Chapter 58: Killing the Pirates
The pirate captain, seeing Yamamoto Ryusei walk over, immediately struggled to sit up and begged for mercy. "Lord Ninja, don't kill me! I know I was wrong! I'll never rob anyone again! I won't be a pirate anymore! Please spare my pathetic life! I still have parents, a wife, and children to support!"
"Don't get so excited," Ryusei said, crouching in front of the pirate captain. "You still haven't answered my question. In your pirate world, is there a Pirate King?"
"Huh?" The pirate captain was a bit dumbfounded, clearly not expecting Ryusei to ask such a thing. He said cautiously in a small voice, "No, I've never heard of any Pirate King."
Ryusei scolded him as if disappointed in his lack of ambition. "No wonder you pirates are doing so poorly. You don't even have a Pirate King. You have no ambition or drive at all."
The pirate captain immediately nodded and bowed, his face plastered with a fawning, sycophantic smile. "Yes, yes, you're right about everything, my lord. I'll go and establish a Pirate King when I get back."
Ryusei's expression changed again, turning grim. "So you were lying to me just now when you said you wouldn't be a pirate anymore?"
The fawning smile on the pirate captain's face froze instantly. He opened his mouth several times but couldn't come up with a way to talk himself out of it.
"Pfft..." Komiya Yuki, seeing the pirate captain being teased into speechlessness by Ryusei, couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"I'll kill you all!" Uchiha Kagami burst out from the ship's cabin, picked up a sword from the ground, and, looking at the still-living pirates, began to hack them to death one by one as if chopping pork.
Seeing Kagami's frenzied expression, Ryusei grabbed him and asked, "Kagami, what's wrong?"
Kagami's eyes were crimson, his Sharingan having evolved from two tomoe to three. He said through gritted teeth, "The cabin... the cabin... these guys are simply not human."
Ryusei's pupils contracted as he suddenly thought of something. He said, "Yuki, you and Kagami stay here and guard them. Torifu, come down with me and have a look."
Ryusei and Akimichi Torifu entered the ship's hold. A pungent, foul smell immediately hit them. Besides some supplies, they heard some noises coming from the deepest part of the hold. They exchanged a glance and slowly walked further in. What came into view was a wooden prison cell. Inside, more than twenty women were huddled in a corner. In the middle, another woman lay with her clothes in disarray. Judging by her vacant pupils, she was already dead. A pool of blood under her body stretched all the way to the wall.
It seemed this woman had killed herself by smashing her head against the wall while being assaulted.
Seeing this scene, even the usually good-tempered Akimichi Torifu clenched his fists tightly. He turned and roared, "I'm going to kill them!"
"Wait," Ryusei stopped him, then said through gritted teeth, "Leave one alive. We need to find their main nest and kill them all. As for the others, don't let them die too easily."
"Don't worry," Torifu said viciously. "I'll make them die very painfully."
Ryusei drew his sword and, with a single slash, cut open the prison door. "You can all come out now. We're here to save you. Those pirates are already dead." He then took a piece of clothing from outside and draped it over the deceased woman's body, then carried her out.
The women in the cell, seeing Ryusei leave, timidly followed him out. Passing by the food storage area, they grabbed a few pieces of food and began to eat ravenously. After a few bites, they couldn't help but squat down and begin to cry and whimper.
Ryusei carried the deceased woman to the deck, gently placed her down with her back against a wooden crate, and made her eyes face the dead pirates. "We will avenge you," he said.
After speaking, Ryusei turned to see the pirates, whose arms and legs had been broken, now dead on the deck with their necks twisted. He walked over to the pirate captain, the only one whose limbs were still intact. "Where is your main nest?"
The pirate captain, knowing he was doomed, gave a savage grin. "Don't even think about finding my nest. If you kill me, my brothers will avenge us! They will take frenzied revenge on those civilians! Remember, their deaths are all your responsibility!"
Ryusei sneered. "You underestimate our methods too much. Kagami, use genjutsu and make him lead us there."
Kagami used his Sharingan to cast a genjutsu. The pirate captain's eyes instantly became vacant. He sat there woodenly. Ryusei saw the women who were still in the ship's hold, peeking out from the entrance but not daring to come up. He frowned and said to Komiya Yuki, "Yuki, go and comfort them. Let them come out. We'll take them home."
Yuki nodded and ran off to console them. Just then, the merchant caravan, seeing that they had dealt with the pirates, brought their ship alongside. Senju Tobirama and Ito, along with a few strong men, jumped onto the pirate ship.
Ryusei told Tobirama everything that had happened on the ship and finally asked, "Teacher Tobirama, can I go to the pirates' main nest and finish them off before coming back?"
