Slavery Business in East Blue

After the pirate ship left, there should have been a joyous atmosphere, but instead, there was a gloomy atmosphere hanging over them.

Today could've been the most devastating day for them. If they had fought, there was a certainty of their town being destroyed. Even after avoiding such tragedy, no one was feeling happy because they traded their lives with those two kids' lives. They practically sent them to their deaths.

They felt guilty, but no one here regretted their decision. Even if they were to be sent back into time, they would have made the same decision.

Anyone in the world would've made the same decision, only retard would risk the lives of their loved ones for some strangers.

Everyone headed to the underground hideout. When they reached, the innkeeper opened the door, and then one by one everyone came out and started searching for their families when they found them they hugged happily.

Lyla hugged Mary and Gary tightly as soon she saw them, she thanked God for their safe return.

Mary and Gary started crying loudly when they hugged their mother, the guilt they were feeling was unbearable for them.

Initially, Lyla thought of beating them for not coming to the hideout, but after seeing how devastated they looked her heart ached.

"What happened?" She asked while slowly patting on their backs.

They didn't answer her, they just kept crying.

Lyla hinted at her husband to tell her about what happened.

He gestured at her to let them cry and told her that he will explain later.

Mayor's wife was also happy seeing her husband fine. But after some time she started worrying because Leo was nowhere to be seen. She walked to her husband and asked, "Why can't I see that boy? Is he stopped somewhere?"

Mayor didn't know how to answer her, he just looked at her guiltily.

Seeing her husband's expressions, the memory of the day when her son died surfaced in her mind, that day also her husband had the same expression. "Why are you keeping quiet? I asked where he is. Why can't you answer?" She yelled at him.

Her yell attracted everyone's attention towards them.

She held onto her husband's shoulder and started shaking him. "Answer me, where is he?"

Seeing her husband's expression she already guessed what could've happened, but she didn't want to believe it.

Others couldn't understand why she was acting like that.

Lyla was also confused, but just then she remembered how affectionate the mayor's wife was towards Leo. "Where are Leo and Bolt?" She asked her husband.

"They are gone," Gorden said guiltily.

"What do you mean by they are gone," Lyla asked.

"Pirates took Leo and Bolt with them." After saying he told her the whole story. Everyone listened to Groden.

Hearing her husband, Lyla felt guilty and sad, but she also thought their decision was the correct one.

Mayor's wife also heard Gorden, when she heard Leo being taken away by those pirates, she fainted right there.

"Wife!!" Mayor caught her before she fell, others rushed to help him.

The pirate ship was illuminated by the orange sunlight of the setting sun. A gentle steady breeze was playing over the entire ship, flapping the Jolly Roger.

The sunlight cast a shadow of the chest-high hull on the starboard side till it reached the three feet high circular wooden platform around the mast, on which Leo and Bolt were sitting. There was a two-story cabin on the stern side, the straight stairs near the port side were leading to the captain's room on the second level. The metal door of the first level cabin was directly opposite to the Leo and Bolt sitting on the wooden platform. There were wooden boxes and barrels near the metal door.

Bolt was a very precious and delicate thing for Ben. If he didn't listen to them, there was no way he was going to hurt him. He felt if he even touched him he would ruin this precious thing, that's why he also took Leo with him to control Bolt.

Pirates knew how important this pretty boy was to their captain, so no one dared to approach them. They just kept an eye on them from the distance.

Pirates noticed one thing weird about these two boys since they left the island they didn't see a trace of fear on them, they were acting as if this ship was theirs. They thought these boys had a little problem with their brains.

Leo was feeling a little sad about what happened.

But why he was feeling sad? He thought about it.

They were going to save them, but nobody even showed the intent to save them.

Of course, they didn't know that they were going to save their lives. And Leo didn't blame them because he would have made the same decision if he was in their place.

What happened was unexpected, but it was the best scenario for Leo and Bolt because now they can take care of these pirates without worrying about exposing their powers.

He was going to make many enemies in the future because of what his goal was. So hiding their power was very important for keeping their loved ones safe.

There are many examples in One Piece where a person's family got targeted by others.

If someone refused to attend Big Mom's tea party after they got the invitation, then the result would be they receiving a box containing the head of their loved one. If Sanji had rejected the Big Mom's invitation he would've gotten the box containing the head of someone from 'straw hat pirates' or of someone from the restaurant in the East Blue.

It is very illogical to think that weaker enemies who hated him to the bones but couldn't do anything to him because of his power, would not try to deal with him through his loved ones. It doesn't matter which kind of world it is, this kind of thing will always happen because that's how human nature works.

