One Piece: The Legend of Beasts

The Valley of the Gods, some unknown corner.

"Hey! Listen carefully, the noise outside has suddenly become louder!"

As a shrill shout was heard, the slaves who were sitting in a circle on the grass and whispering to each other immediately stopped talking and turned their eyes to the young man leaning against the foot of the mountain.

The young man with purple afro and tattered clothes saw all the astonished eyes focused on him. He put his ear to the rock wall again. The sound transmitted through the rocks could clearly hear the crying and screaming from the outside world. His originally optimistic and cheerful face became heavy at this moment. "It sounds like those guys can't wait to start. It's really getting more and more infuriating... By the way, how is your eavesdropping, Ginny?"

When he said the last sentence, he turned his exaggeratedly large head and his eyes fell on the short man squatting alone on the lawn not far away.

"Hmm...wait a moment, little Ivan..."

The girl with short pink hair grumbled a little in dissatisfaction, and then focused on the Den Den Mushi in her right hand. Although she was covered in dirt, it did not affect her cuteness at all. Her big round eyes were bright and smart, and she stared at the two Den Den Mushi placed on the wooden stake in front of her seriously.

Everyone knew that this girl named Ginny was an expert in intelligence eavesdropping, so no one made a sound to disturb her during the process.

After a long time, Ginny's eyes suddenly lit up, as if she had suddenly discovered a treasure. She pushed up her glasses that were about to slide off her cheeks, waved her hands at everyone, and couldn't contain her excitement in her tone: "Yes! Yes! Many famous pirates have received the information I sent out, and are rushing towards the Valley of the Gods! Maybe they will be here in half an hour!"

Since she was missing a tooth, there was some leakage when she spoke, but the silent slaves could still hear her clearly. Most of them seemed to see hope. They trembled all over and cheered loudly, releasing the emotions that had been suppressed in their hearts for so long.

"Really? It's like a dream!"

"Does this mean that the time to say goodbye to this hell is coming?! I thought this day would never come!"

"Hey! Don't be too happy too soon! Those who are here are pirates! Even if we escape from the clutches of the Celestial Dragons, we will still die if we fall into their hands!"

"No matter who comes, it will be beneficial to us, right? As long as we steal the two fruits as Ivan and Ginny said, we will have a chance to escape!"

The scene was filled with noise. Some people were so excited that their faces were covered with tears and snot. Some people who had regained their composure tried to persuade their companions. The largest and most conspicuous teenager in the crowd also smiled with relief. Only a man sitting on a rock remained silent, staring at the iron handcuffs on his wrists.

When the noise of people talking became quieter and quieter until it stopped completely, the man raised his head little by little. His whole movement was as stiff as a machine, and a hoarse voice came out of his throat: "Thank you very much for your help, Miss Ginny. If you have already investigated, could you please tell me the names of those pirate groups?"

The man who had not said a word since the moment he arrived suddenly asked such a question, which made all the slaves stunned and look at him involuntarily.

The man was wrapped in bloody bandages, with only his eyes and mouth exposed. His skinny body was shaking and he looked weak. The area above his forehead was wrapped in dense bandages into a huge ball, leaving no gaps. People couldn't help but wonder what was hidden under the bandages.

However, no one present had similar thoughts, and no one thought that his outfit was out of place.

After all, many of the slaves gathered here were injured, and some even had sharp weapons stuck in their backs, with blood oozing out of the wounds.

Everything is just because of the whim of those in power.

Therefore, people are not surprised to see seriously injured patients covered in blood, and some even feel secretly sympathetic for the torture he has suffered.

Ginny knew him as a teammate with herself and Ivan. He was usually taciturn and gave people the impression that he was difficult to approach. It was all thanks to Ivan, who was good at livening up the atmosphere, who tried every means to strike up a conversation with him. In the end, apart from the name Nova, she didn't know any other information from him, such as which country he was from and how he was captured in the Valley of the Gods.

But it was this man of unknown origin who was the first to jump out and agree to little Ivan's request without hesitation, and went together to stop the slaves who were beating their companions.

This made Ginny feel a little fond of him, because except for little Ivan whom she had known for a long time, most slaves usually avoided disputes and conflicts, let alone stood up.

Besides, she still hasn't forgotten what happened not long ago.

Just as the sturdy man who was screaming in fear raised a spiked iron rod high up and smashed it on the boy who was lying unconscious on the ground, a sharp wind suddenly sounded in his ears, and then the big man stood still as if he had been electrocuted, and the iron rod slipped out of his hand and fell to the grass with a clang.

Although she didn't see it with her own eyes, Ginny, who had an extraordinary observation ability since childhood, quickly noticed that the wind was blowing from their direction. Through the surveillance of the Den Den Mushi, she confirmed that no one else was following them. Even the agile little Ivan might not be able to disarm the opponent on the spot from a long distance.

The only one left was the sickly-looking man.

——Why would such a powerful guy sneak into the ranks of slaves?

With this strange thought, Ginny patted her chest and gave the answer that person wanted to know: "No problem, I have investigated everything very clearly! Among them are the Red Scorpion Pirates, the Celtic Pirates, the Blissca Pirates, the Obsidian Pirates..."

After saying a series of names that confused everyone, Ginny's tone suddenly became serious: "And the most feared pirates in the world, the Rocks Pirates and the Roger Pirates!"

Most of the slaves gathered here were civilians from all over the world, and they only had a vague understanding of these two names, but the man named Nova was shocked and staggered to his feet. His empty eyes seemed to bloom with color at this moment, and he murmured: "Are you here? Are you finally here?... Thank you, Miss Ginny..."

