Staring at the panicked figures before him in the prison cells, clad in plain, ordinary clothes, Will furrowed his brow, a few guesses flickering through his mind.
After a moment of silent contemplation, he cut straight to the point and asked, "All of you here—are you prisoners?"
Perhaps sensing that Will harbored no ill intent, and noting that he didn't resemble a marine, the tension in the air shifted slightly. From among the crowd in the cells, a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard mustered his courage, his voice trembling as he replied, "N-No… we're not prisoners…"
"We're just ordinary townsfolk… from a few coastal villages in the Conomi Islands…"
"A while back… those marines showed up out of nowhere. Didn't say a word—just dragged us onto their warships…"
"Then they brought us all back here… and locked us up in this place…"
As the man finished speaking, Will's towering figure showed no signs of hostility. Emboldened by this, others in the nearby cells began to step forward, adding their own pieces to the story. Some even recounted the marines' usual behavior and snippets of idle chatter they'd overheard from the soldiers.
It was clear the marines stationed here had grown arrogant beyond measure. After rounding up these townsfolk, they hadn't shown the slightest hint of caution. The guards assigned to the cells didn't even care if their conversations were overheard—perhaps because they assumed these ordinary people had no chance of escaping. To them, precautions were pointless.
From the townsfolk's words, Will pieced together a wealth of critical information. The theories he'd initially entertained crumbled, replaced by a fresh wave of questions.
The Navy didn't have some monthly quota requiring them to capture a set number of pirates. There was no reason for them to go out of their way to seize so many innocent civilians without cause. Yet, the fact that they'd gone to such lengths to abduct these people suggested there was some specific, unusual purpose behind it.
Will's brow creased deeper as he struggled to pinpoint the key to this puzzle. After a moment of brooding, he decided further speculation was a waste of time—he'd approach it from another angle.
Clang!
Seeing the townsfolk had fallen silent, Will raised his hand and swiped it across the iron lock on the cell door, slicing through it effortlessly. He repeated the motion on the neighboring cells, one by one.
The ordinary townsfolk gaped in astonishment. Those locks were thicker than a grown man's thumb, yet this stranger had severed them with a casual flick of his fingers.
Will paid no mind to their reactions. Gazing at the nervous faces around him, he spoke calmly, "Come on. I'll get you out of here."
With that, he turned and headed toward the hidden passage he'd used to enter. The villagers exchanged hesitant glances, none daring to step out of their cells immediately—doubt still lingered in their hearts.
One of them edged toward the cell door and, summoning his courage, called out, "Uh… benefactor, what about the marines up there?"
Will paused mid-step, his tone steady as he replied, "Don't worry. There are no marines left up there."
He resumed walking without another word.
The villagers wavered, uncertainty flickering in their eyes. After all, that rat-faced marine colonel who'd captured them had been surrounded by a small army of soldiers. Now this man claimed the coast was clear? They couldn't tell if it was truth or bluff.
Having witnessed the Navy's ugliness firsthand, the townsfolk's wariness had sharpened considerably. But after a tense wait, their longing for freedom finally overpowered their fear of the marines.
Led by a handful of the braver souls, they stepped out of the cells and cautiously followed the path Will had taken.
Meanwhile, Will, who'd already retraced his steps through the passage, emerged outside and paused, lost in thought. His gaze sharpened as it settled on the tallest building nearby. Without hesitation, he turned and strode toward it.
Will figured a man like Colonel Rat wouldn't tolerate anyone standing higher than him on his own turf. His office had to be at the highest point in the Navy's 16th Branch.
And as it turned out, he was right.
Entering the tallest structure, Will smashed through walls and climbed past several floors until he reached the top. Pushing open the only door there, he stepped inside.
The moment he entered, his eyes were assaulted by an array of rat-themed trinkets and decorations—each one distinct in style and design.
"Just how obsessed is that guy with rats…?" Will muttered under his breath, utterly baffled by the fixation.
Shaking off the thought, he got down to business, scouring the room for anything resembling secret mission files or confidential reports.
A few moments later, his thorough search paid off. Tucked away in a hidden compartment, he found several classified documents—and, to his surprise, a detailed floor plan of the 16th Branch base.
Without a second thought, he tore into the files, reading each word with care.
But the further he read, the tighter his frown grew.
The documents outlined a secret transport mission, complete with a precise nautical chart. They detailed schedules, quantities, and destinations for transporting certain "special cargo."
On such-and-such date, escort 150 prisoners to the Kingdom of Bridges, Tequila Wolf, to be handed over to…
On such-and-such date, escort 200 prisoners to the Kingdom of Bridges…
In such-and-such year and month, escort 300 prisoners…
…escort 120 prisoners…
…escort 130 prisoners…
The records spanned pages.
To an outsider, it might seem like pirates were running rampant in these waters. But Will, now armed with the truth, immediately connected the dots to the ordinary townsfolk locked in the dungeon below.
The pieces he couldn't figure out earlier clicked into place.
A cold glint flashed in his eyes as the full picture emerged. "They really don't see these civilians as human…"
Staring at the documents in his hands, Will felt as though the words on the page were stitching themselves together into two chilling characters: "Cannibalism."
The Navy's true purpose in abducting these innocent people was to meet a quota of "prisoners" for the Kingdom of Bridges' secretive transport mission.
For Colonel Rat to covertly snatch so many from the Conomi Islands, he couldn't have avoided dealing with the region's overlord—the fishman Arlong. This suggested their relationship went far beyond mere bribery.
Clearly, Arlong and Colonel Rat were entangled in a large-scale, long-term human trafficking operation. It was even likely that when Arlong and his fishmen razed villages unable to pay their "tribute," they didn't kill everyone—some were spared, sold off to the colonel for an extra profit. A win-win deal.
As Will pieced together these grim details, he couldn't hold back a low, bitter growl: "This world is far too filthy!"
--
Support me & read more advance & fast update chapter on my patreon:
pat reon .com/yuuwand