Chapter – 41 The Night of Tragedy

"Did you not find those two brats?" Captain Bluejam inquired, glancing at his henchmen. 

All of them shook their heads in response. "We searched everywhere, but there was no sign of them... as if they had vanished."

One henchman raised a concern, "Captain Bluejam, is it possible that they learned the truth about what we were doing yesterday?" 

Another added, "If that were the case, there's a risk they might spread the word, and that could be dangerous, potentially ruining the entire plan!"

Captain Bluejam pondered his subordinate's words for a while, then shook his head with a grin. "Nah, those two are far too naive and foolish to figure out something like that. There's no need to worry about it," he declared. After a pause, he added, "Forget about those two brats; they might have gotten scared and run away to their mommas. Let's focus on what needs to be done. Anyway, most of the boxes were already placed yesterday, so there's not much work left for today. Complete it in due time. Tonight will be our last night as pirates. From tomorrow, I will be a noble, and you all will work for Sir Bluejam; a noble of the High Town of the Capital of the Kingdom of Goa!" 

"Let's toast to Captain Bluejam becoming a noble," suggested a henchman.

The others nodded, saying, "Aye, let's toast!"

Bluejam grinned as well, saying, "Aye, let us toast and celebrate for a while!"

Kanpai!

The Bluejam pirates partied for a while before deciding that it was time to complete the task. They aimed to rid themselves of this pirate life and ascend to the High Town of the Capital of the Kingdom of Goa as nobles, free to do whatever they pleased!

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Unbeknownst to Captain Bluejam and his lackeys, the two brats Ace and Luffy, along with Ryuma, Sabo, and Rio, lay in wait not far away, hidden and anticipating the departure of Bluejam and his men from their pirate ship.

As Bluejam and his henchmen left, Ryuma said to Ace, Sabo, Luffy, and Rio, "Come on, let's take this chance and rob them of everything!" They were positioned not too far from the Bluejam Pirates' ship, plotting to strip them of their valuables. Since the Bluejam Pirates were destined for demise, and their ship was slated to be burned, why not seize their treasure and wealth? 

"We're going to rob other pirates, it's so much fun!" Luffy grinned widely, rubbing his hands excitedly. For the straw-hat boy, this was another pirate adventure, reminiscent of the time with Naguri when he, Ace, and Sabo helped the old man and the Captain of the Naguri Pirates build his ship. Luffy had a lot of fun back then, and now, planning to rob another pirate crew, he was even more excited.

"Just don't wander off somewhere alone!" warned Ace. Aware of Luffy's tendency to find himself in troublesome situations, Ace cautioned him. He didn't want to waste time searching for Luffy in the enemy base. Although the chances of Luffy being directly found by Bluejam were quite low, given that Bluejam and his henchmen had gone to the Grey Terminal, with Luffy's luck, Ace wouldn't be entirely surprised if it happened. 

"Shishishishi!" Luffy held his straw hat, grinning widely. As for Ace's warning, he didn't even pay attention. Warnings or something like that didn't matter; what mattered was the pirate adventure.

"Rio, you're on watch. Be sure to warn us!" Ryuma instructed Rio, and then they hurried inside the Bluejam Pirate Ship. With Rio on watch, there was no need to worry. Of course, Ryuma wasn't afraid to deal with the Bluejam Pirates, but why bother if it could be avoided, right?

"Understood!" nodded Rio as he spread his wings and flew to the crow's nest of the ship.

"Take what you can, give nothing back!" With this motto, the four people stealthily entered the Bluejam Pirate Ship. Because Captain Bluejam was shorthanded and had taken all his men to complete the 'job,' no one was guarding the ship. Without facing any resistance, the four people infiltrated inside. 

"Ace, Sabo, the two of you check all the rooms on the ship. If you find anything of value, gather them in the sacs, understood?" Ryuma instructed as he handed large sacs to both Ace and Sabo.

"Hmm," nodded Ace and Sabo, quickly proceeding to the rooms on the upper deck.

Meanwhile, Ryuma and Luffy moved to other parts of the ship, including the cargo area and the captain's cabin. "Come on, Luffy!"

"Yosh!" nodded Luffy.

Ryuma and Luffy first checked all the rooms on the lower deck, and unsurprisingly, they did not find anything in the normal rooms on the lower deck.

Luffy expressed disappointment, "There's nothing!"

Ryuma reassured him, "Don't worry, there's still the Captain's Cabin… I bet Bluejam stashes all his money there!"

"Then let's check it out!" said Luffy, hurrying towards the Captain's Cabin.

"Luffy… you are going in the wrong direction!" shouted Ryuma, stopping him by immediately grabbing his hand, which stretched all the way to the end of the corridor and retracted toward Ryuma due to his strong grip. As Luffy returned, Ryuma said, "The Captain's Cabin is this way… Follow me!"

