One Piece: The Archangel's Guide

Chapter 70: Source of Darkness

"Daz Bonez."

Hearing the name, a flash of understanding crossed Louis's eyes. This was the same as his guess. From the short stubble, the burn scars on his head, and other features, he had initially judged him to be Mr. 1 from Baroque Works. Secondly, before being recruited by Crocodile, Mr. 1 was a famous assassin in the West Blue, which also matched the profession he had stated. When he gave his name, it directly confirmed Louis's suspicion.

...

"This... is a warship?"

Daz Bonez, having cleaned himself up in a public bathroom the trio no longer used, stood on the ship's island, disheveled in the wind.

Earlier on the deck, he hadn't realized there was anything wrong with the ship beneath his feet. It wasn't until now, when he had climbed to the top of the ship's island and could see the entire vessel, that he gradually realized something was amiss. This group seemed to have commandeered a warship, hoisted a pirate flag and sail, and were clearly using it as a pirate ship.

Soon, he noticed another unusual thing. He subconsciously looked at the two people active on the deck, an unshakable doubt forming in his mind.

"Two people on deck, and one more in the cabin. Other than that, there seems to be no one else on this warship..."

"But how can just three people operate a warship that can carry several hundred?"

This sudden question made Daz Bonez's expression turn serious. His eyes swept over the sails, the helm, and other parts of the ship. After a long while, a guess rose in his mind: one of the three must have the ability to control the sails and rudder from a distance.

...

Under the parasol on deck, Louis was carefully reading another document left over from the beginner's gift pack. This was the material Louis was using to pass the time after he had finished studying the children's textbook on puppet mastery from the Hidden Sand Village. Although Louis hadn't yet thought of a good way to apply the contents of this document to himself, he felt that after his fruit awakened, he might be able to use its contents with the awakened ability of the Life-Life Fruit.

Beside Louis, Uta was imitating his posture, lying on another deck chair and studying the musical scores Gordon had given her.

Just then, Yelena walked out of the cabin door on the deck, carrying food and drinks to their spot under the parasol. Yelena placed the food on the table, then turned to look at the ship's island and called out, "You've been drifting at sea for a long time. Come and replenish your strength!"

Daz Bonez heard her and gathered his thoughts. He walked down the steps toward the strange group of one man and two women.

"Thank you very much..." Daz Bonez picked up the food and water and quickly filled his long-empty stomach.

Daz Bonez's thanks left Uta utterly amazed. She temporarily put down her score and asked, "Do you assassins care about politeness and manners?"

"..."

Daz Bonez's movements froze. For a moment, he didn't know how to answer the question. Am I usually polite? He recalled his behavior when competing with other assassins in his organization and when carrying out missions. The answer in his heart was no. In that case, why did I use such a rare word of thanks?

On one hand, Louis and the others were his saviors. Of course, he wouldn't show a sour face to his benefactors. On the other hand, his saviors seemed extremely powerful and of an unknown disposition. Out of concern for his own life, he felt it was necessary to do so.

Finally, Daz Bonez looked up, his expression calm. "Even for assassins who walk in the dark side of the world, there is still such a thing as honor..."

Uta and Yelena were surprised. They never expected that an assassin, a profession scoffed at by many on the sea and regarded as rats and cockroaches, could speak of honor. But looking at Daz Bonez's serious expression, it didn't seem like he was lying.

Louis, however, raised an eyebrow slightly. If he remembered correctly, that should be a line of Big Mom's.

"..."

Facing the three's strange gazes, Daz Bonez's expression remained perfectly calm as he silently finished all the food on the table.

Just then, several bodies floating in the sea caught everyone's attention. They were mostly teenagers or young adults, dressed in rags, their bodies covered with whip marks. Only a few of the females had no obvious signs of abuse.

"Is that... people from a shipwreck?" Uta asked subconsciously after a brief daze.

Yelena stood up and went to the railing, her hands resting on it. Her red eyes swept over the wounds on the bodies. "Probably not," she said coldly. "They have many injuries on their bodies. They may have been abused to death."

Louis looked at the wounds and tattered clothes on the corpses and had his answer.

"They're slaves..." Daz Bonez followed their gaze and gave the answer in a deep voice.

"Slaves?!" Yelena and Uta's expressions changed. They remembered the slave-catching ship they had encountered near the Flower Country.

"That's right..." Daz Bonez seemed unsurprised by this, explaining with a blank expression, "Ahead on this shipping route, there is a prosperous island. But its interior is a den of iniquity for the underworld."

"It has attracted countless assassins, private security, bounty hunters, slave traders, sex traffickers, organ traffickers, and other dark organizations."

"And these bodies are slaves captured from all over the West Blue who died of illness along the way. The slave traders throw them into the sea to destroy the evidence."

"The male slaves can be abused at will, so they generally have many wounds. The females, in order to be sold at a higher price, are generally not touched, so they look much better."

Uta and Yelena were stunned, their expressions extremely grim. They looked in the direction of the bodies and found that the wounds were almost exactly as Daz Bonez had described.

After a long time, Yelena's expression returned to calm. "Don't the Marines do anything about this?" she asked in a low voice.

To this, Daz Bonez really wanted to laugh, but he didn't dare to. He replied calmly, "The World Government is the largest source of the slave trade."

"..."

Just then, Louis pointed to the dense mass of bodies in the distance and asked in a low voice, "Are there always this many bodies on this route?"

Daz Bonez looked into the distance. As far as the eye could see, thousands of bodies were floating on the sea's surface, and they were constantly being pulled under by sea creatures.

"..."

Daz Bonez's expression changed. He nearly leaped to his feet. "Quick! Change course! There must have been a plague in the island's slave prison!"

The next moment, the warship changed its course, gradually moving away from the sea of corpses.

Seeing the warship move away from the bodies, Daz Bonez subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. But in the next moment, he heard a young girl's voice from behind him.

"Are you one of them?"

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