67 Chapter 67

I arrived at the ships and saw all the guys standing on the ship, talking to each other. The girls were lying on the ground, knocked out.

I looked at the guys.

"Wait for Robert, Laffitte, and the girl to arrive."

"You actually recruited her!?" asked Sabo

"I'm going to sleep."

I went to my room and immediately passed out.

[Sabo P.O.V.]

'This idiot! He again let his emotions get the better of him.'

[20 minutes later]

Robert and Laffitte appeared on the ship.

Laffitte looked at the girls.

"Sabo, I need to talk to you." said Laffitte

"I already know what you want to talk about."

"What are you going to do about it then?"

"I don't know."

"Sigh. You're just like the Captain."

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Ace

"What those three idiots did is unforgivable." said Laffitte

"It looks like Ken already punished them enough."

"Do you really think that he did? All I can see is a fist to the face and some bruises from the fall."

"What are you getting at Laffitte?" asked Deuce

He pointed at me.

"If Captain doesn't want to punish them, the second in command has too. After all, attacking your Captain is unforgivable. And I'm not talking about the type of fighting you guys do. I can clearly see that you guys are just playing, but these girls weren't playing."

"Laffitte is right. I could clearly see that Ken didn't want to recruit the girl. Those three forced him to take her in." said Dorry

"Ken is someone that deeply cares about his crewmates, and those girls made use of that. So I'm with Laffitte on this one." said Brogy

"I know of a punishment." said Brook

"What is it?"

"We should have them show us their panties."

*BAM*

I hit him on his skull.

"We are being serious here, you idiot! Sigh. But I do have to agree with you guys. They definitely crossed the line. So does anyone have any good ideas?"

"Let's cut off one of their fingers." said Laffitte

I was about to refute this stupid idea when.

"Sounds fair to me." said Brogy

The other three giants nodded.

"Yeah, that will also show anyone stupid enough in the future to not mess with the Captain." said Robert

Almost everyone seemed to agree.

"Have you guys become crazy!? There is no need to punish them so hard."

"It's okay."

"Huh?"

I looked at the one who said it, and it was Robin. The other girls also woke up.

"Wait Robin, how can you just accept it like that?" asked Mikita

"If we ask the Captain, he could help us out." said Zala

"This is our own fault. We should own up to our mistakes." said Robin

She walked up to us and showed us all her fingers.

"Take whichever finger you want."

I was shocked by her determination.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded.

Unlike her, the other two girls didn't move.

'Why did the Captain even recruit those two idiots? At least Robin is smart and brave enough to own up to her mistakes.'

Laffitte suddenly took out a knife and immediately went for a finger. I grabbed his arm before he could cut off her finger.

"What are you doing, Sabo? Don't you agree with our decision?"

I took the knife from his hand.

"As the First Mate, it's my duty to keep everyone in line. So I will be the one who will do it."

He smiled.

"Good, you're starting to act like a First Mate."

I grabbed her left pinky.

"Are you sure that you're okay with this?"

She nodded.

"It's my own fault, to begin with."

I smiled.

"You've gained my respect."

*WOOSH*

I swung the knife down toward her finger.

"Sabo!"

I immediately stopped, just a hair before I hit her.

I looked at Ken, who came walking towards me.

"What the f*ck is going on here!?"

"I'm just punishing them for attacking you."

He grabbed the knife out of my hand and threw it to Laffitte, who caught it.

He glared at us.

"Why the f*ck did you idiots agree to cut off her finger!"

"I saw it as the best punishment to make them remember never to do that again." said Laffitte

Ken walked to Laffitte and grabbed his collar.

"Since when did it become normal for you guys to do something like this without my permission?"

"I'm sorry to say this, Captain, but we had to step in because you didn't do your duty's as a Captain."

Everyone on the ship immediately stopped breathing, and Urouge started praying for Laffitte.

Ken suddenly let go of him.

'Oh no, Laffitte is done for.'

"Tsk, you could have said it from the beginning if you didn't think I was doing a good job."

"Huh!?" x16

Everyone was shocked.

"I'm not some perfect guy, so if there is something I'm doing wrong or can improve in, you guys can just tell me. I'm just winging this Captain shit after all."

It was quiet for a little bit when the complaints suddenly started spewing out of everyone's mouths.

I smiled.

'He is still the old Ken I know and love.'

"Alright, be quiet! We can do that after we finish this stuff."

He walked to Robin.

"Since you have shown us how sincere you are, I will allow you to choose five guys to be punched by. I can't just let you go like that if I want to be the best Captain after all."

She nodded.

"I understand. Thank you for your generosity."

She looked around.

"I choose Robert, Van Augur, Brook, Paulie, and Deuce."

"Hahaha, she just called you guys the weakest here." said Ace

"Shut up, you bastard! It's just because my fighting style isn't as flashy as yours. I'm going first and make her regret choosing me." said Deuce

He walked up to Robin.

