"Hahaha..."
"Trecia, we admit it. In a one-on-one fight, none of the four of us is your match."
"But if you think you can take all four of us at once—"
"No, three of us."
"We don't believe you have that kind of strength."
"Hahaha!"
"You're right. Under normal circumstances, I can't beat the three of you by myself. But tell me... don't you feel weak all over right now? Like your bodies won't listen to you anymore?"
The moment Trecia said that, the three men tried to rise—
only to find their limbs utterly powerless. They collapsed back into their chairs.
They stared at Trecia in disbelief.
"How is this possible? We barely ate or drank anything. How were we poisoned?"
"Wahaha!"
"Because of me, of course!"
At that moment, Charlotte—who had supposedly been knocked unconscious by Teresa's kick—slowly stood up again.
He brushed the dust off his clothes.
The three captains looked at him, stunned.
"You're fine?"
"Of course."
"So you and Trecia were working together?"
"Yes."
"Then how were we poisoned?"
Charlotte strolled up to them and smiled.
"You may not have eaten much, and you may not have drunk much... but that's exactly why you were poisoned."
"What?"
All three spoke at once.
Trecia answered for him.
"I'll explain. The perfume Charlotte wears is actually a slow-acting poison. It only has one effect—it leaves the victim weak and powerless for several hours."
"But that poison works slowly on its own. The bonfires around us, however, were mixed with a catalyst that sped up its effects."
"Charlotte claimed he wanted to court Lady Teresa, so he covered himself in that perfume. That way, none of you would suspect a thing."
The Blood Spear captain gritted his teeth.
"Then why are you two fine?"
Trecia smiled faintly.
"Because we already took the antidote."
"How? When? We didn't see you take anything!"
"The wine."
Trecia lifted his cup.
"The antidote was in the wine we drank. I knew the three of you wouldn't eat my food, and you wouldn't drink my wine either. That's why I never intended to poison your drinks. You were too cautious for that."
Then Trecia turned to Teresa.
"And I have to thank Lady Teresa as well. Without her, I never would've had the chance to gather all three of you here at once."
The three men looked at Teresa, then at Trecia, and finally understood.
Because Teresa had appeared, they had all panicked at the thought of Trecia recruiting her. That was why they had come together tonight.
Under normal circumstances, none of them would have willingly stepped foot inside another pirate crew's territory.
But Teresa's strength had been too overwhelming to ignore.
Teresa merely said, "It's nothing. We didn't lose anything anyway."
Trecia looked down at the three captains slumped in their chairs.
"Well, you know everything you need to know now."
"It's time for you to die."
As soon as the words fell, Trecia drew his sword and cut all three of them down.
Then he severed their heads.
He handed Blood Spear's head to Charlotte and said, "I'll take Mackie's territory. You go to Blood Spear's stronghold and bring their men under control. Anyone who resists—kill them."
"When you're done, meet me at Ghost Claw's base."
"Yes!"
After Charlotte left, Trecia turned to Ren and the others.
"Please wait here for a while. Once I've dealt with the other three crews, I'll return."
Ren nodded. "Go ahead."
"Good."
Watching Trecia leave with his men, Ren couldn't help marveling at the man's ability.
Until coming here tonight, Ren had known absolutely nothing about his plan.
And yet in such a short span of time, Trecia had used Teresa's appearance to set all of this in motion.
Now it was obvious.
The other three pirate crews were finished.
Once their captains were dead, they wouldn't just lose their strongest fighters—they would lose their leaders as well.
A headless mob without command and without a top-tier powerhouse to anchor them had only one ending.
Sure enough, not long after, sounds of fighting erupted in the distance.
But they died down just as quickly.
In less than two hours, Trecia returned.
He walked straight up to Ren and the others—
and dropped to one knee.
"Trecia thanks all of you."
Ren said, "Even if you hadn't offered us anything, I had no intention of getting involved in your internal struggle."
Trecia shook his head.
"That isn't why I'm thanking you."
"I'm thanking you for appearing at all."
Ren raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? And why is that? Our arrival here was just a coincidence."
"It was. But I still want to thank you."
He paused for a moment, then asked quietly,
"Would you be willing to hear my story?"
"Go ahead."
Trecia took a breath.
"You all know my name is Trecia. But do you know what this island used to be called?"
Ren didn't.
He only knew there had once been a kingdom here—and that it had long since fallen.
Trecia said, "This island was once called Trecia Island. The country that stood on it was the Kingdom of Trecia."
Ren froze. "You were part of the royal family?"
"No."
Trecia lowered his gaze.
"The royal family of Trecia died out twenty years ago. I was only a soldier of the kingdom."
"Twenty-five years ago, our kingdom could no longer afford the enormous Heavenly Tribute. After failing to meet the Celestial Dragons' demands for three straight years, we were expelled from the World Government."
"Once we lost our status as an allied nation, the Marines stationed in our country withdrew soon after."
"And the moment the Marines were gone, pirates began gathering around the kingdom in droves."
"At first, we still had the Royal Army. With the army's strength and the people's support, the early pirate incursions were repelled."
"But as time went on, things only got worse. Ships from outside stopped coming because pirates attacked them. After a few years of that, the kingdom's economy collapsed. Supplies grew desperately scarce."
"With resources dwindling, the Royal Army's strength declined as well. Then dozens of pirate crews formed an alliance and gathered more than ten thousand men."
"The king of Trecia personally led the Royal Army into battle. But this time, the pirates weren't just numerous—they had a large number of Devil Fruit users as well. The Royal Army could no longer defend the country."
"In that battle, the king died. Nearly twenty thousand soldiers of the Royal Army were wiped out. I only survived because I pretended to be dead."
"Once the Royal Army was gone, the pirates pillaged the kingdom without restraint. Disaster fell upon every citizen. Then came the slave traders."
"The slavers brought the money. The pirates brought the force. They sold huge numbers of our people into slavery. But there were too many of us to sell all at once, so they turned this place into a lawless land and slowly stripped it of every last thing of value."
"When I was lying among the dead, terrified, I didn't continue living as a soldier of the kingdom. I stripped a dead pirate of his clothes instead."
"But when I finally returned home... my house had already been burned down."
"My wife and child were gone."
He clenched his fists.
"A neighbor told me the pirates had taken them and sold them to slavers."
"So I joined a pirate crew."
"Only then did I begin to understand what our people were going through. But back then, all I cared about was finding my wife and child."
"And when I finally found them... they... they..."
Trecia's voice broke.
Then he burst into tears.
Though he didn't say it outright, Ren already knew.
And at that moment, he didn't know how to comfort the man.
After a long silence, Ren reached into his storage bag and took out the treasure they'd been given earlier.
He set it down in front of Trecia.
"Take it back."
"You'll need this money more than we do."
"If you really intend to rebuild this island, you're going to need a lot of it."
Trecia stared at the treasure in front of him.
Then, with tears still running down his face, he said hoarsely,
"Thank you... thank you..."
[Author Note]
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