Freeing the Slaves, Their Benefactor Rono

"Damn it, don't underestimate me!"

Dragon felt insulted. He grabbed the Recruit Short Sword and charged at Rono, as if trying to prove he wasn't all talk.

Buzz~!

Rono didn't even need to move. A burst of Conqueror's Haki knocked Dragon unconscious again.

"The Navy has some promising recruits. He'll definitely become an opponent one day," Roger said with a laugh as he looked at the fallen Dragon.

"Maybe," Rono said, almost as if talking to himself.

He wondered whether Dragon would change his stance before the Battle of God Valley.

With Dragon dealt with, the two continued deeper into the ship.

When they opened the cabin door, a vast amount of gold and jewelry immediately filled their view, nearly dazzling them blind.

"Wow! No wonder it's the Heavenly Tribute. This gold must be worth several hundred million Beli!" Roger was excited.

"At least over a billion Beli," Rono said. He wasn't sure exactly how much the gold was worth, but it was definitely more than a few hundred million Beli.

With so much treasure, they could give up being Pirates, return to their hometown, and still not spend it all in several lifetimes.

"Hahaha! Then let's go buy some booze!" Roger was lying in the pile of gold, looking like he was enjoying himself.

"There's another room inside?"

At the same time, Rono noticed what seemed to be another room farther in. Could there be even more gold?

He shoved the door open with a bang. The room was dark and damp, and an unpleasant smell hung in the air.

In the middle of the room stood an iron cage, packed with people. The foul smell came from there.

It seemed to be where the Slaves were kept.

They were all ordinary people, including quite a few beautiful women.

When Rono entered, the Slaves were quiet, but every one of them looked terrified and instinctively backed away.

They thought Rono was with the World Government.

Just seeing him had frightened them this badly. One could only imagine the inhuman abuse they suffered every day.

Looking at all these innocent people and the terror on their faces, Rono saw the Celestial Dragons' sins!

"You're free." Rono yanked open the iron cage's heavy lock. The people stared at him in disbelief, unable to believe what they were seeing.

It wasn't until Rono walked straight toward the next room that they finally came to their senses!

"We're free!"

"Free!"

The Slaves rushed out in a swarm, like headless flies. Some ran outside, then turned back and came to thank Rono.

The next room also held Slaves, but it was larger.

The Slaves here were clearly not ordinary people. They belonged to several unusual races.

There were Longarms, Longlegs, Mermaids, Snake-Necks, and even Minks.

But none of that was surprising. Rono even saw members of the Oni Tribe with horns growing from their heads.

The Celestial Dragons certainly had far-reaching connections. These races were all rare, yet the Celestial Dragons captured them by the cageful.

These people reacted to Rono just like the Slaves in the previous room, their faces filled with fear and revulsion. Some of the Mermaids even looked despairing.

After all, Mermaids were strikingly beautiful. Even beautiful human women couldn't compare to them.

It seemed their everyday treatment was even more horrific than that of ordinary human Slaves.

"Go... You're free."

Bang! Rono punched open the huge iron cage. Just like the humans before them, these people of different races could hardly believe what they were seeing.

"R-Really?"

A slightly braver Mink cautiously stepped out of the cage. When he saw that Rono didn't move, he hurried outside!

A minute later, the Mink ran back, visibly excited!

"It's true! The Navy and the World Government people outside are all unconscious! Quick, let's get out of here!"

The Mink waved his hand, and the people of the different races all looked overjoyed before hurrying away.

Amid the confusion, a red-skinned Fish-Man suddenly came over to Rono and knelt before him!

"M-May I ask the name of my benefactor?"

The red Fish-Man asked respectfully.

At his words, the Slaves who had been running away all stopped.

They wanted to know the name of the benefactor who had saved them, too.

"Rono." Rono gave his name and carefully studied the red Fish-Man in front of him.

This guy looked familiar. Rono felt he had seen him somewhere before.

That red skin... If he remembered right, this was the future Fish-Man Hero, Fisher Tiger!

But Tiger was only in his twenties now, and he looked very different from how he did in the original story.

If it weren't for his conspicuous red skin, Rono wouldn't have recognized him.

"Tiger will never forget your great kindness!"

Tiger solemnly kowtowed to Rono several times, then left with his fellow Fish-Men.

If Rono hadn't saved them, he and the other Fish-Men would have been sent to the Holy Land. Who knew what kind of inhuman abuse they would have suffered there!

"Rono..." The Slaves of the other races repeated his name, committing their benefactor's name to memory!

Some followed Tiger's example and kowtowed to Rono several times.

"I never expected Tiger to have been captured this early."

Rono hadn't expected to run into the future Fish-Man Hero, Fisher Tiger, here.

Although Tiger wasn't very strong, he had enormous influence among the Mermaids, on par with Queen Otohime.

His influence wasn't limited to the Mermaids, either. He had an enormous reputation among those who had once been Slaves of the Celestial Dragons!

After all, Tiger was known as "Hero" Tiger.

After freeing the Slaves, Rono continued toward the innermost room.

The ship's interior was certainly enormous. Rono wondered how much it had cost to build such a giant sailing ship.

When he opened the cabin door, Rono realized that the contents of this innermost room were what interested him most!

The room was lavishly decorated, with an air of noble elegance.

Several objects resembling glass display cases stood in the middle of the room. Inside them were nothing but Devil Fruits!

Under the lights, the Devil Fruits glimmered, looking incomparably beautiful.

Besides the Devil Fruits, the room contained many other treasures.

There were all kinds of Famous Swords and weapons, apparently meant to be delivered to the Holy Land as tribute to the Celestial Dragons.

But they would never reach the Celestial Dragons now. They had all fallen into Rono's hands.