Chapter 34: What Fills the Heart

Seeing the Marines arrive, Xiang Gaowen couldn't help but feel the urge to retreat.

The battle had dragged on until now, and he had already delayed Smoker's advance for several hours.

If after such a long stretch of time, Keluo still hadn't found a way to escape or hide his tracks, then this vice-captain of his should consider swapping him out.

Thinking of this.

Xiang Gaowen turned to leave, but his gaze paused briefly upon noticing a familiar figure within the white smoke.

Ah Jin, already gravely wounded, had now completely lost the strength to resist, lying helpless on the ground, blood flowing from the wounds on his body.

Only the slight rise and fall of his chest still proved that Ah Jin was still alive.

"Lucky bastard."

Xiang Gaowen curled his lip, and in the next instant vanished from the spot; along with him vanished Ah Jin's body as well.

……

Crow Harbor.

As the battle ended, the lingering smoke and dust gradually dispersed, and Tashigi led a group of Marines swiftly down from the warship.

"Colonel Smoker, how did the battle go?"

"The Knight Xiang Gaowen is a very dangerous fellow — more dangerous than us, more dangerous than the Marines anticipated."

Smoker gazed toward the spot where Xiang Gaowen had vanished, his expression utterly solemn:

"I have a premonition — if we can't keep him in East Blue, in a few years the New World might just produce another figure like Red-Hair."

As he spoke, Smoker raised his arm.

Only then did he discover that the fingers gripping the jitte had been trembling ceaselessly.

He clenched his five fingers into a fist and said coldly:

"Crow Harbor has no other outlet to the sea. First, have the port sealed off — only let people in, no one out."

"Also, bring out my spare jitte."

Tashigi was taken aback and reminded him:

"That spare one has no seastone component, so both its hardness and its ability to suppress ability users are greatly reduced."

"That's the one I want."

"You mean the opponent even took your weapon?"

Tashigi drew a sharp breath, yet in her heart she was extremely wary of this Knight Xiang Gaowen she had never met.

She knew Smoker's strength all too well — even among his peers he was a top-tier existence; placing him in East Blue was a pure waste of talent.

Someone who could beat Smoker into complete submission and even have his weapon taken — placed on the Grand Line, that would be a ruthless character.

"Colonel Smoker, exactly—!"

Tashigi had only just begun to press further when she saw her superior's face darken, nearly biting through the two cigars in his mouth:

"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask!"

"Yes!"

Tashigi instinctively straightened up, and while pondering, Smoker's voice, low as a mosquito's hum, reached her ear:

"Right, find a couple of men and see if they can fish my seastone jitte up for me — should be around that spot. After all, it was specially forged, not cheap, worth a few years of my salary."

"Huh?"

Tashigi's face was a picture of utter bewilderment.

"So it was knocked into the sea by the opponent?"

Smoker sighed:

"I already told you not to ask — I threw it in!"

Tashigi's face was blank with confusion.

What kind of move was that?

Smoker simply skipped the topic and turned his gaze toward the port, which had caught fire in the distance:

"Also, split off some Marines to help the guards in the port with rescue efforts."

"Yes."

Smoker nodded, then turned his solemn gaze toward the spot where Xiang Gaowen had vanished:

"I'll personally lead a team to search the port. This time we must keep that fellow here — otherwise, letting him reach the Grand Line would be our disgrace."

Very soon.

Under Tashigi's lead, columns of Marines scattered throughout the port — both rescuing the civilians and conducting a carpet search of every place inside the port where someone could hide.

From the residential district, to the commercial district, to the black market on the outskirts — aside from catching a few fugitives, they found nothing.

The next morning.

The sun gradually rose, sunlight poured into the port, and the situation gradually came under the Marines' control.

Smoker listened to the intelligence Tashigi reported back, glanced again at the map of Crow Harbor, and slightly furrowed his brow:

"You're saying that before us, there was another group of Marines rescuing civilians in the port?"

"That's right."

Tashigi nodded:

"But strangely, after our people took over the port, these people began to leave in an organized fashion — and in the end, we still don't know which base they're from."

"Colonel Smoker, do you think they might be people left behind by Colonel Mouse?"

Smoker scoffed:

"Compared to a scoundrel like Mouse, I'd rather believe they're pirates in disguise."

"Still, even though we don't know which base they're from, they probably aren't enemies. The pressing matter right now is still to capture Knight Xiang Gaowen!"

As he spoke, Smoker pointed his finger at the core location on the map:

"Now, the only place we haven't searched is the Lord's Mansion."

"This..."

Tashigi hesitated slightly:

"We don't have an internal search warrant. Acting directly against the Lord's Mansion would be against the rules."

"Rules?"

Smoker sneered coldly:

"How many times in the past have we, because of these meaningless things, watched pirates escape with our own eyes, only for them to incite new chaos in the next place?"

"These rigid things should have been burned down long ago. Catching pirates and crushing evil is the rule!"

"Follow me!"

"Yes!"

At the same time.

Inside the Lord's Mansion.

When the Navy forces led by Tashigi arrived at the port, Xiang Keluo had his subordinates retreat to the Lord's Mansion in an organized manner. Now, almost everyone from Xiang Gaowen's pirate crew had gathered here.

The mansion's doctor was treating everyone's wounds.

It was just that the wounds on their bodies were minor; the complex expressions in everyone's eyes appeared far more genuine.

"I never expected that this time, our mission wouldn't be to plunder or flee on the opportunity, but to save people."

A pirate who originally belonged to Xiang Keluo's faction took a long-deformed candy from his chest, his expression somewhat wistful.

"The look on that girl's face when I rescued her from beneath the ruins... I'll never forget it in my life."

"Ah, even though we didn't attack nearby towns while following Captain Xiang Gaowen before, those people still looked at us with fear written all over their faces."

"You don't know. That old lady even held my hand and said she wanted to marry her daughter to me. This is truly..."

"How could she marry a pirate?"

"Hahahaha~"

As everyone discussed their experiences of the day, they felt their hearts gradually filled with something they had never felt before. As they spoke, tears even began to glisten in the corners of their eyes.

Xiang Keluo observed coldly from the side, murmuring:

"This conduct doesn't seem like that of pirates~"

"But they are satisfied, aren't they?"

Jazha looked at the group of pirates wearing Navy uniforms, a faint smile rising on his face:

"After all, they are subordinates of Mr. Xiang Gaowen. They are ultimately different from other pirates. That man, who was once a Kingdom Knight, even after losing his knightly status, still adheres to the spirit of a knight."

"Hmph."

Xiang Keluo offered no comment, but mentioning Xiang Gaowen, a trace of worry inevitably appeared on his face:

"The battle in the port has stopped for a long time. Don't die in a place like this..."

Bang!

The door to the Lord's Mansion was pushed open, and Xiang Gaowen, carrying Arkin, appeared before everyone.

"You guy, are you in such a hurry to inherit my ant flower... pfft, are you in such a hurry to inherit my position?"

(End of this chapter)