Chapter 203: Silas, Crane, and Shakky
Sabaody Archipelago Island 49, two riders on Bubble vehicles sped along the island's coastline. The bags behind their cars bulged slightly, as if they contained something valuable.
"Kihihi, found some good goods!"
"It's all because of Silas! If not for him, how would we have fallen to this state?"
"Hey, hey, keep your voice down. You want to die?"
"..."
The mohawk-haired rider's face darkened. Ever since Silas rose to prominence, every time he came to Sabaody Archipelago, massive upheaval followed.
Silas had struck Sabaody Archipelago's human trafficking industry five times before. This would be the sixth.
Initially, Silas was still weak, and his crew members' strength was also ordinary. So to oppose trafficking gangs with connections in both the underworld and legitimate circles of Sabaody Archipelago, they had to be extremely cautious. Most people didn't initially know that fifty years ago, when Silas first came to Sabaody Archipelago, he'd liberated hundreds of slaves.
Among them was Silas's future right-hand man, his veteran crew member, Cunning Lion Roya.
The second time was when Silas became a pirate. With World Government support, Mother Carmel had gained the trust of Elbaf's giants and established the Sheep's House in their homeland. But the Sheep's House served a darker purpose—it was where the Cipher Pol trained recruits. They sourced promising individuals through human traffickers, then handed them to Mother Carmel for conditioning. Finally, they'd be whitewashed and incorporated into the World Government.
Armed with intelligence from Mother Carmel, Silas led his crew and successfully dismantled this human trafficking supply chain. From that moment, he became a pirate and spent the following decades continuously disrupting the network until the Cipher Pol finally abandoned using the Sheep's House to train recruits.
The White Wolf Pirates had become Cipher Pol's greatest threat.
The third time was when he broke Hernandez Solan's legs. The fourth time was when he rescued Kokoro. The fifth time was the last time, when Silas cooperated with Rona and joined forces with Harald to attack Mary Geoise, directly confronting Imu for the first time.
Adding this one, Silas had destroyed Sabaody Archipelago's human trafficking industry six times total!
Yet each destruction, each time this place's human trafficking industry would rebuild at an unimaginably rapid pace, becoming more prosperous than before.
So the two human trafficking riders dared to continue their old trade despite knowing Silas was on Sabaody Archipelago. After all, from their perspective, Silas would stay at Sabaody Archipelago for just a few days at most. They couldn't conduct human trafficking now. Once Silas left, wouldn't everything be fine?
After all, high-quality merchandise was in short supply. Those royal nobles had plenty of money for slave trading. If even Celestial Dragons took interest, the price would be astronomical.
"I thought the women from that female island would be more terrifying, but we just knocked her unconscious right beside her companions and carried her off. They didn't even notice!"
"Haha, over so many years, haven't many women from that place been trafficked? Force is the inferior method. The best approach is to make them fall in love with you, then they'll deliver themselves!"
"Hahahaha~"
Thinking of the young girl they'd kidnapped, both riders' faces lit up, already imagining the scene of selling the girl at astronomical prices. Then they could gamble to their hearts' content again!
The two didn't notice the bag behind their bubble car suddenly shift. A pair of eyes slowly opened.
Wearing a hat on his head and sunglasses on his face, Silas drank Sabaody Archipelago's specialty bubble fruit juice while cleaning his ears.
"Guess having observation Haki too strong isn't necessarily good," Silas muttered to himself. "After all, everyone's observation Haki is different."
Silas's observation Haki initially worked like ordinary observation Haki—just sensing nearby killing intent and dodging enemy attacks. But as Silas's strength increased, his observation Haki's sensing range expanded ever larger. After Silas gained the ability to hear all things' voices, he could even perceive all sounds within range.
A mosquito buzzing in your ear was already annoying enough. Silas had tens of thousands of mosquitoes, so after deliberately blocking some, what remained audible were voices bearing hostility toward him.
Basically, all curse words.
