If Ellis were standing in front of them, his ferocious aura of regarding life as trivial would give them the feeling that they might be killed by Ellis in the next second.
But Maud was different.
Although he was standing just one step away from them, he didn't make them feel dangerous at all. He even felt like a harmless passerby.
"I have… "
A young man dressed as a boatman mustered up the courage to stand up, holding a newspaper wet with sweat in his hand.
Maud nodded towards the young man.
The young man took a deep breath, walked through the crowd, trembling, and handed the newspaper to Maude.
"Thanks."
Maud took the paper.
The young boatman was dumbfounded and thought he was hallucinating.
It was just a newspaper, and the world-famous pirate thanked him
Maude didn't pay attention to the young boatman's reaction, and first glanced at the date in the newspaper.
"Yesterday's..."
After muttering softly to herself, Maude opened the newspaper and started reading.
Even though the screams from the pirates were ringing in his ears, it did not affect him from reading the newspaper.
When Maude was reading the newspaper, except for the young boatman who couldn't recover for a long time, there were civilians huddled on the ground.
Only then did I have the courage to look at the man in front of me who had killed everyone in the war at the top, broke into the Holy Land Mariejoia, and even killed two Celestial Dragons.
"Completely different from what I imagined..."
The civilians thought silently.
Maude quickly read the newspaper.
Although half a month has passed since the incident on Thor Island, several photos of the scene were still published on the newspaper page.
Among these photos, there is actually a photo of him chopping Kizaru into a beam of light with a knife, but it's not very clear.
Judging from the shooting perspective, it should have been secretly filmed from quite a distance away.
"It seems that there should be outsiders present at that time."
"No wonder the world government failed to suppress this matter. Now that it has lost its face, it may lose its mind."
Maude curled her lips slightly and slowly closed the newspaper.
While he was reading the newspaper, Lafayette and the others also swept away the other pirates and came behind Mod.
"Wanna see?"
Maude waved the newspaper at Lafayette.
“Hoo ho…”
Lafayette took the newspaper without saying a word.
Maude smiled and immediately looked at the civilians.
"Don't worry, we won't stay too long. Besides, we want to take half of the supplies on the ship. Do you have any objection?"
“…”
The crowd fell silent.
And the owner of the merchant ship had already died at the hands of pirates. Even if he was still alive, how could he dare to have an opinion
Seeing that no one spoke, Maud became rude and directed Jim to carry the merchant ship's supplies.
Jim immediately walked into the cabin and moved half of the boxes and barrels that the pirates had just moved to the deck one by one.
Mod turned his head and looked at the pirate ship moored on the side of the merchant ship, a ray of red light flashing in his eyes.
Based on the visual perception, there are still nearly a hundred auras on the three pirate ships, some strong and some weak.
"Brooke, go to the pirate ship and deal with the remaining pirates."
"Oh ho ho, I thought these pirates came out in full force."
Brooke said without hesitation, he went to one of the pirate ships next to him.
Lafayette happened to have finished reading the newspaper, and under Maude's instruction, went to another pirate ship, preparing to clean up the tail.
A few minutes later.
Jim moved the supplies onto the deck.
According to his calculations, including gold, silver, jewelry and goods, no more and no less, exactly half of it was moved out.
Another moment passed.
Lafayette and Brooke came to the merchant ship one after another.
"Hoho, there are only a few miscellaneous fish, which have been dealt with. Moreover, we found something interesting at the bottom of the cabin."
"Slave?"
Maud guessed.
Just now I casually used the color of knowledge, and what I sensed was the uneven aura.
Moreover, there are several locations where more than a dozen auras are squeezed together, so one can basically tell that they are imprisoned slaves.
"Yes, but among the slaves found, there were two merfolk and a murloc."
Lafayette smiled and nodded.
"Oh? Two mermaids?"
Mod was a little surprised and ignored the existence of the fish-men.
In the slave market, mermaids have always been valuable but not marketable, but they didn't expect such a weak pirate group to capture two murlocs
"Want to take a look?"
Lafayette asked.
"Um."
Maude nodded.
"Brooke, Jim, you stay here."
"yes."
"Okay, yo ho ho..."
