[2141 words]

Some people don’t like that he’s going ‘out of his way’ to free the slaves… he’s just giving them a chance to save themselves, I don’t see a problem. ​​

He knows that saving the weak isn’t always truly saving them, but that’s why he will only open their chains and let them find a way to keep that freedom themselves.

I guess some want a pure ruthless mc with no heart… but too bad.

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(Damien POV)

“Hehe, no one will save you now…”

I said in a rather slow and intimidating tone as I saw the shocked audience.

{{No one will move.}}

{{No one will call for backup.}}

{{You will all sit down.}}

3 simple instructions rang out from my lips as 99% of the people sat their asses back down.

The Dragons too heeded my words, though their expressions were quite varying.

“W-Why am I sitting! W-What did you do!?” The older dragon asked.

A younger female Noble who was seated also spat out.

“A mere commoner… I will have your entire family hanged!”

I just ignore their words as I direct my gaze to another pirate above.

One who seems to have blocked off my Voice.

I squinted my eyes as I recalled his appearance,

.

“You, you’re Captain John, no?”

.

He smirked.

“Johohoho, indeed. And you are that kid from Rocks D. Xebec’s crew. What are you planning here?”

I simply smirked and replied, “Rahaha, well nothing much. Just taking out the trash.”

The Nobles immediately freeze as they heard my words.

Heck, the younger Dragon who wanted the mermaids even leaked his pants.

“Though I wonder if you will get in the way….” I ask the pirate.

.

‘This guy is a future member of the Rocks Pirate, though I have no clue when and how he joined.’

.

John just leisurely waved his hand.

“Johohoho, I never really liked these Noble pigs, I just wan’ the treasure these guys stock up in the back, JOHOHO!”

He continued drinking as he got up and walked down.

I nodded, “Do as you wish.”

I turned my eyes to the 3 mermaids and walked up.

“P-Please, let my sister go! You can do whatever you want with me!”

One of them yelled out.

“O-Onee-san no!”

The sister shook her head as tears fell from her eyes.

The other mermaid was just looking at me with fear.

I ignored their pleas and sent out a wave of Pulverizing Energy that shattered the fish tanks.

*Glass Breaking*

The water spilled out as they too fell down.

{{Wait here.}}

I said in a plain voice as they did as I said.

I kept walking to the back of the auction hall and entered the holding chamber.

30 cages lined up.

Humans, minks, demi-humans, even a few children.

Many people sat, some afraid, some serious, some curious.

“You all are free to go.”

I casually said as I sent out a wave of Pulverizing energy that hit the cages.

*Creak*

The iron bars were nothing tough, they creaked and shattered away as the slaves were freed.

The people inside first thought it to be some sort of trick.

But one by one they did slowly walk out and revel in relief.

A few guards were standing around, their guards were up.

*Jingle*

The sound of keys attracted my attention as I saw the head guard slowly stepping back.

I smiled at him.

{{You. Come here.}}

I pointed my right finger at him and gestured for him to come here.

And so he did.

{{Unlock all their collars.}}

He nodded and got to work.

“Y-Young friend… thank you for your kindness…”

A koala-type mink slowly said as he bowed his head.

The other 30 or so did the same.

“This is as far as I will go to free you. I have given you freedom, it’s on you to keep it, henceforth.”

My eyebrow went up as I recalled something, “Oh yeah! Do run away fast, you have a few hours till the marines come here.”

I broke open the back door and let them slip out.

I looked at the 5 guards.

.

{{If anyone calls, tell them the Dragons are all safe and sound.}}

.

They nodded absently.

‘I can stop the Admiral call for a few hours till they send out marines to find them. Should be enough till we reunite at Grove 44.’

I was about to walk out of the auction, back to the mermaids with the keys until I felt a presence in one of the cages.

.

I tilted my head slightly, “Hey, kid.”

“Aren’t you gonna run away? You’re free now.”

.

I asked the small silhouette in the back end of the cage as he seemed to be sleeping.

