"Fuel?!" Joy Boy's eyes went wide.
A-Yang and A-Xing instinctively clutched each other, faces pale.
"Yeah. Fuel. Put simply, a sacrifice. One with no return," Ritter said flatly, his voice turning colder. "No freedom, no self, not even the right to die. From birth to death, everything is decided for you. This girl…"
He paused, irritation flashing across his face as his finger poked at her forehead again and again.
"When I found her, she was basically an empty shell. She'd almost forgotten who she even was. All she could do was repeat nonsense about missions and 'cost.' I was furious."
He kept poking.
"What were you even thinking back then?"
The girl held her head, but her eyes curved into a small smile. It clearly didn't hurt at all.
"You're still smiling? If I hadn't shown up, you'd be gone by now, and you're still smiling?" Ritter kept poking. "Next time you run into people like that, just kill them. Got it?"
"I'm talking to you. Stop smiling."
Only then did she hug her head and give a small nod.
Ritter spoke lightly, but the truth behind his words was chilling.
Joy Boy clenched his massive fist. "How can they do that? That's too much! How can people be treated like… like…" He couldn't even bring himself to say the word.
A-Yang and A-Xing, children who had grown up in hardship yet held onto their kindness, simply couldn't accept something so brutally dehumanizing.
They imagined what the girl must have gone through. The darkness. The loneliness. The despair.
Then they looked at her now, standing quietly here, gently comforting them like a big sister.
"…Waa…" A-Xing broke first, tears spilling out. "Waaah… they're so horrible… how could they do that to big sis…"
A-Yang's eyes turned red too. He wiped at them hard, but the tears wouldn't stop. In the end, he hugged his sister and cried loudly with her, anger and grief pouring out together.
"Waaah! They're awful! The worst!"
The girl looked at the two children crying in each other's arms.
She hesitated, clearly unsure what to do, but still stepped forward. Gently, she placed her hands on their trembling shoulders.
Her movements were still a little clumsy. She had learned this from Ritter.
"It's okay… it's over now."
She paused, then added softly,
"Things are good now."
She had a captain. A cheerful, rubbery companion who laughed all the time. And these two little ones who would cry for her.
Yes. Things were good.
Joy Boy sniffed, then pounded his chest with a loud thump. "Don't worry, Vice Captain! If anyone dares come after you again, I'll be the first to punch them away! I'll send them flying to the horizon! Waaah!"
Ritter blinked.
…Is this idiot trying to steal my crewmate?
Still, looking at the two kids crying together, the rubber-headed fool shouting in outrage, and the girl who was quietly trying her best to comfort them, a faint smile tugged at Ritter's lips.
This kind of pirate crew atmosphere… was rare.
He stretched out lazily on the deck again. "Alright, enough crying. It's all in the past. She's the vice captain of my Scarlet Pirates now. Anyone I protect… let's see who dares touch her."
He had barely settled back into his usual "I'm the strongest in the world" posture when the edge of his blood mist perception picked up something new.
His head tilted slightly. Crimson eyes glanced toward the distant horizon.
"Tch. Knew it."
"Hey, rubber idiot." He gestured lazily behind him. "Looks like your 'joyful adventure' attracts attention. Those ships flying the World Government flag behind us… they're probably here for you."
Joy Boy was still awkwardly comforting the sniffling siblings. Hearing that, he froze, then stretched his neck out to look.
Ritter had the sudden urge to snap it back.
Yeah… now I understand what Luffy's crew goes through.
Sure enough, several dark specks were rapidly growing larger on the horizon. That unmistakable flag was all too familiar.
"Ahahaha…" Joy Boy scratched the back of his head, flashing his usual goofy grin. "Looks like it! They're really persistent!"
A-Yang instantly forgot about crying. His eyes lit up with excitement as he looked at Joy Boy.
"Wait, wait! Joy Boy, are you going to fight this time? Like Ritter! Just whoosh and send them all flying?" He gestured wildly.
A-Xing sniffed and added in a small voice, "Captain Joy Boy in action…"
In their simple minds, anyone traveling alongside someone as powerful as Ritter had to be unbelievably strong too. Maybe Joy Boy just didn't like showing off.
But as the pursuers drew closer, Joy Boy's grin didn't change. No battle intent. No killing aura.
He went quiet for a moment.
Then suddenly, he slapped his thigh.
"Duang!"
The loud smack startled both kids.
"I've decided!" Joy Boy pointed dramatically toward the endless horizon ahead. "Then let's… run!"
A-Yang: "…Huh?"
A-Xing: "…Eh?"
The two kids froze, their shining stars instantly turning into question marks.
Run? Just like that?
What about the heroic display they imagined?
Joy Boy, completely unfazed, shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Set sail! Full speed ahead! Wahahaha! Let them try and catch us! This is what true freedom feels like!"
Under his ability, the rubber ship began bouncing across the sea in exaggerated elastic leaps.
Duang. Duang.
It shot forward at incredible speed.
Ritter watched, a few lines forming on his forehead, before letting out a snort and shaking his head.
Yeah. That's exactly his style.
"Tch. That's why I call you an idiot," Ritter's lazy voice carried over the wind.
"Hahaha! No need to fight if we don't have to, Ritter! Isn't this more fun?" Joy Boy shouted back, grinning like it was the most natural thing in the world.
After their initial shock, A-Yang and A-Xing looked at their captain happily running away, then at the government ships chasing desperately behind them, yet somehow falling farther and farther back…
And suddenly…
This actually seemed kind of fun.
"Go, Captain! Faster!" A-Yang shouted.
"Shake them off!" A-Xing added.
The girl stood beside Ritter, her small hand holding his. She watched the bouncing rubber ship, the kids being tossed up and down on deck…
Then she glanced at Ritter.
No matter what, she still thought her captain was the coolest.
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