Dozens of small boats, carrying over a thousand fully armed pirates, landed on Aden Kingdom.
Their expressions and appearances were all different.
Some looked exhausted, with unshaven faces, as if they hadn't had a good night's sleep in a long time.
Others looked excited, quite interested in what they were about to do.
Only a few rational minds began to think about what was happening to them.
They were all pirates captured by the Navy or bounty hunters, but their crimes and level of danger weren't enough to be held in Impel Down, so they were originally imprisoned in the Navy branch prisons around the North Sea.
But two days ago, they were pardoned by the World Government and forced to act with the World Government's ships.
Destination?
Unknown. The World Government didn't say.
The World Government only claimed that a terrible infectious disease had broken out somewhere in the North Sea.
These pirates originally deserved no mercy, but now they had a chance to redeem themselves.
As a suicide squad, they would go to the dangerous area where the infectious disease was spreading and help the World Government deal with all the infected people!
As long as they did this, their crimes would be offset, and they would regain their freedom.
This "deal" was naturally like a lifeline for the pirate prisoners who originally saw no hope.
So they all nodded and agreed to the World Government's proposal, and under the World Government's arrangements, they were fully armed and boarded the accompanying small boats, heading forward.
Due to the urgency of the situation, most of them were still wearing prison uniforms, and the shackles on their hands had not been completely removed.
They laughed and landed on the shore.
Murder and robbery were their old trades, and now their old trades gave them the opportunity to regain their freedom, so they were naturally overjoyed.
However, when they saw the "infected people" that the World Government spoke of with their own eyes, they were really frightened.
They were demon-like creatures covered in crystal growths, with more or less traces of their former human selves remaining.
What exactly happened here?
A few people cared, but most of the pirates didn't bother with it.
It's best to quickly kill them and return to the kind of free and unrestrained life they had before!
Thinking of this, the pirate leader who first landed on the dock looked at the young man who was trying to communicate with him.
Without any hesitation, the pirate leader raised his curved sword and then slashed it at the young man's neck!
Clang!
A strange noise came, a sound that the pirate leader never expected.
The curved sword didn't seem to have hit flesh and bone at all, but a piece of incredibly hard stone!
But what the pirate leader was familiar with was that scarlet blood still splattered out.
Following closely was the young man's scream.
He covered his cut neck, took a few steps back, and then turned around and ran away!
Pirate leader: "?"
That's not right!
I clearly slashed with all my might, why can this person still run?
According to the World Government's explanation, shouldn't they be patients infected with a deadly infectious disease?
After thinking for a long time without results, the pirate leader locked on and called his men to put on masks to prevent infection, and then waved his sword forward, saying:
"Men, kill!"
"Yeah!"
In an instant, the pirates around the dock swarmed up.
The surrounding residents of Aden Kingdom, watching the young man being cut by the pirate leader, were originally in a state of shock, and the pirate leader's order brought them back to their senses.
Fear began to spread in their hearts.
Someone shouted: "Run for your lives!"
The infected people immediately scattered and fled, not daring to stop for even a moment.
And just after everyone chased out a distance, the pirate leader suddenly lowered his head and reached out to touch his blade.
The originally sharp blade was now full of nicks and dents.
"The blade is dull?"
The pirate leader couldn't help but be stunned.
He was a well-known swordsman in the North Sea pirate circle, so he could judge that the weapons the World Government gave them were definitely not bad, and were really capable of killing people.
Why, after only one cut, did the blade chip like this?
The pirate leader stroked the already half-destroyed blade, narrowed his eyes, and a vague sense of unease rose in his heart.
But this unease didn't last long. The infected people's terrified cries for help reassured the pirate leader a lot.
Just a bunch of lambs to be slaughtered!
…
Dozens of Aden Kingdom residents formed a group and hid in a cellar not far from the coastline.
After those terrible pirates rushed inland to hunt down other people, these people finally mustered their courage and came out of the cellar.
They quickly ran to the small boats abandoned by the pirates and boarded the deck.
Several fishermen skillfully turned the boats around, holding on to the last hope, intending to use the pirates' small boats to escape to sea.
But at this moment, they heard a muffled sound from the distance.
Bang!
Following closely was the sound of something heavy tearing through the air.
Whoosh!
They looked up and saw a cannonball shooting towards them, and the one firing the shell was the World Government's large ship parked in the outer sea!
Boom!
The cannonball hit the deck of the small boat and exploded.
In an instant, the entire small boat was engulfed in flames, and the infected people were forced to jump into the sea to escape.
However, seemingly because of the crystal armor on their bodies, even though the fragments of the cannonball and the debris of the small boat splashed everywhere, no one was injured as a result.
A few people were burned by the fire, but they only felt a slight pain and were not burned.
But the infected people had no time to care about these abnormalities. They desperately swam back to the shore, rejoicing that they had escaped this disaster, but they couldn't help but feel despair at the situation before them.
The World Government… launched a cannon attack on them!
This also meant that no one could leave Aden Kingdom by boat!
Isn't the World Government supposed to save us? Why are they launching artillery on us?
"It's over, we're doomed..."
Both the brutal pirates and the World Government, which launched ruthless artillery fire on them, plunged the entire Aden Kingdom into deep despair.
They didn't know why they were experiencing all this, they just felt that in such a terrible situation, they didn't have the slightest power to fight back.
However, at this moment.
The sound of the broadcast Den Den Mushi and the projection Den Den Mushi connecting at the same time rang out.
Appearing on the projection screen was not Caesar Clown, who had previously spoken to Aden Kingdom, but another person who was also infected with the Crystal Demon virus.
He wore an old top hat, and his infection symptoms seemed to be more severe than others.
That person was Hiluluk!
"People of Aden Kingdom, I am Hiluluk, a doctor from the Four Seas Alliance!"
Hiluluk gripped the microphone tightly and shouted:
"Don't expect any 'rescue', no one else can save you! No one else can become the savior of Aden Kingdom!"
The people of Aden Kingdom, who had still held a glimmer of hope, fell into even deeper despair upon hearing this.
But then, Hiluluk changed the topic and shouted:
"Whether it's the World Government or our Four Seas Alliance, there has never been a savior!"
"The only ones who can save you are yourselves!"
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