It was a sickening sight for Ace. When he thought about the slave trade, he thought about Celestial Dragons.
“It’s a traveling circus, you see. When you’ve got this many cages, no one really seems to pay any heed to the fact that there are a few slaves mixed among them.”
Whether male or female, there were buyers to be found, as long as the slaves were young.
But dealing with slaves was forbidden in Whitebeard’s territory. So it wasn’t worth the risk unless the products were valuable. That meant infamous pirates or excellent singers or dancers…or rare species like mermaids and mermen.
Ace asked Oliva, “Aren’t you afraid of Whitebeard finding out that you’ve got so many slaves within his territory?”
“My old master’s the one who shared drinks with him. Not me.”
“That might be true, but Whitebeard’s flag still flies over this island. It’s protecting everyone here.”
“The flag? Those kinds of complications are a thing of the past now,” said Oliva. His tone of voice was colder and clearer than before.
Wham! He strode over to a cage and kicked the bars, threatening the slave inside.
“Meaning?”
“It’s a new era. For pirates, and everyone else. Young guys like us, we’re not gonna be swayed by some old stories from our childhood…from before we were born, even… That guy who died ages ago, Roger? I’m not gonna have my life dictated by people whose minds are clouded by rumors of some legendary treasure he talked about. Dreams aren’t for me! They’re something I show to others, so I can make a killing off of them! It ain’t the era of brute strength anymore! The One Piece? Tell me something, do you think all those people who risk their lives for adventure and come away with nothing more than a handful of coins are smart? Look at this town. If you stay in one place, put down roots, and do honest work, your money will make money for you! Customers will gladly come and give you their money! I swear, money is like a god!”
“And what about the honor code? Whitebeard doesn’t allow slaves.”
“Flying his flag and dealing slaves underneath it…I suppose it doesn’t reflect so well on that old geezer,” said Oliva, cool and confident. He had something to back it up.
Ace walked over to one of the cages. A young fish-man was inside, trembling and cowering, his eyes bewildered and devoid of reason.
“So you’re not afraid of Whitebeard, then.”
“Why would I be afraid of someone I’m not even fighting? Everyone’s always pissing their pants over ‘Whitebeard this, Whitebeard that.’ We don’t need two pirates on this island!”
“Two pirates…” That was all that Ace needed to hear. “So who’s backing the slave trade on this island then?” He glared at Oliva.
The man before them was the ostensible leader of the island, but one man alone couldn’t pull off an operation like this.
Swoosh… There was a great rustling around the tent. It sounded like a large group of people surrounding the perimeter—probably Oliva’s men.
Oliva handed his midsized bag to the woman.
“Say…you one of Whitebeard’s men?”
“Nope,” said Ace. “I’m not Whitebeard’s, but I know his code. There’s no slave trade under his flag. I can turn a blind eye to everything you’ve been doing. Just fold up this tent, come clean to Whitebeard, and apologize,” he warned.
“If you ain’t one of Whitebeard’s men, then why are you doin’ his dirty work for him?”
“I’ve been eating his food.”
“What?”
“And I’ve got to work to pay for my meals.”
Ace had displayed his own moral code. It wasn’t about gain or loss. It was about upholding the pirate’s way.
“Why don’t you come and eat on my dime, then? There’s a festival tonight. Or are you thinkin’ my food’s not good enough for you?”
Ace waited.
“There are three other Emperors aside from Whitebeard, you know? In fact, you don’t even gotta fixate on the Jolly Roger at all. There are corrupt countries, dirty Naval officers looking for side business, and even Celestial Dragons…”
There had to be someone else behind this…
“Oh, I see now…” said Ace. “You sold the territory.”
“Technically, I’ve been in talks to see if I could receive ritual cups from them instead.”
It was hard to believe. But this was indeed the source of Oliva’s confidence. At the very least, this was what led him to act this way. He was selling out the ritual oath his own father made with Whitebeard to someone else…
“If you’ve got cups from two sources, then that means you follow two parents. Your old boss received a cup from Whitebeard. So as his heir, that means that symbolically speaking, your father’s father is Whitebeard. And now you’re receiving a ritual cup from someone else? You know that’s—”
“That’s a serious offense.”
The air positively crackled. The voice that emerged from the wooden box set all the caged animals stirring uneasily.
The cart trembled, and then its wheels abruptly burst off.
