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"Hurry, get a move on, everyone! Vice Admiral Atlas has given the order. We're going to teach those bastards a harsh lesson this time, and we can't afford to disgrace him."
Atlas watched Mejes, who was not far off, methodically commanding the Marine soldiers, and nodded with a hint of satisfaction.
Mejes's command skills were quite good. Still, Atlas found himself wanting a female adjutant; after all, it would be pleasant to the eye.
As the saying goes, an assistant is for handling business, and when there's no business... He would have to discuss it with Vice Admiral Tsuru.
There was no helping it, as most of the female Marines at Marine Headquarters were concentrated on her ship.
Of course, Atlas was just idly thinking. An adjutant didn't need to be exceptionally strong; as long as they were capable of handling administrative tasks, it would be enough.
He had no desire to be bogged down by tedious trivialities all day like Sengoku.
Lost in his thoughts, Atlas watched as Mejes, acting on prior intelligence, led the Marines toward Laurenfrost's location.
"Hey! Laurenfrost, you idiot! What were you thinking, setting the meeting point in this godforsaken place?" The slave ship wasn't very large.
Standing at its bow was a burly man with an extremely arrogant expression, who immediately began to provoke Laurenfrost, the head of the auction house.
"Show some respect, Alex! I'm your superior!" Laurenfrost retorted, a mix of displeasure and... pride? He saw Alex's outburst as a simple case of jealousy.
The two had previously held the same position at the auction house, but then the old boss suddenly passed away while Alex was away.
The ultimate winner, inexplicably, was him, Laurenfrost.
"What a lucky bastard..." Although deeply resentful of Laurenfrost's good fortune, Alex didn't press the issue.
At the end of the day, they were all in it for the money, and who would argue with that?
"Heh heh... Let's speed things up. While you were away, a formidable Marine showed up in Sabaody."
"A Marine?" Alex was dismissive.
Laurenfrost was as timid as ever. In his eyes, they had the Celestial Dragons as their backers; how could a mere lapdog of the World Government possibly stand against them?
The longer you live, the more you regress, Laurenfrost, Alex thought, his gaze toward his colleague growing even more contemptuous.
"Hey! What's with that look?"
"A slave ship? How bold of you, daring to operate so blatantly right under the nose of Vice Admiral Atlas!"
Before Laurenfrost could finish his sentence, Mejes's voice cut sharply into their conversation.
"Marines? I wasn't..." Startled by the sudden interruption, Laurenfrost became flustered and didn't know what to do.
"Are you talking about these lookouts?"
Thud! As if to punctuate Laurenfrost's thought, three to five men in black suits were thrown down from the sky.
Judging by their condition, their chances of survival were less than one in ten.
"Eh?! Vice Admiral Kanos Atlas!?" Laurenfrost instinctively looked up at the sky and was struck with absolute horror.
He never imagined that the "Demon Marine" himself would come.
His face turned ashen. He knew there was no escape for him today.
He had witnessed the great massacre with his own eyes, a day when nearly the entire lawless zone was shrouded in blood, and this man became synonymous with the devil.
Of course, Atlas hadn't come here just for Laurenfrost; the man wasn't that important.
This was merely the beginning, and he had subsequent operations to oversee.
"Hmph! A Vice Admiral? We have the Celestial Dragons and the World Nobles backing us! They can order even a Marine Admiral around!"
Alex remained fearless, looking up at Atlas in the sky with a defiant stare, utterly convinced that the Vice Admiral wouldn't dare to touch him.
What an idiot... Laurenfrost had never before realised that this long-time colleague was such a moron.
Bang!
Atlas's eyes narrowed. Seeing Alex challenging him from below, he wasted no words.
A blast of explosive fire instantly engulfed Alex, who had been swaggering just a second before.
Under the terrifying force of the explosion, Alex's body was torn apart as easily as cloth.
The spurting blood and gore were instantly vaporised by the savage flames, leaving only the faint smell of burnt flesh in the air.
"Gulp~" Laurenfrost forced himself to swallow.
The charred smell filling the air assaulted his nostrils, and the hair on his body stood on end like a frightened cat's. He had never felt death so close!
"Kill this guy. Kill his men, too. They're even worse than pirates," Atlas said with a grimace, glancing with disgust at the trembling Laurenfrost below.
"And take care of the people on the slave ship. Please find a way to send them back to their homes. As for those... with nowhere to go, ask them if they want to join the Marines!"
"Yes, sir!"
With the order given, the Marines charged toward the slavers on the ship like a pack of tigers. Atlas wasn't worried in the slightest.
The Marines under his command had all undergone rigorous training, having crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Their combat skills were beyond question. Besides, their opponents were merely hired thugs from an auction house. This wasn't a fight; it was a slaughter.
The battle was like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves—it began suddenly and ended just as abruptly.
"Are... are we saved?"
"I think so... I thought I heard the word 'Marines'."
"Don't be naive. The Marines are in league with those guys. Why would they save us?"
Inside the ship's hold, the would-be slaves were in disbelief. Not yet "tamed," their desire for freedom was incredibly strong—strong enough to burn through anything.
Soon, the murmuring captives fell silent. Because... a formation of orderly Marines had appeared before them!
Some even lifted their bruised hands to rub their eyes, as if the scene before them was a dream.
"Don't just stand there. Come on out. The Marines need to register you," the leading Marine called out when he saw that no one was moving from the open cages.
"Ah? Yes, yes, sir!"
Clatter!
As if waking from a dream, the crowd that had been standing frozen surged forward, creating a chaotic scene.