Things like "What's Silas doing on Sabaody Archipelago?" "Silas should die!" "When will World Government come to eliminate Silas?" and so on.
Then Silas followed these cursing voices, found the people cursing him, and successfully destroyed several human trafficking dens.
So now, though people still cursed him, most were from the Marines. Some hot-headed young Marine recruits. The old veterans didn't dare open their mouths.
"Captain, do you still have any useful Devil Fruits?" Opposite Silas, a dark blue ponytailed girl also wore a wide-brimmed sun hat, her face hidden behind large sunglasses that covered most of her features. She paired these with a white shirt knotted at the hem and tight jeans, her slender figure accentuated perfectly.
Even with just her partial profile visible beneath the sunglasses, it was clear she was a beauty.
At any other time, someone would probably have already tried talking to her.
But now—
"I heard Silas's women are on this island, too."
"Randomly hitting on them would get you killed, right?"
"Don't underestimate his women. Though they're beautiful, they're uniformly great pirates. We can't mess with them!"
"..."
So the group of ruffians showed good judgment by not bothering Silas and Crane.
Silas pulled down his sunglasses, glancing at Crane. His mouth twitched.
"Wait, you just reach out and ask me for one?"
"Otherwise?" Crane's eyebrow raised. "Won't my good captain even reward subordinates with a Devil Fruit?"
"That's not the issue." Silas leaned back in his chair, shrugging. "I do have a decent fruit, but I'm not sure if it suits you. I feel you probably wouldn't like standing out so much."
"A special fruit?" Hearing Silas's words, Crane's eyes flashed. Finally, she shook her head. "Never mind then."
She'd joined the White Wolf Pirates five years ago. Though she had only truly sworn loyalty recently, Silas had never stopped instructing her despite her spy status, as if he was certain she'd eventually choose the White Wolf Pirates.
Now, she could skillfully use both Armament and Observation Haki, along with the Six Powers. If she could master advanced applications of either form, she wouldn't collapse instantly facing top-tier fighters anymore.
Yet this wasn't easy.
Though Silas primarily instructed crew members in Haki, once they'd reached Haki and martial arts plateaus, he wouldn't stubbornly have them bash against those plateaus. Among his official crew members, only Rocks, Linlin, Zephyr, and her hadn't eaten fruits. Even Newgate, whose talent ranked among the highest, had eaten the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
Crane considered her own talent decent, but there was still a gap compared to those other extraordinarily talented crew members.
"I'll keep an eye out for you." Silas smiled reassuringly. Actually, without Crane mentioning it, Silas was already considering finding her a suitable fruit. At least something stronger than her original one, right?
Silas didn't know if Crane reached Admiral-level strength in the original timeline, but even if not, she should have been close. So a good fruit might help her cross that critical threshold.
"...Thank you."
"Haha, I thought you'd already internalized your identity." Silas laughed loudly. "A girl should be like a girl. I'd rather you willingly stay beside me than stick around for some so-called belief."
Silas was nearly eighty years old now, so he rarely fantasized about sweet love stories. He certainly wouldn't arrogantly assume that with decent strength and decent looks, women should automatically like him. Appearance was one part, strength another. Life's little moments mattered equally.
Crane was still learning how to interact with him. But Silas believed she just needed to be herself.
"Crane, why do you think I rescued you back then?"
"Captain, did you know I was a spy from the beginning?" Crane answered off-topic. She knew Silas discovered her Marine spy identity early on, but didn't know exactly when.
"Of course. Don't forget, I know Rona. Rona saw you at the Marine Academy. Though she's older, she doesn't have senility yet."
"If senior Rona heard that, she'd make sure you couldn't get out of bed for a day."
"Is that supposed to be a lewd joke?" Silas grinned. He'd actually hope Rona could keep him occupied all day. After all, Rona was the only opponent he could play a full best-of-five against. Even Ripley could only manage a best-of-three.
That female Admiral's stamina was even intoxicating to Silas.