Crak-crak-crak-crak! A large creature emerged, breaking out of the wooden box from the inside.
“A bear?!” cried the hoodlum.
“No, man, that’s obviously a festival mask,” Ace sighed. The face wore a bear mask as part of a costume, but there was a human being behind it.
“Whoa, that’s a big one. You sellin’ him, too?” Oliva said, surveying the enormous bear-faced man, who stood a full two heads taller than him.
“Hey, you little brat! You really gonna waste the cup you received from Whitebeard?” snapped the man.
“What?”
“Hey, why did you bust out?!” Ace snapped at the man in the bear mask—Teech.
“What?” said Teech, turning atop the broken cart to look at Ace. “Why? I mean, why not? It was, uh, whaddaya call it… The moment was right!” There was a fiery desire to fight in his eyes.
They knew where the slaves were being kept, and they knew what Oliva was up to. Now was the time to set things straight.
Wallace and the other pirates who had pulled the cart in removed their own shackles and picked up weapons hidden inside the boxes. Meanwhile, Oliva’s forces rushed into the tent from the outside.
“Aaagh!” the hoodlum shrieked. Banshee removed her own shackles too, and threw him aside so she could get back to Ace.
The pirates surrounded Oliva, and Oliva’s troops surrounded the pirates.
“Oh, we’re makin’ a killing tonight. You were settin’ a trap for me from the start! Very bold move…but I’ve got hundreds of armed men out there, with more arriving by the minute.”
“I don’t care how many hundreds you have,” snarled Ace.
“Without a flag for them to fly over their heads, they’re all a worthless rabble… Zeha ha ha ha!” Teech laughed. He was ready to let loose with his fists at any moment.
But it was Ace who gave the final notice. “So, Oliva… You’re not going to apologize, then?”
“Why the hell would I be the one to apologize?! I’m gonna tie weights to all yer feet and toss ya into the depths! Hey, you…go and unleash the secret weapon!” Oliva commanded. His secretary rushed away and pulled a lever on one of the cages.
Clank! The heavy lock on the massive cage clicked and opened.
Brrrrmmmm…
“Ah!”
A black shadow rushed forward, quick as lightning. There was a massive impact, and Ace was thrown clear through the tent fabric and into the night.
Ace traced a burning line through the sky, his body already halfway turned to fire, and recovered his balance in time to land on his feet.
“What was that?!” he exclaimed, turning back to the tent in shock.
“That’s an entelodont! A hell-pig!” roared Oliva’s underlings.
“Get them! That beast will attack and devour anything it sees! It’s a carnivorous pig!”
“We’re supposed to be shipping that one to Impel Down! To it, humans are just a meal!”
In terms of size, it was about the equal of a rhinoceros. It was porcine, and looked like a warthog, with long tusks and sharp teeth.
“Aaaagh! Don’t run at us!” screamed Oliva’s men, as the entelodont began to charge in their direction.
“Serves you right, you idiots,” muttered Ace, putting himself into the path of the charging beast.
Brrmmmmm…
Doom!
Ace extended his palm toward the entelodont, which abruptly stopped short in its charge. The bristling, snarling beast suddenly calmed, as though under a magic spell. It sat down on the ground and looked at Ace with eyes that were bigger and cuter than they had initially seemed.
“Whoa, whoa… Heh, why am I saying that? You’re not a horse. What are you supposed to say to calm down a pig? I guess it doesn’t matter,” Ace said. He rubbed the snout of the now tame entelodont.
It was Haki. The force of Ace’s presence calmed the raging animal without it realizing what was happening.
“I guess they were poachers, or wild game hunters. We met our wildcat Kotatsu when it was caught in a hunter’s trap in the forest. I guess they had you in a cage so they could sell you to someone else,” he said, reminiscing on how his crew came together.
Oliva’s soldiers were stunned at the sight of the young man with the nose mask who had just tamed the ferocious monster.
Ace glared at them. He didn’t bother to hide his distaste.
“You know…I don’t like people who do that sort of thing.”
Then he removed his fake nose, and let fire wreathe his hand.
“Aieeeee!”
“Is that…F-Fire Fist?!”
It was only a matter of minutes.
“Phew.”
The result was total annihilation. Ace used his fire powers to knock out those of Oliva’s troops who were outside the tent, breaking their will to fight. Then he looked toward the circus tent.
“Oh no! Teech!”