Bab 28: Slave Trade
At night, on a small island in the East Blue, a blue-eyed white-haired youth wearing a white trench coat with the word "Justice" written on the back was quickly jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
After jumping to the roof of a building across the way, the youth stopped and leaned his body out over the edge to look below.
There were a few muscular men suspiciously looking around, as if confirming no one else was present.
"Phew, safe."
After confirming this, one of the men dressed in a rather ruffian style spoke up.
"Yeah, it should be fine. This time that 'White-Haired Sword Demon' probably won't discover us."
Next to the ruffian-dressed man, another man with a pompadour hairstyle responded. His face under the hairstyle wasn't particularly handsome, just average.
"Since that's the case, let's check the goods. Bray, did you bring it?"
Across from the pompadour man, a tall bald man looked at the two of them and then spoke.
"I brought it, it's right here."
The ruffian-dressed man called Bray subserviently dragged over a burlap sack he had been carrying behind his back, the sack swaying as he dragged it in front of the other two men.
The bald man stepped forward, undid the thick rope binding the top, revealing what was hidden inside.
It was a living person, a beautiful young woman.
The woman was currently bound hand and foot, with a cloth gag tied over her mouth, looking utterly pitiful.
"Hmm, not bad, these goods can probably be considered high-class, likely worth tens of thousands of Beli. You brat really have an eye for picking them."
Seeing the bound woman, the bald man revealed a very satisfied expression.
"Of course, just treat me well, Big Bro Strong."
Bray respectfully smiled while pinching his thumb and forefinger together in a telling gesture.
The bald man called Big Bro Strong immediately understood the implication of that hand gesture.
"Don't worry brat, you'll definitely get your cut once she's sold."
"Thank you Big Bro Strong!"
Hearing this, Bray revealed an incredibly ugly grin. If not for his ruffian get-up, that grin wouldn't look quite so ugly.
"Alright, you can go now. Wait for my notice later."
The bald man glanced at the woman, a sinister smile on his face as he dismissed Bray.
Seeing this, Bray knew exactly what the other man intended to do to such a beautiful woman...
"Understood, Big Bro Strong. I won't disturb you any further."
Bray smiled widely as he slowly backed away, but at that moment the white-haired youth on the rooftop took action.
He stepped out to the edge, leapt off, jumping straight down towards them below.
BOOM.
Just as Bray was about to leave still grinning, the next second he felt like he had been struck in the back by a heavy object falling on him, instantly dropping him to the ground.
"Who!?"
Seeing this, Big Bro Strong's face instantly became ferocious, the muscles on his body tensing as he took a defensive stance towards Bray's direction. But when he saw clearly what was on top of Bray, his face went slack.
"White...Haired...Sword Demon..." Strong enunciated the name word by word, then instantly turned and tried to flee in the next second.
(Run! Gotta run! Otherwise I'm definitely gonna die!)
Just as the thought of panic crossed Strong's mind and he had taken three steps, a sword pierced straight through his chest from behind.
The fresh blood glistened under the moonlight, looking extremely eerie.
Behind Strong, the white-haired youth smiled as he watched, then swiftly pulled the long sword out of the man's body in the next moment.
With a rapid horizontal slash, a head flew off with a terrified expression, landing to the side.
The white-haired youth swung his sword, the blood still clinging to the blade flicking off onto the ground nearby as the blade gleamed silver under the moonlight.
The youth slowly turned around, his cold blue eyes looking at the two remaining men, finding they were still in the same place.
However, after seeing their appearances, the youth understood why they remained rooted there.
One was frozen in sheer terror, the other still unconscious lying motionless on the ground.
The white-haired youth shook his head slightly, the toes of his right foot lifting up just a bit.
In the next second, there was a bang as the white-haired youth vanished from the spot, leaving a small cloud of dust where he had been.
"Shick!"
A flash of silver, the sound of a sword piercing flesh, and another head flew up into the air.
After dealing with the terrified man, the white-haired youth swung his sword to flick off the blood before sheathing it on his back.
He walked over to the unconscious man, examining his ruffian attire.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps approached and in the next second, a large group of Marines appeared from the alleys at both ends, surrounding that alleyway.
"Pirates! Don't move! You're already...?!?!"
After forming the encirclement, a Marine leading them stepped forward, sternly shouting out. However, halfway through his shout, he was stunned by the situation inside.
"Ah, you guys are late as usual." The white-haired youth shifted his gaze to the Marine leader, an insincere smile on his face.
"This is...Rear Admiral Zavia, you're at it again."
After a momentary pause, the Marine leader looked at the white-haired youth with a resigned expression, or rather, he looked at our protagonist Zavia.
"What do you mean 'at it again'? Look closely, I left one for you here."
