"Will you become new fuel for my ship, or new sacrifices for that ritual? Choose for yourselves."
When Yas's icy voice, devoid of any warmth, rang out across the deck, the captive Devil Fruit Users who had just been congratulating themselves on not being the first to have their "souls searched" felt as though they had plunged into an ice cellar.
The blood drained from their faces, and their bodies trembled like leaves in the wind.
New fuel? New sacrifices?
Whichever of those two options they chose, both led to the same end-death! Utter, unquestionable death!
"No... please! We surrender! We're willing to join the Navy!"
"We'll do anything for you! Please, spare our lives!"
Several ability users dropped to their knees with a thud and desperately kowtowed to Yas. Soon, their foreheads were streaming with blood.
Before the absolute terror of death, their pitiful scraps of pirate dignity were crushed to pieces.
Yas watched them, his ice-blue eyes utterly still, as though he were looking at a few fish struggling on a chopping board.
"Join the Navy?" A mocking smile curled his lips, as though he had heard a joke. "Trash like you isn't even fit to carry my subordinates' shoes."
"However..." Yas changed tack, his gaze sweeping over them as though he were selecting merchandise.
"My fleet has just been established. I do need some... expendable supplies that aren't worth very much."
He pointed at a scrawny prisoner who possessed the power of the Silent-Silent Fruit and said flatly, "You, stay. You'll handle infiltration and reconnaissance."
Then he pointed at another prisoner, a woman who possessed the Sticky-Sticky Fruit. "You, stay. You'll handle traps and restraint."
Finally, his gaze settled on a young girl who looked the most terrified of all and possessed the Heal-Heal Fruit.
The girl looked no more than fifteen or sixteen. When Yas's gaze passed over her, her whole body shuddered in fright, and tears spilled down despite herself.
"You, stay. You'll handle healing."
"As for the rest..." Yas could not even be bothered to look at them again. He waved to Bullet beside him. "Dispose of them."
"Yes, Captain Yas!"
A bloodthirsty gleam flashed in Bullet's eyes. Grinning viciously, he walked toward the prisoners who had been sentenced to death and ended their lives swiftly and cleanly amid their desperate screams.
On the deck, the three ability users who had been spared watched their companions' bodies being thrown into the sea. Their faces turned deathly pale with fright, yet wild joy at having escaped death surged in their hearts.
They had survived!
Even if it was in a state close to slavery, they had survived!
"Bullet." Yas's voice rang out again.
"Here!"
"Put these on them." Yas took several oddly shaped metal collars from inside his clothes and tossed them to Bullet.
They were Chakra-Suppressing Collars he had had the system exchange for the small number of points earned in the previous battle. Though crude, they were enough to control these weak ability users.
"Tell them the collars bear Black Lightning marks I left on them. If they dare harbor any disloyalty, or move more than a thousand meters away from me, they'll end up just like that ship."
Yas pointed at the empty stretch of sea in the distance.
The three ability users who had just been celebrating their survival saw the collars and heard Yas's words. The wild joy on their faces froze instantly, replaced by despair and terror even deeper than before.
They understood. They had not survived.
They had merely fallen from one hell into another, more terrifying hell from which they would never escape.
They had become this demonic god's possessions, completely and utterly.
"Brannew." Having dealt with these trivial matters, Yas turned his gaze to his adjutant.
"Here, Captain Yas!" Brannew immediately stepped forward, his manner more respectful than ever before.
"Send me all the information on Midas Island immediately," Yas ordered. "And calculate the shortest sailing time for us to reach it."
"Yes!" Not daring to delay for even a moment, Brannew immediately turned and rushed to the bridge.
With the Leviathan, the pinnacle of naval technology, sailing at full speed, an island glittering with dazzling golden light beneath the sun soon appeared before everyone's eyes, less than half a day later.
Midas Island!
Even through the Surveillance Den Den Mushi's screen, everyone could feel the luxury and wealth radiating from the island.
The entire island seemed to have been fashioned from pure gold.
Its mountains were golden, what flowed through its rivers seemed to be molten gold, and even the beaches along the shore shone with a golden glow.
At the center of the island, an immense, palatial golden castle glittered in the sunlight, proclaiming its owner's pathological wealth and power.
Gulp. On the bridge, a young navigator could not help swallowing as he stared at the island of gold, his eyes filled with greed and shock. "My God... how much money must that be worth?"
"Shut up!" Brannew snapped, though his own eyes were equally full of shock.
The report in his hands showed that Midas Island was a sea vault that "Captain" John had spent years building, using the powers of a Gold-Gold Fruit user under his command.
Not only were over five thousand elite pirates stationed on the island, but it was also covered in heavy cannons and defensive fortifications made of gold. Its defenses rivaled even those of some important Navy branch bases.
"Captain Yas." Brannew walked up behind Yas and reported gravely, "We've reached the target waters. According to the radar scan, the island's defense system has been activated. The moment we enter their cannon range, we'll come under attack."
"Should we... probe their defenses with long-range shelling first?"
This was already the safest plan Brannew could think of.
Yet Yas merely gazed quietly at the splendid golden island on the screen, his ice-blue eyes shining with a burning light called "possession."
"Probe?"
He slowly rose and walked to the bridge's floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out in person at the "treasure vault" that would soon belong to him.
"Brannew, remember this."
Yas spoke without turning around, his voice calm yet domineering in the extreme.
"There's no need to probe what's mine."
He turned, sweeping his gaze over all the crew members on the bridge whose blood was boiling at his words.
"Bullet."
"Here, Captain Yas!"
"Tell the men below to get their bags ready." Yas's lips spread into an arrogant grin. "We're here to 'collect taxes.'"
Just then, shrill alarms rang out across Midas Island opposite them, piercing the sky.
An outrageously arrogant voice carried over from afar through an Amplifying Den Den Mushi.
"Where did you Navy scum crawl out of? You dare trespass on the territory of our lord, 'Captain' John!"
Atop the golden castle stood a man clad head to toe in golden armor, all ten of his fingers turned to pure gold. Holding a Golden Den Den Mushi, he stared disdainfully at the Leviathan out at sea.
He was the island's supreme commander, the Paramecia-type Gold-Gold Fruit user, "Goldfinger" Gildo.
"That's a decent ship you've got. Kneel and surrender now, and offer it to Lord John, and I might consider plating your corpses in gold too, to make new exhibits for my collection!"
Gildo let out a shrill, wild laugh.
To him, this lone Navy warship was merely another fool coming to its death.
Yet all that answered him was Yas's cold, contemptuous gaze.
Yas slowly raised his hand and spoke into the Amplifying Den Den Mushi in a matter-of-fact tone, uttering words that cut Gildo's laughter short and sent everyone aboard the Leviathan into a frenzy.
"Tell your master."
"His vault belongs to me now."
Yas paused, the smile on his lips growing colder.
"And have your men wash their necks and prepare to welcome their... new master."
"You're fucking asking to die!" Thoroughly enraged, Gildo swung his hand fiercely and roared like a madman.
"Open fire! Blast that wreck of a ship to pieces!"
Before you continue