Chapter 6: The Truth is the Sharpest Blade!
"Pi...Pirate King?!"
After a brief deathly silence came uproarious laughter that nearly tore through the sky. Alvida and her lackeys doubled over with laughter, tears streaming from their eyes.
"Hahahaha! What did this little brat say? Pirate King? That's hilarious!" One lackey clutched his stomach while pointing at Luffy with his scabbard.
"With those skinny arms and legs of yours, you probably couldn't even beat the Lord of the Coast, and you want to be Pirate King?" Another lackey slapped his thigh as he laughed.
Alvida leaned on her iron club, her obese body shaking with laughter, the freckles on her face squeezing together: "Oh my... this is the funniest joke I've heard all year! Little girl, go home and play house! The sea eats people alive!"
Ralph's brow furrowed, rage instantly flooding his heart. He could never tolerate anyone tarnishing Luffy's dream. He was just about to step forward and shut these fools up with action when...
"D-don't you dare mock Miss Luffy's dream!"
A trembling yet exceptionally firm voice rang out before his.
It was Koby!
This perpetually timid pink-haired chubby boy, though his legs still trembled and his face remained pale, clenched his fists tightly and mustered the greatest courage of his life, shouting toward Alvida and those vicious pirates:
"I believe it! I believe Miss Luffy can become the Pirate King! She... she possesses something none of you have!"
Ralph was taken aback: This brat, stealing my thunder?
Alvida's smile froze on her face, replaced by fury at being challenged by an ant. "Koby! You worthless trash dare betray me?!" The murderous light in her eyes seemed almost tangible. "It seems you truly want to die!"
The massive iron club whistled through the air, once again aimed at Koby.
However, this time, Koby didn't close his eyes or retreat. Lifting his head, he roared with all his might, as if expelling all the humiliation and fear from his past:
"I! Koby! Will become a Marine! I'll capture all the evil people in this world! And the first one I'll capture is you, Alvida! You... you ugly hag!!!"
The words "ugly hag" struck like thunder, stunning all the pirates. They could hardly believe their ears—this worthless sycophant who had always been so subservient actually dared to say those words!
Alvida's face instantly twisted into a demonic visage as she completely lost her rationality: "I'll kill you!!!"
The iron club was no longer a threat but carried genuine killing intent as it smashed down viciously toward Koby's head!
At this critical moment, Luffy, standing nearby, blinked her big eyes and tugged at Ralph's sleeve, her face full of pure confusion: "Ralph, who is this fat auntie with the stick? Why is she so angry?"
Her voice wasn't loud, but it was clearly audible in the tense atmosphere.
"F-fat... fat auntie?!!"
Alvida's movement halted abruptly, all her rage instantly redirected. Compared to Koby, this brat who had repeatedly "insulted" her and declared she would become Pirate King deserved to die even more!
"You wretched girl! Drop dead!" she roared, abandoning Koby as she swung her iron club in a wide arc, bringing it down toward Luffy with mountain-splitting force!
Facing this terrifying attack, Luffy merely curled her lip and casually pulled her right fist back.
"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"
"Bam!"
The plain, unadorned punch arrived first, landing squarely on Alvida's plump face. The tremendous impact instantly distorted her features, sending her flying backward like a kite with its string cut. She crashed through several small trees before slamming heavily to the ground, completely knocked out.
Silence.
Deathly silence.
The underlings of the Alvida Pirates stared with mouths agape at their captain—whom they had considered invincible—being taken down with a single punch, as if frozen by some spell.
"Alright," Luffy clapped her hands as if she'd merely swatted a fly, then turned to the stunned lackeys. "Give Koby a small boat and let him leave."
Koby watched Luffy, who had intervened to protect him, with tears welling in his eyes. "Lu... Luffy... miss... why are you helping me?"
Luffy tilted her head in thought before answering honestly, "Don't you have a dream to become a marine? Then go achieve it!"
Koby: "..."
"No need to trouble with finding a small boat." Ralph walked over at that moment—he hadn't been idle. While Luffy was dealing with Alvida, he had used ropes found on the ship to swiftly subdue and tie up the lackeys who had tried to resist or escape, bundling them up like tied-up sausages along with the unconscious Alvida.
"We'll take their large ship directly," Ralph said, pointing to the Alvida Pirates' vessel docked at the shore. "And incidentally, we'll deliver them to the marine base at Shells Town for the bounty."
"Bounty?"
Luffy blinked, her face showing a novel expression. "We can do that?"
Ralph couldn't help but laugh at her innocence. "Why not? We're pirates, after all. Pirates taking from pirates is only natural. Besides, with money, we can buy more meat and build a better ship."
"Oh, right!" Luffy's eyes instantly lit up. She gave Ralph a hearty slap on the shoulder and grinned. "Ralph, you're so capable!"
[System Prompt: Luffy expresses appreciation for your quick wit.]
Ralph noted that although he was praised, the system prompt showed no numerical increase in favorability. A thought struck him—he understood the key point. Luffy admired his initiative, but "stealing money" wasn't the core motivation for her going to sea.