"I won't be happy even if you praise me like this!" Being suddenly praised by a stranger, even a little girl like Ginny couldn't help but feel proud. She scratched the back of her head and smiled, her eyes curved into crescent shapes.

"Ahem! Ahem! Let's get back to the topic!"

The young man, whose full name was Ivankov, coughed twice, then leaped in front of everyone, opened his arms and said loudly: "Anyway, just follow our plan just now. Those who are not capable of fighting will hide here temporarily! When those pirates create chaos on the island, Big Bear and I will take the opportunity to run to the center of the venue and steal the two fruits. If everything goes well, it won't be difficult to leave here!"

"Okay, I'll try my best!" The largest boy named Big Bear nodded seriously.

"Include me, too, Ivan-chan!"

A tall man with a strange complexion and a mouthful of sharp teeth raised his right hand, "I've also learned a little bit of self-defense, it shouldn't be a problem to protect you over there!"

"No~No~No~"

Ivankov shook his head and said three negative words in a row, obviously firmly opposing the man's proposal. "Too many people going there will make it too conspicuous. All you have to do is protect these powerless people, fishman boy!"

The young man's seemingly casual words seemed to stimulate everyone's ears, and they immediately became noisy.

"We are powerless?! Don't underestimate us!"

"Those bastards have been playing tricks on us for so long, it would be unreasonable not to teach them a lesson!"

"Be it the Celestial Dragons or the Navy! If anyone dares to attack my companions, ask this steel rod of mine first!"

"That's right! Little sister Ginny has helped us so much, we will never let her be killed!"

"Brother Big Bear was beaten so badly by a bunch of hopeless guys like us, and he even repaid us with ingratitude. We must do something for him!"

Looking at the slaves who were in high spirits and ready to fight, which were very different from their dejected appearance a few minutes ago, Ivankov couldn't help but smile. He turned around and made a victory gesture to his little friend. Ginny immediately understood and stretched out her right index and middle fingers to make the same gesture.

Through Ivankov's righteous analysis just now, the slaves have gradually realized that they will not be able to survive in the hunting meeting no matter what, and the so-called "restoration of freedom" is just a lie they made up for the sake of pursuit of excitement.

And they felt more or less guilty for beating a nine-year-old child to death and causing him to faint in order to save his own life.

Even the three children are working tirelessly towards freedom, so as adults they naturally don't want to fall behind.

Ivankov, who was well versed in human nature, saw this and deliberately chose the right time to provoke the enemy, which turned out to be just as successful as he expected.

However, this is a natural development for him. If one's mind is filled with only relying on the charity of others, and even the most basic desire to survive is discarded, how can we talk about freedom and miracles for such a person?

At this moment, someone suddenly shouted, "Huh? Why is the guy with bandages all over his body gone?!"

Everyone was startled when they heard his scream, and looked in the direction he was looking, only to see that the man who had been standing on the boulder had disappeared at some point, leaving only a pair of handcuffs casually placed on the rock, broken into pieces.

Everyone looked at each other, and the scene fell into silence for a moment. The shark man was so shocked that beads of sweat slid down his back, leaving obvious sweat stains on his clothes.

You know, even with his proud bite force, it took a lot of effort to bite through the handcuffs made of pure iron, and his teeth are still aching now.

And that seemingly fragile guy actually broke free from his restraints without anyone noticing and even disappeared? This made him feel that his three views had been overturned.

After a long while, a middle-aged man with messy hair asked suspiciously, "Did that young man come with you two? Is he familiar with you? Will he go and tell on you?"

A series of questions made Ivankov, who was in a daze, even more confused. Although he wanted to believe the man named Nova, he couldn't think of any convincing reasons in a short time. He scratched his huge afro anxiously and was about to say something when Ginny beside him answered first: "Don't worry, Nova is definitely not that kind of person. In fact, the reason why we can speak freely here is thanks to him!"

"Then what evidence do you have to prove that he won't suddenly change his mind?" another bearded man asked coldly, his tone also full of distrust. There was a bloody bullet hole on his shoulder. If he wasn't strong enough, he would probably have fainted by now.

"intuition."

Ginny stood up and answered without hesitation, "If we can't even trust our companions in times of trouble, how can we talk about working together?"

The girl's innocent face was filled with seriousness. Even Ivankov did not expect his usually carefree companion to say such a thing. He was deeply moved. He bent his head at a 45-degree angle to the grass, raised his hands and shouted, "That's right! Trust is the driving force that promotes our cooperation! Now that the super awesome guy has started to act, we have to give it a try. We can't waste the opportunity he fought for us!"

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, knowing that Ivankov was not only encouraging everyone, but also hinting that if Nova was really an undercover sent by the government to monitor them, then with his strength, he could get rid of everyone present at any time. So they simply stopped thinking about it and responded in unison with the boy's rhythm.

Seeing that Ivankov had successfully calmed everyone's emotions, Ginny breathed a sigh of relief, and without anyone noticing, her brows suddenly furrowed.

In fact, she had another reason that she couldn't say.

On the day when they were called to form a team, when the fat-faced Celestial Dragon was explaining to them in a gruff voice what they needed to know, Ginny became a little impatient and couldn't help looking around.

Then she saw a pair of eyes.

A pair of eyes dotted on the haphazardly tied bandages, radiating a mixture of resentment and anger.

It was like two sharp blades exuding an icy chill and revealing an unconcealable murderous intent.

Whenever she recalled those eyes, Ginny still felt a chill down her spine and she would hold her head and tremble all over.

If what Ivankov says is true, the driving force behind their actions is trust.

Then what drives that person to act is hatred that is like an endless abyss.