Fishing on Kula Island

New World, Kura Island.

A former dependency island of Wano Country, its traditional style heavily influenced by Wano Country.

Eight hundred years ago, after the powerful nation of Wano Country closed its borders, the various dependent islands in these waters successively declared independence.

Some islands even established small kingdoms.

On this Kura Island, with a population of only a little over one hundred thousand, the Kingdom of Kura was established.

After the Beasts Pirates occupied Wano Country, the entire sea area centered around Wano Country was incorporated into the rule of the Four Emperors, Beast Kaido.

This territorial scope was many times larger than the archipelago dependencies of Wano Country back in the day.

However, because Kura Island was too barren, it lacked even the resources to build weapon factories.

Now, the Kingdom of Kura needed to hand over a tribute slightly lower than the Heavenly Tribute every year just to survive under the rule of the Beasts Pirates.

This caused the days of this impoverished small nation to become increasingly difficult.

Yet this hardship belonged to the bottom tier; the days of the royal family and nobles were still quite comfortable.

To pay the protection money to the Beasts Pirates, the kingdom continuously raised taxes, which led to a large number of commoners selling themselves into servitude under the nobles.

Under the worsening situation in the kingdom, even more than half of the samurai class lost their status as free men, all forced to serve as dogs and slaves to the nobles.

Kojiro was a down-and-out samurai who had sold himself to the high-ranking Mikami family.

Relying on his formidable archery and swordsmanship, Kojiro was sent by the head of the Mikami family to serve as a guard for the young lady.

Through day-to-day contact, this samurai guard actually fell in love with his noble young lady.

The noble young lady also held a certain fondness for this handsome and heroic guard.

Yet the status gap between them destined them never to walk together.

What drove Kojiro to the greatest despair was that his beloved Kikuhime was taken a fancy to by the prince of the Kingdom of Kura, who intended to take her as his royal consort.

A few days ago, the royal family and the noble family held an engagement ceremony.

That meant Kikuhime had now become the fiancée of the prince of Kura.

Watching his beloved young lady, who seemed to have no particular resistance to this marriage, made Kojiro's heart pierce with pain all the more.

He truly did not want to see his Kikuhime become the prince's woman.

Yet he was powerless to change anything.

For this reason, he could only continuously train his archery and swordsmanship, hoping to forge a powerful martial might capable of changing everything before the formal marriage between the prince of Kura and Kikuhime took place.

Naturally, Kikuhime had also noticed the dramatic changes in her guard, but she was merely a woman deeply steeped in traditional culture, absolutely obedient to the arrangements of her lord father.

Furthermore, a marriage alliance with the royal family brought great benefits to her own family.

How could Kikuhime possibly rebel against her father's arrangements if she wanted her family to prosper in the Kingdom of Kura for a long time?

Besides, refusing the prince's proposal would also plunge her family into a dangerous situation.

For this reason, she could only cast aside her slight fondness for Kojiro and prepare herself to become a royal consort.

Yet she also did not want to lose this warm and handsome guard, which left her somewhat depressed in mood.

Kura Island port.

"Is this really the territory of the Beasts Pirates?"

Luo Ji saw the Beasts flag fluttering high above the port as his pirate ship drew near.

"And it's a small island in the Wano Country style!"

Luo Ji's expression gradually grew indifferent, but Yamato was extremely excited, wanting to see how the first island of the outer seas differed from Onigashima.

"I wonder what specialty foods and places for adventure this island has."

Yamato stood at the bow, shouting with full anticipation, evidently very excited about the upcoming landing.

When the samurai of the Kingdom of Kura stationed at the port saw the unfamiliar pirate flag on the ship of the Luo Ji Pirates.

In an instant, alarm horns sounded across the port, and a large number of samurai assembled at the docks, watching the unknown pirate ship with vigilance.

"Halt, intruders! This is the territory of the Beasts Pirates. If you wish to land on the island, please submit to our security inspection!"

A warning echoed in a booming voice from a samurai. With the protection of the Beasts Pirates, they were not overly terrified of these unfamiliar pirates.

Besides, as long as these pirate crews did not cause trouble and merely conducted normal resupplies, they were big-spending customers for Kura Island and could be allowed ashore.

Generally speaking, Kura Island did not dare to be too arrogant toward these pirate crews.

After all, the pirate crews capable of sailing into these waters possessed formidable strength.

However, if they truly encountered a pirate crew that had suffered combat losses from extreme weather or mutual slaughter among pirates.

Then the Kingdom of Kura would act according to circumstances, choosing whether or not to engage in highway robbery and swallow them up.

After all, the Kingdom of Kura was not wealthy at present and desired more 'accidental wealth' to subsidize their exorbitant protection money.

When the Kura samurai at the port saw that this pirate ship contained only one man, one woman, a little girl, and two pets.

A samurai squad captain instantly grew greedy.

How did this lineup look like anything other than a greenhorn family pirate crew?

Did they really think that hoisting a pirate flag would allow them to run wild across the seas as pirates!

With such a small crew, even if there were no treasures on the ship, selling off the pirate ship itself, the two women, and the pets would still make for a decent income.

Moreover, looking at the young Luo Ji and Yamato, most people's first reaction was that this was a young couple playing house who had emerged from nowhere to play at being pirates.

Luo Ji clearly felt the disdain and malice of these samurai.

An evil smile bloomed in his heart.

It was time to let Yamato witness the cruelty and deceit of the outer seas.

Normally, he usually kept his food and treasures stored away in storage scrolls.

Yet now, as he glanced at the excited Yamato, he unconsciously released two chests of gold and treasure.

Get ready to take the bait, greedy samurai!

Yamato, witness the malice of the sea.

The corners of Luo Ji's mouth curled upward as he reined in his aura, transforming into the appearance of a pushover, resembling a down-and-out young man resigned to his fate.

"Honorable samurai, we merely wish to go ashore for resupplies. Please do us a favor."

Luo Ji stepped forward and shouted politely, but in the eyes of these port samurai, this was simply the appearance of a bullied newcomer.

After all, which pirate crew sailing to this place would hold such an attitude?

Those New World pirate crews were all exceedingly arrogant; if not for the flag of the Beasts Pirates hanging on the island.

Those brutal pirates would have long since sacked Kura Island.

"Let us conduct a simple inspection. Firearms and cannons are prohibited on the island."

As the pirate ship entered the port, the samurai squad captain shouted with a smile; they could hardly wait to devour this weakling pirate crew.

Even their pirate flag was bizarre, actually depicting a brush and a scroll.

It couldn't compare at all to those types of pirate flags featuring swords and bones.

"Yamato, if someone wants to seize our ship and treasures, what do you say we should do?"

Luo Ji watched as a dozen samurai prepared to board the vessel, chuckling as he asked Yamato.

"Why, we crush them, of course!"

"In Oden's journal, the Whitebeard Pirates and the Roger Pirates defeated plenty of pirate crews and marine fleets!"

Yamato spoke without a moment's hesitation. Anyone who dared to obstruct her adventure, anyone who dared to covet them, was their enemy and had to be thoroughly thrashed.