"Brothers! This must be the windfall the heavens granted us for reaching the Grand Line!"
"Wahahaha! Let's go! Board their ship! Search for treasure! Then haul away all their food and drinks!"
...
"Hey! Kid, you're in the way!"
"Don't say I didn't give you a chance. As long as you stay out of the way, I won't kill you. I'll even leave the ship for you. Isn't that fair?"
...
"Hmph! Such a stubborn, hopeless brat. Since you insist on blocking us, don't blame us for being ruthless!"
Pow! Pow! Pow!
Pow! Pow! Pow!
...
Goku clapped his hands and turned around. Behind him, the pirates were piled high, bruised and battered.
"Hee-hee! Nami, it's done!"
He looked at Nami, who was standing behind him, with a grin.
"Good job, Goku!"
Nami clapped with a smile, then used the rope she had prepared to tie up the pirates Goku had easily dispatched.
They were just trying to enjoy a meal when they encountered a group of pirates who had just entered the Grand Line.
Moreover, the other party had actually targeted them, intending to plunder their supplies and treasure.
This couldn't be tolerated. Our side immediately dispatched a twelve-year-old child to use his innocent appearance to deceive the enemy, striking swiftly the moment they moved and seizing victory in one fell swoop!
"Hey! You're the captain, right? What's your bounty?"
After tying up the leader—a middle-aged man with messy blonde hair—separately, Nami leaned down and asked with a smile.
"B-Bounty?"
The bruised, dejected blonde man looked up. After a few seconds of stunned silence, he shook his head.
"I... I don't know. I don't think I have one."
"No bounty??" This answer left Nami speechless.
You're a pirate who made it to the Grand Line, and you're telling me you don't have a bounty?
She didn't suspect him of hiding it on purpose. Pirates never hid their bounties; instead, they loved to broadcast them, bragging about how much they were worth and how powerful they were.
"Y-Yes... I..."
The blonde man stammered, wanting to say something but hesitating.
At that moment, his tied-up brothers suddenly burst into loud wailing.
"Wahhh! Boss! Are we going to die here?!"
"Boss! I don't want to die! My wife and kids are waiting for me back home, wahhh!"
His eight brothers, all looking at least thirty or forty years old, were now crying like children. Goku and Nami watched, completely bewildered.
Hearing his brothers cry, the blonde man could no longer hold back. His eyes turned red, and hot tears began to fall.
Thud!!
He struggled to sit upright and then bowed his head deeply toward Nami and Goku, slamming his forehead against the ground.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Nami jumped back, her eyes filled with confusion.
"I'm sorry! We were wrong! We shouldn't have tried to rob you!"
The blonde man shouted through his tears while remaining in a kowtow position.
"The responsibility is all mine! It's all my fault! If you want to kill someone, kill me alone! Please spare my brothers! They all have families; they can't die here, wahhh!!"
"Wahhh! Boss!! What are you saying?! We can't die, and you can't die either! Your wife is waiting for you at home!" His eight brothers wailed even louder.
Goku blinked and exchanged a bewildered look with Nami.
"Hey, hey, who said anything about killing you? Stop jumping to conclusions."
After two seconds, Nami rubbed her temples and spoke irritably.
She detested pirates who enjoyed slaughter most. When she first started catching pirates with Goku, she told him not to kill unless absolutely necessary; otherwise, they wouldn't be any different from pirates.
To this day, the only person who had died at their hands was Kennard, who was blown up by his own bomb—an unavoidable circumstance.
They certainly wouldn't kill this group of pirates that Goku had handled so easily.
As for how to deal with them, honestly, they hadn't decided. The Grand Line was unfamiliar territory; they didn't know where the nearest Marine branch was, and they couldn't exactly wander around searching for one with a bunch of captives.
Usually, they would only take in a captain with a bounty and release the rest.
But now, the leader didn't seem to have a bounty. Taking him would be a thankless task, so they would probably just let everyone go.
"Y-You're not going to kill us?"
The blonde man stopped wailing and looked up. A wrinkled face covered in tears and snot met Goku and Nami's gaze.
"I have to ask... are you guys really pirates?"
Nami took a disgusted step back. She had never seen pirates behave so pathetically.
If you're out being a pirate, even if you aren't fearless, you should at least have more willpower than a civilian. She had truly never seen anyone cry like this.
The blonde man sniffled. Since his hands were tied, he couldn't wipe his face.
"Yes, we're pirates... but we've only been pirates for half a month."
He spoke while sniffling.
"My brothers and I grew up together. We always dreamed of going to sea as pirates when we were young, but we never had the chance."
"Until half a month ago, we accidentally found a treasure left behind by pirates. That's when we decided to become pirates while we still had the energy, to travel the world and fulfill our childhood dream."
"..."
Through his story, Goku and Nami learned that these men were originally farmers from a village in the South Blue, all with established families.
Normally, they would have lived in their hometown until they grew old and died.
But the accidental discovery of the treasure awakened their youthful dreams. This group of middle-aged men, averaging forty years of age, chose to set sail to travel the world as pirates, planning to return home afterward to spend their final years with their wives and children.
Their luck had been remarkably good. Along the way, they hadn't encountered any Marine patrols or other pirates, and they hadn't even run into bad weather. They had navigated smoothly all the way to the Grand Line using the sea chart found in the treasure.
Hearing his story, Nami felt a wave of mixed emotions.
Why? Why was their dream to be pirates?
What was so good about being a pirate that men in their middle years with wives and children would heartlessly leave their families behind?
She asked the question, and the answer was:
"We wanted to see the world. We didn't want to stay in that tiny place for the rest of our lives. If we didn't become pirates, we'd never have the chance to fulfill that wish."
Nami crossed her arms and snorted. "Hmph! Sounds nice, but couldn't you have become bounty hunters? You became pirates because you like the idea of plundering others, didn't you? Just like you tried to do to us!"
The blonde man shook his head vigorously.
"Bounty hunters? We don't have that kind of skill. We only tried to rob you because our supplies ran out and we barely have any money left."
"I-I swear! We've never robbed anyone before. You... you are actually the first..."
The man's voice trailed off as he lowered his head, unable to look Nami or Goku in the eye.
Then, as if remembering something, he snapped his head up and spoke urgently, "But! We really weren't going to take everything! We were going to leave you some!"
"And we didn't want to kill you! Really! We only said those things to act like pirates and scare you."
They were ultimately just a group of farmers who had lived honest lives for decades. They had never committed robbery or murder.
Since setting sail, because they had enough supplies and good luck, they hadn't done anything wrong.
It wasn't until they reached the Grand Line and ran out of supplies that the idea of plundering others first occurred to them.
To put it bluntly, they were just ordinary people in pirate clothing without an ounce of pirate nature in them.
Of course, that was just for now. If they had succeeded this time, they would have eventually robbed again when supplies ran low. Step by step, they would have inevitably become no different from real pirates.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]