"Let's say it is then." Crane was certain Silas hadn't told her the full truth. Though Rona might have recognized her, Rona wasn't beside Silas at the time. Anyway, this answer no longer mattered.
"Why?" Crane returned to Silas's original question. "Is it just to laugh at me, a female Marine?"
Someone so sure they were well-hidden, only to have their every move anticipated. Eventually, she was convinced to betray her Marine identity and become a pirate.
"Haha, of course not." Silas shook his head, smiling as he pointed at Crane. His profound gaze beneath his handsome face seemed capable of swallowing her whole. "Of course it's because I wanted you to stay beside me from the very beginning!"
Silas's blunt words made Crane's heart suddenly leap. But she quickly recovered. Five years ago, during their first meeting, she was just a female slave. Besides her appearance, what else attracted Silas to her?
"So, Captain had designs on me five years ago?"
Crane gave Silas a scoundrel's look. "I wasn't even an adult then!"
"Pffft hahahaha~" Seeing Crane's expression, Silas burst out laughing. "Why would you think I'd be interested in a little girl?"
"You wouldn't be interested?"
"Ahem, well, I admit to being interested, but just a tiny bit." Silas measured a tiny distance between thumb and forefinger. "But compared to your appearance, I value you as a person more. I value your mind more. I believe you can help make the White Wolf Pirates better."
Five years ago, when Silas was at Sabaody Archipelago, as he'd said at the time, Crane would be the White Wolf Pirates' future brain.
"Crane, I believe in you!"
Silas looked at Crane, smiling gently. Sitting opposite her was this world's strongest man. Crane knew Silas, though he sometimes joked that he absolutely wouldn't joke when his expression turned serious.
And right now, he said he valued her not for her appearance, but for who she was as a person.
Though no outsiders were around, after hearing Silas's words, Crane still felt her face burning like fire. She could only pull her wide sun hat down further, not letting Silas see her current expression.
So devious! Crane finally understood why Silas was this world's most heinous criminal. Not only deceiving others, but even deceiving his own crew members!
Exactly. Silas must be lying, just trying to make her work harder for the crew. But then, why was her mouth curling upward?
Fortunately, at that moment, Silas seemed to notice something.
"Hm?"
Sitting in the open-air restaurant, drinking and enjoying the company of the beautiful crew members, Silas's observation Haki covered the Sabaody Archipelago entirely as a precaution. Suddenly his eyebrow raised.
"Looks like some people don't respect me at all!"
Silas's observation, Haki could hear voices bearing hostility. So, naturally the moment those two human traffickers started complaining, Silas heard them.
"Crane, I need to step away briefly. This kind of thing can't be ignored."
Crane was still recovering from her emotions. By the time she lifted her head, there was no trace of Silas.
"Captain?"
Shakky was a young Amazon Lily female warrior. How young? Twelve years old. This was her first voyage.
So though she felt alert toward the unfamiliar island, thinking mature female warriors were nearby, Shakky couldn't help wandering a bit further.
Then she got knocked unconscious.
When she awoke, everything around her was pitch-black and constantly swaying. Even a simpleton would understand: she'd been kidnapped by human traffickers!
Little twelve-year-old Shakky nearly had to force herself not to cry. The vice-captain had said right when they set sail: "The outside world is dangerous. Be careful, or you'll be kidnapped by bad people."
Why hadn't she taken it seriously?
Who... please save me! The thought arose, and Shakky tried suppressing it. She was a female warrior from the Amazon Lily. How could she depend on others?
But... but...
The little girl crouched in the swaying bag, her lips pouting. She looked so wronged.
Then, just then—
"Yo, little girl, did you get separated from your family?"
"You shouldn't ride in strangers' vehicles."
"What if they're bad people?"
The bag suddenly tore open. The pitch-black world suddenly brightened.
A man pulled her out in one swift motion.
"There now, everything's fine." White-haired, middle-aged, one hand carrying her, his other hand resting on his sword hilt. Looking forward with spirited confidence.
"It's just that now some people are in for trouble!"