That's why hiding their power was very important to him, he would never take any chance with the safety of his loved ones.

The sadness he was feeling, made him think about his goal.

What was his goal?

The pirate incident that happened in his town was still fresh in his mind. He felt he was responsible for what happened with his mother, and the deaths of people.

He could still remember Liam's father, little girl Rose and her grandfather, and others, as if he just met them yesterday.

He vowed to use the second chance he was given at his lifer for paying the price for the sin he committed, the sin of not using what he had to save his people. He was the sinner of the people who lost their loved ones during that attack, he would never be able to bring back their loved ones, and so he decided to give them the world where they can live happily, the world where they can live without fear of pirates, the world where they don't have to spend their whole lives on a single island, the world where the sea would be theirs.

He wasn't doing some hero's work, but atoning for the sin he committed. So he doesn't need anybody's recognition for this, it didn't matter if people loved him or hated him. He would just continue doing what he had to do.

When he thought all this his sadness disappeared, his eyes became hard and resolute.

Today he took the first step for atoning his sin by saving those people.

Leo looked at Bolt.

Bolt also felt a little sad because nobody tried to save them, but he was even sadder about the fact that he couldn't show off his power, he didn't get the chance to use his power to save them.

"Bolt, do you know that you have another power that isn't any less amazing than your devil fruit ability?"

Bolt didn't understand what Leo was talking about. "What power?" He asked.

Leo smilingly answered, "Your handsomeness."

Hearing this he became even more confused.

"Today you saved all of them just using your looks," Leo said.

"Ohhh…" Now he realized what Leo was trying to say. He didn't think about what happened from this angle. His feeling of sadness immediately vanished. "I used my power of handsomeness to save the people," he yelled in joy.

Leo started laughing seeing how happy Bolt looked.

Bolt stood up, he was feeling refreshed. "What are we going to do with them?" He asked while looking at the pirates.

Leo also stood up and said, "I guess it's time to start our work."

"Go, bring your captain here?" Bolt ordered a pirate near him.

Hearing his tone that pirate almost wanted to bash him up, but he controlled himself as he knew how precious this pretty boy was to their captain. He just gave an angry look to Bolt and then left to call their captain who was resting in the cabin.

After some time Ben was standing in front of them. Other pirates circled them from the front, to see what was going to happen.

Ben wasn't even a little bit angry after being asked by Bolt to come here. He gently looked at Bolt and asked, "What is it? Do you need anything?"

"No. He wants to ask you something," Bolt said while pointing at Leo.

Leo was thinking about slavery because these pirates came to the island especially for abducting beautiful women and children and then selling them somewhere. He never read about the slavery business being practiced in East Blue.

Regarding the slavery business the only name that came to his mind was 'Donquixote Doflamingo', he owned the auction house at Sabaody Archipelago.

He wanted to get information from this pirate about what actually going on.

Ben frowned. "What is it brat? Hurry up, I don't have time for you." When he looked at Leo his gentle face turned scary.

Leo ignored Ben's scary look and asked. "Can you tell me how does the business of selling people works?"

"Brat, why do you want to know?" Ben asked while frowning.

"I am just curious. Please, can you tell me?" Leo tried to act pitiful.

Acting pitiful didn't suit him at all, Ben thought Leo had some screws loose, and what an odd thing to be curious about in his situation. He should have begged them for letting him go. Just then he realized that these kids were very weird, not one of them had fear on their face, they weren't worried about their safety at all. Their faces looked like they were touring on their ship.

"I also want to know," Bolt said.

He wasn't going to tell anything to Leo, but since Bolt asked he didn't mind. Anyway, this wasn't much of a secret.

"Actually I don't sell them, I just pass them to someone else, and then they will transport them to the Grand Line and after that what happens I don't know. I get twenty percent of the money after the people got sold."

"Hmmm." Leo thought for a moment and then asked, "Who is the person whom you pass the people you abducted?"

Ben's face became stern at this. "That's not something you should know?"

"I need a name." Leo's tone turned serious as if he was interrogating him.

When he heard his tone Ben got angry, and he was puzzled about why this boy was asking him these questions. "Brat, you are pushing your luck too far. I can assure you that you don't want to know how scary I can be."

"What's wrong with this kid?"

"He is crazy?"

"Why is he trying to piss off captain?"

Pirates began murmuring.

"I have a dinner reservation with a beautiful woman. So don't waste my time, this will be the last time I will be asking nicely. Give me the name," Leo asked him with an annoyed face.

"What the hell is this brat talking about? Is he gone mad?" All the pirates thought.

