No matter how much Kaido disliked Yamato, that was Kaido's own business. As for the ordinary pirates in the Beasts Pirates, they didn't dare to offend Yamato.
Not to mention anything else, if Yamato happened to be in a bad mood one day and casually bashed a few pirate underlings to death, Kaido would likely pretend not to see it, and might even look at Yamato differently because of such "brutal" behavior!
This pirate grunt didn't want to become the "material" for Young Master Yamato to be looked at differently!
However, Yamato didn't care about all that; her mind couldn't conceive of such complex problems. She opened the lunch box directly and found it contained a large braised fish, a whole roast chicken, a large bowl full of white rice, as well as natto soup and red bean porridge.
"Ace! Let's eat together!"
Yamato, having secured the food, didn't hesitate to invite Ace, who was next to her. As for the pirate grunt, he acted as if he hadn't seen anything, at most serving Ace a bit more brown rice.
Ace didn't refuse, but just at that moment, a voice he found somewhat familiar came from outside.
He looked up to see a group of people being herded in by the Beasts Pirates' grunts. Some of these people were dressed in Wano Country attire, looking gaunt and listless, while others were covered in wounds and dressed like pirates.
The common thread was that they were all incredibly familiar to Ace—they were the villagers of Amigasa Village and the members of the Spade Pirates!
"What's going on?! Deuce, Tama, how did you get captured?!"
Ace, who had remained cheerful and bold even while locked in prison, could no longer control his emotions. He threw himself against the cell door, frantically pulling at the iron bars of the prison.
However, since he was wearing sea stone handcuffs, he naturally couldn't budge the prison bars, nor could he use his Logia-type powers or elementalization. He could only watch as the villagers and the members of his Pirate Crew were locked into the prison.
"Brother Ace, shortly after you left, the Beasts Pirates came to our Village and captured all the villagers!"
Tama said, looking tearful and dejected.
"Sorry, Ace, we were too weak and couldn't protect the villagers, and we also held you back."
The vice-Captain of the Spade Pirates, named Deuce, also smiled bitterly and explained.
"Bastards, what exactly do you want to do?! I'm the one who attacked the Beasts Pirates, why are you bothering them?!"
"Oh, you've got spirit! Kid!"
A tall, round, fat man with a cigar in his mouth walked over with a grin.
"Do you think that offending our Beasts Pirates is just your own business? How could such a good thing happen?!"
"We've interrogated them and found out clearly that it was these villagers from Amigasa Village who hired you to deal with our Beasts Pirates, right! Since that's the case, we naturally won't let them off!"
"And you're the Captain, so how could the things you do have nothing to do with your Pirate Crew? Don't be so naive, alright?!"
"Damn fatso, if you have the guts, kill me! What kind of person attacks my crew members?!"
Ace's face was full of rage. Upon hearing the term "fatso," the round, tall pirate's face also showed some anger.
"What fatso? I'm just afraid that I'll be too popular if I lose weight! That's why I've maintained my plump figure!"
"Huh!? Is that so?"
Yamato, who had been on the side, scratched her head with a look of surprise. Ace rolled his eyes:
"How could you believe such nonsense? With his appearance, nobody would welcome him even if he lost weight!"
Even in this situation, both sides seemed able to joke around, causing the previously tense atmosphere to dissipate a little.
However, it was clear that the round one, who was Kaido's subordinate, Queen the Plague, certainly didn't like hearing such harsh words from Ace. His expression darkened, and he gave a cold, sinister laugh:
"Fire Fist kid, it seems you still don't understand the current situation! I need to make you realize the current state of affairs!"
As he spoke, Queen waved his hand, and a few pirate grunts immediately handed over a small box.
"Hehehehe, Fire Fist kid, do you know what's in this box?"
"This is a new type of virus I just developed! At first, it will make people feel incredibly painful, go into a frenzy, tear at each other, and then transmit the germs during this stage!"
"Subsequently, the flesh of the infected will slowly rot, turning them into complete walking corpses. Yet, at this time, their brain nerves will still be very active. In other words, the infected will personally feel the sensation of their whole body rotting, and eventually die in agony!"
"Although it's not as good as my Ice Oni virus in terms of combat effectiveness, this thing is truly incurable. Even if you inject the antidote afterwards, all you get is a non-infectious corpse!"
Ace's forehead dripped with cold sweat, but he refused to lose his nerve. He sneered:
"Do you think I'm afraid? At worst, it's just one small life!"
"Hehehehe, of course I know you won't be afraid..."
Queen waved his arms, opened the box, and took out a green virus:
"So these viruses are prepared for your crew and those idiot villagers!"
Ace's expression went blank. Seeing that Queen had really taken out the virus, he immediately panicked:
"Wait, wait! Let's talk this over! Let's talk properly!"
"Oh, what do you have to say?"
Queen looked around, and finally, with a sinister laugh, grabbed the tearful Tama, took a huge syringe, and aimed the needle at her.
"Hey, Queen, attacking a little girl is too shameless, isn't it?!"
Even Yamato couldn't stand it anymore and scolded Queen.
"Young Master Yamato, we are pirates! Isn't it normal to be despicable and shameless?!"
Queen blinked, leaving Yamato speechless with that single sentence.
Then, he turned his head and looked at Tama, who was holding back tears with her mouth twisted out of shape, and injected her with the virus without hesitation.
"Bastard!! You bastard!!!! You damn thing!!!"
Ace yelled in a fit of rage, but was completely ignored by Queen:
"Let's watch the effects of the virus first! If you keep yelling, I'll use all your Pirate Crew members and these villagers for virus experiments!"
"Wuwuwuwu..."
The veins on Ace's forehead bulged, but he could only grit his teeth hard, even producing a creaking and cracking sound of teeth breaking.
"Brother Ace... I... I'm fine... don't... be impulsive..."
Tama trembled all over, dead-grey patches gradually appearing on her arm and spreading continuously. Enduring the pain of the virus's erosion, she still smiled, holding back tears, and tried to persuade Ace.
"Tama... I..."
The more she acted like this, the more heartbreaking it was. Ace had a look of despair on his face, and he seemed to turn grey, as if his spirit had been crushed.
Yamato also had a look of indignation, glaring at Queen, but Queen was all smiles, shaking the virus box in his hand:
"That's right, don't be impulsive! The life and death of your companions are all in your hands, Ace!"
"Right now, it's just an insignificant little girl. You wouldn't want all your companions to experience the taste of the virus, would you!"
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Rexlent
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"