East Blue, Oykot Kingdom.
Life went on as usual, with endless labor.
As an affiliated nation, the people of this country had to pay heavy Heavenly Tribute in exchange for their safety.
But no one complained.
Because compared to the misery of non-affiliated nations being ravaged by pirates, physical exhaustion was something they were willing to accept and had no choice but to accept.
However, at that moment
The roar of cannon fire echoed from the harbor.
Soon, explosions and tremors shook the ground, throwing everyone near the port into chaos.
The guards stationed there were slaughtered one after another, and those who managed to escape ran desperately toward the royal palace.
"Men! Now it's your time!"
From six large pirate ships, frenzied pirates rushed ashore, immediately beginning unrestrained slaughter and plunder.
Perhaps they had once been nothing more than street thugs from some East Blue island. At first, fear had restrained them.
But after becoming pirates, they found justification.
Freedom.
Freedom to kill, freedom to loot, freedom to build their pleasure upon the suffering of the weak.
As for the Grand Line?
Why bother going there?
Weren't these ordinary civilians more entertaining?
Only fools would risk their lives there!
In an instant, the entire Oykot Kingdom descended into chaos.
A small number of guards tried to resist, but once their commander was killed, fear shattered their ranks completely.
Flames and blood intertwined.
What had been a peaceful nation just hours ago was now unrecognizable.
Citizens died one after another.
Yet the palace gates remained tightly shut.
One day.
Two days.
Three days.
Outside the palace became a true lawless zone.
The roars of men disappeared on the first day.
The cries and pleas of women faded on the second.
By the third day, all the pirates were satisfied, their bloodshot eyes filled with a beast-like frenzy.
At that point, they had even forgotten they were human.
On that same day, reinforcements from the East Blue Marine branch finally arrived.
At the same time, the long-sealed palace gates opened.
The king's preserved forces rushed out, coordinating with the Marines to begin exterminating the pirates.
The battle lasted three more days.
The pirates' strength had clearly exceeded the king's expectations.
Inside the palace
"You must! You must drive those pirates out of my country! We pay the Heavenly Tribute we are an affiliated nation! This is your duty as Marines!"
The king roared in anger, questioning the branch colonel before him.
But the man remained calm.
"No one expected their combat strength to be this resilient, did they? Besides… it seems you've forgotten our agreement. We only arrived after three days because that's what you requested, wasn't it?"
"Bang!"
The king slammed his hand onto the armrest.
"I told you to come after one day not three! That's not what we agreed on!"
The colonel ignored his rage, walked to the side, poured himself a glass of red wine, and drank it in one gulp.
"The time to pay the Heavenly Tribute is approaching. Every affiliated nation has been trying to find solutions. You are no exception."
"As far as I know, most choose to attack neighboring non-affiliated nations and plunder wealth."
"And those who lack the strength to do so… resort to other methods."
"How do you reduce a nation's population legitimately, while preserving your already limited military strength?"
"A pirate raid is the perfect excuse, isn't it?"
The colonel turned slightly, a faint smile on his face.
"A weak king like you… that's exactly why you chose to make a deal with me, isn't it, Your Majesty?"
Seated on the throne, the King of Oykot clenched his fists tightly.
He hadn't expected that his plan was so transparent to them.
Which meant there were many affiliated nations making the exact same choice as him.
"Drive the pirates out. You can take one-third of the money we counted earlier."
The branch colonel smiled and shook his head.
"The Heavenly Tribute isn't that small. This wine is quite good seems like it's from the Grand Line. You really know how to enjoy yourself, Your Majesty."
The King of Oykot Kingdom frowned.
"Then what do you want?"
The colonel slowly walked forward.
The moment he got close a dagger plunged into the king's chest.
"You—!"
A muffled groan escaped as intense pain spread through his chest. His disbelieving gaze began to dim, and the hand he raised gradually lost strength.
He had never imagined he would be killed by a Marine.
Nor had he expected the other party's greed to be this great.
The pirate invasion was his plan.
Keeping the elite forces locked in to guard the palace his plan.
