Chương 23: The Hell Kingdom
As is customary on these seas, after they achieved victory, Viktor and his crew had a banquet. While everyone was partying, Viktor did a headcount and to his astonishment, he realized that they didn't lose anyone in the previous battle!
While there were several people wrapped in bandages, no one was seriously injured. Viktor called Blitzo over and asked him how everyone managed to come away from the battle relatively unscathed.
" Well, the Butcher pirates only had about 50 people to begin with and you and Raven took out over a dozen of them pretty quickly and they were the only ones with guns. We outnumbered them over 2:1 and they only had swords, so we didn't suffer any immediate losses."
" Then you and Raven managed to take down the captain and vice-captain in quick succession in only a couple of minutes. This caused the rest of the Butcher pirates to panic, and they tried to run away. This made them easy targets and we managed to wipe out the rest."
" Oh, it all makes sense now. I was thinking that you guys were actually badass warriors, but it turns out you were just cleaning up after me and Raven's MVP performance."
With his question answered, Viktor joined in the banquet once again and they partied all night long.
Viktor and his crew then departed on the Butcher pirates ship as their previous ship was filled with cannonballs and was barely seaworthy.
As is customary on the sea, they had a funeral for the ship, although since they were only aboard it for a short time, there was no crying like there was for the Going Merry. Their ship was in fact, just a ship, unlike the Going Merry, which any One Piece fan will tell you, wasn't just a ship bro.
Since there was only half a day's journey to the Hell Kingdom, Blitzo explained the situation of the Hell Kingdom to Viktor and the rest of the crew.
It turns out that the Hell Kingdom is divided into three main sections: the mortal world, he'll, and heaven. Blitzo, Moxie, Millie, and Luna were from the hell region, while everyone else was from the mortal region.
The three regions are separated from each other by a massive wall that puts the Berlin Wall from the cold war Era to shame. As the wall suggests, unless you have a permit, which is extremely difficult to get, travel from the hell region to the other regions is illegal.
It was only by chance that Blitzo and IMP managed to find a hole in the wall and escape from there. However, they weren't able to enjoy their freedom for long and were captured by slave traders.
As the name suggests, the hell region is inhabited by sinners. Once someone commits a crime, they are banished to the hell region, never to be seen in the mortal world again.
Once they arrive in the hell region, a sinner will be chipped with an explosive similar to the explosive collar employed by the celestial dragons. Once a sinner leaves the boundaries of the hell region, his or her head will be blown to smithereens and die. There's not a single sinner that's managed to escape the hell region, at least to Blitzo's knowledge.
Aside from the sinners, there are the hell spawn, which includes the entirety of IMP. Hell spawn are the offspring of sinners and aren't chipped, so they won't die if they leave the hell region.
For visitors of the Hell Kingdom like Raven and Viktor, they have to pay a small fee of 10000 berries in order to have temporary citizenship and have access to all of the mortal realm. Unfortunately, if you get into conflict with a citizen, the police won't be on your side, to say the least.
If you want to have the privilege of being a citizen, then you'll have to spend 1 million berries to do so. However, there is an upside to doing this. In the Hell Kingdom, money can buy you almost anything. It doesn't matter who you are, as long as you spend the 1 million berries, you'll be given citizenship immediately with no background check. Also, because you spend money, you'll have more rights than the average citizen. The more money you spend, the higher your status.
In other words, as long as Viktor and Raven bought citizenship, they'd be safe from persecution from the law, within reason of course. If Viktor or Raven were caught killing someone in broad daylight, they'd be marked as sinners and sent to the hell region.
If Viktor or Raven wanted to enter the hell region, their status as civilians would allow them to. However, this would be a limited pass for only a couple days. If they wanted to extend their stay, they'd have to spend more money.
As for the heaven region, not much is known about it. Supposedly, it's populated by the righteous and they live in the lap of luxury. However, their criteria for judging who's righteous is unclear.
As for all the other crew members, they were already citizens to begin with, so they wouldn't need to pay for citizenship. Unlike other countries where paper documents are proof of citizenship, the Hell Kingdom employs a practice similar to the celestial dragon's slave seal and tattoo their citizens with the national flag when they turn 5. It's only to distinguish those of different classes that paperwork is required. The hell spawn have a similar mark to identify them as hell spawn.
Eventually, Viktor and crew arrived at the Hell Kingdom, and they entered customs. Blitzo and the rest of IMP showed their hell spawn markings, and they were immediately escorted back to the hell region. Blitzo left an address to meet him when Viktor and Raven visit the hell region.
The rest of the crew showed their citizen markings, and they were cleared for entry into the mortal region. It was only when Viktor and Raven tried to apply for citizenship that a problem arose. They tried to give their total fee of 2 million berries to the customs official, but the customs official saw they were kids and tried to extort them.
" I'm so sorry to tell you this, but the fee for citizenship has gone up. It's now 1.1 million berries per person. You can pay for that, right? " The customs official said to them with a greedy smile.
While this may have worked on ordinary kids, Viktor and Raven were far from ordinary. Raven tried to unleash her devil fruit ability on him, but Viktor stopped her before she could finish chanting. Then Viktor used a feint and used his enhanced body to put his hand on the customs official's shoulder without his movement being seen.
Viktor whispered into the customs official's ear menacingly while unleashing his murderous aura he accumulated from the lives he took, " Are you sure the fee has gone up? You wouldn't be trying to scam us, would you? Because that would be very bad for you. After all, I could kill you within a blink of an eye; you wouldn't even realize it happened until you died. Even if you tried to use a gun, your reaction time would simply be to slow. "
Raven copied Viktor's example and put her hand on the customs official's other shoulder while releasing her murderous aura.
" Cmon Viktor, why are you being merciful with this guy. For daring to screw us over, he deserves the severest of punishments. To start with, I suggest slowly severing all his limbs, including his fifth limb. "
" Why are you always obsessed with cutting off male genitalia? It always makes me sorry for the guy."
At this point, the customs official was sweating buckets and about to faint because of Viktor and Raven's murderous aura and their threats. He stammered, " There's no need to be so hasty. I just remembered that I was mistaken. The fee is still 1 million berries per person. "
Upon hearing this, Viktor and Raven stopped their murderous aura, and Viktor told the customs official, " Oh really, that's great. You know what, you don't seem to be looking too good. Why don't I give you an extra 1000 berries for your troubles? That sound good to you Raven? "
Raven reluctantly agreed and the customs official relief was evident on his face and quickly let them into the mortal region, hoping to never have to deal with those little demons ever again.
Once they were in the mortal region with the rest of the crew, Raven asked Viktor, " Why did you give him a tip? For trying to scam us, he should've covered part of the costs of citizenship at the very least? "
Viktor sighed, " You still need more experience dealing with other people. That customs official was clearly greedy and corrupt. While he was scared by our threats, his greed may outweigh his fear of us if we tried to extort him ourselves and cause a commotion. He is after all part of the government and any government is concerned about its face, so it would take a lot of time and money to smooth the incident over. This way, he won't exacerbate the situation and instead want to steer clear of us from now on. "
Raven pouted, " Alright, I see your point. It just leaves bad taste in my mouth that the customs official got off scott free like that. "
" Oh, sweet summer child, he didn't get off scott free. He definitely considers us little demons and I doubt he'll get much sleep tonight. He'll probably even have nightmares about you carrying out your threats. Does that thought make you feel better?
Raven nodded and they joined their crew in the mortal region. Once they got settled in their temporary housing, Raven and Viktor set off to visit Blitzo and IMP in the hell region. They needed money and the hell region offered quick money to those strong enough to keep it.
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