"Quiet! One at a time, there's no need to rush," the lead Marine commanded calmly, unfazed by the commotion, as he directed them to exit the cages in an orderly fashion.
"One, two, three... Huh? Why is there a mermaid?" Mejes, who was taking inventory of the people from the slave ship, was taken aback.
It wasn't that he'd never seen a mermaid before, but at a time when relations between the World Government and Fish-Man Island were so tense, he was unsure how to handle this one.
"Vice Admiral Atlas, we've found a mermaid among the captives. What are your orders?"
When in doubt, ask the boss. Mejes put this fine tradition to good use and directly sought instructions from Atlas.
"A mermaid?" Atlas looked toward Terika, who stood out in the crowd.
She had a pitiful and delicate appearance, with smooth, fine skin and long blue hair cascading over her shoulders.
Her upper body was no different from that of a human woman, with two simple pieces of cloth barely covering her ample chest.
Below her flat stomach was the tail of a fish with black and white scales, the contrast creating a strange allure.
She was a striped beakfish mermaid! I've heard that after a mermaid turns thirty, her tail can split into two legs... Atlas mused, stroking his chin as his mind wandered.
"..."
Not far away, Terika seemed to notice Atlas's scrutinising gaze, and a look of fear crept into her eyes.
From Queen Otohime's advocacy, she had come to believe that humans were kind and good.
However, her experience after sneaking away from home had taught her that humans had never treated merfolk or fishmen as equals.
In their eyes, they were merely commodities, no different from fish. The sunlight was indeed warm, but it could not warm Terika's heart.
"Vice Admiral? Vice Admiral? What are you thinking about?" Seeing that Atlas hadn't answered, Mejes couldn't help but prompt him.
"Ah? Hmm? What else can we do? If she wants to go back to Fish-Man Island, then send her back."
"But, what about the World Government..." Mejes hesitated.
Fisher Tiger's attack on Mary Geoise had, so to speak, mercilessly dragged the World Government's face through the mud.
"Hah? What the hell does the World Government have to do with me? They can't pin anything on me. That's a headache for Sengoku."
Atlas was now blatantly passing the buck to Sengoku, who had given him a firm guarantee before he departed.
"Too many people, too many eyes! Beware of pirates!"
The Sabaody Archipelago was anything but quiet at night, at least not for the so-called slave owners.
From Grove 1 to 29, Marine patrols were everywhere. Nearly every household was subject to a search.
The Marines' official reason was to prevent vicious pirates from mingling with the general populace and threatening their lives and property.
What if you refuse? Well then, the Marines would have reason to suspect you of colluding with pirates and human traffickers.
Resist arrest, and they would be forced to execute you on the spot. For the most part, the ordinary citizens naturally applauded the Marines' actions.
Grove 1. The largest Human Auctioning House on Sabaody was located here, a place even the Celestial Dragons frequented.
This venue concealed the filthiest, deepest sins of the archipelago.
But now, it was surrounded by squads of perfectly aligned Marines, led by Captain Mejes and... Kyros.
As a trusted subordinate personally recruited by Atlas, Kyros was, of course, a key combatant in this operation, and he stood to gain a share of the credit.
Oh, and he was a Sergeant now. Atlas had brought about 1,500 Marines from Headquarters, and the Sabaody Marine base had about a thousand more.
For the assault on the Grove 1 auction house, around eight hundred Marines were deployed.
Atlas intended to completely and utterly wipe out the human trafficking trade from Sabaody in one fell swoop!
"Hey! What do you Marines think you're doing? The Celestial Dragons are the ones backing our auction house!"
An employee inside the auction house had naturally heard the commotion outside.
Although terrified, the name of the Celestial Dragons gave him a sliver of courage to shout at the Marines.
"We're not here to do anything. We're just following Vice Admiral Atlas's orders. From this day forward, human auctions are forbidden on Sabaody!" Mejes announced.
"You have one minute. All personnel, exit immediately. Otherwise..."
For some reason, Mejes's mind flashed to Atlas's cold face. He paused, then continued, "You will be killed on sight!"
"You! Aren't you afraid of offending the Celestial Dragons?" the employee yelled, sensing that these Marines were serious.
"Attack!"
Mejes didn't bother wasting any more words and ordered the Marines to breach the auction house. As for the one-minute warning? Who cares? He was saying it.
Clank! Clank!
At Mejes's command, Kyros charged forward, greatsword in hand, followed by Marines whose stern expressions were tinged with excitement.
Justice... It was no longer just a superficial word; it was being put into genuine practice on this island! And for them, the Marines, regardless of rank or strength, justice... had never been forgotten!
"Justice! Justice!"
Swept up in the powerful emotion, someone started the chant, and soon all the Marines were shouting passionately, their calls for justice echoing throughout Grove 1!
Soon, under the Marines' overwhelming assault, the auction house in Grove 1 was completely taken. A large number of slaves were liberated.
Many of them were "goods" that hadn't sold in previous days, left to languish. They were given just enough food and water to survive, leaving them sallow-faced and emaciated.
Some were covered in wounds, and the most unfortunate had the tendons in their hands and feet severed, rendering them completely helpless.
You could see every kind of misery imaginable among this group.
"Dammit!" Every Marine present was enraged by the scene. It wasn't just their belief in justice; their basic human conscience made such atrocities intolerable.
Vice Admiral Atlas truly is a strong leader worth following... The same thought arose in the minds of all the Marines present.
To hold such power, yet possess a conscience... perhaps that is this world's greatest fortune.
"Achoo!"
Sitting in his office, Atlas couldn't help but rub his nose, wondering to himself. What was that?
Who's talking about me? Could it be that old geezer Sengoku is cursing me out?
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