Seizing the opportunity, he asked, "Lufia, what does being a pirate mean to you?"
Without hesitation, Lufia walked to the shore, spread her arms wide as if to embrace the entire sea. The sea breeze ruffled her short hair and red vest as she turned back, her face blooming with a smile brighter than the sun:
"Pirates are the freest people on the sea! And the Pirate King is the freest among them all!"
Her voice was clear and firm, without a trace of impurity.
In that moment, Koby—and even Alvida's tied-up subordinates—stared at her in a daze. This answer was too pure, so pure that it was completely different from the pirates they knew, who pillaged and plundered.
...with a kind of innocence untainted by worldly corruption.
Ralph looked at her smiling face and understood. Sure enough, her dream was "freedom," not "treasure." Recognizing and helping her achieve this ultimate dream was the core source of gaining favor.
"I understand." Ralph nodded, pointing at the large ship. "Then, to sail 'freely,' we need a better ship. This vessel, along with the bounty money, is our first stepping stone toward 'freedom.' Selling it will allow us to exchange for a ship you truly like—one that can take us anywhere!"
Hearing that they could get a better ship and envisioning the future of sailing freely on a ship that truly belonged to her, Luffy's smile grew even brighter.
[System Notification: Luffy's favorability increased by 1% due to sharing a common vision of the future with you.]
Though it was only 1%, Ralph knew he was on the right path.
The three of them boarded Alvida's pirate ship. With Ralph's knowledge of navigation, Koby's sailing experience, and Luffy's rubber arms—which could stretch freely and do the work of ten people adjusting the sails—they somehow managed to get the large ship moving, heading in the direction of the Navy base at Shells Town.
During the voyage, Alvida woke up. When she learned from her underlings that she was to be handed over to the Navy base for the bounty, she didn't beg for mercy. Instead, she erupted into hysterical curses: "You bastards! How dare you treat me like this! I am the most beautiful woman on these seas!! Let me go!!"
Koby, hearing these familiar shouts, still felt a instinctual fear. Luffy, however, just picked her ear and said, "So noisy, Ralph."
"Leave it to me. Watch me handle her in three sentences!"
Ralph walked over to the tightly bound Alvida and calmly spoke his first sentence: "Your strength is pitifully weak. That iron club of yours—could it be a hollow fake, just for scaring people?"
"Nonsense!" one of the tied-up underlings immediately retorted excitedly. "Our Captain Alvida's strength is genuine! That iron club is solid!" Hearing this, Alvida merely snorted coldly, her face full of disdain, as if she couldn't be bothered to explain such an obvious fact.
Unfazed, Ralph continued with his second sentence: "You're just a fat, ugly, freckle-faced hag."
"You're asking for death!!!" Alvida instantly flew into a rage, veins bulging on her forehead, spewing a torrent of foul language as she struggled to lunge at him.
After she had finished cursing, Ralph leisurely spoke his third sentence—the truly lethal one:
"See, when I questioned your strength with my first sentence, you didn't react much because deep down, you know it's the truth. But when I said the second sentence about your appearance, you reacted so strongly..."
He paused, his gaze sharp as a blade.
"This shows that you actually have a very 'clear self-awareness' of your own appearance. After all, lies can only hurt so much—the truth is the real sharp blade."
"..." All of Alvida's curses abruptly ceased.
Her mouth hung open like a fish thrown ashore, staring fixedly at Ralph, her pupils trembling violently. That sentence, like the sharpest needle, had precisely pierced through her defenses.
All the disguises she had built with violence and lies were stripped away, reaching the deepest, most unwillingly acknowledged truth within her heart.
She completely broke down, her entire body going limp as if her soul had been drained away, sinking into utter despondency, unable to utter another sound.
The world instantly fell silent.
"Wow! Ralph, you're amazing!" Luffy exclaimed in awe, her eyes filled with admiration as she looked at Ralph. "What did you say? Why did she suddenly stop arguing?"
[System Notification: Luffy admires your ability to cleverly resolve trouble. Favorability +3%.]
Ralph smiled faintly, keeping his achievements to himself: "Just a bit of rhetoric, that's all."
The ship continued sailing, and the outline of Shells Town was already faintly visible. However, they noticed that some small fishing boats or merchant ships they encountered on the sea, upon spotting their vessel, turned around and fled as if they had seen a ghost.
"Why are they running away?" Luffy asked, puzzled.
Soon, the answer became clear.
A navy warship flying a seagull flag was charging menacingly toward them from the direction of Shells Town!
Ralph slapped his forehead and cursed under his breath. He had been so focused on tying people up and sailing the ship that he had forgotten the most important thing—he looked up the mast, where Alvida's pirate flag, adorned with a skull and a heart, was fluttering arrogantly at the bow!
Had spending too much time with Lufia lowered his intelligence?
Ralph watched the approaching navy warship, then glanced at the still-excited Luffy and the bewildered Koby beside him, and couldn't help but smile wryly.
This time, trouble had truly come uninvited.