.

*YAWN*

“Ah… right. I forgot I was here…”

.

the kid said in a groggy tone as he stood up.

He had a blue eye cover on his face.

Puffy black hair on the sides and a lean and slender build.

.

“Ah… who are you again?” He asked in a lazy tone.

.

‘How long has this kid been sleeping here?’

“Ha? This is the Human Auction House on Saboady Archipelago, you were caged up here.”

“You’re free now, so run along.”

He squinted his eyes and stared at me.

…

…

…

He then pulled down his eye cover and laid back down and started sleeping.

.

A tick mark formed on my forehead as this brat ignored me.

.

“Tch, oyy kid. Don’t you want to be free?”

Without moving he answered,

“Ah, right.”

He then jumped out of his little bed and walked out with one eye peeking out the eye cover.

“Let’s go then.”

I looked at him beside me.

He looked around 7-8 years old.

But he was around 4’8 in height.

“You’re coming with me?” I asked him.

“Well either that or I am going back to sleep. I rather go with a marine but you don’t seem so bad, pirate-san.”

I sighed.

“Fine whatever, I’ll drop you off somewhere.”

————————-

I walked back out, the kid lazily walked behind me.

The audience was still there.

But.

All their jewelry and accessories were gone.

John stood with a giant sack on his shoulders.

“JOHOHO! Quite the haul! I owe you one, kid.” He laughed on as he walked out the hall like Santa with his crew.

*Click*

I unlocked the collars of the mermaids and smiled.

“Follow me, I’ll take you to the sea away from the marines.”

They teared up and nodded vigorously.

“Ladies, kid. You might want to turn around for this.”

I then turned my attention to the 120 or so audience members.

“As for all of you filth…”

.

I put my left hand on my left eye in a dramatic scene.

My inner Lelouch came forth as I said in a powerful tone.

.

{{Einar D. Damien commands you. All of you… DIE!}}

.

A dense wave of Pulverizing energy shot out of my body, spreading to all those in front of me.

It raged onwards, crushing the ground apart, the seats were blown apart, the entire hall was destroyed.

The people, their bodies glowed red for an instant as they felt the weight of the world compressing them from all sides.

Their skin pushed into their body, their bones pushed into the marrow.

Their eyeballs squeezed till they popped like a grape as the eye juice dribbled out.

Their skull compressed their brains, their heads exploded like watermelons.

…

Blood streamed out of the hall as the walls were painted in red.

The only ones left were the mermaids and the Dragons and their slaves.

I looked at the slaves that were chained up, obediently kneeling below the Nobles.

I destroyed their shackles, “Get up.”

They looked up with despairing gazes yet with a hint of joy.

“But before that…”

I put my hands on the heads of the two younger Dragons.

.

“Crumble.”

.

“AAHHHHHHHH!”

“EEEUUUUUGHHH!!”

“S-STO- AHHHHH!”

“P-Plea- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

.

They writhed in unimaginable pain as they quivered on the ground.

This is what I used on Lerone.

But the second and more improved version.

The first one focused on constant compression of nerves just before they could pop, causing a lot of pain.

This one was a bit different.

It sent a ripple that exponentially grew in intensity.

The nerves were slowly overloaded with my Pulverizing Energy as they rippled through the nervous system.

After 5 or so seconds the nerves would explode in a flare, causing endless agony.

After that, another wave of Anti-Pulverizing Energy would [Restore] the nerves back to their initial condition.

The earlier wave of Crushing Energy would then ripple back and destroy the nerves once more.

And restore it again.

This would then continue on and on for around 3 minutes till it would run out.

—

“STOP! HOW DARE YOU! I WILL HAVE YOU BURNED ALIVE!”

The older Dragon who I saved for last started to scream as he saw his precious children in torment.

I walked up to him and pat his head twice.

.

“Crumble.” x2

.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

[A/N: He commanded the slaves to do a little something with the Dragons offstage, you’ll find out what it was soon.]

