One Piece: Start by Rebuilding Kuri

Dan didn't waste any more words on him. Dark purple energy condensed around his body, forming the shadow of a serpent that hissed and bared its fangs.

Harlow, seeing that there was no chance of reconciliation, realized he had no choice but to fight for his life. His expression turned wild, and flames erupted all over his body, as if he intended to burn both the ship and himself to ashes. "Both of us are Devil Fruit user. Since you don't plan to let me go, then let's perish together in the sea! Two Thousand Degrees Celsius: Great Eruption—"

Blazing flames surged forth, burning fiercely like a miniature sun.

The flowing flames spread in all directions, but Harlow's face showed no sign of triumph. The cold serpentine shadows had already ensnared him, lifting him into the air.

The unleashed flames surged indiscriminately in every direction, but they couldn't reach the ship below.

The icy aura released by Dan extinguished the flames, and the entire ship became covered in a layer of white frost under the fire's heat.

Dan could not simultaneously take over two demonic souls at once, but even without activating his Take Over magic, he retained partial access to his Devil Fruit abilities. However, only in his Take Over form did those Devil Fruits fully awakened.

Even without awakening, the strength of Devil Fruit users varied greatly.

The world was vast and full of unknowns.

"This is the ship I've claimed. I can't let you destroy it," Dan said, glancing at him before speaking calmly. "Also, I won't drown, because I can freeze the sea."

In truth, he wasn't afraid of seawater at all. The influence of Seastone particles on him was almost negligible.

Harlow was still struggling, but Dan directly implanted the Serpent Mark on him. Although he planned to use these pirates to earn some extra money, tasks like sailing the ship still had to be handled by them.

It had to be said that the Serpent Mark was an incredibly convenient ability, though it was useless against true powerhouses. In fact, even someone like Shutenmaru at the time had nearly rendered the ability ineffective.

If it weren't for the fact that Shutenmaru had already intended to follow Dan and offered almost no resistance, the Serpent Mark would have had little effect on him.

After implanting the Serpent Mark on Harlow, the same fate befell the small fry who had been knocked out by Dan's Conqueror's Haki.

Now, those people were slowly waking up, kneeling respectfully to the side, awaiting Dan's orders.

"Sir, which direction should we sail?"

Dan tossed a map to him.

"Head to the nearest Marine base, but wait a moment. By the way, do you have the latest bounty posters on this ship?" Dan asked while waiting for Mari and Yuriko to arrive.

"Yes!" Harlow quickly nodded, then turned and shouted at his subordinates, "Hurry up and bring the bounty posters to our master!"

Soon, a nimble-handed crew member brought over a stack of bounty posters.

Pirates like them often spent a little money to buy information from newspapers while sailing the seas. Typically, bounty posters were included in the newspapers.

"These are all the bounty posters we have."

"Look for a bounty poster of a pirate named Patrick Redfield."

Dan nodded and sat down in Harlow's former seat, letting them handle the task. Seeing this, Harlow immediately called over a few women to attend to Dan. His eagerness to please Dan was partly due to the Serpent Mark and partly because he hoped Dan would show mercy and not hand him over to the Marines.

Even under the influence of the Serpent Mark, these people's wills hadn't completely dissipated.

Harlow, after all, didn't want to fall into the hands of the Marines. If Dan had a task for him, he would endure humiliation and carry it out without hesitation, but who would willingly subject themselves to punishment?

Upon hearing Harlow's orders, the women on the ship rushed forward, eager to fawn over Dan. Shoulder massages, leg rubs, serving tea—these were minor gestures. Many were even willing to serve him in more intimate ways.

However, Dan simply waved them away with an expressionless face.

Dan looked at the scantily clad women. Some were originally crew members of the Nightlight Pirates, while others were captives from the pirate crew they had defeated earlier that day.

Whether they were the former or the latter, these women were neither innocent nor good people. Dan also implanted the Serpent Mark on them.

These women didn't need to be handed over to the Marines. He would take them back to Kuri.

Aside from these two types of women, there was a third group on the ship—women who had been abducted from ordinary civilians by the Nightlight Pirates. These women were locked inside the ship, subjected to humiliation and abuse.

Dan treated these unfortunate women much more kindly. He didn't use the Serpent Mark on them and instead ordered the female pirates to clean them up and release them.

However, some of these women had endured so much torment that they stood motionless, like emotionless dolls.

Fortunately, most of them hadn't been completely numbed.

Now cleaned up and dressed, these women looked around in panic at the pirates surrounding them.

Since being captured, they had been treated like livestock, enduring the pirates' abuse. Now, something seemed different. Their fearful gazes eventually settled on Dan, who sat at the helm.

They had never seen this man before. With Dan's striking appearance, they would have remembered him if he had been around earlier.

"Don't be afraid. From now on, you won't be tormented by these pirates," Dan said softly. "I'm a pirate hunter. I'll be taking these pirates to a Marine base, and you'll disembark there. The Marines should send you back to your hometowns."

Dan's presence was like a beam of light shining into their lives, which had been filled with numbness and humiliation. However, many still didn't trust his words. How could pirates be so submissive to a pirate hunter?

Soon, Mari and Yuriko arrived.

"How pitiful. Pirates really are scum!" After boarding the ship and learning about the situation, Mari angrily drew her sword, wanting to cut the pirates into pieces. Although Dan didn't stop her, Mari, who had never killed before, hesitated after injuring one pirate.

The more tender-hearted Yuriko felt deep sympathy for the abducted women and often comforted them on the way to the Marine base.

Gradually, the women began to realize that they might truly be saved.

After all, the pirates who had treated them like livestock were now locked in dirty, foul-smelling cells, while their former rooms were given to the women.