Upon receiving the order, the long-awaiting pirates immediately surged forward in a frenzy.
Taking advantage of this moment, Allen walked over to the angry villagers.
"Attacking the Marines will brand you as criminals. Even if you survive, only warships and cannonballs will await you in the future."
"Of course, I don't plan on telling you to calm down. I just want to ask..."
Allen paused, a grin suddenly spreading across his face as he said,
"Do you want to join my pirate crew?"
"Huh?"
"P-Pirates?"
"What do you mean?"
Genzo was stunned. Nami, Nojiko, and the rest of the villagers were all dumbfounded.
"That's right, become pirates. The elderly and children are too weak, so I won't take them. But those who are young, strong, and want to vent their anger, come with me."
Allen wore a teasing expression. He glanced back at Captain Nezumi, his eyes faintly revealing a ruthless glint, and continued,
"After dealing with them, I'm going to war with Arlong. Those Fish-Men aren't easy to handle. Weren't you all screaming about settling the score with Arlong? It just so happens I want to bolster my forces."
"You're going to war with Arlong?" Genzo furrowed his brow.
"That's one of my goals for coming here—to make a name for my pirate crew and to take Arlong's accumulated treasure."
Allen nodded in response, looking him seriously in the eye.
"If your battle cries weren't just for show, grab your weapons and follow me. If you'd rather hide behind a woman like cowards, suit yourselves."
"Give me a sword and a gun! I'll go with you."
Genzo stepped forward, his gaze resolute.
Allen narrowed his eyes, a sharp glint flashing through them as the corners of his mouth curled up.
"You've got backbone. I accept your enlistment."
"I'm with Mr. Genzo!"
"Me too!"
"If we're fighting Arlong, I'm going too!"
Nojiko stepped forward, and soon after, resolute voices echoed one after another.
"Nojiko... Genzo... don't... Everyone, please don't do this."
Nami still had tear tracks at the corners of her eyes, growing so anxious she was at a loss for what to do.
Allen looked at her expressionlessly and said flatly,
"If you refuse to ask others for help, then we'll fight our own battles. You do it your way, and we'll do it ours."
"Are you crazy?! What kind of joke is this?"
Nami yelled at him through her tears, angrily grabbing Allen by the collar.
"They're just ordinary villagers! They've never even been in a battle. If they go fight the Fish-Men, they'll die!"
"They aren't ordinary villagers."
Allen grabbed Nami's hands and threw them off, his tone indifferent.
"They are warriors, just like you. Haven't you faced reality yet? No one needs to hide behind a little girl just to survive!"
Allen raised his fist, turning his head to shout behind him,
"Are you afraid of dying?!"
"No!!"
"Don't you want to kill Arlong?!"
"I want to chop him into a hundred pieces!!"
"Ten thousand pieces!!"
"Well said! Today, I'll lead you to hack Arlong into ten thousand pieces!"
Allen roared at the top of his lungs, then turned to Sanji and shouted,
"Sanji! Hand out weapons to our new comrades!"
"This is your method? You bastard, you're completely out of your mind."
Sanji gritted his teeth in anger.
It was bad enough they hadn't recruited any beautiful women, but now he was bringing another bunch of sweaty, stinking men onto the ship.
This capricious bastard!
But since things had already come to this, Sanji could only bite the bullet, waving his hand as he yelled,
"Give them weapons!"
"Right away, Boss Sanji!"
Soon, several combat logistics members dragged over wooden crates, distributing various weapons to the villagers one by one.
"Let's test the waters with something simple for our first battle. The targets are these rats from the gutter!"
Allen looked toward the dozens of surrounded Marines, throwing his arm out as he bellowed,
"Brothers! Let's help these new rookies draw some blood!!"
"Hahaha!!"
"Stick close to me, rookies!"
"Kill them!"
At his command, the vicious pirates instantly surged forward with ferocious expressions.
Infected by the atmosphere, the villagers—who barely even knew how to hold a sword—immediately let the adrenaline rush to their heads.
Genzo forcefully drew his sword!
"Everyone, charge with me!!"
"Charge!!"
With fanatical looks in their eyes, the villagers gripped their newly acquired weapons and roared as they charged, eager to vent years of suppressed fury with the filthy blood of these Marines.
A few were so overly excited that their movements became uncoordinated, tripping over their own feet halfway through the charge.
It was so stupid it was almost unbearable to watch.
But it didn't matter; Allen hadn't expected much from their performance anyway.
With Sanji and the Nyaban Brothers joining the fray, the opposing Marines would barely have the strength to fight back.
The other pirates were just joining the fun to steal a few kills, let alone these villagers.
"How dare you steal the treasure Nami worked so hard to save!"
"Do bastards like you even deserve to be called an army of justice?!"
"Do you have any idea how much Nami has suffered all these years?! Go to hell, you bastards!"
...
"Everyone..."
Nami pressed her lips tightly together, tears streaming uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes as she questioned Allen with a choked voice,
"Why are you doing this? If you take them to fight Arlong, do you know you'll get everyone killed?"
"People die in battles, of course. Even my subordinates can't avoid it, let alone these villagers who don't even know how to hold a sword."
