CHAPTER 72

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CHAPTER 72

Including the crew, everyone's mouths gaped open, and no one could move because of the shocking sight as they watched the headless corpse of the beast fall. Ganzack couldn't believe his eyes; all that preparation, all those years, had gone down the toilet. He wouldn't be able to sail without the Plesiosaur, even if they finished his warship.

When he was a nobody young pirate, he got stranded after a storm. He was lucky and found a newly hatched sea king egg on a deserted island. The beast had imprinted on him and would do everything he ordered. Thanks to this beast, he was able to establish a pirate crew and invade this island, but all of that was over.

In his rage, he opened all of his weapons and started attacking Kreegan. He ignored Kuina, but she was not someone that he could ignore. Kuina attacked him with a Baki(Horse Demon) while she was in her half-cat form, and Lex was standing at the side.

He and Kuina did rock paper scissors, and Kuina won. That is why she was the one fighting him. Tsukikiri landed Ganzack's back, but because of the armor, she couldn't cut him, but the force of the attack crushed Ganzack to the ground. Kreegan looked at him and said,

"Is this crab still alive? Just finish him off. Why are you playing with your food?"

"I am not a crab; I am Pirate General Ganzack!!"

"Do I look like I care who you are? Kuina, are you going to cut his head, or should I?"

Kuina said,

"Why do we have a prison in our ship if we were not going to take prisoners."

"The prison is not for the Murderers but for other crooks. You don't have to if you don't want to, but I am not going to spare his life."

Ganzack used his crab arm to attack Kreegan; he knew he couldn't beat him; he knew he would die, but this man had destroyed everything.

"I am not going to forgive you!"

Kreegan didn't even use his sword. He dodged the crab arm and hit Ganzack with the back of his hand. The force of the hit was so high that Ganzack lost almost half of his teeth. The left half of his face was swollen and turned purple in color. Kreegan pulled from his hair and lifted his head.

"Do I look like I care what you feel, you piece of shit! If it was up to me, I would execute every pirate with a thousand cuts, but I will set with a more human way."

He did an Iai slash. It was so fast Ganzack's blood didn't have time to stick to his blade. For several seconds, Ganzack's brain couldn't register that he was cut. He didn't feel anything. All that happened was his head was on the ground, and he could see his body. His sight slowly darkened, and everything was over.

Kreegan put the head into his item box. He didn't come for this, but it was worth 10 million bellies. Ganzack's surviving men waited anxiously for what Kreegan would do. About 100 pirates were still alive. Kreegan put his sword to its scabbard and said,

"Drop your weapons and surrender. Then I will not kill you."

Even his own crew were surprised to hear this. He was just talking about his hatred of pirates, and now he was going to spare them. The pirates were also a little hesitant about this. Was it a trap?

"You arrogant nobodies, do you think I need some underhanded trick to kill you all? I am counting up to 3, and after that, I am going to kill anyone standing or holding a weapon.

"1...2..."

At the two, all of them dropped their weapon and lay down on the ground.

"Villagers, tie the hands and feet of the pirates."

The villagers came to their senses and did as Kreegan said. Surprised, Lex approached Kreegan and said,

"Are you really going to spare them?"

"Of course, I am a man of my word. I am not going to kill them, but I am not the one supposed to spare them. We are not wasting our resources on useless pirates. So, we are not going to take them. When we reach a town, we will inform the Marines about the pirates here."

He turned to the villagers and said,

"Anyone that lost someone they loved to those pieces of shit, you can take your revenge on them, and when the marines come, just say Kreegan D. Wucrane executed them."

"I knew there was a catch!"

Kuina and Eagle said,

"Kreegan!"

"Why are you doing this?"

"I have taken my revenge from the people who killed my family, and I am not a hypocritical bastard. I cannot tell other people not to do it. They must decide if they want revenge or let go of their rage and hatred. If I could not kill Arlong, the rage inside me would have likely consumed me. I could only let go of my rage after getting my revenge. Maybe some people are more forgiving and wouldn't need revenge."

Kuina was about to say something, and Kreegan interrupted her,

"And don't give me revenge is a bad thing crap."

Kreegan took a deep breath and said,

"The moment I took the lives of my family's murderers was liberating. The one who said revenge doesn't bring the one you lost is an idiot who didn't hate someone to the core of their being. So, I will give them the choice I had, and it is their choice if they need revenge or not. It is not up to us; until you lose someone like them, you don't even have the right to judge them. You don't take revenge to bring back what you lost. You do it to free yourself from the all-consuming rage you feel inside."

One of the young villagers picked up a dagger and stabbed one of the pirates while crying.

"My father died in here while working to the dead. It is all because of you. You wouldn't even give him time to rest!"

He kept crying and stabbing him. Some of the villagers pulled him to the side to console him. Some of the villagers beat them to a bloody pulp but didn't kill them, and some just screamed at them from the top of their lungs. After everything was done, only 60 pirates were left, and half of them were beaten to an inch of their lives. Kreegan could see Kuina and Eagle deploring those actions. So, he said,

"Eagle, how many of the Fishman pirates did you spare when we attacked Arlong Park, or why didn't you go to the 16th branch and stop Smoker from executing the Marines under Nezumi for treason? Don't be a hypocritical bastard. It is all right for you to take your revenge, but they cannot. I have my way of justice, and this here was justice. Justice is not here for us to feel good about ourselves. It is here to bring closure to the victims."

He turned to Kuina,

"If someone razed the Shimotsuki village to the ground and killed everyone there, are you not going to hunt that person to the end of the earth and then kill them."

She couldn't say anything other than lowering her head.

"I keep telling you two, but you do not listen to me. You don't need to conform to my way of justice; you might have your way, but my justice is for the victims. To me, the crooks don't have rights. They have renounced their rights as humans the second they killed someone in cold blood."

"This means you let go of your rights, too."

"If someone's way of justice was telling them I must die. I will not resent them. They could come for my life, but I will not just lie down and take it either. We can always go our separate ways if you think this is not for you. This is my way, and it is not going to change. I will never forgive people that disregard the lives of the innocent or the weak."