Ben got very angry at this because he could feel Leo looking down on him as if he was the weaker one. "I guess you don't want to live anymore." And then he punched at Leo's face.

But before that punch could reach, Ben got kicked in the guts. "Ahhh…" He gasped. His back arched backward and then he flew straight until he got slammed into the metal door, and then he slid to the deck.

It happened so suddenly that the pirates were stunned. They couldn't understand how their powerful captain was sent flying by this boy.

When they regained their senses they immediately backed away as they understood that this boy was stronger than their captain. All of them pointed their rifles at Leo.

Leo ignored them and walked towards Ben who was lying on the deck.

"Stop!!" Pirates yelled at Leo.

He acted as if the pirates pointing rifles at him didn't exist, he just kept walking slowly towards the captain.

Ben was in intense pain, it was hurting like hell, he was finding it difficult to stand up. Just from that kick he knew that he wasn't his match, that boy was far stronger than him, so he didn't want to give this boy any chance. "Fire!!" He ordered his subordinates while he was still trying to stand up.

Pirates tried to fire but they found that they couldn't pull the trigger, it was stuck in a place, no matter how much they tried it wasn't budging.

"What's happening?"

"Why can't I pull the trigger?"

"I have the same problem."

"Is something wrong with the rifles?"

They couldn't understand what was happening.

"Didn't anyone teach you that shooting people is bad," Bolt said while smiling at the pirates.

Bolt used his power on the triggers and set their speed to zero. As pirates were applying the force on the triggers, he had to provide extra energy to keep them fixed. But this amount of energy is nothing compared to the energy required for stopping the bullets. He had this idea long ago, finally today he got the chance to try it out. Seeing how well it was working he was happy.

When they heard Leo they knew this had something to do with this kid.

When they tried to move their rifles, they found that they weren't also moving. They freaked out at this because with triggers they could assume that something was wrong with the rifles, but rifles not moving was a completely different matter.

They immediately released their holds from the rifles as if they were some cursed object. Now rifles should've fallen, but instead, they were hanging in the air. Seeing this they even more freaked out, they screamed and then immediately backed away from the rifles.

A very strange thing was happening on their ship and the reason for this was the pretty Boy. They knew they had to protect themselves from whatever strange was happening, so they tried to pull their swords, but just then they heard the voice of the pretty boy.

"Why don't you all just keep still until Leo deals with your captain," Bolt said with a gentle smile on his face.

They saw rifles hanging in the air turning by themselves and then they pointed at their faces. Seeing this chill ran down their spines. Gently smiling Bolt seemed to them as some terrifying monster.

Finally, Ben managed to stand up. He wasn't ignorant as his subordinates, he knew that Bolt was using the devil fruit ability. But now he didn't have the time to think about him because Leo was standing in front of him.

"What kind of monsters I have brought onto my ship?" He was regretting.

Ben thought the revolver was useless because of Bolt's power, and as for using the sword, he didn't think he could achieve anything with it because of how physically he was weaker than Leo.

There was no way he will be able to defeat them, even the chance of keeping himself alive seemed very low. That boy wanted information from him, so he thought if he told him the information he might spare him. As long as he can keep himself alive, who cares about keeping information secret? He just has to live in hiding after this.

Ben immediately kneeled in front of Leo, "Please, spare me. I will tell you everything I know?" He tried to act as pitiful as he could.

Seeing their captain kneeling, others pirates also knelt, and yelled, "Please, spare us."

"Hmmm. You could've saved all this trouble if you had told me earlier," Leo said.

Ben thought inwardly, "If you had told us that you were this strong, we wouldn't have taken you with us."

"Please forgive me for my earlier transgression, I couldn't recognize two great men traveling with us," Ben said foolishly.

"Please forgive us," all other pirates yelled while banging their heads on the deck.

"Stop with all this bullshit, just tell me what I want to know." Leo was annoyed.

Ben stood up and humbly said, "Yes, Yes, I will tell you everything. His name is – "

Just when he was about to complete the sentence, he suddenly fell and began to scream shrilly, his whole body was twisting and turning in horrifying pain.

Leo's second brain notified him of the cause of this change, it was the four-pointed red star tattoo on the back of the index finger of Ben's right hand.

Just when he began to reveal the information, the tattoo vanished and turned into a drop of blood then it entered Ben's body through his skin. The process was done in an instant, there was no way to stop it.

In just a short time Ben started bleeding from all orifices, and after that, they heard the suppressed 'BOOM' sound coming from inside Ben's body, his heart exploded. He was dead. It was a gruesome death.

Leo was screaming inside. "What the fuck is going on?"