Steel Blade was indeed a formidable man.
Garen confirmed this through the experience bar: the experience gained from defeating Steel Blade alone was more than that from the dozen or so pirate grunts he had slain before.
And since the experience needed for early-level upgrades wasn't much, his level indicator jumped from 2 to 3 in an instant.
His third learnable skill was unlocked: [Courage] — "Garen steels himself with courage for 6 seconds, reducing damage taken by 40% during this time."
This skill, too, was slightly different from the original game's version — simple but powerful.
Delighted, Garen gladly accepted this self-defense divine skill and then turned his slightly murderous gaze to the remaining pirate grunts.
Imagine this: a man who had just been shot through the heart, had his throat cut by a blade, now stood tall, clad in armor drenched in crimson blood, raising high the door-sized greatsword that had just pierced their boss — and looked at them from afar.
"Mo-monster!"
The grunts responded in the most genuine way.
Their legs went weak, faces pale, and none of them dared move a muscle.
One of them, having slightly better nerves, quickly regained control of his body — and bolted like a stray dog fleeing for its life.
"Wings of Justice!"
Garen showed no mercy and unleashed his ancestral technique once again.
The greatsword flew out, smashing the fleeing pirate into pulp on the spot. Garen gained another sliver of experience.
He reached out, summoning the greatsword back into his hand from thin air, then looked toward the thoroughly terrified grunts and said:
"If you live by the sword, you'll die by the sword."
"Trying to run? Ask the Sword of Justice in my hand first!"
The grunts looked at one another, their courage completely shattered.
One by one, they dropped to their knees and trembled as they pleaded:
"We're not running! We won't run!"
"Have mercy, noble knight!"
Seeing this, Garen slowly rested the greatsword on his shoulder.
Though these pirates were living sources of experience, now that they had surrendered, he didn't wish to commit needless slaughter.
Even a scum like Steel Blade had his own code. Garen had no intention of becoming the kind of scum who would do anything for power.
So, he casually pointed to one of the pirates and said, "Go tie up the rest of your lot."
"I'll hand all of you over to the sheriff. Let them deal with you according to local laws."
"Thank you! Thank you, noble knight!"
The pirates kowtowed repeatedly in gratitude. Their nerves eased considerably — if it was just going to be handled according to local law, the worst that awaited them was a decade or two behind bars. At least their lives would be spared.
At that moment, the young journalist who had been rescued finally came to his senses. Looking at Garen's tall and heroic figure, his eyes practically lit up like gold:
"Defender of the weak, upholder of righteousness, a selfless warrior of virtue…"
"With a body of steel, impervious to blades, unmatched strength, and clever wit…"
"And he risked everything for two strangers, willing to fight to the death…"
"Is this… is this what they call a Knight of Justice?!"
The young reporter trembled with excitement and didn't hesitate to raise his treasured camera, snapping photo after photo of Garen's heroic stance with a frenzy.
He was truly worthy of his profession.
The moment he raised the camera, the reporter's trembling hands became as steady as stone.
He silently calculated the exposure, color temperature, light angles, and other factors in his mind — and captured Garen's valor in the most perfect play of light and shadow.
However, the reporter's overly intense reaction made Garen's scalp tingle.
He quietly stepped two paces away from the man who seemed ready to pounce at any moment.
But the one who actually did pounce wasn't the starry-eyed reporter, but Nami — whose tear-streaked face hadn't even dried yet.
She threw a pink-and-white fist with all her strength, slamming it angrily into Garen's solid armor.
"You bastard!"
"You're actually still alive?!"
She hit hard enough to knock off over ten points of Garen's HP.
"No need to be so surprised…"
Garen feigned ignorance and tried to change the subject:
"It's just one of my special abilities. Kind of like a Devil Fruit power."
"Who asked about that?!"
Nami's pale cheeks flushed with shy irritation. She slammed her fist even harder against Garen's chestplate.
"I thought you were—!"
