Bubbles slowly emerged from the ground. The moment they were completely detached, they floated into the air driven by the air. They passed through the lively crowd, and then slowly flew over the ship's mast. When they reach the top of the Yarukiman Mangrove, they will explode in an instant.
This is Area GR53. Shipyards and coating houses extend along the seashore on both sides.
A famous master led his young apprentice, carrying a bucket filled with mangrove mucus, and carefully performed coating work on the ship he was responsible for, while explaining the skills and experience from time to time.
However, in recent times, an anomaly has appeared among them, and this anomaly has become an interesting topic among coating craftsmen. Some apprentices, especially those close to the stranger, glanced at him askance from time to time.
"Don't worry about the stares, learn this well and you will have a trade to support yourself..." An old master conveyed these words meaningfully to the apprentice standing behind him, although this apprentice seemed much older than the others around him.
This is a man who is nearly 1.9 meters tall, with a broad chest and strong muscles. He has gorgeous blond hair and wears glasses. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes are obvious, and he looks forty or fifty years old.
"Don't worry, old man, I don't care about this." Rayleigh, said with a cheerful smile, while carefully observing the old master's movements.
"That's good, that's good." The old master nodded happily.
"Um?" But just when he was about to continue explaining to him, a noise suddenly came from the distance, which attracted the attention of everyone around him.
"Stand aside! Get out of my way!"
"Make way for their captain!"
A middle-aged man, wearing a black captain's hat and black coat, was running quickly with a group of armed marines chasing him.
"Hey, isn't that Captain Gowers?" Rayleigh raised an eyebrow. "I remember that we agreed to deliver the ship in a week, right?"
"That's right. We will collect half of the deposit first. When we deliver the ship, they will give us the rest." The old master nodded.
Just as they were talking, Gowers and his group had already arrived. Without looking at the two men, Gowers jumped onto the bow of the ship, which was only one-third covered by the bubble coating.
"Quick! Move quickly and go to sea immediately!"
Given this, the old master did not make any movement or show any intention of approaching negotiations. After so many years here, he had seen it all.
Rayleigh on the side didn't react at all. He just watched quietly as they lowered the sails and hurriedly sailed out of the dock. He was more curious about the situation on the other side and wanted to know what happened.
Because at this time, not only their ship was on the run, but more than a dozen pirate ships that were being coated were rushing to get ahead, making the area fall into chaos and noise.
For a time, the entire No. 50 area became agitated with the arrival of the navy, and the atmosphere became extremely tense. From time to time, there would be gunfire and shouts of death. It was evident that some pirates who had not been able to leave were being arrested and were attempting to resist with violence.
"Master, does the navy come often?" Rayleigh leaned into the Old Master 's ear and asked in a low voice. He felt that if this kind of thing really happened often, then he would have to consider changing to a pension career. He didn't want to face the Navy's investigation all the time.
"No, in recent years, I have never seen anything like this, it is really strange" The old master looked puzzled.
"The Navy has its own coaters and doesn't need to come here. As for catching pirates, as long as the pirates don't make any noise on this island, they won't care too much."
Hearing this, Rayleigh suddenly suspected that these navy might be coming for him. Why, if this had not happened in previous decades, was it happening now, after just over a year since its arrival?
"That's not right. How would the navy know I'm here? And if they're really here to arrest me, what's the point of sending just a few navy officers?"
"What exactly is going on?"
At the same time.
As soon as the ship of the Gowers Pirates sailed less than 300 meters away from the dock, a loud banging sound came from the bottom of the ship, which gave Captain Gowers a bad premonition.
"Ship.. Captain... It's not good, Captain!"
"What happened?"
The pirate who came to report shouted with horror on his face: "The bottom of the ship has been pierced by something like a harpoon, and not just one or two, now there are many holes, and sea water is pouring in!"
"What?!"
…
"Two barbecues!"
"Four servings of seafood pasta, extra spicy!"
"Isn't the gigantic sand lizard ready yet?"
At this time the restaurant was at one of its busiest times. The waiters at the front posted orders on the wall and pushed loudly for dishes.
The chefs in the back kitchen responded while speeding up the movements of their hands. Although the fan whirred overhead, it could hardly suppress the flames and high temperature rising from the stove.
Amidst all the commotion, if anyone seemed relatively calm, it was the person silently washing dishes in the corner.
He was a young man with youthful features but defined features, quite handsome. His pale green hair fell in curls to the sides of his face. He is in charge of washing the dishes almost every day, until ten at night.
Originally, two people took turns in the morning and afternoon, but in order to earn a little more, the young man, once he became familiar, took on a full shift.
He had no choice; Apart from working on this, he hardly did anything else except gamble.
However, it was precisely the bet that caused him problems last year, he almost got caught by slave traders. But it was also because of this that he met a girl willing to do everything she could for him.
"Wait! I'll get you out of there, I promise!"
This sentence has been repeated in his mind countless times, but every time it gives him the strong inner strength to persevere when he is tired.
At this moment, a faint sound of gunfire came from outside. In response to this, everyone in the kitchen did not make a fuss and continued to do what they were doing.
After all, this is the GR24 area, a lawless zone.
