Chapter 282: Kingdom

Chapter 282: Chapter 282: Kingdom

On the South Blue shipping route, the St. Freya sailed steadily.

The Female Warriors in the crow’s nest suddenly sounded an alarm; a medium-sized pirate ship flying a skull flag was attempting to approach from the flank, clearly mistaking the St. Freya for a "fat sheep."

On the deck, Charlotte Linlin was lying lazily on her exclusive lounge chair, enjoying a head massage from Gerd, with a freshly arrived newspaper in her hand.

She couldn’t even be bothered to lift her eyelids at the threat nearby.

"Honestly, it’s endless..."

A Female Warrior carrying a longbow nearby pursed her lips, her tone full of impatience, but her movements were unambiguous.

She gestured to several other companions.

Without needing an order from Charlotte Linlin, several Crew members from the combat unit quickly took their positions.

Several archers occupied high ground; the bowstrings twanged softly, and arrows coated in Armament Haki precisely snapped the cables of the enemy’s mainmast and the connecting rod of the rudder.

Several merfolk leaped from the sea, blades flashing, accompanied by short screams and the sound of weapons dropping.

The entire process was smooth as flowing water, with tacit coordination; in less than ten minutes, the pirate ship with malicious intent completely lost its ability to maneuver, and its Crew members were either dead or had surrendered.

The Crew members of the Heavenly Punishment Pirates cleaned up the battlefield calmly as if it were a daily routine, then quickly returned to their posts, as if nothing had happened.

From beginning to end, Charlotte Linlin merely turned a page of her newspaper and said to Gerd, "Use a little more force on the left."

Clinging to the ship’s railing, Kuzan, who had seen the battle clearly, couldn’t bring himself to smile at this moment.

He gaped, watching those older sisters who were usually very friendly to him on the ship and didn’t look particularly strong, display such crisp, efficient, and lethal coordination and powerful individual strength in battle; a sense of foreboding crept up his spine.

This kind of combat proficiency... is it really something a South Blue Pirate Crew could possess?

Although he was young and inexperienced, he had heard some rumors about pirates. Most South Blue pirates should be more... lax and chaotic, and their battles should rely more on pure numerical advantage.

He hesitated for a moment, but couldn’t help creeping over to Charlotte Linlin’s lounge chair and asked cautiously:

"otousan... are we... are we a South Blue Pirate Crew?"

He emphasized the words "South Blue," holding onto a sliver of hope in his heart.

Charlotte Linlin raised her eyes from behind the newspaper, glanced at him with her purple eyes, and instantly understood the anxiety and expectation in the little brat’s heart.

She raised an eyebrow slightly, put down the newspaper, revealed a "guileless" smile on her face, and said with a very certain tone:

"Of course we are~ We are a proper ’South Blue Pirate Crew’! And we are a Pirate Crew that was just formally established not long ago!"

Kuzan looked at Charlotte Linlin’s "sincere" smile, then turned back to look at those older sister Crew members who looked relaxed, as if they had just done a warm-up exercise:

"...You’re not lying to me?"

"Oh my, how could I lie to our ten-billion-berry boy?"

Charlotte Linlin reached out, vigorously rubbed his afro, and said teasingly, her eyes filled with the glow of "look how honest I am."

Of course, she wasn’t lying to him. They were currently sailing in the South Blue, so naturally, they were a "South Blue Pirate Crew."

And as for the name "Heavenly Punishment Pirates," it was a title acquired only after the Rocks Pirates disbanded; before that, outsiders had always called them an affiliate of the Rocks Pirates. Saying they were "just formally established" was completely accurate.

It was just that the members of this "newly established" Pirate Crew were all veterans who had come down from the highest-level battlefields of the New World.

Kuzan looked at her "frank" gaze and thought again: That’s true; if such a powerful Pirate Crew had made a name for themselves in the Grand Line or the New World, he should have heard at least some rumors.

It seems they really are a strong, newly risen crew from the South Blue... That’s fine too. Although they are a bit too powerful, they are ultimately "South Blue" pirates. Later, when he escapes and joins the Marine, his record won’t be linked to any "New World Legends" in an outrageous way, so the resistance should be smaller.

He secretly breathed a sigh of relief and suppressed that trace of unease in his heart.

Although he knew the Marine was not the justice he imagined, just as he had said before, he wanted to go and see for himself.

But for now, he had to "endure humiliation and bide his time," and figure out a way to "repay" that outrageous ten-billion-berry "debt."

A few days later, the St. Freya arrived in the waters near the Sorbet Kingdom, a famous Affiliated Nation in the South Blue.

As an Affiliated Nation of the World Government, the Sorbet Kingdom had relatively strict control over its coastline.

To enter a formal port to dock, one required tedious official documentation and inspections, which was almost impossible for a pirate ship.

Therefore, Charlotte Linlin ordered the ship to find a relatively secluded coastline to dock temporarily.

"Alright, let’s split up. Ripley, Gerd, you two go and do the shopping. I’m going to find someone," Charlotte Linlin ordered.

"Yes, Linlin." The two acknowledged the order, took a few dozen Crew members with them, and quickly disappeared.

Charlotte Linlin then took the trailing Kuzan and walked towards the direction of the nearest small town.

Kuzan followed excitedly behind Charlotte Linlin, looking at everything around him with curiosity. This was his first time stepping onto foreign soil, but his initial excitement was quickly diluted by the strange yet familiar scene before him.

The houses here were much better than the shacks in the Gray Bream Town slums; at least most were complete wood and stone structures, but they were still low, crowded, and the streets were narrow and muddy.

Passersby wore patched but reasonably clean clothing, but most of their faces bore a kind of exhaustion and numbness from long-term labor.

In the fields, one could see gray-haired elders and thin, small children struggling to wield farm tools, battling with the land.

The air was filled with the mixed scent of livestock manure, cooking smoke, and sweat.

The people here might not be facing the threat of starvation at any moment like in the Rust Nail Nest of Gray Bream Town, but another kind of heavy suffering, as if bound by invisible shackles, was equally visible.

Kuzan watched all this in silence; the slight sense of novelty he had felt just a moment ago from "arriving in a new country" had long since vanished.

Just then, a burst of intense arguing and crying came from an alleyway ahead, mixed with shouting and the sound of objects being smashed, which caught Charlotte Linlin’s attention.

Her height of twelve meters gave her an excellent view, making it easy to see what was happening inside—

A squad of about five or six kingdom soldiers, wearing a unified uniform, was surrounding a poor family.

A soldier dressed as a squad leader was impatiently whipping an old woman kneeling on the ground and begging bitterly with his sword scabbard; a thin man nearby tried to stop him but was brutally kicked to the ground by two other soldiers.

Several children hid behind the door, crying in terror. Scattered on the ground were some smashed, simple furniture and a few empty, broken jars that might have originally held coins.

Vaguely, one could hear the soldier’s shouting: "...tenryubito tribute... insufficient share... delaying... Sinner of the kingdom... must be punished..."

Charlotte Linlin understood what was going on in an instant. The "tenryubito tribute," this heavy tax, was enough to crush many families that were already impoverished.

She had no intention of intervening. Such things in an Affiliated Nation, especially among the lower classes, were all too common.

She might be able to drive these few soldiers away, but what then? After she left, this family might suffer even harsher retaliation, or even be charged with more serious crimes. Treating the symptoms but not the root cause might even make the situation worse.

However, someone beside her didn’t think so.

Kuzan, who had just obtained the freezing ability, whose fire of justice was Burning fiercely in his heart, and who had always been thinking about "upholding justice," saw the soldiers beating the elderly, weak, women, and children, and his eyes turned red instantly.

"otousan! I’m going to check it out!" He quickly took out a mask he had found from who knows where and slapped it on his face—he still remembered he was the "son of a pirate" and would join the Marine in the future, so he couldn’t expose his true face and cause trouble.

He said hurriedly to Charlotte Linlin, and without waiting for her response, he turned into a white shadow carrying cold air and charged over!

"Stop it!!"

A young yet rage-filled voice rang out.

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