Pirates: Your emperor has returned!

Just minutes earlier, that human had uttered something they could never forget—

"If you want, this is your home."

……

Is he serious?

The merfolk didn't like testing him, so after drinking half a pitcher of beer, Hoka simply asked:

"Are you serious?"

Rowan nodded. "You can stay and build a village of your own around here."

Upon hearing this, Hoka paused for a moment, then smiled wryly:

“You are strong, but you don’t understand us. We are not ordinary refugees…”

At this point, a pained expression appeared on Hoka's face, as if he had made a decision.

He then lifted his shirt, revealing the Sky Soaring Dragon Hoof branded on his chest.

That was a shameful mark representing the Celestial Dragons' status as slaves, and it would never be shown to others easily.

The fact that Hoka was able to do this shows that he has complete trust in the human in front of him!

"It would be very troublesome to take us in."

Hoka said in a deep voice, "You may be a high-ranking official in this country, and an upright human being, but you cannot withstand the pressure from the Celestial Dragons."

Rowan smiled and shook his head.

"No, I can handle it."

Upon hearing this, Hoka's heart suddenly trembled.

For some reason, the words spoken by this human always gave him a sense of trust, no matter how exaggerated they were.

Thinking about this, Hoka suddenly realized that he didn't seem to know the other person's name.

"Excuse me, who are you...?"

Before he could finish speaking, the burly man in charge of the Yaruja militia suddenly rushed in.

He came looking for Crocodile.

"Mr. Crocodile, it's so good to have you here! Please help us, the pirates are coming!"

"Ok?"

Crocodile, sitting in the corner, raised an eyebrow.

He was pondering Rowan's intentions with great interest and was almost making progress when his train of thought was interrupted, leaving him slightly annoyed.

But on the surface, he is still a national hero of Alabasta, so he could only stand up and say:

"Okay, I'll go check it out."

Seeing this, Rowan nudged Hokka with his neck and said, "I'll go take a look too, are you coming?"

Hoka thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

After all, it was the residents of Yaruja who took them in, and Hoka will always remember this kindness.

Upon hearing this, Wall and several other merfolk also followed.

……

Outside the tavern, at the Yaruja Wharf.

A fully armed warship appeared and anchored next to the wrecked sailboat.

A group of people dressed as pirates jumped off the warship.

The bearded man at the head of the boat, wielding a machete, kicked over the shelf in front of him and shouted.

"on!"

His pirates then began to plunder.

While directing the residents to take refuge, the old town mayor couldn't help but feel curious.

The pirates' motives were very strange.

Yaruja was just a poor little fishing village with nothing to plunder; at most, one could steal some supplies.

For pirates, plundering Aluga is not only pointless, but it also risks provoking the behemoth that is the Alabasta Kingdom, making it a completely unprofitable venture.

However, the pirates' purpose was not to resupply; they rushed into house after house, seemingly searching for something.

Suddenly, a pirate spotted the town mayor and dragged the old man in front of the bearded captain.

The bearded man grabbed the town mayor by the collar, his breath reeking of alcohol, and sprayed the old man's face with his breath.

"where are they?"

The old man was taken aback. "Who?"

"Stop playing dumb with me!"

The bearded man pointed to the wrecked sailboat on the dock and said, "Those fugitives should be in your village!"

The old man realized that the pirates were looking for the fish-men and humans.

Although the bearded man claimed that the other party was a "fugitive," the old man clearly did not believe the group of ferocious pirates in front of him.

"They landed yesterday, and left in a small boat that very night!"

"Gone? Where did they go?"

"I don't know, the ocean is so vast, it could go anywhere."

Upon hearing this, the bearded man released the town mayor and then waved to his men.

The old man thought it was a signal to retreat, but he never expected that the pirates around him would continue their plundering.

In desperation, the old man shouted:

"Take whatever supplies and valuables you want, but don't hurt the people here!"

The bearded captain raised an eyebrow.

"Old man, for us, 'people' are the most valuable commodity!"

The old man's expression changed instantly.

Having lived this long, he naturally understood what the bearded man in front of him meant.

This group was indeed pirates, but unlike pirates who plunder for valuables, they plundered "people".

The group of people in front of us are slave traders!

"Arrest all the young men and women and take them away!" the bearded man ordered.

The mayor blocked the bearded man's path, saying, "This is Alabasta, a member state of the World Government. The Navy won't let you get away with this!"

"Oh, right, you're right, you're right!"

The bearded man slapped his forehead and grinned maliciously:

"'A peaceful town was attacked by a brutal fishman fugitive, and none of the residents survived'—that reason should be quite appropriate, right?"

"What...what did you say?"

The old man in town understood what the bearded man meant; the other party wanted to shift all the blame onto the group of exiles.

The old man watched as the bearded man raised his machete and aimed it at him.

"Being killed by the cruel fishmen, it's so tragic!"

The bearded man grinned maliciously and swung his knife down!

Swish!

Just as the blade was about to strike the old man, a bluish-green fist suddenly appeared in front of the bearded man.

boom!

Right in the middle of the bearded man's face.

The bearded man let out a scream and flew backward, knocking down several of his underlings.

The chaotic dock fell silent for a moment.

Everyone looked up and saw a face contorted with rage.

It's the fishman Hoka!

He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

"You...I saw you at the slave trade..."

Hoka walked step by step toward the bearded man, his heart already filled with rage.

This anger stemmed not only from seeing a group of slave traders, but more importantly, from the fact that those slave traders actually wanted to turn these innocent residents into slaves as well!

"why?"

Hoka grabbed the bearded man by the collar and lifted him into the air.

"Why would you do such a thing when you are all human beings?"

The bearded man struggled to recognize Hoka as one of the fishmen he was hunting.

The previous claims were merely pretexts for looting.

He never expected that this town would actually take in a group of fishman slave escapees!

But in desperation, the bearded man also thought of a way to escape.

He yelled, "Let me go, or all these lowly people who took you in will die!"

Hoka looked around and saw that many of the pirates' underlings had already placed their blades against the necks of the residents of Aluga as a threat.

"Let me go right now, you bastard slave!"

The bearded man slapped Hoka's arm hard and yelled.

Hoka gritted his teeth, his brows furrowing even more, caught in a dilemma.