Hearing the Marine leader's words, Zavia's expression showed a hint of displeasure before he pointed his sword at the man lying at his feet.
"Ah? You didn't kill them all?...Ah no, my apologies Rear Admiral Zavia!"
The Marine leader glanced at the man Zavia indicated, surprised to see he was still alive, before snapping to attention and saluting Zavia.
"Yeah yeah, just take this guy back. Give him harsh interrogation, he knows some things about the slave trade."
Zavia waved it off, showing he didn't care for such formalities, before giving orders to the Marine leader.
"Understood! You two, take the man back."
The Marine leader saluted again before directing two Marines behind him to secure the captive.
"Hmph, it's already been three months, huh? Time flies quickly."
After storing the Yamato Blade in his dimension bag, Zavia gazed up at the bright moon in the sky, murmuring to himself.
"Oh right, Rear Admiral Zavia, there was a message from headquarters five minutes ago but I told them you weren't here."
"Got it, I'll head back in a bit."
Suddenly remembering something, the Marine leader turned to Zavia, but he just waved him off before vanishing from the spot in the next second.
Watching Zavia disappear, the Marine leader could only sigh and shake his head before leading the other Marines away from the alley. As they were leaving, a small dragonfly appeared on a nearby trash pile.
Having used spatial teleportation to return to the rooftop, Zavia was now sitting on the edge, gazing up at the silvery white moon in the sky.
"It's been three months, huh...Come to think of it, I came to the One Piece world almost half a year ago."
Sitting on the edge, Zavia looked up at the bright moon, reminiscing about past events.
The surprising start when he first arrived in the One Piece world, luckily encountering Garp and joining the Marines, then awakening his abilities, training himself, participating in the competition, fighting against Zephyr, Yagwick's arrival to warn him.
Then Valona appeared, modifying everyone's memories. Zavia became a Rear Admiral in the Navy, becoming Zephyr's disciple and learning Observation and Armament Haki. Then a month ago, Zavia was assigned to this island...
After learning the two types of Haki from Zephyr, two months later Zavia graduated, and was then sent by Sengoku to this island to deal with the pirates there.
You might be wondering, with Zavia's strength, shouldn't he go to the second half of the Grand Line instead of staying here?
The answer is, this was Zavia's own request.
After becoming a Marine Rear Admiral, Zavia could access the archives room. In one file deep in the archives, it mentioned that this island Zavia was stationed on had a large number of missing persons cases that had gone unsolved for a long time with no leads on the mastermind behind them.
The file mentioning this was buried in the back, covered in dust when Zavia found and took it out.
No one cared about such a thing, so Zavia decided to handle it himself.
Originally Zavia thought Sengoku wouldn't agree and would insist Zavia go to the second half of the Grand Line instead. But Sengoku readily agreed, leaving Zavia speechless.
There were two reasons why Zavia wanted to come here. One was to deal with the pirates here and build his reputation in the Marines, even though he intended to eventually betray them in the end.
Two was to use these slave traders' connections to the black market underworld, as that information network could prove useful to Zavia. He had to understand that this was reality now, so unforeseen variables he didn't know about could appear.
Originally Zavia had planned to go directly to the Sabaody Archipelago since it was closest to the Lightning Demon Core's location. But after considering it, he decided against it.
Even if he went there, Zavia didn't think he could defeat the Lightning Core's guardian right now. Plus the guardian had home field advantage on that island, which would be extremely dangerous.
It was better to take his time experiencing the One Piece world first. He probably wouldn't get a chance to see the second half of the Grand Line, but he could at least witness some of the major events and famous locations in the first half.
Events like the renowned Marineford War or visiting the beautiful sky island, even though the sky island wasn't that famous.
In the process of experiencing all that while slowly growing stronger and exploring the potential of the Space Core's power, wouldn't that be good too?
However, although Zavia came to this place intending to find the local black market and slavers' underground boss, it had already been a month with no progress.
Not just finding the boss, he hadn't even gotten a lead on the black market itself. This made Zavia suspect - were these slavers not local but coming from elsewhere to periodically collect people?
It was a possibility, considering the large population on this sizeable island, so they wouldn't lack for supply.
Plus the former Marine commander here was corrupt, actually cooperating with the slavers for his own profit.
Thinking about it, Zavia couldn't help feeling exasperated.
"Nevermind, I should head back. That guy said there was some news about Marineford."
Shaking his head, Zavia stood up, glanced around, and then vanished from the spot in the next second.
Leaving only that dragonfly insect in the distance behind...
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
CollegeKid_V
CollegeKid_V Yo, I'm back. This chapter marks the start of the main story proper. This chapter was just the "calm before the storm." Going forward, the protagonist will encounter all sorts of people and events, some not even from the One Piece world itself. Lastly, I'd appreciate the collection and stones.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone