Chapter 143: New Emblem: Warlord of the Sea!

As news of Xiang Gaowen's return spread, more and more commoners spontaneously rushed here, calling out Xiang Gaowen's name on their own, their faces marked with clear smiles and respect.

"These commoners..."

Zephyr momentarily froze.

He had seen such looks countless times in the eyes of commoners he had saved before.

But even all those combined could not compare to the shock of this scene before him.

"To feel genuine respect for a pirate?!"

"The last man to achieve such a thing was Whitebeard, but that was because he truly regarded the people within his territory as family."

Zephyr murmured softly:

"Another unconventional... pirate?"

Fujitora, standing nearby, revealed a faint smile at the corner of his mouth:

"Mr. Zephyr."

"What you see now is just the tip of the iceberg; once you truly delve deeper into this place, into the suffering of those commoners, and even the pirates."

"Perhaps you will have a different feeling."

Zephyr remained silent.

Binz and Smoker, having bandaged their wounds and regained consciousness, likewise stared at this scene in a daze.

The former was shocked that a pirate could receive such reverence from the local commoners, while the latter recalled his experiences from a few months ago, feeling only bitterness in his heart.

After all, such events, such reactions, should logically appear when facing a hero, not when facing a pirate, shouldn't they?

"Regarding a pirate as a hero? How absurd."

"No!"

Binz shook his head, unable to accept the scene before him:

"Smoker, I don't understand..."

"Because that man truly saved this place."

Smoker gritted his teeth and said.

But the more this was so, the less he understood why such a person would do such things.

Finally.

He looked toward Xiang Gaowen:

"Why?"

"Why would a man like you allow your subordinates to do such things?"

"Merely because of a few guards..."

"Merely because of a few guards?"

Xiang Gaowen raised an eyebrow, his tone turning slightly colder:

"Guards are human too."

"In my eyes, there is no difference between them and you, and me, and the king, and those pigs in Mary Geoise who deem themselves gods."

"If he can kill using the power in his hands due to a momentary displeasure, why can I not kill him due to my own displeasure?"

"How much damage would a king who kills at whim cause to a nation, and how many people would die because of it?"

"You should know better than I!"

Smoker's breath hitched; he felt as if a stone were pressing on his chest.

Was I wrong?!

Was I truly wrong?!

"But regardless, the death of a king will cause turmoil in a nation, casualties..."

Xiang Gaowen curled the corner of his mouth into a sneer:

"So, did the Goa Kingdom fall into turmoil?"

"Oteluk III suppressed the rebellion within the Goa Kingdom in merely three days; apart from a few rebellious nobles being executed, everything else remained as before."

"The death of that so-called King Sterry was no different from the death of his guards."

"Then why has there never been a king or noble punished for offending commoners?"

While saying these words, Xiang Gaowen was staring at Zephyr:

"With no fairness, how can there be any justice?!"

On the deck.

Zephyr, Binz, Smoker, along with the group of Marines beside them, all instantly lowered their heads; no one knew how to refute, nor did anyone dare to refute.

A pirate captain, moreover one who had just killed the former king of the Goa Kingdom, was now lecturing a group of Marines, including a former Fleet Admiral, until they were speechless.

Such a scene could already be called absurd, yet now it was truly appearing before everyone's eyes.

"I..."

"I will find the true path the Marines should take!"

Zephyr spoke with difficulty.

Xiang Gaowen, however, no longer had the mind to listen to Zephyr's explanations.

He turned his head to look toward Raven Port.

There, standing at the front of the crowd, were the officers and ordinary members of the Xiang Gaowen Pirates.

Upon hearing news of Xiang Gaowen's return, everyone had put down their current tasks to gather here and welcome their king!

And news of Xiang Gaowen becoming a Warlord of the Sea had long spread throughout the port.

With the cover of being a Warlord of the Sea, Gaza simply stopped pretending and directly raised Xiang Gaowen's flag within Raven Port.

High above.

A round shield as the base, bearing a pirate flag printed with a skull.

It fluttered in the wind at the most conspicuous spot in the port, drawing countless onlookers to stop and watch.

The bounties on Xiang Gaowen, Akin, Xiang Keluo, the Cat-Man brothers, Zhan Gao, and others were cancelled starting now.

At least until the Seven Warlords system was truly abolished, with this flag present, no one in the East Blue or even the Grand Line's Paradise dared to attack Raven Port.

Thinking of the recent changes, everyone in Xiang Gaowen's pirate crew felt as if they were dreaming.

Reality, through the Martial Arts Tournament, revitalized tourism and commerce around Raven Port; not only Xiang Gaowen's pirate crew, but even the commoners nearby made a small profit.

Life would be worry-free for the next year, or even several years.

Next came the peak duel between Xiang Keluo and Akin; both exhausted themselves to a draw and split the prize.

Just as everyone thought it was all over, even more explosive news arrived: Xiang Gaowen replaced Gecko Moria as a Warlord of the Sea.

