Arceus in One Piece - Chapter 78

On the Beast Pirates’ ship, King was scrutinizing the group of enslaved people that Olga had bought.

His gaze sent shivers down their spines, causing them to huddle together on the deck.

“You’re responsible for this group. How you handle them is entirely up to you. I won’t help you,” King stated.

“Yeah, I know. I’ll just find some island with people and set them free,” Olga responded. Buying them and granting them freedom was already a charitable act, and she had no intention of wasting time sending them back to their homelands, nor did she have the ability to do so.

“Olga, you seem too naive.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. You’ll understand later.” King’s words were only half said, as the truth was far from ideal. One could only truly understand the disparity between reality and ideals through experience.

On their way back to Kaido’s territory, they needed to make a stop for supplies. Olga had already unlocked the chains on the enslaved people, but when the Beast Pirates’ crew lowered the gangplank, not a single person dared to leave.

“Go on, you’re free now,” Olga urged.

“They won’t dare. Look at the wounds on these people, all old scars, likely from whippings. They’ve probably been in the hands of those slave traders for a long time.”

The marks of slavery weren’t just on their bodies; they were etched into their hearts. If King’s guess was correct, they had probably heard similar promises before.

While promising them freedom, daring to leave would only invite more dreadful punishment. King was well aware of the methods of those slave traders, having experienced such things himself, although the trader met his end at King’s hands.

The life of escape was an unpleasant experience.

From their eyes, he could see whether their inner hope had been completely extinguished. Their desire for freedom couldn’t be hidden. At such times, their eyes showed no ripples, indicating that their hearts had long died.

King didn’t go to purchase supplies; the cargo on the ship was more important. Whether it was wood from the Tree of Adam or materials for making pure gold, everything required his personal supervision.

After replenishing their fresh water supply, the ship continued its voyage under Olga’s concealment abilities, like a ghost ship on the sea, undetectable to outsiders.

“Big Sister Olga, you don’t need to worry about such matters. Setting them free might not necessarily be a good thing.”

Hierarchy was customary on pirate ships. The ordinary members of the Beast Pirates didn’t know much about Olga’s century-long existence. Except for the Queen, the higher-ups of the Beast Pirates had their own backgrounds.

However, Olga’s status was worthy of being addressed as “Big Sister.”

“This is the New World. If you let them go, they’ll probably be captured again soon or die in some corner.”

“Yeah, since you’ve already bought them, Big Sister, why not keep them as servants?”

It was customary for ordinary pirates to flatter their superiors. The current executives of the Beast Pirates had rather peculiar personalities. Until now, no one knew what King and Shayna looked like, nor could they discern their personalities.

However, Queen and Olga’s preferences were easily discerned. Saying a few words like this wouldn’t hurt anyone; they also expressed their opinions.

“Ugh, this is so annoying. Such a simple matter, why does it have to become so troublesome?”

In the end, Olga brought these people back with her, leaving them at their current base to clean up and do some odd jobs.

Olga’s training became more intense, and with each small task, her desire for strength grew stronger.

After some time, Arceus’s ship returned from its voyage, but he hadn’t obtained any gains. None of the explored islands had what he needed.

Even before the ship docked, the islands were prepared to receive him.

“Lord Arceus, welcome back.”

“Mm.” He didn’t ask Shayna if she had any gains; if she did, the Den Den Mushi would have already contacted him. Now, it was just a matter of seeing how things were on Kaido’s side.

“Kaido hasn’t returned yet?”

“Um, Lord Arceus, haven’t you read the newspapers recently?”

“No, I haven’t encountered any News Coo during this period.”

He had seen the news of the bounty. The pirates on the ship were terrified when Arceus had just annihilated a Sea King before getting the newspaper. However, he didn’t get angry, at least not outwardly. Afterward, they treated it as if nothing had happened and continued sailing.

Arceus wasn’t too angry; this situation was probably within his expectations. Those who set the bounties always had some issues with their minds.

If one were to find the most unfortunate person on the bounty list, Blackbeard probably topped the list. After lurking for decades, his bounty had stayed within three billion, and suddenly, overnight, three individuals appeared with bounties of thirty billion each.

Furthermore, there had been significant changes in the Four Emperors’ dynamics. Besides him, three other individuals had close connections. It all seemed absurd.

Adding the bounties of minority races like Chopper and Beppo, the World Government’s decision wasn’t surprising to him.

This wasn’t worth his time, but if there were an opportunity, he would deal with it along the way.

After that, they never reencountered News Coo.

“That… You’ll know when you read it.”

Shayna organized some recent information. On the newspaper, Kaido once again dominated the headlines, encountering trouble during his journey.

This time, it wasn’t the Marines but a primary pirate crew from the New World. Arceus hadn’t heard of this group, so he paid little attention to it. Moreover, the news wasn’t about him getting captured but about him single-handedly causing chaos in the enemy’s territory.

Relying on his bug-level skill, causing fatal injuries to him before his stamina was exhausted, was basically impossible.

Neither side could do anything to each other, but it was evident that the pirate crew on their home turf was at a disadvantage.

A few days later, Kaido also returned. Several more red crosses appeared on the map, indicating the absence of pone glyphs there.

However, these places could still be ignored entirely. While the phone glyphs wouldn’t move, who knew if they would be taken to islands that had already been searched? The search work still needed to be done.

Kaido couldn’t stay out of his territory forever. He wouldn’t go out again in the short term. Before that, Queen had been busy with his plantation project. After much effort, he successfully obtained seeds from the bananas of the Tropical Dragons.

Tropical Dragon bananas were a particular type of banana. Although the internal seeds had degenerated, they hadn’t completely disappeared, and the interior of the banana still retained a seed suitable for planting.

After his diligent seedling work, the first batch of banana seedlings successfully appeared. However, the soil on Kaido’s territory wasn’t suitable for growing bananas, so he went out to find a

New small island.

After a while, Olga, on the other hand, found Arceus after her training ended, presenting him with a treasure map as a gift.

Arceus examined the map and nodded, “Thank you, Olga.”

With this, their routine continued in the ever-changing landscape of the New World, where challenges and opportunities awaited at every turn.

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