"Kid, what did you just say? You want to join my Roger Pirates?"
The wind howled over the ruins.
Roger stood with his long blade resting on his shoulder, looking down at the young man below him. He had just finished dueling Rocks, and exhaustion still showed plainly on his face.
"Yeah." Ron nodded lightly.
It had been a full year since he crossed over into this old-era timeline, and by now, he had already become a pirate with a bit of fame to his name.
After weighing his options again and again, the Roger Pirates had been the most ideal and safest place for him to settle.
Of course, it wasn't that he had never considered the Rocks Pirates. But based on what he knew from Earth, that place was full of schemes and infighting. With his current strength, joining them too early would make him easy cannon fodder.
The Roger Pirates were different. Their crewmates were open with one another, trusted one another deeply, laughed heartily on their voyages, and would reach out without hesitation when danger came. The atmosphere on the ship was free without being reckless, tolerant without being indulgent. It was exactly the kind of soil where a person could take root and quietly polish himself.
As for where he would go after he truly grew strong, what position he would take, and what path he would ultimately choose... Ron had not thought that far yet, nor was he in any hurry to decide. He only wanted to step onto this ship first, see it with his own eyes, experience it for himself, and then let his heart decide.
"Hahahahaha!" Roger suddenly threw his head back and laughed as he looked at Ron. "You're the 'Demon Butcher' people have been talking about on the sea lately, aren't you?"
After a pause, Roger added, "Someone who slaughters innocents like you... even if I agreed to let you on my ship, my partners would never accept it."
Ron froze. His pupils narrowed slightly, and his brows lifted as a flash of disbelief crossed his eyes.
It wasn't that he had never expected Roger to refuse him. The man had always had high standards and was strict when choosing friends. But he had never imagined that, as a fellow pirate, Roger would refuse him for this reason.
Ron did not think of himself as a saint who cared for all living beings, nor did he intend to pretend to be kind. Every life he had taken had a clear reason behind it. Everyone he killed had been far from innocent and had evidence of guilt.
Yet from Roger's mouth, he had somehow become "a bastard who treated human life like weeds."
"Isn't being a pirate just living on the edge of a blade?" Ron paused, then explained in a low voice, "The people I killed were all bastards who deserved it."
Roger's face suddenly turned grave. His lips moved, and he said in a deep voice, "You mean... every villager in Bilen Village deserved to die?"
Roger was referring to something that had happened several months earlier.
A gang of mountain bandits with a bounty of fifty million berries had occupied the mountains near Bilen Village. In order to remove that thorn, the villagers secretly searched for someone capable of handling them.
Ron thought he could obtain a system reward while also collecting payment from the villagers. Two birds with one stone.
Unexpectedly, the plan was leaked. In order to give the mountain bandits an explanation, the villagers chose to offer Ron up as the sacrifice.
What kind of joke was that?
Had he worked so hard to train just so he could become their sacrifice?
Fortunately, Ron was kindhearted. He still helped the villagers wipe out the mountain bandits. But later, he discovered that those hateful bandits had actually "possessed" the villagers as well. As a matter of principle, Ron conveniently wiped them all out together.
Then the people at the news agency added fuel to the fire, exaggerated everything, slapped on inflammatory headlines, and paired them with pictures that deliberately blurred the truth. Overnight, Ron became a "cold-blooded butcher" and a "demon who disregarded life." His reputation turned rotten, and his infamy spread far and wide.
Ron stared straight at Roger. At this point, he no longer had any desire to explain. He already understood that he and Roger were not people who walked the same road.
"Actually, I would've preferred it if you rejected me directly." Ron instead smiled lightly.
After all, they were both pirates. Who was really cleaner than who?
In the original work, Ron still remembered that Roger had once wiped out an entire army because they insulted his crewmates.
The only difference was that Ron had swung his blade at unarmed villagers, while Roger drew his sword against an armored imperial army lined up for battle.
On the surface, the two seemed worlds apart. But in Ron's eyes, there was no fundamental difference. If anything, the villagers deserved death even more.
Without waiting for Roger to say another word, Ron quietly took a step back and gave him a slight nod.
"Sorry for disturbing you."
With that, Ron turned and left. Roger did not say anything else.
Tap, tap, tap, tap...
He had not gone far before he heard a burst of hurried footsteps behind him.
What followed was a string of breathless voices, full of reproach but also concern.
"Hey, Roger, you really went too far this time!"
"Are you hurt? Your arm's still bleeding!"
"You lunatic, that was way too reckless."
"Hahahahaha!" Roger laughed toward the sky. "Rocks and I only had a little spar. As expected... right now, I'm still one very long step away from him."
"Who was that?" Rayleigh narrowed his eyes and looked at Ron's departing back from afar, then asked in a low voice.
"A kid who wanted to join us. I refused him." Roger's gaze also returned to Ron. His expression was calm, his tone indifferent.
"Why?" Rayleigh turned his head, frowning slightly, genuine curiosity rising in his eyes.
"I don't want a bloodthirsty partner on my ship. Hahahahaha!"
"I see." Rayleigh nodded, but in his heart, he muttered, 'Roger's rejecting people based on feeling again... Still, that young man's back doesn't look as relaxed as someone who was just turned down should look.'
...
"Hahahahaha!"
A rough laugh suddenly crashed into Ron's ears.
At the corner of a ruined street piled with charred beams and broken bricks, a towering figure like a mountain entered his field of vision. It was Rocks, who had just finished dueling Roger and had not yet gone far.
He was sitting boldly on a thick fallen log, one foot planted on a cracked stone slab, his long blade buried deep in the split earth. He bared a row of white teeth and laughed in Ron's direction without any attempt to hide it.
"Kid, Roger didn't take you in?"
When he left after the spar, Ron had appeared and asked Roger to join. Rocks, amused, had stopped and listened for a while.
There was not much disappointment on Ron's face. He merely raised his eyes slightly, met that burning gaze, and let out a faint laugh.
"My reputation stinks too much. I don't fit."
"Hahahahaha!" Rocks burst out laughing again. He slowly stood up, gripped the hilt of his blade with his right hand, and pulled it free with a ringing hum. Then he casually rested it on his left shoulder. "Your reputation stinks? Then don't bother with that hypocritical ship! On my ship, I never ask how you kill. I only ask whether you can kill! Whether you're ruthless enough! Whether you're mad enough!"
Ron fell silent. The most important part of his plan had failed, leaving him a little lost.
"Hehehehahaha!" Rocks' laughter suddenly rose. He turned sharply and strode forward, his black cloak snapping violently in the wind.
"When the destined day arrives!"
"Whether you follow me or not is up to you!"
"If your mind is made up, then keep up!"
"I'll show you the scenery at the top of the world!"