Tears still clung to the corners of her eyes as she vented her tangled emotions in frustration:
"You heartless jerk, playing with a girl's emotions!"
Garen just laughed triumphantly:
"Ha! After all the times you tricked me — I finally got you this time!"
Just then, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed again.
Leading the group was the very sheriff who had fled earlier, followed by the law enforcement team that had evacuated before.
But unlike their previous appearance, this time the officers seemed to understand the proper dramatic timing of law enforcement in literary works.
It turned out that after their superior was taken captive, these officers hadn't fled far — they had hidden nearby and observed the situation.
They just didn't have the courage to charge back in like Nami.
"You're here?"
Garen casually greeted the middle-aged sheriff, then asked with slight concern:
"How's that young man doing?"
Faced with the blood-soaked Garen, the sheriff had originally felt uneasy. But upon hearing the question, his expression softened.
"He's been sent to the hospital. He'll be fine."
"That's good."
Garen then pointed to the bundled-up pirates and the still-warm pile of corpses and said to the sheriff:
"Then I'll leave the cleanup to you."
"Yes, Sir Knight!"
The sheriff gave Garen a respectful bow, then turned to his men and shouted:
"What are you all standing around for? Get to work!"
The officers got to it smoothly, collecting prisoners, moving bodies — the scene quickly became orderly.
They had done this kind of cleanup before, but usually for low-level pirates. Dealing with the aftermath of a crew worth tens of millions? This was a first.
The middle-aged sheriff looked at the bloody battlefield and muttered under his breath:
"One, five, ten… nineteen."
He finally turned to a young officer and ordered,
"Go to the coffin shop. Order nineteen coffins."
"Take the money out of the town's public security fund."
The young man nodded and was about to leave when—
"Wait!"
Garen suddenly called out, then looked at the sheriff in surprise:
"You're going to buy coffins and even build graves for these guys?"
"Well, yeah…"
The sheriff paused, then said as if it were obvious:
"What's the problem?"
"These scumbags kill, burn, and loot—"
Garen asked with growing displeasure:
"And you're going to use public funds to bury them respectfully?"
The sheriff hesitated, then replied:
"But this is how we've always done it."
"No matter how bad they were, they were still sailors of the sea."
That was indeed true — this world was absurdly lenient toward pirates.
They would bury them with headstones, rarely execute them on the spot, and even the worst of them — the genocidal maniacs — would get a free room in Impel Down, and maybe even break out someday to continue wreaking havoc.
The sheriff continued, his expression turning a little wistful:
"Out on the sea, if we don't bury others properly…"
"When our time comes, we might end up left to rot in the open too."
"Utter nonsense!"
Garen interrupted coldly, his face darkening:
"If you let evil men die with honor, the only thing that will grow…"
"…is the number of graves across the sea!"
Too cruel to the good, too kind to the evil — this was a social disease Garen had loathed since his past life.
He pointed to the corpses of Steel Blade and the others and said icily:
"Hang them all up on the flagpoles at the docks. Let their bodies dry in the wind as a warning to all."
This method, actually, Garen had seen in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies — specifically from the British Royal Navy.
That, he thought, was the rightful end for wicked pirates.
"Um…"
The sheriff hesitated.
"Isn't that a bit much?"
"What's wrong with it?" Garen shot back.
"Hang the Steel Blade Pirates' corpses on the docks."
"Next time some pirates think about raiding Samwell Island, they'll have to weigh the risk of losing their heads."
The sheriff's eyes lit up.
Garen's words shifted his perspective in an instant.
"Captain?"
The young officer hesitantly asked,
"Should I still order the coffins?"
"No need!"
The sheriff made his final decision:
"Do as the knight says — hang the pirates' bodies on the docks!"
"Oh — and one more thing."
A glint of middle-aged cunning flashed in his eyes as he added to his men:
"Even if we're not buying the coffins anymore…"
"Make sure to still claim reimbursement for burial costs from the town."
(End of Chapter)
TN: New Novel Please drop some stones and reviews.