"It's not enough. Once we buy a little food, it'll all be gone. I still have a million Beli left, but that probably won't even fill the gap."
Zoro shook his head and looked straight at Ren. "I think robbing would be easier than scraping things together. You had the ship dock near the corner of the island and even threw money around to rush the repairs. Don't tell me that wasn't just to avoid attention? You're pretty good at fishing, after all."
Ren sighed. "That only works if the fish come to the bait. If they don't bite, what am I supposed to do? Slaughter everyone on the island indiscriminately?"
The island cluster Nami had chosen was carefully picked—it belonged to the seas of non-member nations, where the Navy's influence rarely reached.It avoided Garp's ever-watchful eyes.
After all, Ren's group—though notorious in their own way—wasn't exactly famous. Unless they made a big commotion, the Navy would likely ignore them.
Even so, Beist Island still had a semblance of order… though not a just or fair one.It was an order sustained by pirates.
That meant this was practically lawless territory—a gray zone crowded with pirate factions. Most pirates here didn't attack civilians; after all, what use was an island without people to exploit?
Plenty of poor, desperate souls struggled to survive under that twisted balance.
"True enough," Zoro muttered. Just as he was about to nod, a sudden boom erupted in the distance.
BOOM—!
A black cannonball was repelled midair by the Enlightenment's force field before exploding in a shower of sparks.
Through the smoke and fire, raucous pirate shouts echoed over the waves.
"Take the ship! Rob the ship! Sell it for a fortune!"
The abrupt explosion didn't cause panic—Ren instinctively turned to Zoro, and both exchanged matching, feral grins.
"They came knocking, huh?"
At first, Ren's group had encountered no trouble. But the moment he started throwing piles of cash at the shipwrights—ordering bizarre, nonsensical modifications no ordinary craftsman could understand—they had been marked as fat, clueless prey.
So once the Enlightenment moved into a more remote area, the circling sharks naturally decided to strike.
After all, this was still pirate territory. A thin veil of civility was all that ever existed here.
Their "greeting gift" came in the form of cannon fire.
But once they realized the ship could fetch a good price, the bombardment quickly stopped.
"Damn it, these lousy cannonballs again! Good thing they're crap—if they'd hit properly, we'd have wrecked the hull and lost half the profit! Idiots! Stop firing and get us closer!" The captain of the Rock Pirates barked at his gunners, ordering the ship to close the distance fast.
Through his spyglass, he saw four figures aboard the strange, silver-gray vessel. Exactly the same "fat sheep" he'd been drooling over—two of them beautiful women he'd been craving for weeks. There was no mistaking it.
Even if that weird three-masted ship looked strange, its size meant it would sell for plenty.
Trouble? Nonsense. He had over a hundred men—what could four people possibly do?
"What now, Captain?" Zoro asked, casually resting his hand on his swords as he gazed at the noisy pirates.
"No need to trouble yourself," Ren said with a grin, his tone bright and eager. "Let them handle it."
Before anyone could ask who "they" were, twelve Iron Knights materialized on the deck, standing tall in perfect formation.
"Full deployment," Ren commanded, eyes gleaming. "Crush them!"
[Combat authorization received. Redstone Intelligence Core assigning tactical directives—engaging enemies.]
Ssshhh—!
Steam erupted from the Iron Knights' vents as their intricate gears roared to life.Hiss—click—clang!The rhythmic pulse of pistons filled the air, and twelve pairs of crimson mechanical eyes locked onto the approaching pirate ship.
"What the hell are those things?" Nami asked in awe, echoing the confusion she'd felt when she first saw them.
"Iron Golems," Ren replied.
"...They look nothing like the old ones."
"The Enlightenment didn't look like this before, either."
As Ren and Nami spoke, the pirates finally noticed the twelve metal giants. At first, they thought they were statues… until the Iron Knights moved.
And by then—it was too late.
Steam flared. The Iron Knights leaped from the Enlightenment and landed on the pirate deck with a metallic crash.
Gunfire erupted. Lead bullets sparked harmlessly against their armored bodies, leaving nothing but white scuffs.Useless.
"Damn it, what the hell are these things!?"
The pirates scrambled backward, shouting to turn the cannons around—but it was already over.
The twelve Iron Knights formed a wedge formation, tearing through the enemy ranks like a storm of steel. Their massive greatswords swung in perfect unison, cleaving men in half and painting the deck crimson.
