The pinnacle of pirates begins with deceiving fate!

"I have to say, the gun is really useful."

Seeing that the vicious cat had completely lost its ability to attack people, John looked down at the silver revolver in his hand.

As a "Captain John" who loves to plunder treasure, he certainly wouldn't miss the chance to touch Morgan's "corpse".

But the only thing on this guy that caught his eye was this revolver.

With this revolver, he can also have a means of ranged attack without using the Rumble-Rumble Fruit ability.

"However, why does the word 'domineering' feel so overused here?"

John scratched the back of his head and quickly found the answer.

The One Piece is still unknown to the world, and there is nothing that can entice powerful individuals from all corners of the world to enter the Grand Line.

This also meant that the domineering aura did not disappear from the world during this period.

In a sense, Roger's last words were a relief to ordinary people around the world.

Otherwise, with such a huge disparity in individual strength, how are ordinary people supposed to survive?

"Here they come! The sea stone handcuffs are here!"

At that moment, Reed ran over carrying several strings of Seastone handcuffs, distributing them to the Marines one by one, and personally supervising them as they put the handcuffs on the Devil Fruit users.

John ignored these trivial matters and headed towards the warship to get a glass of iced watermelon juice to quench his thirst.

Next, there will be a lot of things to talk about.

Chapter 53 See, I'm not a Devil Fruit user.

"Behave yourselves!"

On the shore, marines escorted more than thirty surviving pirates in a long line, waiting to board the warship.

Wow

As waves splashed on the sea, a silver-haired head emerged from underwater, pouting and spraying water at the pirates.

The pirates, already in a bad mood because of their capture, were enraged after being sprayed in the face. They were all bluster and no substance, and were about to curse the guy who had mocked them.

"Don't you know how to treat prisoners well! You damned..."

But upon seeing the other person's face, he was so frightened that he swallowed back what he was about to say.

It's that naval monster!

"Keep cursing, why don't you keep cursing?"

John leaped from the sea onto land, grabbed the head of the loudest pirate, and slammed it to the ground.

Friction! Friction!

The marines paid no attention to the pirates' torture; their focus was entirely on John, whose hair was soaking wet.

"John, you...you're not a Devil Fruit user?"

"That's right! Devil Fruit users are all landlubbers, how could you swim in the sea!"

"Are you guys stupid?! The fact that he can swim in the sea means he's definitely not a Devil Fruit user. We can't give him special treatment just because he's a bastard, can we?"

Having achieved his goal, John released the pirate whose face had been rubbed raw and bloodied, and stepped onto the warship using the gangplank.

No matter how much you say you're not a Devil Fruit user, nothing is more convincing than actually swimming in the ocean.

As for how he, a person with such abilities, can move freely in seawater...

He used his powers to melt and magnetically control the sand, creating a completely sealed shell on his body to isolate it from the seawater.

Then, an extremely strong instantaneous magnetic field is created on the body surface, forcibly squeezing a vacuum film between the sealed shell and the seawater.

This provides double insurance!

As the body emerges from the sea, the sealed outer shell is removed, leaving the vacuum membrane intact. This makes the body visually undetectable and continuously isolates it from seawater.

However, creating the instantaneous magnetic field that squeezes out a vacuum zone is very physically demanding, so he dared not stay in the sea for long and quickly went ashore under the pretext of torturing the pirates.

"That's the advantage of having a persona."

John climbed onto the deck and leaned against the ship's railing, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked down at the marines who were escorting the pirates onto the gangplank.

If he always has a serious face and acts profound, his sudden jump into the sea would definitely arouse suspicion.

But if he continues to act without any morals or bottom line, then whatever he does will be reasonable, and no one will find it strange.

"Put this guy in solitary confinement. I'll personally guard him after dinner."

Reed escorted Morgan onto the warship, gave an order to the marines, and then strode toward John, cursing incessantly.

"Morgan's vitality is really strong. He's still alive after all this, and he's just causing trouble for others."

"I wonder if the sea stone handcuffs can hold this monster down. If it breaks free while everyone's asleep in the middle of the night, we'll be in real danger!"

"I really want to throw him into the sea to feed the fish, and solve the problem once and for all!"

