After settling the docking issue, Ren brought Xu Nian ashore with him.
Meanwhile, on a small hill not far from the harbor, a one-eyed pirate lowered the telescope in his hand and asked the bespectacled man in the black suit beside him, "You're sure that's Lucky Ren?"
The man with glasses replied, "Captain Tresia, I'm certain. That's the Myriad Worlds Pirates. Their crew is easy to identify. Their ship is tiny, and most of the crew are women. A pirate crew like that is rare."
"Good. Since you're certain of their identity, I'll have my first mate cooperate with your operation. But don't forget the payment you promised afterward."
"Captain Tresia, don't worry. Once it's done, not a single beli of what we promised will be missing."
"Good."
As the man walked away, Tresia fell into thought.
Why would someone go so far out of their way just to target a newly risen little pirate crew?
This island was indeed a famous lawless zone, but that didn't mean it had no rules at all.
For example, once someone paid the harbor fee, their ship was not to be touched. If he attacked a ship that had already paid, he'd be asking for serious trouble. After all, his crew wasn't the only strong pirate force on this island.
Still...
the money being offered was too good.
A full two hundred million.
At worst, he'd just share a little profit with the other pirate crews afterward and smooth things over.
And with that kind of money, he could do a lot.
At that moment, Ren was walking through the island's city with Xu Nian.
Everywhere he looked, the buildings were half-collapsed and filthy. Forget living in them—most of them couldn't even properly block the wind or rain.
The streets were piled with garbage. In some places, the trash had formed literal hills.
On those heaps, people rummaged desperately for scraps. Ren saw one man find a bone, only to be swarmed by more than ten others fighting him for it.
The people living here were all gaunt and hollow-eyed, dressed in tattered rags. Some sat by the roadside in a daze, unmoving, surrounded by their own waste.
And standing in sharp contrast to those residents were the pirates—
arrogant, swaggering, strutting down the street with their noses high in the air.
Whenever the pirates passed, the locals hurriedly shrank away.
Ren even saw a few pirates dragging several women by ropes while laughing among themselves and discussing how much those women could be sold for.
Every now and then, another woman would run up to beg them to sell her too.
Most of the time, the pirates only sneered and rejected them for being ugly.
Ren even saw a few pirates relieving themselves by the roadside, directly onto a man sitting there—
and that man didn't react at all.
These people didn't even feel human anymore.
They looked more like walking corpses.
And Ren quickly realized something else.
There were almost no young women, children, or able-bodied young men among the island's civilian population.
It seemed Shanks had not exaggerated at all when he said human traffickers were rampant here.
"Mister... can you give me something to eat?"
A little girl with half her face horribly scarred stepped timidly in front of Ren and looked up at him with pleading eyes.
Seeing the frail, skeletal child, Ren felt a heaviness settle in his chest.
At her age, she should have been living safely under the care of her parents—not begging strangers for scraps of food.
Ren was just about to take out something to give her when Xu Nian suddenly raised her gun and pointed it directly at the girl's head.
"Get lost."
The little girl froze at the sight of the muzzle.
Then she quickly bowed toward Ren and Xu Nian and stammered, "I'm sorry, sirs!"
Then she ran away.
Ren turned to Xu Nian in disbelief.
"Why did you chase her off?"
He knew Xu Nian wasn't a cruel person.
There had to be a reason.
Xu Nian answered calmly, "I was saving her. Even if you gave her food, she couldn't keep it. Believe it or not, the moment you walked away, someone would take it from her. And she probably wouldn't survive the attempt."
Ren fell silent.
After thinking it through, he realized she was right.
A girl like that couldn't possibly protect food on her own.
If he gave it to her, he'd only be harming her in the end.
An innocent man becomes guilty through possession of treasure.
That was exactly what this was.
Even after understanding it, though, Ren still felt miserable.
As someone who came from the twenty-first century, he had never truly experienced this kind of life.
A life where people had no food to eat and no clothes to wear.
Even as an orphan, Ren had never lived like this.
So he could never fully understand what kind of temptation a starving crowd would feel upon seeing a little girl holding food in her hands.
Seeing how downcast he looked, Xu Nian said quietly, "If you really want that little girl to have enough to eat, then destroy the root of all this. Only when the source is gone will tragedies like this stop happening."
Hearing that, Ren fell into thought.
What was the true source of all this suffering?
Pirates?
Human traffickers?
No.
Neither.
The real source was the World Government.
It was the Celestial Dragons.
Because this country couldn't pay the Heavenly Tribute, it lost the Navy's protection.
Because of the demand for slaves, human traffickers swarmed here in endless numbers.
So the true cause of this tragedy was not the pirates.
Pirates were only the accelerant.
The real root of it all was the rotten ruling class of this world.
If he wanted to change any of this, then one day, he would have to tear down the World Government itself.
He would have to destroy the Celestial Dragons.
He would have to rip apart the rulers who had crushed countless people beneath them for centuries.
At that moment, Ren finally understood something.
He understood why the Revolutionary Army inspired such fear in the World Government.
Because the Revolutionaries were trying to tear that system down.
Once he understood that, Ren said to Xu Nian, "Let's go."
The two continued deeper into the city until they reached the central district.
This area was surrounded by a wall several meters high, and dozens of armed pirates stood guard at the main gate.
By the entrance, Ren spotted a notice board with a list of rules.
First: Anyone wishing to enter the central district must pay an entrance fee of one thousand beli.
Second: No pirate crew is allowed to brawl inside the central district. Any personal grudges must be settled in designated locations.
Third: All services inside the central district must be paid for. No one is allowed to skip out on debts.
These rules are jointly enforced by the five major pirate crews. Anyone who violates them will be hunted by all five.
After reading the board, Ren paid two thousand beli and entered the central district with Xu Nian.
It was like stepping into a completely different world.
Here there were taverns, restaurants, gambling houses, pleasure dens—everything.
Beautiful, revealingly dressed hostesses moved through the streets. Rich aromas drifted from expensive food. Music played. Bright lights and extravagant decorations made the whole place look like some thriving paradise.
Pirates indulged themselves here without restraint—stuffing themselves with food, drowning in drink, gambling away money, and drowning in lust.
But to Ren, all of it looked disgusting.
Separated by a single wall, yet it was two entirely different worlds.
He looked at a chunk of meat someone had bitten once and then thrown casually onto the street—
and then thought of the residents outside who would fight over a single bone.
He felt not the slightest interest in any of the luxury around him.
He brought Xu Nian into a restaurant.
He hadn't come here to enjoy himself.
He only wanted to restock supplies.
Meanwhile, back at the harbor, a group of pirates led by a burly man carrying a spear had appeared before the bespectacled man from earlier.
"You're First Mate Chrysler?"
"That's me. So you're the employer the captain mentioned."
"Yes."
"Good. Then tell me what you want."
The bespectacled man pointed toward The Lucky in the harbor.
"The people on that ship are your targets."
Chrysler glanced at the vessel and scoffed.
"That tiny little pirate ship? You need me for that?"
The man with glasses smiled faintly and produced Martha's bounty poster.
"There's a Devil Fruit user aboard with a bounty of fifty million. My requirement is that she be captured alive."
"A Devil Fruit user, huh? That makes it a little troublesome. But we do have seastone handcuffs. And with me here, a mere Devil Fruit user won't be much of a problem."
"In that case, I'm relieved."
Chrysler turned and raised his spear.
"Move out!"
"OHHH!"