Arranging this private meeting, thinking it would prevent leaks also his plan.
But all of that had only made it easier for the other side to act.
"Push your death onto the pirates. After that, release a portion of them and report that the entire Oykot Kingdom was looted clean."
The colonel's voice was calm, almost amused.
"Then wouldn't all the Beli of this country belong to me?"
"It's just one East Blue affiliated nation. Before long, another will take its place."
Soon, the Marines fighting alongside the royal guards began a counterattack.
Among them, a woman with short pink hair kept frowning.
When she fought, it was as if she didn't value her life at all like she wanted to leave it behind here.
At the same time, the port of Oykot Kingdom welcomed unexpected visitors once again.
"The port is awfully quiet… shouldn't this be peak trading time?"
The Nimbus cloud swept in as Ginny leapt down.
The next moment
Seeing the ruined streets below, she froze.
Her expression stiffened.
Corpses were everywhere.
Men still clutching kitchen knives.
Women bleeding from the waist down.
The scene looked like hell itself.
Behind her, a cloaked and masked Gol D. Roger arrived, followed by members of the Revolutionary Army's East division.
"What… happened here?!"
"Pirates? The Oykot Kingdom's guards have some strength how could this happen?"
"They're an affiliated nation. Didn't they call for Marine support?"
Ginny's brows knitted tightly as she looked around.
"Spread out and search. See if anyone's still alive"
Before she could finish, noise erupted in the distance.
Roger, his expression equally grim, spoke:
"It's pirates. And a large group of Marines behind them. Are we intervening?"
Ginny hesitated for a moment.
Her eyes reflected the corpses scattered across the streets.
"Don't let a single pirate escape!"
Just as they were about to act, Roger raised his hand, stopping the others behind him.
"This body hasn't moved in too long… it's getting stiff."
He stepped forward slowly, his voice turning cold.
"Trash that preys on civilians… doesn't deserve to be called pirates."
His right hand drew his blade.
At the same time, the pirates retreating while fighting noticed him standing in their path.
They paused briefly, then sneered.
"One guy thinks he can stop us? Who do you think you are? The Pirate King?"
"Kill him!"
"Once we leave this island, there's more wealth and women waiting for us!"
"Kill!"
Behind the mask, Roger's eyes grew colder and colder.
When he was alive, he had been a pirate the freest man on the seas.
He never attacked ordinary people.
And he never allowed his crew to do so either.
This didn't mean he was kind.
Nor did it mean he was just.
It was simply… disdain.
After reaching Laugh Tale and learning the truth of the world, what Gol D. Roger regretted most was that he had been born twenty years too early.
Stricken with an incurable illness, he had no way to witness the earth-shaking changes that would come two decades later.
So he chose to become the one who would ignite the future.
Thus came the words on the execution platform.
The words that ushered in the Great Pirate Era.
At that time, he had already anticipated the impact that era would have on ordinary people.
And yet, he still chose to say them.
The reason sounded noble.
For the sake of the future.
But now…
Since his encounter with the Revolutionary Army at Ohara over a year ago, their ideology, though he could see through its essence, had still changed him.
A man like Edward Newgate would use all his treasure for his homeland.
Charlotte Linlin would go mad over a damaged portrait of Mother Carmel.
Roger, whose thinking had shifted, suddenly felt regret.
The horrific scenes across the streets burned into his mind.
Even in death, those people's eyes remained open.
As if, in their final moments, they still resented this world.
No…they were resenting me.
If not for those words…perhaps they would have lived better lives.
"Boom!"
In an instant, an overwhelming aura erupted from Roger.
His Conqueror's Haki materialized into something tangible. Crimson lightning spread through the air.
Wooden fences along the street shattered instantly.
And the pirates standing before him felt as if they were being stared down by a massive Sea King, as though death would strike in the very next second.
"I'm not here to make you faint…"
Roger's blade was now coated in that same crimson Haki.
Divine Departure.
In a single instant, a massive slash tore forward.
"BOOM!!"
The attack swept through the pirates, then carved into the ground before the pursuing Marines, leaving behind a massive chasm.
