Outsiders, we can talk!

"What do we do, Guerrero?"

The only female warrior wearing a chest wrap asked the woman beside her nervously, gripping her spear.

"Don't panic yet. It might be a passing passenger ship. It'll leave soon."

Guerrero reassured her. There was indeed a shipping route nearby, and passenger ships or cargo ships passed through from time to time.

But her eyes remained fixed on the distant ship.

It was a little too close this time, and its bow was pointed straight toward their island.

Enemies were far more likely than passing travelers.

That was precisely why she had sent a companion back to the tribe to call for reinforcements.

The two-masted sailing ship grew larger in their sight, drawing ever closer to the beach.

Guerrero clenched her teeth, gripped her spear tightly, and shouted toward the sea:

"This isn't a place you're allowed to come! If you don't turn around, we'll attack!"

Her threat carried over with the sea breeze.

On deck, Dill gave no orders, and the ship continued toward the beach.

Having come this far, how could he possibly turn around and leave? Even if he had to fight, he would fight his way in.

"Get ready for battle. Once you get down there, don't waste words. Take those four down first."

Dill had never intended to have a proper conversation. Judging by their attitude, they really did refuse to let any outsiders land.

Going down and capturing them first was the right approach. Otherwise, if their reinforcements arrived after a few exchanged words, things would stop being fun.

He raised a finger and emphasized to everyone:

"Remember, the main objective is to capture them alive. Even if you can't beat them and have to retreat, you still need to bring back a live captive."

As long as they took someone alive, they would have an opening.

Capture one today, hypnotize her, and send her back. Capture two tomorrow, hypnotize them, and send them back too.

Slow and steady work. Given enough time, he would take this island sooner or later.

He refused to believe he would run into another bullshit Control-Control Fruit.

"Go get your weapons now. Remember, leave them alive."

"Yeah!!"

The sailors raised their hands in acknowledgment and ran toward the armory.

Delivering goods at sea required strength too. Otherwise, pirates would have devoured them without leaving so much as a scrap long ago.

Guns, swords-they had everything they ought to have.

All they needed was to haul aboard a cannon and fly a pirate flag, and they could seamlessly become pirates.

Some pirate crews had even started out that way.

Since their main objective was to take prisoners alive, none of them used guns, choosing melee weapons instead.

The gangway was lowered against the deck, and Narcissa led the charge down.

She aspired to surpass men, even in battle.

"Aaaah!!!"

Narcissa roared, raised her machete, and charged forward.

Fearless, Guerrero thrust her two-meter wooden spear forward and charged straight at her.

The distance between them rapidly shrank until the spear neared Narcissa's waist and abdomen.

She twisted to the right to dodge the spearhead, seized the shaft with her left hand, and swung the machete in her right hand down with all her strength.

Crack!

Steel struck wood, and the wooden spear snapped.

She casually tossed the spearhead onto the beach to her left, took a long stride forward, and raised her right hand to slash at Guerrero's shoulder.

Guerrero's pupils contracted slightly. Then her expression hardened, and she released the wooden shaft with both hands, diving to Narcissa's left to retrieve the spearhead from the ground.

Despite having fought plenty of battles, Narcissa couldn't help freezing for a moment.

Guerrero's move had left her back completely exposed. If Narcissa wanted to, she could slash her the very next second.

Even if Guerrero recovered the spearhead, she wouldn't pose much trouble with an injured back.

But remembering the order to capture them alive, Narcissa didn't do that. Instead, she turned and stepped forward, caught up with Gresa after she landed, and brought her left foot down on her.

Once her left foot had a firm foothold, she raised her right foot and stepped on Guerrero's right hand, which had just picked up the spearhead.

Guerrero clenched her teeth, her face contorting as she used every ounce of strength to try to get up, but it felt as though a mountain weighed on her back, leaving her unable to budge.

Before even a single exchange was over, Guerrero was defeated.

Narcissa bent down to snatch away the spearhead, then lowered herself and sat on her.

Looking around, she saw that the other three female warriors had all been defeated.

"Wait, aren't they way too weak?"

Sitting on the ship's rail and watching the show, Dill looked utterly puzzled. How had they gone down as soon as the fighting started?

This nameless island was an untouched paradise.

The forest behind them was a resource, and resources attracted people who would fight to seize them.

Whether pirates or nearby countries, someone would always make a move against this nameless island.

Yet these primitives were still the island's masters.

"Children, don't even think about going there to play. They'll poke several holes clean through you with their ridiculous spears."

Dill had assumed the islanders had driven off the storybook's author, and that the author had called their spears ridiculous in the book to save face.

But now that he had seen them, they really were ridiculous spears.

It felt like Hina could beat them without even using her ability.

"Still, easier is better. If all their soldiers are like this, we won't even need hypnosis. We can just steamroll them."

He waved and called down to the sailors:

"Bring them all aboard!"

One female warrior had run off to call for reinforcements, so a larger force was bound to arrive shortly.

Securing these four first would be useful, whether as bargaining chips during negotiations or hostages when fighting broke out.

The sailors acted at his command, escorting the four female warriors toward the gangway.

But Dill's vision suddenly darkened as a pair of sunglasses appeared on his face.

"Hina thinks you need these."

"Dill thinks he doesn't."

Despite saying that, he didn't take the sunglasses off.

Next, he needed to question them about the island's military strength and confirm whether the stone they guarded was actually a Poneglyph.

The four female warriors were escorted onto the deck and tied to the mast with ropes.

Dill approached Guerrero. She had charged the fastest earlier, so she was probably the leader.

"Name."

"Just kill me."

Dill: "..."

Are you nuts? I only asked for your name.

"We mean no harm by coming here. We're just looking for a stone."

"Just kill me."

"The stone will still be yours. We'll leave as soon as we've made a rubbing of what's written on it."

"Just kill me."

Looking at the female warrior with her eyes tightly shut, Dill was speechless.

He took off his sunglasses and instructed the sailors beside him:

"Pry her eyes open."

Since they couldn't communicate, they would have to wait three hours before trying again.

Just as two sailors were about to step forward and act, a shout suddenly rang out from the forest's edge:

"Stop!"

Dill looked back and saw around fifty people charging out from the edge of the forest.

They carried spears, wore brown grass skirts, and had necklaces strung with sharp teeth around their necks.

The sailors aboard couldn't help widening their eyes, and Hina put the sunglasses back on Dill's face.

Because every last one of them was a woman.

More than half wore tops, while the rest did not.

"Outsiders, we can talk!"