Encountering a slave-hunter crew on the open sea was actually pretty unlikely. After all, the ocean was vast.
But since such a coincidence had appeared, Ren found himself thinking of the most beautiful woman in the pirate world — the Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock.
If he calculated the timing correctly, that young girl and her two sisters should be captured by a slave-hunter crew sometime in the next year or two, and only then become slaves of the Celestial Dragons.
In his previous life, Ren had only been a casual fan of the pirate world. He wasn't particularly sensitive to timelines. But if some unlucky pirate fanfiction writer had been here, they would know that Boa Hancock was actually enslaved by the Celestial Dragons this very year, and four years from now would be rescued by Fisher Tiger, the fish-man who climbed the Red Line with his bare hands.
But no matter what, even if it was something happening this year, it was impossible for such a coincidence to occur — just stumbling right into it.
The world was enormous, and the waters Ren currently occupied were very far from Amazon Lily.
A chance encounter was out of the question, but heading straight to the auction houses of the Sabaody Archipelago — there was a good chance of running into that "merchandise."
"I'm pretty free right now anyway. Might as well head to the Sabaody Archipelago and take a look." Ren certainly didn't lack for time these days.
Inazuma was harmonious and stable on the inside, and Enkanomiya's technology was advancing rapidly thanks to progress in archaeology. In truth, the Poneglyphs didn't contain much in the way of scientific content — most of their inscriptions genuinely recorded the philosophy and history of the Great Kingdom.
But with the deciphering of the ancient script, research into Enkanomiya's ancient weapons had deepened considerably, leading to new breakthroughs across every field of study.
As for Inazuma's external affairs, Seirai Island's annual GDP already surpassed most nations in the world. Compared to traditional pirates like Whitebeard, who relied on protection fees and plundered treasure, the revenue was countless times higher.
These days, Enkanomiya's research spending was entirely sustained by the income from Seirai Island's sales of autonomous machines. Of course, the protection fees from those who flew Inazuma's thunder-crest banner to survive in the New World were also collected without fail.
However, compared to other places, Inazuma was very lenient.
Under such a flourishing scene, Ren was naturally very relaxed, with plenty of time for leisure.
And while he was lost in thought, Iris and Saya had already charged toward the slave-hunter crew. Ayame, on the other hand, didn't move. After all, people like slave-hunters and organ traffickers were small-time characters on the sea.
It wasn't that the trade had no strong people at all, but most of them were no different from small fry.
Ayame was a mother now, and far more mature than Iris. These minor characters weren't worth making a fuss over. Compared to that, serving Ren was her most important duty.
She carefully peeled the white pith from an orange, then fed it to Ren.
This life of having everything handed to him was decadent — but it felt really great!
…
"There are thirty enemies. How should we split them?" Saya asked, turning her head.
"I can handle them all by myself," Iris said.
They were just thirty small fry, after all. Wasn't that a matter of simply raising a hand?
"I know that much. If it weren't for worrying about hitting the captured people, I'd just summon Ren's projection directly," Saya said.
She wasn't particularly skilled with Haki, but her Devil Fruit development was quite advanced. Summoning a projection of the big shot for a few seconds to unleash one attack against these small fry would be an absolute crush!
"Then… half each?"
"Fine!" Saya nodded, then pulled a photograph of Iris from her bosom. Immediately, another Iris wielding dual blades appeared at her side.
"Why did you go and copy me?" Iris said angrily.
"Oh come on, I don't want to go fight those people myself anyway."
"Then why did you even bother showing up!" Iris felt like Saya was being completely unreasonable.
"Oh, it's just killing time. Watch out — cannonballs incoming."
Saya didn't care at all about Iris being angry. The illusion beside her drew a blade and sliced a cannonball clean in half, then bothered to give Iris a reminder.
But how could Iris need her reminder? Ame no Habakiri flashed out like a streak of white light, and the flying sword qi deflected every cannonball in the sky!
"Slap!"
The two landed on the slave-hunters' ship at the same time. But Saya landed high atop the mast, while Iris drew her blade in her right hand and charged straight into the crowd.
"Damn it, they're just two women. Get them!"
The slave-hunter captain, seeing Iris and Saya each show off a move that left his crew somewhat shaken, hurriedly roared:
"These three are all top-grade merchandise, and there's even a pair of twins! Take them all down — we can definitely get a great price at Sabaody!"
Hearing that, the faint fear that had risen in the crew's hearts instantly vanished.
Slave-hunter crews and organ trafficking organizations were lowlife scum to begin with — the kind of fools with no eye for assessing situations. In the original story, these guys had even tried to disrupt Big Mom's tea party. They were ignorant to the extreme.
They couldn't even see the gap between themselves and a Yonko, let alone grasp how terrified they should be in front of Saya and Iris.
At this moment, every one of them wore vicious grins, their knives and flintlock pistols gripped in hand.
"They really are top-grade goods. If these were put in the Pleasure District, they'd be the highest-tier women at the very least!"
"Hey, Captain, there's no problem with letting the brothers inspect the goods before handing them off to the auction house, right? Hahahaha!"
"…"
"Disgusting scum."
Listening to their filthy, unbearable words, Iris's expression grew even colder. She was about to step forward and charge at them, but unexpectedly, she was the one threatened first.
"Hey hey, beauty, I'd advise you not to make any rash moves. Pistols don't discriminate — if we damage you, we'd feel terrible about it!"
A crooked-toothed thug waved a pistol around, laughing arrogantly.
Thinking an old-fashioned flintlock could make an enemy surrender without a fight — Iris didn't even understand how someone like this survived on the Grand Line.
"Go ahead and try shooting."
She gave a cold smile and took small steps toward the dark muzzle.
This presence actually startled the slave-hunter members. Iris didn't have Conqueror's Haki, but her killing intent was considerable — enough to shake the nerve of these men!
"Stop!"
"I said stop! Can't you hear me?" The scum watched the slowly approaching Iris and actually broke out in a cold sweat.
She was just a brat with yellow hair…
"I said st-st-st…"
"Slap!"
A flash of white light, and an arm holding a firearm fell onto the deck.
[
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