Later, under Lafayette's guidance, Maude came to the cabin at the bottom of one of the pirate ships.
Cells made of wooden pillars were lined up along the wooden bulkhead of the cabin.
In the cell, there were a group of dirty young people huddled in the corner.
Poor breathability leaves an unpleasant smell in the air.
Following the old and mottled wooden floor with cracks visible, Maude and Lafayette arrived at the end of the cell.
In the last cell at the end, there were two young fish girls lying on the ground, mentally exhausted.
Around their necks, each had a signature slave collar, connected to a chain nailed to the wall.
On the ground, large traces of water were faintly visible.
Apparently because of the limited detention conditions, the pirates would regularly pour seawater on the mermaid girl.
In the cell next door, there was a fishman with scars all over his body.
The injuries were so severe that Mod was unable to identify the species of the fish-man for a while.
Maude did not pay too much attention to the fish-men, but looked at the two mermaid girls in the cell who had their backs to the prison bars and seemed to have lost their luster.
His eyes couldn't help but rest on the red hair of one of the mermaid girls.
I have such a small impression that I can't think of the corresponding memory.
It seemed that he heard a slight movement or noticed Maud's gaze.
This mermaid girl with red hair slowly turned her head and looked at Maud outside the wooden pillar with her dull red eyes.
Just a glance.
The mermaid girl's eyes burst out with bright light.
"It's you… "
The slightly hoarse voice was filled with indescribable excitement.
Seeing the mermaid girl's reaction, Maud frowned slightly and asked calmly: "Do you know me?"
Maude's words caused the excitement on the mermaid girl's face to freeze.
She has deeply imprinted Maud's appearance and figure on her heart, but the other party has forgotten her.
At this thought, a bitter look flashed in the depths of the mermaid girl's eyes.
"Chambord Islands, auction house, you saved me..."
She endured her disappointment and whispered a reminder.
"Oh, I remembered it."
The mermaid girl's reminder made Maud instantly recall the origin of the other party.
It turned out to be a mermaid slave that was casually rescued in the Shampoo Islands. I remember that she was handed over to Jinbei afterwards.
"Why were you caught again?"
"Shortly after the war, an endless stream of pirates attacked Fish-Man Island. I..."
The mermaid girl turned around with difficulty and faced Maud outside the prison bar. It seemed that because she recalled the scene at that time, a look of fear slowly appeared on her delicate face.
"No need to say anything, I understand."
Maude interrupted the mermaid girl's narration.
He probably guessed what was going on.
Because he killed Whitebeard in the Summit War, the flag of the Whitebeard Pirates lost its intimidating effect and could no longer provide shelter for Fish-Man Island.
Countless pirates who saw the opportunity naturally set their sights on the most valuable young fish on Fish-Man Island.
In addition, Jinbei is still imprisoned in Impel Down City, so Fish-Man Island lacks a person who can come forward to change the situation.
Just thinking about it deeply, Mod could imagine what kind of suffering the Fish-Man Island was going through after the end of the game.
After all, this matter has something to do with him.
Maud shook his head slightly, broke the prison bars with his bare hands, and walked into the cell.
The red-haired mermaid girl raised her head slightly and looked at the man who was gradually approaching her with admiring eyes.
This figure that she had thought about day and night came to her in the same way.
This must be the direction of fate...
Maude squatted down, and her black clothes fell on the dirty ground, stained with water stains and dust.
Seeing this, the red-haired mermaid girl slowly stretched out her hand to pick up the clothes that had fallen to the ground. However, she thought that her hands were no cleaner than the floor in the cell, so she timidly withdrew her hand.
Mod noticed the little movement of the mermaid girl, remained silent for a moment, stretched out his hand, and took off the collar that was not equipped with explosives from the mermaid girl's neck with his bare hands.
"Now, you are free."
"Maud..."
Seeing Maud once again help her remove the collar that restricted her freedom, the mermaid girl's eyes suddenly filled with tears, she suppressed her sobs and prayed:
"I know I shouldn't push myself too far, but, but... Maud, can you help Fishman Island..."
“…”
Chapter 173 I want both!
Go to help Fishman Island