"I won't go easy on you just because you're a girl."

"Don-"

*BAM*

Before Robin could finish her sentence, Deuce punched her in her gut, sending her flying against the mast.

I looked at Ken, and he didn't move or say anything.

'It's weird that he became remorseless to them so quickly. But It's good that he can adapt to a situation quickly.'

Robin stood up.

"Next." she said

"Hahaha, she stood up so fast. Was that your strongest punch? Hahahaha." laughed Ace

"Shut up!"

"Be quiet, you two!" I said

They shut up.

Van Augur walked forward. He looked at Ken.

"Captain, I'm not good at punching, so can I use my weapon to hit her?"

I was expecting Ken to say no.

"Go ahead."

'What!? Where did the kind Ken go that wouldn't let his crewmates be hurt no matter what!? Did that Moria guy us some special move on him or something?'

*BAM*

Van Augur hit her on her right cheek with a hard swing of the backside of his gun.

But this time, she didn't fly away. She stayed in the same place without moving.

'It seems like Mikita and Zala were a bad influence on her. Otherwise, she wouldn't act like that. I was surprised that she even attack the Captain like that. I should have a talk with those three girls once this is over.'

"Next." she said

Robert walked up.

"Sorry, not sorry."

*BAM*

He gave her a clean uppercut, making her feet go off the ground.

*THUD*

She fell on the ground.

She immediately stood back up without whining or complaining even once.

'Even though what she did was wrong, she definitely has regained my respect.'

"Next." she said

Paulie was the next one to step up.

*BAM*

He punched her on her right rib.

Blood started coming out of the sides of her mouth.

"Next." she said

Brook stepped up.

"If you show me your panties, I will punch you softly."

She glared at him.

"I will not hold back then."

He punched her straight on her face, but she didn't even flinch.

[Ken P.O.V.]

"Good job, Robin. You can go and rest now."

She suddenly started falling down.

*WOOSH*

I caught her before she fell and sat her down against the mast.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted towards you, Ken. It was stupid of me."

I smiled.

"Don't worry about it. As long as you learn from this, I'll be happy."

I looked around me and could see the respects in everyone's eyes towards Robin and me, except for Zala and Mikita, who were cowering in fear.

'So this is what it's like to be a Pirate Captain. It's pretty fun and hard.'

I looked at Zala and Mikita.

'If I have to be honest, the only reason I recruited them was because of their Devil Fruits. I thought that once they awakened their Devil Fruits, they would be a strong ally, which was stupid thinking on my part. Strength isn't the only thing I should look out for; personality is even more important. If I can't even trust my back to them, they're useless.'

Sigh.

'Let's see how loyal they actually are.'

"You two will have a similar punishment as Robin, but except for getting hit once by five people, you two will get hit two times by everyone here."

"What!? Do you want us to die!?" screamed Zala

"They will hurt you, but they won't kill you. So if you trust your crew, step forward and receive your punishment."

'Please don't do anything stupid.'

They nodded at each other.

They started walking towards me, but instead of stopping in front of me, they walked past me.

I turned around.

"Where are you two going?"

"Hahaha, only an idiot would stay here and let themself be killed."

"Kyahahaha, thank you for making us stronger, you idiot."

"We're lucky that Ken is such a soft idiot. He will definitely not go after us." whispered Zala to Mikita

'Do they think that we're deaf?'

They jumped off the ship onto the dock.

An extreme amount of killing intent was being directed toward the two of them. They started running into Thriller bark.

Van Augur aimed his gun towards them.

"Just give me the order, and I'll kill them immediately." said Van Augur

'I was too stupid to think I was a Demon. Only a human could make the mistake of trusting someone they shouldn't have. After all, a Demon doesn't trust anyone.'

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[Is ken going to forgive them like Whitebeard or kill them like Kaido?]

(Many people criticized the previous chapter, and I understand why they did that, but I made that chapter because I was planning to make this one.

It's too bad that many people dropped this story and gave it bad reviews before reading this chapter. But it's also kinda my fault. I could have maybe ended the previous chapter a little later. But what is done is done.

Maybe you guys could leave me some kind words to motivate me.)

Anime Quotes:

"If you want to protect humans and remain human, you shouldn't throw away your feelings, no matter how painful it is."

– Tsuchimiya Garaku (Ga-Rei: Zero)

"Will you choose that ticket and live on as a man? Or will you choose this one and go back to being a woman? No matter what you choose, I'm sure you will continue to waver. But what's wrong with that? Manly? Womanly? Are those random values that others made up really what you were striving toward? If things were so clear cut, then neither men, women, you, or me would be leading such painful lives."

– Gintoki Sakata (Gintama)

"Breaking a bond is every bit as painful as being physically torn apart. Can you endure that?"

– Amamiya Yuuko (Ef: A Tale of Memories)