At the cutting edge of technology stood Vegapunk, a scientist who had leapt far beyond his age, and his mass produced Pacifista program.
The techniques involved touched every field: human modification, mechanical constructs, extracting and replicating Devil Fruit abilities, intelligent systems and more. He was a walking bug in the system.
Even the scraps of his research had given birth to Germa's genetic science and Caesar Clown's artificial Devil Fruit technology.
Leaving those advanced fields aside, even steam power and electricity had already become commonplace in daily life.
That was equivalent to his previous world having completed both the First and Second Industrial Revolutions. In theory, the people's thinking should have been liberated along with technological progress.
As technology advanced, a large capitalist class should have emerged, and with it, voices questioning the divine right of kings.
The descendants of the Twenty Kings, the so called bloodline of the "Creators", should have been crushed beneath the wheels of history.
But looking at the world now, the myths and lies woven by the World Government were still functioning normally. This twisted political system was still being maintained.
Out at sea, there were almost no pure capitalists. Nearly all ruling forces were crude violent groups held together by individual strength.
This was a world where personal power stood above the working masses.
It seemed that the task of smashing the old world would be long and heavy. He would have to unite all the powerful people who could be united, eliminate the ruling class that trampled the seas, and only after a thorough cleansing could he break the chains on the people's minds.
At the same time, the spread of technology at the grassroots level and the building of a new spiritual culture would have to proceed together. On these seas, revolution had to move from top to bottom and from bottom to top.
Once he had thought it through:
Conqueror's Haki +1%
Ethan thought as he walked, scribbling notes. Every time he traveled and gained a new insight, he wrote it down. When he returned to Shimotsuki Village, he would整理 it all slowly.
The next morning, the merchant ship docked at Moro Island. This island lay near the center of the East Blue, about two days from the nearest Marine base, which was just the right distance.
Big name pirates generally would not put in here to resupply, but small time pirates did not care. The Marines would not dispatch a full fleet just to deal with a couple of pirates whose bounties were under ten million Berries.
They were still in the early years of the Great Pirate Era. New troublemaking pirates appeared every day.
The Marines were busy to the point of breaking. As long as things did not go too far, they preferred to turn a blind eye.
After docking, old Neil left a few unlucky sailors and himself to watch the ship while the rest of the crew scattered to find their own fun.
They had planned to leave after one day, but since he had promised the crew an extra day off, he had to keep his word.
Neil had no desire to be shot in the back by one of his own men. Plenty of captains had died that way.
Loading and unloading cargo was naturally handled by the dockside laborers. These were organized port gangs that specialized in securing jobs like that.
All they needed was a few people to supervise.
Getting such work on the docks also required connections. Hauling cargo meant payment in cash on the spot, which was a blessing for many.
Ethan stood nearby, slowly jotting things down. This too was part of his research.
Besides improving his strength, investigating how ordinary people in the East Blue lived and worked was equally important on this trip.
The gangsters saw him writing with his pen and paper and did not bother him.
On the sea, anyone with a brain knew not to stick their nose into things that had nothing to do with them.
…
The next day, Ethan was ready to begin.
Blood Hand Bar. Captain of the Blood Hand Pirates. Bounty: ten million Berries.
He had massacred multiple villages and defeated a commander from the East Blue's 77th Marine Branch.
"Bar"… such a generic name, and such a stale nickname.
This was the target Ethan had selected for his first hunt.
According to information from a black market broker, Bar was currently in Moro Village, supposedly arranging a slave trade with a slave ship.
Blood Hand Bar was the most common type of pirate on the seas: burning, looting, pillaging, committing every imaginable crime, and on the side, kidnapping children to sell as slaves.
After all, nobles loved that sort of thing. A single child could be sold for a lot of Berries.
Bar had actually kept things relatively quiet this time in Moro Village, but his underlings were not nearly so discreet. A few drinks in, and there was no need to ask before they started bragging.
Pirates lived to brag about the evil they had done, how many people they had killed and so on.
A barmaid only had to flatter them a bit before they would spill everything, down to whether their captain was even wearing underwear.
Once such open gossip spread, a black market broker only had to pass the information along to earn easy money.
Of course, that alone would not earn a big fee. What really made it valuable was the broker telling Ethan that Bar was holed up in a residential district far from the port, and that the deal would go down at night. Then he took his pay and was gone.
Doing the trade in a residential area was something Ethan had not expected. The crudely named pirate was not only brutal, he was cautious.
If it were not for the loose lipped underling, it would have been much harder to get at him.
Bar was bitter, but Bar did not say so.
The crewmen he had brought to escort the slaves had been carefully handpicked. If there had been anyone remotely reliable left on the ship, he would never have brought this particular idiot along.
What kind of men became pirates in the Four Seas? First of all, most of them were practically illiterate.
Ordinary birth, no useful skills, no bottom line, eager to prey on the weak and terrified of the strong. Scum, in other words.
Give them a blade, and when things went their way they joined the burning and looting, but when the tide turned they ran faster than anyone else. That was normal.
The truly monstrous pirates usually left for the Grand Line once they reached a certain level. The ones who remained in the Four Seas were of this caliber.
Ethan first drifted gradually closer to the residential quarter, then took care to disguise himself and hide his sword.
He sauntered past the building chosen for the deal as if by chance.
With the corner of his eye, he saw four small fry standing at the front door. Circling around to the back, he spotted two more guarding the rear.
Carefully, he extended his newly awakened Observation Haki and took another lap. This time, he vaguely sensed that there were people watching the deal from two houses nearby, and when he checked, they were lookouts as well.
Bar was really something. Wasn't this a bit too cautious? He would not be easy prey.
Ethan decided he needed to prepare a little more and hit both Bar and the slavers in one swoop when night fell.
He wanted a breakthrough in his swordsmanship, but he had to deal with all the external variables first. Blind courage was not his path.
His plan was to quietly eliminate the lookouts first, then drive Bar and the others out through the back door to avoid harming the slaves inside.
Along the way he would use traps to cut down their numbers, then funnel them into a killing zone, finish them off and withdraw.
The tactics, inspired by the Souls series, were textbook material for a small scale infiltration hunt, bought with the lives of countless players from another world.
First, he prepared two pouches of lime powder and scattered iron spikes in the alley behind the house.
When night fell, the hunt would begin.
(End of Chapter)
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