the Sabaody Archipelago, they had lost all hope of survival and could only silently await their miserable fates.

One explosive chain after another was removed, and another system notification appeared.

[A-rank character developed positive emotions toward you: high friendliness. Gained 500 experience]

[B-rank character developed positive emotions toward you: high friendliness. Gained 50 experience x3]

[C-rank and D-rank characters developed positive emotions toward you: high friendliness. Gained 12 experience x43, 3 experience x10]

[Level increased to 14. 126/700]

[Greatly altered the fates of multiple people. Rewarded 1,159 points.]

He had gained two levels in a single operation and earned another 1,863 points. This trip had been worthwhile. His efforts gathering information had not been in vain. He still had two more jobs to handle today.

As for the possibility of retaliation, he did not worry about it at all. In this world, strength was what mattered most.

After everyone received the travel money he handed out and left, only the dancer named Cintanxi lingered behind, her eyes filled with gratitude.

Sal understood that she was at her most vulnerable right now, but he did not want to talk about feelings with a woman. A chance encounter and mutual comfort were one thing, but nothing more.

Watching them leave, Sal turned to the Giant who still wore an explosive chain. He had not expected there to be no key for him.

The Giant spoke in a deep, rumbling voice.

"Your Conqueror's Haki was powerful just now. You could even distinguish enemies from allies. That is a very advanced technique."

Hearing that, Sal realized the other man knew quite a bit about Conqueror's Haki. He was quite interested in how the Giant had been captured. According to the system prompt, he was an A-rank character, a powerhouse at least no weaker than an ordinary Supernova.

"That was just ordinary Conqueror's Haki, nothing worth mentioning. Let me remove your chain. Also, how were you captured?"

The Giant became noticeably more dejected and only answered simply.

"I was betrayed, so I became a slave."

"Oh, I understand."

Sal would not deliberately tear open someone else's wounds. He walked over to the Giant, stared at the explosive chain, and unleashed Conqueror's Haki. The controlled Haki directly penetrated the collar and disabled its trigger.

At the same time, Sal's face turned pale. Covered in sweat, he dropped to his knees. This top-tier application of Conqueror's Haki, comparable to Haki infusion, put an enormous burden on his body.

If he possessed Armament Haki now, he could easily remove the chain simply by using its flowing technique. Unfortunately, he did not yet meet even the basic conditions to awaken Armament Haki.

"I will repay you, even if it costs me my life. This is my promise, Luke's promise."

The Giant's gaze was extremely serious. His people could give their lives for an oath.

In the end, the Giant took Sal's Vivre Card and left, promising to become Sal's subordinate in one month. The Giant himself had proposed it.

With that matter settled, Sal needed to find his next target.

The system suddenly issued a notification.

[A-rank character Drake developed positive emotions toward you: low friendliness. Gained 100 experience.]

Sal immediately spread out his Observation Haki and, sure enough, discovered a hat-wearing figure leaving. That Marine undercover agent had been here as well. He had even witnessed the liberation of the slaves.

He was also one of the Supernovas: the Marine traitor X Drake, with a bounty of 220 million Berries.

In the afternoon, scorching sunlight filtered through the mangrove leaves and shone upon the roots of the Sabaody Archipelago.

Feeling slightly tired, Sal arrived at the commercial street in Grove 24. Pirates made up a very high proportion of the people along the entire street.

After nearly a full day of effort, he had ambushed several more large slave groups, forcing the slave merchants to disperse their manpower in an attempt to find the person good-hearted people had dubbed the slave trader hunter.

His level had risen considerably as well. His reckless actions and startling the enemy had not been in vain. The slave traders would probably restrain themselves for the next few days, though he did not know whether this would disrupt the plot.

[Level: 19, 74/950]

Ignoring the slave traders patrolling in the distance, Sal was suddenly drawn to a scene by the street. A woman with long, straight pink hair, rough manners, and lipstick was wolfing down food. She ate so quickly that even Sal had to admit he could not match her.

He also knew who she was: Jewelry Bonney, the only female Supernova. Her bounty was 140 million Berries, and she was the daughter of Kuma, the tyrant among the Shichibukai.