Tobirama, still with a straight face, said, "You'll have to ask the client."
Before Ryusei could even speak, Ito's eyes were bloodshot as he said through gritted teeth, "Go. You must kill all those beasts. Don't leave a single one."
Ryusei bowed deeply to Ito in gratitude. Komiya Yuki returned with the group of women and said, "These women were all abducted by the pirates from nearby islands. Uncle Ito, can we take them home?"
Ito nodded with a heavy expression and had his sailors tie the two ships together with ropes, lay down a plank, and transfer all the women to the merchant ship.
Ryusei said to Yuki, "You go with the caravan and take those women back. And while you're at it, see how their families react when they return. If their attitude isn't right, bring them back with you. Otherwise, they won't be able to survive there either."
Yuki hugged Ryusei. "You have to be careful. Stay safe."
Ryusei nodded. "Don't worry. I'm just cleaning up some trash. Just wait for me in the Land of Artisans."
The caravan couldn't wait here for them, so they would have to rendezvous in the Land of Artisans.
Tobirama had to stay on the merchant ship, so only Ryusei, Kagami, and Torifu, along with the pirate captain as their guide and the woman whose eyes would not close, set sail on the pirate ship towards the pirates' nest.
After half a day's voyage, under the guidance of the pirate captain, they finally arrived near a small island. The pirates on the island, seeing their ship return, let out a cheer and ran back to call people to welcome their boss.
Ryusei said to Kagami, "Release him from the genjutsu. I want him to watch this with his own eyes."
Kagami released the genjutsu. The pirate captain suddenly awoke and was completely stunned to see his own nest. In that instant, he lost the will to live.
Ryusei broke the pirate captain's arms and legs, then leaped onto the sea and began to run across its surface. He drew his sword, charged into the crowd, and began to cut them down like vegetables. Kagami and Torifu followed close behind. The three of them didn't use any ninjutsu, only their swords to kill them. For a time, the beach was filled with an endless cacophony of cries, wails, and the sound of blades cutting through human bodies.
Half an hour later, the three had killed all the pirates. But in the pirates' cave, they found more than thirty young girls. They were all scantily clad, disheveled, and their eyes were vacant. The moment they walked out of the cave and saw the sunlight, they collapsed to the ground and began to cry bitterly.
Ryusei and Kagami brought the pirate captain before the girls. Seeing him, the girls' originally lifeless eyes suddenly shone with a terrifying light. One of them lunged forward and bit into the pirate captain's flesh, refusing to let go. The rest of the girls swarmed forward, using their mouths to tear off pieces of his flesh and eat them. The pirate captain wailed for half an hour before he was finally bitten to death.
Ryusei closed the eyes of the girl who had committed suicide. He then buried her at the highest point on the island. After that, he took the other girls and set sail for the Land of Artisans.
At night, the ship stopped at sea to rest. Ryusei, unable to sleep, came out to feel the sea breeze. He saw Uchiha Kagami standing at the bow, silently looking at the sea. "Kagami, you can't sleep either?"
Kagami nodded with a sorrowful expression. "I just went to see them. Even when they're asleep, they wake up startled. Even in their dreams, they are plagued by nightmares. Ryusei, how can people be so evil? I always thought the world was as peaceful and beautiful as Konoha. But to think there are still places like this that are so suffocating, that make it hard to breathe."
"This is what makes Konoha so precious," Ryusei said, reminiscing. "This world has always been this dark. Back in the Warring States Period, my family only survived because we were attached to the Senju clan. Back then, I was terrified every day that the Senju would be defeated and we would be casually dealt with by the enemy clan. Later, I was fortunate that the Senju and Uchiha clans reconciled and established Konoha. But I discovered that the gap between us and the ninjas still existed. A ninja killing a commoner like us was as casual as crushing a bedbug. That's why I tried every means possible to become a ninja, and why I trained so hard."
Kagami was silent after hearing Ryusei's words. After a long time, he said, "I originally thought that after Lord Hashirama and Lord Madara reconciled and created Konoha, there would be peace. But now it seems that only Konoha is peaceful; the outside world is still just as dark."
Ryusei shook his head. "Konoha's peace is also temporary. It can only be maintained as long as Teacher Hashirama is alive. The moment he dies, a great war will inevitably break out among the five great ninja villages."
"Why? Why must there be war in this world? Why must there be so many dark and disgusting things?" Kagami roared with emotion.
Ryusei sighed. "Because of desire and laziness. Human desires are never satisfied. They always want more, yet they don't want to work hard. They only want to take, not to give. When they learn that they can get everything through force, violence and war occur. This is a commonality of all humanity."