But gradually some people realized something was wrong, because the gunshots were too dense and too persistent. It didn't sound like a fight between a few people, but more like a large-scale gun battle...
[Bang!]
Suddenly, a burly man with a machete burst through the restaurant door, panting heavily as he pointed to a group at a nearby table.
"The navy is coming to arrest us! Let's go!"
"What?"
"Why did the navy come here!"
More than a dozen people at the dining table stood up one after another. Some people asked in surprise: "This is a lawless zone, were you wrong? Couldn't it be a group of pirates chasing someone here?"
These men were thugs under a slave trading company, sometimes doing kidnapping work as an extra.
"I was not wrong."
"The navy is attacking all the slave shops, slave companies, and slave markets. I heard that the slave auction house in Area GR1 was also attacked by them!"
The man who ran to deliver the news saw the disbelief on his colleagues' faces, now mixed with concern. With the sounds of gunshots getting closer and closer, he gritted his teeth and left, leaving a warning behind: "Believe it or not, I warned you, don't regret it if you get caught!"
At this moment, the dozen or so people looked at each other in confusion, and the next moment, they rushed out of the restaurant like frightened wild boars. This scene made the other diners speechless.
But what everyone didn't know was that the voice of the man who came to warn them was heard all the way to the back kitchen.
[Snapped!]
Suddenly, there was the sound of a porcelain plate falling to the ground and breaking, and then a figure with pale green hair ran out, completely ignoring the chef's scolding, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Stella...Stella...Please don't let anything happen to you, Stella!"
Gild Tesoro, who was just seventeen years old this year, ran wildly towards a slave shop in District GR28, accompanied by intensive gunfire.
Area GR27, Area GR28, and Area GR29, these three connected areas are where the slave industry is most concentrated in the Sabaody Archipelago.
Although there is the most famous slave auction house in the GR1 area, it is a top-end sales place and only accepts the best quality slaves, so the number of slaves is the smallest.
On the contrary, these three places are filled with slave-related companies, shops, and even places where slaves are held in batches, called markets!
In this way, these three places also have the largest number of armed personnel.
Fierce gunshots, shrill screams, explosion flames and thick smoke rising into the sky, suddenly turned into a vortex of fear and death, shrouding the sky above the entire No. 20 Region.
No, not only Area 20, but Area Zero and Area 10, the entire lawless zone is undergoing large-scale sweeps by the navy.
This is a small war!
…
Because the marines increasingly cornered the slavers, they began to kill and threaten the slaves to get them to come out of their cells and serve as cover to escape.
At this moment, a large number of panicked men, women, and children poured out on the streets of GR27, GR28, and GR29 districts. They all wore dark iron collars around their necks.
A lieutenant looked stunned at the chaos that was unleashed. But he didn't know how to handle it either. It didn't seem like the slaves were going to listen to reason.
Would yelling at them not to move make any difference?
As the marines struggled not knowing what to do with the large number of slaves that suddenly appeared, in the sky above the Yarukiman Mangrove, a series of light green winds formed, growing stronger and more powerful, evolving from small whirlpools to magnitude of a storm.
These green winds swept like a 'tsunami' in all directions, inundating the fleeing slaves and the slavers who were trying to escape. In this ocean of winds, even the marines struggled to maintain their balance.
The commander, holding against the wind, grabbed a Marine who was about to be swept away. Keeping his feet firmly on the ground, he laughed excitedly: "This is Vice Admiral Dragon's ability!"
In his sight, slaves were restrained in place by the wind. They could neither fall nor move. They were surrounded by fast-moving green air. The slavers, on the other hand, were carried into the air by a whirlwind, spinning uncontrollably and fainting in no time.
The next moment, Monkey D. Dragon, wearing a cloak of justice, appeared from the wind with an expressionless face, looking down at the entire slave market.
Initially, he did not want to intervene. For his subordinates, this was an exceptional opportunity to achieve military merit. But now there was no other option. If he did not intervene, many of the slaves would suffer. That wasn't what he wanted to see.
"Detain all those who resist!"
"Find the key and unlock the collars of all the trapped people, and then divide them into men and women to guard them. Don't let them move around at will for the time being. Wait for government personnel to come and arrange everything!"
Just as the gunshots faded and the commotion died down with the wind, the navy began to disperse in an orderly manner, a deafening scream resounding.
"Stella!!"
Everyone subconsciously looked towards the source of the sound and found that it was a young man of sixteen or seventeen years old, running towards a blond female slave.
"Tesoro!"
The slave also watched excitedly as the young man ran towards her, her arms already open. However, when she tried to get closer, the flow of wind around her did not allow it.
"Wow, she's so beautiful. Why is such a beautiful woman here? Shouldn't she be transferred to the auction house?"
Some people were immediately amazed when they saw Stella's appearance. Although she only wore a thin blue sleeveless vest on her upper body, her perfect figure and charming face were not affected at all.
In the air, Dragon saw such a beautiful scene and a smile appeared on his face.
Immediately before Tesoro hugged Stella, the wind force around the latter was removed, which can be regarded as supporting the happy reunion of the lovers.
The next moment, the two hugged and kissed each other amidst the dispersing wind...
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