This was the first time he had ever imprisoned such a terrifying monster. He appeared calm on the surface, but in reality, he was extremely nervous.

The reason he said these things on purpose was to subtly suggest to John that he shouldn't sleep too soundly at night.

John glanced at Reed, who had walked to the side and was leaning against the ship's railing, pretending to admire the scenery, and then waved to the four marines escorting Morgan.

"Bring that guy over here, I have some questions for you."

He deliberately held back and didn't kill Morgan with one punch, so that he could vindicate his "justice" during the questioning.

Upon hearing the call, the four marines did not hesitate and pushed Morgan, whose head was wrapped in bandages, to come to John.

John's words now carry more weight than Reed's, even though Reed was a morally corrupt scoundrel, his achievements had earned them their respect.

"You're probably not from the East China Sea, are you? I've never heard of you in the East China Sea before."

Morgan showed no sign of being a prisoner; he licked his lips and stared intently at John with his golden irises.

His fighting spirit was palpable, as if he hadn't lost yet and still had a chance to turn the tide.

A sea breeze blew, ruffling John's hair, and his eyes narrowed slightly as a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"The people on that merchant ship, aren't they with you?"

“Ah. In a sense, you could say they’re on the same side as us pirates.” Morgan nodded and readily admitted.

He didn't know what happened to those idiots, the Fierce Cat, while they were luring the Navy here, but since the Navy asked, he must know something.

To let the Navy know he is "honest," he should leak some information.

Just as Morgan was calculating in his mind, the marines who heard his admission were in an uproar.

"What?! So, John didn't kill ordinary people?"

"So, it turns out that the gangsters colluded with pirates to set a trap to annihilate us. How despicable!"

"We wronged John, should we apologize to him?"

"Apologize?! What are you apologizing for! John stole the woman I love! He's a bastard!"

Hearing the marines' chatter, Morgan was taken aback, realizing that he might have miscalculated.

Whether the merchant ships are affiliated with pirates... is extremely important to these marines!

We were careless! Otherwise, we could have caused these marines and this naval monster to turn against each other!

John raised his hand to signal the marines to be quiet, then asked:

"My second question is, what is your relationship with Colonel Burns? Did he secretly help you suppress the bounty?"

Upon hearing this question, Morgan's hands, which were locked in front of his lower abdomen, trembled slightly, and his facial muscles struggled to maintain any expression.

Before Morgan could answer the question, some of the marines couldn't help but shout loudly.

"John, you bastard, what do you mean? Are you trying to slander Colonel Burns?!"

"How could Colonel Burns possibly collude with pirates! Don't talk nonsense, you bastard!"

Compared to these marines who loudly refuted the claims, many others remained silent, their eyes darting around.

Intelligence is a formidable chasm between people, and it is laid bare at this moment.

Leaving aside the past, there are many suspicious points in this arrest operation alone, but not everyone can see them.

“Burns, I think that’s the name of the base commander of your 153rd branch.”

Morgan glanced up as if recalling something, then gave a disdainful sneer.

“That guy used to chase me, but I fought back and defeated him, and he fled in panic.”

"Yes! My dear Colonel Burns is also in cahoots with me; he's the one who secretly helped me lower the bounty."

The slanderous intent in the latter sentence is so obvious that even a fool could see it.

To the dissenting marines, however, it sounded like heavenly music, as if they were inspired, and they united to condemn John.

"John, you're a bastard! Don't be so narrow-minded as to think everyone is like you!"

"Apologize! Apologize to Colonel Burns!"

Chapter 54 Triumph

"Quiet!"

Reed suddenly roared, suppressing all the emotions on the deck.

His gaze swept over the sailors with their varied expressions, and he pointed towards the cabin.

"Nothing to do? Then go help peel potatoes in the kitchen!"

"Yes!"

Faced with the orders of the highest-ranking officer present, even if some sailors did not understand why he was angry, they had no choice but to leave in formation with the rest of the crowd.

This warship is designed to carry a full load of one hundred people, and now there are also more than thirty prisoners to be counted, so the amount of potatoes to be peeled is not small.

We need to hurry, otherwise we might not be able to eat dinner until the early hours of the morning.

Once all the “unrelated personnel” had left the deck, Reed turned to look at John.