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I, the kid, and the 3 mermaids walked out with varying expressions.

I was yawning with a smile, the kid was conflicted, the mermaids were a bit perplexed as they had seen the display as we walked out.

But they weren’t overly afraid of me.

I dropped the girls at the edge of the Grove.

“Alright, swim along now.”

They bowed their heads slightly as they thanked me and swam away.

—————

We were now standing at an abandoned port by the side.

“You think I went too far with the Nobles?”, I asked him.

He looked at me without the lazy gaze and answered after a few seconds,

“…not really. I can tell they went through great pain… but… for what they do to the other innocent people, they deserve it!”

I smiled and chuckled,

“You have a nice sense of justice kid, what’s your plan now?”

He looked up.

“Maybe join the marines… but, maybe….”

He couldn’t seem to form his mind as he looked at the ground in great thought.

I sat down on the dock with him and asked him further,

“What’s your story kid? How’d you end up there in the first place?”

A second of silence.

“Um, my father. He, he sold me away…”

A second of silence.

“My mother died early on. My father was broken by it.”

“We were poor, really poor.”

“My father could not pay for our living, or rather he used all the money for alcohol and drugs.”

“I tried to protect my sister, she was pure and innocent. My father was always drunk and used to beat us.”

“My sister, even with the bruises and all her pain, still smiled and wished me a good night every single day.”

A second of silence.

“Until one day he ran out of money.”

“T-The next thing I knew was that I was sitting with my sister with a bunch of grown men around.”

“They talked about prices. 100000 berries for ‘goods’. A bonus was girl and whatnot.”

The kid kept looking down to the swaying waters.

.

“HE WAS PLANNING ON SELLING US AWAY!”

.

“I, I got angry… really angry and waited in silence.”

“The men left for a day and said they’d return in an hour with a ship.”

The kid gritted his teeth.

.

“That hour, I took out a rusty knife and drove it through his heart!”

.

A second of silence.

“I killed my father and tried to run away but my sister was too weak, too frail, too malnourished to run.”

“I picked her up and ran to the docks, I asked an elder couple if they could take her with them.”

“And they did. But they were poor too. I gave them all the little money we had left.”

“I ran back to the house, taking out the stuff that belonged to our mother. My sister always loved my mother’s items. I couldn’t just leave it.”

“But in that moment the men came back.”

“They saw the scene and shook their heads. I was the only one left so they dragged me away.”

“I was practically a free good for them.”

He sniffled and continued,

.

“I was happy though. Happy that I could save my sister and kill that terrible excuse of a father! I wanted to save people, I want to give justice for the wronged.”

“But now I realize that that is just a dream…”

.

“I don’t know what to do, pirate-san.”

—

He had his hand on his face as he wiped away his tears.

His mind is strong yet he has no path.

His heart is quite pure, he wants vengeance for himself but justice for others.

.

‘This type of past… It makes a good marine, or a very good pirate.’ I sighed out loud.

.

“Say, kid. You never told me your name.”

He looked up at me with dried tears.

.

“Ah, well, I abandoned my birth name.”

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“We grew to hate our surname.”

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He shook his head in denial and looked at me with a resolute gaze.

.

“I and my sister changed our names to forget that man as much as we could.”

.

“Just call me…”

.

.

.

.

.

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“Kuzan.”

.

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[The following is excluded from word count]

Author’s Corner:

PS His name is Kuzan, Aokiji is just an alias for the marines.

Honestly I feel like Aokiji is the best of the original 3 admirals.

He has his own code. He saved Robin. He let Strawhats leave. He left the marines since Akainu’s philosophy contradicted his.

He’s a man of reason, he wont kill innocents but rather seek his own path, even if it means to abandon everything he worked for.

This is my iteration of his childhood, not cannon of course.

Stick along, I got 9 days till my exam then I can do daily uploads thereon.

Thanks for reading!

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Random Trivia:

Would you rather be able to talk to animals or speak all languages?

Thanks for Reading!