When Xiang Keluo heard the news, he was completely stunned.

In the plan he had drawn up, this goal would have required reaching the Grand Line, or even the New World.

Now, before even leaving the East Blue, Xiang Gaowen had already become one of the very top figures on the pirate pyramid.

"I can read this guy less and less..."

"How many more surprises can he bring me?"

Xiang Keluo's soft whisper made Akin, standing beside him, smile slightly as he spoke:

"Hasn't the Captain always been like this?"

"You can never guess what that man is thinking, nor know when he will shatter your understanding."

"But one thing is beyond doubt: he absolutely deserves that throne!"

"No!"

"That throne has been waiting for him!"

Zoro, looking at the man standing on the deck, even felt a kind of illusion.

Perhaps.

By the time I defeat Mihawk, there will still be a long, despairing distance between me and the Captain.

"What nonsense am I saying!"

Sanji glanced at him, then looked at Xiang Gaowen, feeling that no matter what, he could not read the man before him:

"Just how strong is that guy now?"

"Who knows?!"

Surrounded by the crowd, Xiang Gaowen jumped down from the warship, exchanged greetings with Xiang Keluo and the others, then headed toward Red Dragon Street.

Jasha arranged for Zephyr and the others to stay in a building within the port, waiting for the Marines to come and take them away; meanwhile, Xiang Gaowen kept his promise, granting Zephyr the authority to act independently.

This allowed him to witness firsthand what a port under pirate rule looked like, and how the experiences these pirates had walked through differed from his judgments.

As for that warship...

It was naturally Xiang Gaowen's spoils of war.

A few minutes later.

Xiang Gaowen returned to his residence.

The verbal barrage he had just unleashed on Zephyr and Smoker had let Xiang Gaowen vent his pent-up frustration.

Especially after seeing the wretched state of the three of them, it was even more so.

Now, what concerned him was only the system prompt that had appeared before him upon entering the port:

"Congratulations on unlocking the Badge - Warlord of the Sea!"

"Unlock the Experience Piggy Bank, which can convert your own excess or invalid experience into General Experience at a 3:1 ratio."

"General Experience will be automatically distributed according to the effort level of your subordinates' cultivation."

"In other words, abilities like Sniping, which aren't very useful to me, or Navigation, which I've already grinded to the maximum potential limit, can be converted into General Experience to boost my subordinates' cultivation speed?"

After clarifying the ability of the new badge, Xiang Gaowen's expression became somewhat complex.

The existence of the new badge solved a problem currently facing Xiang Gaowen's pirate crew: as Xiang Gaowen improved rapidly, the assistance his subordinates could provide had become increasingly small.

Even Xiang Keluo, the strongest among them, was still a bit short of the Bai Yin level; the others were even further behind.

Once they encountered a powerful, well-rounded pirate crew like the Beasts Pirates, with evenly distributed combat power from top to bottom, Xiang Gaowen would find himself in a situation where a single tree cannot support the forest.

Now, with the existence of the Experience Piggy Bank, everyone's growth speed would be faster; with their talents, a qualitative transformation would soon follow.

However, the Experience Piggy Bank would also bring a brand new problem: the total amount of experience Xiang Gaowen himself could obtain would decrease.

But.

Regarding this problem.

Xiang Gaowen already had a solution in mind.

"At worst, it's just recruiting a few more people; there are few talented individuals in the East Blue, but once in the Grand Line, there are plenty."

"The Supernovas who fought their way out alongside Luffy alone are a large group of usable leeks; their lowest potential starts at Bai Yin, and those like Law and Kid start at Gold."

"The difficulty of recruiting them is much greater, but the choices are also more numerous."

The next day.

Xiang Gaowen told Jasha about his plan to remodel the pirate crew based on the warship.

After Jasha brought in a shipwright to evaluate it, the shipwright also favored this plan.

At this moment, in the harbor.

The shipwright gazed at the Marine warship before him, his eyes as if admiring a work of art:

"Whether in its very structure or the internal arrangement of firepower, it is so perfect it seems plucked straight from a tale."

"It can be put to immediate use after only simple modifications and the removal of any potential tracking methods within, such as surveillance Den Den Mushi."

"Even without a more detailed inspection, one can judge that this vessel's performance far surpasses that of the ship we are currently building."

"The hull's bottom even employs an alloy I have never heard of; its strength is immense, yet its weight is surprisingly light—damn strange!"

Xiang Gaowen naturally knew what that was.

Marine warships, especially those of the Grand Line and the New World, are designed from the outset to account for the Sea Kings omnipresent in their sailing environments.

Thus, when constructing such vessels, Seastone components are incorporated into the hull for camouflage.

Coupled with the Marines' centuries of accumulated technology and Vegapunk's constant output of black technology, to be honest, Xiang Gaowen wouldn't find it surprising if the Marines someday produced an aircraft carrier.

(End of Chapter)