"That's natural. You're a very good captain, aren't you? My purpose in joining you is to become stronger..."
As she spoke, she gave Luo Chen another "good guy" card from the One Piece world, completely ignoring the increasingly frustrated look on Luo Chen's face as she continued.
"Get stronger? Please forgive me for not understanding. If you want to get stronger, wouldn't it be enough to just spend money to find a teacher to teach you? I don't believe that someone as famous as you in the South Blue wouldn't be able to find someone willing to teach you."
"Why must you join us?"
Luo Chen didn't quite believe Lulith's claim that she wanted to obtain the path and methods to become stronger from them.
Indeed, in his view, a star like Lulith was both rich and famous. If she just waved to the sea, countless people would come running to teach her why she needed to join them to become stronger. He wouldn't agree to her request without clarifying the matter.
"Hehehe, things aren't as simple as you think. If I could become stronger with money, I would have done it already."
It was all just a fantasy. Even though I'm a big star, I can't just do whatever I want because of that.
At least the nobility wouldn't be afraid of me because of my status. In their eyes, I'm just a relatively famous puppet that they can manipulate at will, someone who suffered ridicule in the South Blue because I rejected the advances of a prince.
Almost no one invites me to hold a concert, which is why I accepted the invitation to come to the Grand Line to hold a grand concert and try to regain my fame. But this time I was kidnapped and brought here. I suspect that young master Wang was behind it. After what happened, I understand very well that without power on this sea, no matter how famous you are, it's useless. That's why...
As Lulith spoke, she clenched her hands tightly under her body, causing her arms to turn Red Hair, but she seemed unaware of it.
"So that's why you're asking to join us? It seems you see this place as a refuge, a way to escape that nobleman's coercion?"
Luo Chen continued, following her words.
"No, that's not it. I just... I just want to join you, become stronger so those people can stop bullying me... It's not what you're saying at all..."
Upon hearing Luo Chen's words, Lulith immediately became anxious and quickly spoke up to defend herself. Although she had some thoughts on the matter, it wasn't entirely true. She didn't want to leave a bad impression on Luo Chen, so she loudly defended herself.
"Alright, I understand most of what you've said. Don't try to hide it from me anymore. Your priority now is to figure out how to gain my approval..."
Faced with Lulith's attempt to defend herself, Luo Chen waved his hand to interrupt her and spoke again.
But I...
She wanted to say something more, but then she thought that she didn't seem to have anything that could move him. As for her beauty, it didn't seem to have any meaning for him. A powerful man like Luo Chen could find a woman more beautiful than her to follow him at any time if he wanted to. So she fell silent.
"Alright, although you don't have anything that can impress me, I still want to tell you that you've been accepted into our Luo Chen Pirates. Hurry up and get ready to go out with us to meet our other crew members!!"
Just when Lulith thought she had given up hope, she heard some incredibly exciting news: Luo Chen was willing to let her join him. This made her ecstatic, and without realizing anything was wrong, she stepped forward and hugged Luo Chen, cheering.
"Great! I've finally been accepted! I'm so excited! Thank you, Mr. Luo Chen!!"
Lulith cheered loudly, she hugged him and shed tears of emotion.
"Alright, alright, the cheering's over. Let go now, we need to get back, don't delay any longer..."
Although Luo Chen felt somewhat happy being embraced by Lulith's warm and soft body, he still couldn't help but cough a few times to remind her.
"Uh... Ah!! Oh... I'm sorry, I got too carried away..."
Hearing Luo Chen's reminder, she was immediately jolted awake. Lulith quickly pulled away from Luo Chen's embrace, took a few steps back, and apologized with a slightly flushed face.
"Um... it's nothing. Okay, let's hurry up and go. I'm sure you can't wait any longer..."
Luo Chen raised his hand again to indicate that it was nothing, then changed the subject and returned to the main topic, leading a group of people out of the backstage area and back to the auction stage.
Meanwhile, Catherine had already slowly woken up. After searching for Luo Chen and finding no trace of him, she became worried. However, with hints from Sabo and Koala, she learned of his whereabouts and stayed there, quietly waiting for his return.
Meanwhile, Sabo and his men had already taken their leave to investigate the incident involving their companions. Only Catherine and the corpses of the nobles killed by Carlos and his men remained in the hall. Carlos's Admiral had already been escorted away by Sabo and his men.
Ta-da-ta-da...
Finally, after a while, faint footsteps sounded on both sides of the auction stage in the center of the venue, which made Catherine look over with delight. To her surprise, Luo Chen appeared in front of her with a group of slaves she had seen in the previous auction.
"Yes, you're awake, Catherine. Hmm... you look quite well. You should be alright now, right?"
As soon as Luo Chen stepped out of the corridor and back into the venue, he heard an excited voice. Turning around, he saw his companion Catherine standing in front of him, eagerly waiting for him. He quickened his pace, stopped in front of her, looked at her carefully for a few moments, and then said with relief.
"Well, I'm fine now. Sabo and Koala had to leave early, and they asked me to thank you again. Hmm... what's this?! Could it be another group you invited?!"
As she spoke, Catherine seemed to have noticed something and turned her gaze to a man and a woman standing not far behind Luo Chen, asking them in confusion.
"Hmm... just as you guessed, they are Slava Singh and Lillian Lulith, my newly invited companions. Remember to treat them well!!"
Luo Chen knew she was asking about the two people behind him, so he nodded in response, emphasizing the word "hospitality" and reminding her to treat them politely.
"I know, do you think I'm some kind of wicked woman who arbitrarily excludes others? Honestly..."
Catherine rolled her eyes at Luo Chen, understanding the implication in his words, and then ran over to take Lulith's hand and greet her warmly, but she ignored Singh, who looked like a strong but simple-minded man, leaving them somewhat embarrassed.
"Um... I'm sorry, that's just how Singh is, please don't mind her..."
Seeing this, Luo Chen had no choice but to turn around and awkwardly scratch his head as he explained to Singh.
"Hmm... it's okay."
Singh, being very understanding, indicated that he was fine.
After a while, seeing that Catherine had quickly become familiar with Lulith and was about to start talking endlessly about things like facial care, Luo Chen quickly reminded her.
"Alright, Catherine, let's talk about this back on the ship. We've already been here long enough; it's time to get back to the ship, or George will get impatient. Let's go!"
"Hmph, do you realize how long you've already wasted here? If you hadn't deliberately bypassed the Log Pose to get here, we would have already headed to the next island. Now all this time is your fault!"
Upon hearing that Luo Chen had wasted time talking with Lulith, Catherine couldn't hold back her anger and blurted out her grievances, even complaining about his shortcomings.
"Okay... alright, I know I was wrong, okay? Let's not dwell on this anymore, let's go back now!!"
Hearing Catherine's complaints, Luo Chen had no choice but to quickly beg for forgiveness.
"Alright, I'll let you off this time, but there won't be a next time. Come on, Sister Lulith, I'll take you back to the ship to see your room."
After saying that, Catherine took Lulith's hand and walked towards the ship. Luo Chen and the other two exchanged a glance and followed. The remaining slaves quickly dispersed. Since almost all the forces on the island had been wiped out by Carlos, no one would bother to capture them anymore, so it was very safe for them at this time.
On the other side, Luo Chen and his three companions quickly returned to the ship. After boarding and introducing themselves to George, they let him take the helm and leave the area first.