"Oh," nodded Luffy, then followed Ryuma to the Captain's Cabin.

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A WHILE LATER

"Hmm, looks like the two of you found a lot, huh?" muttered Sabo as he looked at the overfilled sac that Ryuma was carrying.

Luffy nodded, "There was a lot of treasure… and we took all of it!"

Ryuma then asked Ace and Sabo, "What about the two of you… did you two find anything?"

Ace shrugged, "There wasn't much… we only found rum, food, and weapons… I guess we can give this to Dadan and the other mountain bandits if they want it."

Ryuma nodded, "Fair enough…" and said, "Then let's go. There's nothing left on the Pirate Ship, and we don't need to be here any longer. Let's go back to your base and distribute the treasure."

The other three and Rio agreed, "Haaaiiii!"

At the same time, atop a tree far away, Dragon – who had been watching the four children and a parrot for quite a while – closed his eyes and sighed lightly, then disappeared with a strong gust of wind.

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A WHILE LATER

"Heh… I have gathered quite a lot of it, huh?" muttered Ryuma, looking at the pile of gold, silver, and jewelry before him.

He was at his secret hideout, a cave at the bottom of a deep lake in the forests of the Kingdom of Goa. All the money that he had stolen in the past seven years—whether taken away after defeating and killing some bandit group, stolen from the houses of nobles in the High Town for irking him, or from other sources like the Bluejam Pirates, as well as the promised share that Ace and Sabo had paid him for teaching them fighting skills and Observation Haki—all of it was gathered in this secret cave.

Naturally, Ryuma did not need to spend all of it, so he continued to use this secret base as the location to stash his treasure. Over the years, it had become quite a substantial amount.

It's a safe cave; the walls have been permanently strengthened by Ryuma to ensure that they don't crumble away for whatever reason. Since the cave is at the bottom of a deep lake, finding it is almost impossible.

At this time, Rio suddenly flew in front of Ryuma and questioned, "Ne… Ryuma, how does this crown look on me?"

It was a small crown made up of platinum with a few blue sapphires inlaid on it. Looking at the crown that Rio was wearing, Ryuma nodded, "It looks good, actually."

"You think?" muttered Rio, then said with a grin, "In that case, I am taking this crown!"

"Go ahead," nodded Ryuma. Although the crown was a little too big for the current Rio, once Rio's body grew up, it would perfectly fit him. That's why Ryuma was not opposed to the idea.

"Anyway, now that we have put our loot at the base, let's go… it's almost time for the fire to break out… wouldn't want to be here at that time. Let's go," said Ryuma as he made his way toward the exit.

Rio nodded, "Yeah," then quickly flew by Ryuma's side and sat on his shoulder. At this time, other than the crown, Rio had also draped a dark blue cloak, giving him the appearance of royalty from a certain kingdom. Honestly, Ryuma found this new appearance of Rio kind of cute, more so than usual, and approved of it.

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Somewhere in the forests of Mt. Colubo

"Damn you… you monkey… give that back…!" shouted Outlook with a frustrated expression. He had barely managed to collect some fruits, but the damn monkey came out of nowhere and stole the fruits from him.

"I would have killed you if I had a Gu–!" Outlook warned, however, before he could finish, the monkey threw a stone that landed on Outlook's face and injured him.

Enraged, Outlook picked up the same rock and threw it at the monkey. The monkey dodged the attack; it was too slow. He lacked the required physical strength to be able to throw it fast enough. 

"Ooo… aaaaa!" The monkey danced and jumped around, mocking Outlook.

"I'll kill you… I'll kill you… once I make it out of this forest, I will make sure that your entire species is annihilated!"

Just as Outlook had spoken these words, suddenly, more monkeys appeared out of nowhere and started to rain down more stones at the man.

"Outlook!" screamed Didit and ran toward her husband, trying to help him, but the monkeys didn't discriminate because Didit is a woman and didn't spare her either. They rained down stones at her in the same manner as they rained them on her husband.

The nine-year-old Sterry was too scared to be able to do anything; heck, for the past two days, he had been constantly peeing in his pants whenever they encountered a scary-looking creature.

A while later, the monkeys got tired and bored and left, and only then did the trio of Outlook, Didit, and Sterry have an opportunity to fill their empty stomachs.

"How long do we have to continue like this? When will the military come to rescue us?" asked Didit. She did not want to live this life. It's not even a complete day, and she has already started to miss her make-up kit, her closet filled with all kinds of beautiful dresses.

Sterry also looked at Outlook, hoping for an answer.

Outlook was confident, "It won't be very long… they will soon notice that the three of us have gone missing, so they will find us!"

"Really?" asked Didit.

Outlook nodded, "After all, we are nobles… not like those commoners and the trash of Grey Terminal. They will definitely come to save us!" He added with an enraged expression, "Once I return, I am going to make damn sure that I take my revenge… as for the animals in this forest, all of them are going to become decorations at our mans–!"

Grrrr!

Before he could finish his words, suddenly, the growl of the Giant Tiger resounded, and Outlook didn't feel like finishing his words. All that he wanted to do at this moment was stay alive and was willing to go to any length for that!

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SOME TIME LATER

The night of tragedy had finally begun. The sky was dyed in a red hue, smoke filled the air, massive explosions sounded from time to time, and the entire junkyard called the Grey Terminal was readily engulfed in flames that rose all the way to the sky, dyeing it orange.

"Fire… fire… someone… save us!"

"There's fire everywhere… what do we do…!"

"Run for your lives… if we stay here, we will be burnt to ashes…!"

"Don't bother about your things… leave those behind, just save yourselves!"

Screams echoed everywhere as the inhabitants of the Grey Terminal ran scared, fleeing for their lives. Their houses, their livelihoods, and everything they had were burnt to ashes. They tried to make their way toward the Gate of the Capital of the Kingdom of Goa.

"Open the gate… there's a fire in the junkyard…!"

"Save us… do something… at this rate, everyone here will perish!"

However, the gate was tightly shut, and no matter how much they tried to knock on the door, scream, or beg for mercy and help, there was no response from the other side of the gate. It was obvious that the nobles had abandoned them.

"Run… to the shore… run toward the shore…!" 

"Also, the forest… we might be able to make it out alive if we hide in the forest until the fire dies out!"

Some ran toward the shore; some ran toward the forest. However, it was of no use—the fire had spread to the shore, and the entrance of the forest was also on fire. They would be burnt alive if they tried to escape using either of these places.

"At this rate, we are all going to die…!" Someone cried in despair. Children were crying, the women were barely standing, and the old folks did not have any energy left in their bodies to run.

Nobody wanted to die. They had been living rather difficult lives, they won't deny that, but they didn't deserve to die like this.

Whoooooooooosh!

Just when everything seemed hopeless, an extremely powerful gust of wind appeared out of nowhere and cleared a path in the burning junkyard. The fire in the path was extinguished, and the folks were able to barely breathe.

"What the heck was that?" someone asked, unable to understand what just happened.

"I don't know what the hell is going on, but it made a path through the fire!"

One moment there was fire everywhere, but the next moment, a path appeared. Suddenly, someone looked in the direction from where the gust of wind came and shouted, "Look at the shore… there's a ship there… I bet the people on that ship were the ones responsible… someone on that ship has come to save us!"

"Run toward the ship… run toward the ship!"

"We might be able to survive!"

Hope rekindled among the people, and they used all the strength left in their bodies to make their way to the shore.

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At the same time, atop a cliff on a mountain on the other side of the Grey Terminal, Ryuma, Ace, Sabo, and Luffy stood silently as the fire of the Grey Terminal was reflected in their eyes.

Truthfully speaking, Ryuma was aghast at the sight before him. Even if he had been prepared to see such a sight when he came to Dawn Island, even if he knew that most of the residents of the Grey Terminal were being rescued by the Revolutionary Army, he was still shaken to the core. Even if he wanted to say something, no words came out of his mouth.

It's one thing to watch something in animation on the other side of a flat-screen; certainly, you can get a brief understanding of the situation. However, only when actually facing such a situation right before yourself can you really understand how bad the situation is. It's hell, and that's how terrible the Fire of the Grey Terminal is.

Standing beside Ryuma, Sabo had tears flowing down his eyes. If not for the fact that he had been reassured by Ryuma that the lives of the folks living in the Grey Terminal were being saved by someone named Dragon, he wouldn't have even been able to bear himself and would have rushed straight into the fire to save as many lives as he could—even if that action might have resulted in his death.

In fact, up until the point the fire started, Sabo still had a fluke in his heart. He was hoping that Ryuma was lying, or he was wrong; he was hoping that the Fire of the Grey Terminal thing was just random nonsense. He didn't want to believe from the bottom of his heart that people can be this cruel. He did not want to believe that people could be this indifferent to others' lives. However, he was proven wrong and realized that the nobles could do anything if it benefited them.

"I am… really ashamed of being born as a noble!" said Sabo.

Standing beside Sabo, Ace was quiet and dared not blink his eyes. There was only one thought running in his mind, 'Is that man the same as these nobles? Is he also as bad as them?'

As for Luffy, strangely enough, despite being the crybaby, he was not crying either. A myriad of emotions were running through his mind, but what exactly that entailed, that's something perhaps even Luffy did not know.

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