Chereads / One Piece: Isshin, The Sword Saint / Chapter 10 - 8) Aftermath and Questions

Chapter 10 - 8) Aftermath and Questions

*The sun rises upon the new day, the pirates, scum of the world, erased, even if only a little.*

Isshin Ashina stands in front of the gathered villagers, who were busy thanking the gods for being alive, crying for the death of close ones, and treating those who were severely injured due to either the pirates or the fires.

The fires burnt down the entire town to ashes, the raging flames finally sputtering to a halt due to running out of fuel to burn.

"Mr. Isshin! You're back! Are you hurt anywhere?!" Mio uttered in joy as she ran upto him and hugged his legs, being unable to reach any higher.

"Kuhahaha! This much is nothing for this old man. It is going to take a lot more to kill this old man, little one!" he exclaimed heartily, patting her head.

"I knew you would be safe! After all, Mio trusts Mr. Isshin!" she replied, pouting at him.

"Kuhahahaha!"

Just then, a man, who Isshin recognised to be the husband of the woman who's life and dignity were almost taken by the Pirate captain, walked over to them, before bowing his head, before asking...

"Excuse me... I am sorry to disturb you, O corageous warrior. I am the the head for this small village, and on everyone's behalf, I would like to thank you. If you hadn't intervened, we would have faced a death far, far worse than even death."

"A fate worse than death? What makes you say that? Also why were they destroying the town and capturing everyone? From what I know, they caused trouble and demanded protection monet, but it makes no sense for them to cut off a constant stream of income."

"They captured us to sell us as slaves. To nobles of various countries... and even to the Celestial Dragons, should we catch their eye."

"Slavery? Are there no laws banning it?" Isshin frowned, upon learning that such a vile practice was still followed.

"It is illegal to own slaves, there exist laws to make sure of that... but those rules don't apply to the rich and noble, let alone The Celestial Dragons. On top of that, our country does not pay the Heavenly Tribute, so the Marines don't bother to protect us from pirates, who can thus loot us easily at virtually no risk."

"What us this Heavenly Tribute that you speak of? What are the Marines, and whom do they protect?"

"H-huh? You don't know what they are? Ah, perhaps a hermit? That would explain why someone of your caliber has been unknown up until now.

The Heavenly Tribute is a tax that a country pays to the Celestial Dragons, one that should be paid each year by every country affiliated to the World Government.

The Marines are the Protectors of the People and Seas. They save the helpless citizens from the vile and powerful pirates, bandits and rebels, thus maintaining peace throughout the world. Unfortunately however, they only protect and serve countries that are part of the World Government and pay the Heavenly Tribute. Our country was too poor to afford the Heavenly Tribute, so were forced to suffer at the hands of pirates on a regular basis.

Initially, our country had enough wealth to pay the Heavenly Tribute, but our King, who is Greedy and Short-sighted, claimed not to have enough money to pay them, all while levying exorbitant taxes on the populace.

Many have already left this country behind, looking for greener pastures, but the King, who realised the people's intentions, banned all travel outside of the country."

"Disgusting. How has he not been overthrown yet?"

"How can we!? They have guns, men and money. What else do we have other than our farming tools! We can only submit..." the man spoke with a bitter smile, a look of resignation on his face.

...

A/N: Cold got even worse, and my College fest has entered full swing, thus not leaving me no time nor energy to write long enough chapters. I had to write this chapter while fighting sleep. Also, this chapter is more or less an info dump, which was due for quite sometime.

As usual, donate your powerstones and write comments and add the story to your collections. Again, I'm sorry for the short chapters.