Allen sighed softly. Before Nami could speak, he continued,
"Only by staying alive can you wait for hope. That saying isn't wrong, of course. But in life... there are always some things more worth defending than life itself."
"To you, this village is worth giving your life to protect. But have you ever thought about what it is for Nojiko, Genzo, and the others?"
Allen's gaze fell upon her.
Nami gently raised her head, looking through tear-blurred eyes at the figures roaring with all their might on the battlefield.
Something more worth defending than life itself...
At this moment, she seemed to understand something—something that had always been close at hand, yet ignored by her in her day-to-day struggles.
"Either liberation or release. They've probably wanted to risk their lives fighting Arlong for a long time now."
Allen gazed up at the sky. "To them, you are a treasure bestowed by heaven, like a sun that will never extinguish."
"While you worked hard to protect them, they endured humiliation to live on and answer your expectations."
"When your illusions were shattered, they would rather sacrifice themselves than see you live in agony for their sake..."
Allen paused, looking down at Nami as he said,
"Because the sun in their hearts was dimming, they chose to take up arms. What reason do you have to stop them from fighting?"
...
Nami didn't speak. She merely clenched her fists tightly, biting her lip as she wept silently.
Until a moment later.
"Can you really win...? Will you really... defeat Arlong...?"
Nami forced the words out, her voice trembling and choked with sobs,
"Allen, the village and everyone... will there really be a day of liberation...?"
"Of course."
Allen clenched his fist tightly, his resolute gaze fixed on Nami as a confident grin spread across his face.
"I am strong! I will absolutely win!"
Nami bit her lower lip tightly, lifting her tear-stained face.
Looking into his eyes, a faint glimmer flickered in Nami's gaze, as if she were pleading for help.
The corners of Allen's mouth curled up slightly.
He had already heard it—Nami's plea...
...
Before long, the battle in the tangerine orchard subsided.
Led by Sanji and the Nyaban Brothers, the pirates crushed the Marines with overwhelming superiority.
After more than half of their forces were killed or wounded, Captain Nezumi and the remaining dozen or so soldiers laid down their weapons and chose to surrender.
How could Allen possibly spare the lives of such people? He waved his hand, signaling the Nyaban Brothers to drag these gutter rats to the shore and dispose of them.
A short while later, the Nyaban Brothers returned to the tangerine orchard with their subordinates, the blades of their cat claws stained with blood.
Along with them were Gin and the members of the Second Division, who had been sent to deal with the warship earlier. They were carrying numerous wooden crates in their hands and on their shoulders.
Buchi ran back with a face full of excitement, pointing at the subordinates transporting supplies behind him as he shouted,
"Boss! We struck it rich again, Boss!"
"What, did you find treasure on the warship?"
Allen bit down on his cigar, casting a sidelong glance.
"Hehehe, you guessed it, Boss."
Buchi beamed with smiles and said, "Gin and the others searched the warship and found all this. I didn't expect these Marines to have so much money."
As the Second Division members placed the crates of plundered loot on the ground, Allen and his subordinates gathered around.
Most of it consisted of sailing supplies, firearms, and ammunition. They had looted Fullbody's warship before, and the types of supplies were largely the same.
However, hidden among the massive amount of supplies was a crate of cash, with stacks of Berries neatly arranged inside.
"How is there so much cash? Do the Marines really get paid this well?"
Sanji couldn't help but voice his confusion.
He stepped forward, picked up a stack of Berries, flipped through it, and then glanced at the entire crate of cash.
Sanji made a rough estimate and said, "There's probably two hundred million Berries here. A normal warship wouldn't set sail carrying this much money."
"Captain Nezumi is greedy as hell. I heard about this guy's reputation back when I was a Marine. He's probably been in cahoots with Arlong for a long time."
Allen said casually, picking up a stack of Berries and flipping through it, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.
The protection money Arlong collected from the various villages every month easily amounted to over a hundred million Berries.
As the protective umbrella covering up their crimes, Captain Nezumi received a cut every month. Accumulated over eight whole years, it was an absurdly large sum.
These two hundred million Berries might not even be all of Nezumi's wealth.
"Put the money away for now. We'll distribute it all together after we deal with Arlong."
Allen waved his hand, giving the order. Then he turned back to look at Nami and the villagers who had just joined the pirate crew, asking,
"You haven't forgotten what I said earlier, have you? Now it's time to go risk our lives against Arlong."
"If anyone is scared, I'll give you one chance to back out. Once the battle starts, I won't accept any deserters."
As soon as he finished speaking, Genzo, wrapped in bandages, was the first to step out from the crowd. With a resolute gaze, he declared,
"If we die in battle, it just means we should have died eight years ago. This time, we absolutely will not take a single step back!"
"Genzo is right! We're going to fight!"
"Please take us with you!"
The villagers, newly turned pirates, shouted with righteous indignation.
Seeing their determined gazes one by one, Nami's heart was filled with worry, but she hesitated to speak.
This time, she didn't stop them.
Perhaps Allen was right. In life, there are always things more worth defending than life itself.
And the thing more precious than life is the meaning of life itself...!
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