The next moment, the already hellish streets were drenched in fresh blood once again.
To the Marines, the masked Roger now looked like a demon.
"A mask and cloak, it's the cloaked man!"
"Why is someone like him in the East Blue?!"
"Call for reinforcements now!"
"Run!"
"Run!"
Although Ginny had never expected much from an East Blue Marine branch, their complete collapse in panic still caught her off guard.
All of this just because they mistook him for the cloaked man?
That brat who used to argue with her every day had now become someone whose very presence struck fear into enemies.
"Hm?"
Ginny looked ahead.
All the Marines had fled, except for one.
A pink-haired woman had collapsed onto the ground, her head lowered, completely motionless.
Fainted from fear?
Walking over, Ginny looked down at her.
"We're not pirates. Just a merchant ship here to procure supplies. Normally, we don't attack Marines."
Still not moving?
"Marine? Do you need help?"
That question finally drew a reaction from the woman lying on the ground.
"I… I'm not a Marine anymore. At least from now on, I'm no longer a Marine."
Ginny glanced at the woman strangely, then spoke to her companions behind her.
"Check if anyone is still alive. In a bit, we'll have to search area by area. Also dig a large pit."
"Got it, boss!"
"We've been here so many times, and yet an affiliated nation still got wiped out. This kind of world really needs to change."
"Hurry up!"
"There's a sound here! Come quickly!"
The group scattered.
Gol D. Roger also released his Observation Haki, sensing for any signs of survivors.
At that moment, the woman who seemed to be frozen in fear suddenly sprang up.
But before she could rush forward, Ginny pressed her down with one hand, forcing her back into place with overwhelming strength.
"Let go of me!"
The struggling woman stared desperately toward the distant ruins, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break free.
At the same time, Roger stepped toward the entrance of a house.
A man holding a hoe lay there, his abdomen pierced open. His intestines had spilled out, dragged from inside the house to the doorway.
Clearly, before dying, the man had not given up. He had tried to crawl outside, hoping to find someone who could save his wife and daughter.
Roger stepped inside.
He lifted a section of the floor, then climbed down.
There, he saw a baby.
The infant lay in the arms of a woman's corpse.
The blood at her abdomen had already dried.
The baby girl, fast asleep, had a face covered in blood. That blood was the reason she had survived until now.
Roger picked up the baby and looked at the woman leaning against the wall.
He lowered his head in respect.
He remembered what "the gentleman" had once said.
Compared to himself, these kinds of parents were the truly great ones.
After being violated, the pain of her stabbed abdomen could not outweigh her worry for her child. She crawled in here, using her own blood to keep the baby alive.
And the man at the door, dragging his own organs, endured the agony just to reach outside, just to see if there was hope, if someone could save his daughter.
Carrying the sleeping baby, Roger walked out of the wooden house.
He handed her to Ginny.
Then, gripping his sword, he walked deeper into the town.
"Where are you going?"
Roger didn't turn back.
"To kill. To save."
The Oykot Kingdom was not just one town.
On this island, there were four settlements surrounding the central palace.
There couldn't be only one surviving baby.
There had to be others waiting to be saved.
And those pirates weren't just the ones he had just cut down.
He wanted to kill.
Holding the baby in one arm, Ginny was momentarily stunned.
This allowed the restrained female Marine to break free.
She reached out, trying to take the baby.
Ginny stepped aside to avoid her, about to throw a punch, but stopped midway.
Because the woman in front of her, covered in blood, was looking at the child with guilt.
"You…"
"I'm not a Marine!"
The female soldier in Marine uniform stared directly at Ginny.
"They made a deal with the king of this country. For money, they delayed Marine reinforcements. That's why this tragedy happened! The Heavenly Tribute! That damned Heavenly Tribute!"
With just one sentence, Ginny understood everything.
The time to pay the Heavenly Tribute was approaching.
Every affiliated nation was finding its own way to deal with it.
And the most common method was reducing the population.
"Waaah—!"
A loud cry suddenly rang out.
The baby in Ginny's arms burst into tears, startling her.
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