More than twenty pirates were sliced apart instantly, their blood and entrails splattering across the boards.
The Rock Captain froze as blood spattered his face. He slashed at one knight in panic, only to see his blade spark uselessly off the iron hide—then a steel greatsword flashed, and the captain was split cleanly in two.
In moments, chaos consumed the ship. The twelve Iron Knights crossed paths, cutting down anything that moved. Cannoneers were decimated before they could reload.
Three minutes later, the entire ship was silent.
Only a handful of survivors remained—because Ren had shouted for them to stop.
Impressive, Ren thought, astonished by their performance. They can assess enemy threat levels and even coordinate tactics…
Their strength was roughly around a low "E" rank across all dimensions—powerful enough that even Zoro would need effort to defeat one alone.
And there were twelve of them.
Other than the cost, they had no real flaws.
"Amazing," Zoro admitted, arms folded. "That's one hell of a power you've got."
Ren smiled. "It's part of it, yes—but not all. You'll see soon."
The Iron Knights dragged the surviving pirates before him.
"Where's your base? On Beist Island?"
"No, no! It's too dangerous there—we wouldn't dare! We set up on a nearby island instead!"
"Anyone left at your base?"
"Yes! We're part of a larger fleet—the Rock-Paper-Scissors Pirates. Our brothers, the Paper Pirates and the Scissor Pirates, are all resting at the main base!"
"Rock-Paper-Scissors?" Nami couldn't help but snort. "You guys sure are creative."
"Ahaha… our captains are triplets," the man explained nervously. "I can take you there! Please—just let me live!"
Ren agreed, and the Enlightenment sailed toward their lair—an island shaped like a crescent moon.
The Rock-Paper-Scissors Pirates' base lay hidden within a mountain valley.But once the Enlightenment's massive hull blocked the harbor mouth, their fate was sealed.
Ren, wanting to test the Iron Knights' endurance, gave only one command: total annihilation.
Zoro didn't even bother joining in. He leaned against the railing, watching with casual amusement.
Yet what came next surprised even Ren.
Before charging, the Iron Knights paused briefly—waiting for enemy groups to cluster together—then they called in missiles.
Each of the six Corn Cannons on the Enlightenment was linked to its Redstone Intelligence Core—the same type of core that powered the Iron Knights themselves.
Which meant… they were perfectly capable of remote coordination.
Ren watched as the deck panels opened, revealing six launch tubes.With a hiss of compressed air, six silver-gray missiles shot skyward, vanishing into the clouds.
Moments later, they came plunging straight down.
The first explosion obliterated a third of the valley.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—!
Six detonations in a row. Fireballs towered sky-high as shockwaves flattened trees and tore through the pirate camp.
The Rock-Paper-Scissors Pirates—more than three hundred strong—were nearly wiped out in seconds.Over two hundred vaporized in the initial blast; another score perished in the aftermath.
Barely fifty remained alive.
"Incredible…" Nami gasped, eyes wide with awe as the heatwave washed over them.
For a moment, even Ren was stunned. The Corn Cannons' so-called "three-story explosive radius" must have referred to reinforced concrete buildings.
That destructive power almost rivaled Buggy's specialty bombs!
Still, Ren quickly noted the drawback: each Corn Cannon required three hours to recharge—and even longer without ample sunlight.
Short bursts of overwhelming might, but poor sustainability.
After the missile strike, the Iron Knights split into three teams and advanced. Their steam-propelled greatswords tore through panicking pirates; a single charge from one knight could shatter bones and snap spines.
Within five minutes, the slaughter was complete.
Ren led Nami and Chester ashore under the knights' protection, searching the base until they found the pirates' treasure hoard—roughly ten million Beli in total.
Enough to balance their accounts.
On the way back, the Iron Knights carried the loot, dumping gold and silver into Chester's maw for storage.
After the ordeal with the Pipi Shrimp, Nami had grown wary of ships in general.Once back aboard the Enlightenment, she and Nojiko began sorting the treasure, while Zoro casually dealt with the surviving guides—sending them to "sleep with the fishes."
Ren had promised not to kill them himself. Zoro, however, had never made such a promise.
Meanwhile, Ren gleefully inspected his mechanical soldiers.
He'd decided—he needed at least twenty-four Iron Knights!
(End of Chapter)