A Great Battle

Lu Ge, who had watched the anime, knew better than anyone just how dark the World Nobles were. The sheer number of slaves they kept was simply appalling; without a dedicated supply channel, it would have been impossible. He just hadn't expected to run into it like this.

At that moment, Sanya's face was filled with grim determination. Although she did not want to conflict with the Lone Wolf Trading Company, since the other party had already sought them out, she had no choice but to fight to the death. "Stobi, Cosmos, you are still young and the future of Amazon Lily. You don't need to take part in this battle. Hurry back to the village, organize the people, and have the civilians find a safe place to hide. The rest of the warriors, follow me to the port and prepare for a fight to the death. Let's use a bloody lesson to tell them that the majesty of Amazon Lily will not be violated!"

With that, she aggressively led her group away toward the port.

Cosmos and Stobi had initially been reluctant and wanted to argue a bit; although they were young, their strength was already not weak!

Unfortunately, Sanya didn't give them a chance to argue at all, and they could only sullenly follow the order and leave.

In just a moment, only Lu Ge was left in the place.

Watching their hurried and bustling departing backs, Lu Ge couldn't help scratching his head. "Wait, you guys just dumped me here and left? What about the suspicion you promised? The suspicion is cleared just like that? What if I'm a spy for that trading company? It seems these women aren't very high in the IQ department."

Lu Ge felt a bit helpless, yet he didn't hesitate. Quite decisively, he walked into the house, picked up the katana Stobi had left for him, and hurried toward the port. This time would be just right for him to test to what extent his strength, after a whole year, had grown.

On the other side, aboard the Lone Wolf merchant ship.

Ark drained the wine in his cup in one gulp and stood up gracefully. "Let's go! Lago, let's go meet those beautiful warriors of Amazon Lily. As for you lot..." He glanced around at his underlings. "You're in charge of staying here to shout and cheer us on!"

"Understood, Boss!"

The lean man named Lago silently reached his hand forward, and a door appeared so eerily. With a casual pull from him, the door opened.

If Lu Ge saw this scene, he would certainly be surprised to find that this really was a user of the Door-Door Fruit.

However, he was not Bruno from the anime, but rather the predecessor of that Devil Fruit user. Only after Lago's death would the Door-Door Fruit regenerate, perhaps then becoming Bruno's.

Ark and Lago entered the opened spatial door together. The next moment, at the port of Amazon Lily, a door opened as well, and the two of them stepped out of it simultaneously.

Looking at the swarm of beautiful warriors rushing over on the island, Ark couldn't help showing a toothy grin. "As expected of the legendary Daughter Island! Indeed, they're all women! Though there are quite a few homely ones, most are beauties! Lago, look, if we can capture them all, it might be enough for us to trade for another Devil Fruit. By then, our trading company will have three fruit users."

Hearing this, Lago couldn't help licking the corner of his mouth. As he watched the swarm of rushing female warriors, it was just like looking at a flock of lambs waiting to be slaughtered, his face written all over with greed and madness.

Led by Sanya, the female warriors of Amazon Lily arrived at the port in a grand and mighty formation, only to suddenly see the two men walking out of the door. They couldn't help starting for a moment, and then their expressions turned extremely solemn. "Is that the user of the Door-Door Fruit Lu Ge mentioned? Truly eerie, actually able to casually open doors and travel through the air. No wonder they could cross the Calm Belt and arrive at Amazon Lily."

Immediately, Sanya fixed her gaze on Ark at the front, and said in a resonant voice, "You must be Lone Wolf Ark, right? Amazon Lily has no enmity with you, and we keep to ourselves. Why are you invading Amazon Lily and capturing our people?"

Hearing this, a mocking smirk instantly surfaced at the corner of Ark's lips. "You actually ask a slave trader why he captures people? Do I, a slave trader, need a reason to capture people? As long as they are pretty, they are our targets!"

Sanya's expression instantly turned gloomy. "So, you're saying our people were indeed captured by you?"

"Hahaha~~ Indeed!" Ark wore a graceful expression. "They are currently guests on my merchant ship. If you have the ability, you can choose to rescue them, but the final result might be quite cruel. Not only will you fail to save the people, but you'll also drag yourselves into it as well."

"Hmph! How arrogant!" Such an attitude of utterly disregarding them and the others filled Sanya with anger. With a cold shout, she instinctively grabbed the pet snake beside her, Haki wrapping around her palm. In a split second, that pet snake's body stiffened straight, directly transforming into a black long spear covered by Armament Haki.

Leashing forward, Sanya thrust a spear straight at Ark's face.

However, upon seeing this, Ark remained completely motionless, showing no other movement until Sanya drew near. Only then did he clench his fists, his muscles bulging all at once, his eyes glowing with a eerie green light, and sharp claws springing from his fingertips. With a single claw swipe, the claw and spear collided, instantly emitting a piercing screech.

The pet snake that had transformed into a long spear in Sanya's hand felt the pain and immediately let out a miserable hiss.

Sanya immediately retreated out of heartache, terrified that her pet snake would suffer injuries.

Ark looked at Sanya and felt somewhat surprised. "As expected of a division commander of the Kuja Pirates, you indeed have some strength. However, how come there is only you as a commander? I heard that within your Kuja Pirates, there are actually quite a few division commanders. Or is that rumor true—that most of the members of your Kuja Pirates were captured and sold off?"

"Shut up!" Sanya's expression instantly turned hideously ferocious. The events of a year ago were her eternal pain, and the eternal shame of the Kuja Pirates.

At the time, it wasn't just the three Hancock sisters who had been abducted, but also the majority of their companions on the ship, while even more sisters died in that battle.

Only she, the Empress, and a few companions had gone to town to buy supplies together and thus escaped the disaster. But apart from those few of them, the Kuja Pirates had been completely wiped out. Since then, the overly self-blaming Empress, stricken with a severe illness, passed away not long after, leaving the current Kuja Pirates completely withered away.

Ark's words completely enraged Sanya. She saw her hands wrapped in black Armament Haki, and like a madwoman, she launched a continuous assault on him.

It could truly be said that one spear was faster than the last, every spear turning into a fierce afterimage. Fast, vicious, and accurate, it was also immensely powerful.

For a time, it actually suppressed Ark, forcing him to retreat step by step, and he was even struck squarely in the chest by a spear, being blown away right then and there.