Chapter 275: This arc is boring
While Ken was talking with Ace, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji went out and asked for Hody Jones' address. Among the three, Sanji and Luffy's Observation Haki were the best (yes, technically speaking, Sanji has better observation haki and Zoro has better Armament Haki), and thus both of them didn't take much time to find Hody Jones.
Another reason they were easy to find was because they had actually gone on and made a huge 'festival' out of it. Hody and his partners, while being employed as the royal guards, had kidnapped many pirates over time and forced them into prisons and even made them work for them when required.
Basically, it was slavery.
So when Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy had reached, it was a house full of human pirates being chained in collars but also carrying weapons. Some of them looked listless, some angry, some sad. All in all, it was a mixture of negative emotions and looked very depressing.
"Straw Hat Luffy... You are finally here," Hody, who had been sitting on his makeshift throne, said while laughing. Hody was there with all of his partners and also Vander Decken, who was ogling Shirahoshi like some kind of huge pervert. If everything were to be seen from a real perspective, then Vander Decken was a pedophile.
He had been after her for years, and Shirahoshi was just a small child when this guy first saw her and apparently 'fell in love' with her. No, this guy was just a plain pedophile, and just due to the size of Shirahoshi, many people had overlooked that fact.
Shirahoshi at the moment was crying very loudly, and the fishmen around, who were far but were able to see from afar, had their hearts melt seeing the young princess cry. They wanted to go and confront Hody and his goons, but nobody had the guts.
Meanwhile, Sanji, after seeing Shirahoshi, almost became a stone. Actually, the reason Sanji wasn't useless in the Fishmen Island after seeing the mermaids was because of the training in Ruskaina. They got to see the women from Amazon for quite a lot of time.
Hancock used to come often to help them with food and supplies. And this was done because Hancock had finally fallen in love with Luffy. It really happened in the end, but the reasons were a bit different. Hancock had seen how hard Luffy tried in the war, his aversion to the world government, and his courage, which made Hancock realize that Luffy was the one.
Though the way she fell in love was different than the original, the kidnapping of Charlos did play a part. Hancock was head over heels for him, and thus Sanji had gotten to see quite a number of women over the years of training.
And Hancock always had a special effect on Sanji, which she, of course, didn't even care to bother with and probably didn't even notice that Sanji even existed, because she was too busy obsessing over Luffy.
In fact, a small part of Sanji hated Luffy for being so lucky and getting the most beautiful girl pirate. And thus, Sanji wasn't nose bleeding this time, but he was enamored after seeing Shirahoshi crying, making him angry too, as someone made this beautiful girl cry.
"Are you Hody?" Luffy asked as he stepped into the huge 'arena' where the other pirates were looking at Luffy as if he was some kind of salvation. Most of the pirates knew who Luffy was and were also terrified because they had seen how Luffy was able to take care of the Admirals.
Now he was here, and it meant that taking him down was the most important thing.
"Hahahaha... Yes, I am. I am sure the bastard Neptune sent you. Now that he has done his work, he should die," Hody said and pressed a button. There was complete silence the next moment.
The people around took time to realize what he meant, and when they did, they understood what Hody had done. The Fishmen around started to panic and almost made a run, but Hody had creases in his eyebrows.
He was expecting the sound of a blast since the main palace wasn't far, but there was none. This irritated him, and he clicked the button once more. He had gotten the remote-controlled collar from the underworld and from Joker's factory, which was supposed to be top-notch, but now it seemed not to be working.
"That collar of yours has already been taken care of. You should now pray for your life," Zoro said.
"What?"
"How is this possible? Once you touch the collar, it will burst. How did you get rid of it?"
Zoro and the others didn't reply but started walking towards him slowly. Hody felt a chill in his spine at how emotionless they seemed when they were ready to confront him. Hody immediately shouted as Luffy came forward.
"If you come forward, we will kill Shirahoshi," Hody said.
"What? Hody... That wasn't the deal. Shirahoshi wouldn't be hurt," Vander shouted.
"Shut up," Hody shouted, but in the next moment, they felt a huge pressure come down on them. A pressure that was not Conqueror's Haki, but a kind of heavy feeling that seeped into the bones. Most of the men around immediately fell with their faces planted on the ground, losing consciousness.
This wasn't Conqueror's Haki but Reaitsu pressure from Zoro surrounding them. He was not here to hear some bullshit and wanted to get over with it fast. The Straw Hats this time were much more powerful and didn't bother to care about a small fry like him.
Vander Decken had fallen flat on the ground, and his huge friend who he had come with had also fallen on the floor with a huge bang. As the Reaitsu was at its peak, out of nowhere, Ken appeared near Vander Decken, and in the next moment, he sucked Vander Decken away into the amui dimension.
There were no warnings, nothing, as he did so.
"I am just doing a side job, you guys carry on," Ken said, and after that, he himself vanished.
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