It had been quite so ti since I was taken aboard the pirate ship.
My days continued to pass much the sa way: I filled the hours with my usual routine of exercise, daydreaming, and chatting with the watchn.
Beyond the first pirate who struck up a conversation, I'd gotten to know several others who were friendly enough to talk to.
Apparently, word had spread among the crew about "the interesting girl" in the brig. The rumor was that even though I was locked up, I wasn't intimidated and actually chatted normally with the guards.
Intrigued, more and more pirates approached . I enjoyed each conversation so much that before I knew it, I was friendly with nearly every watchman on shift.
What fascinated most was how different everyone's stories were. Whether it was how they ended up on the ship or when they joined, each person had a unique adventure tale. Even though we were all on the sa vessel, it was amazing to hear ten completely different stories from ten different people.
It felt like I was getting a firsthand look at just how chaotic the Grand Line truly is, where every crew mber experiences incredibly intense adventures and lives an equally intense life.
So pirates even dropped by with drinks and snacks during their breaks, even when they weren't on watch duty. This room was practically a lounge.
Well, I wasn't complaining. I enjoyed hearing their stories, and it helped pass the ti.
Still...
Like that pirate ntioned the other day, I was just casually chatting and joking with these pirates like it was no big deal.
My town was destroyed, my friends and acquaintances were slaughtered, and I was captured and nearly sold into slavery... If that happened to most people, they'd be consud by grief, rage, fear, and above all, an overwhelming hatred for pirates.
Yet here I am, chatting and even enjoying myself with these pirates as if everything's perfectly normal.
It's not like I've forgotten how I truly feel, not at all.
I still hate the pirates, I still grieve for my town's destruction, and I still mourn the loss of everyone I knew. The anxiety and fear about what's happening and what might happen next are very real.
But... how do I explain this?
Those feelings are definitely there, simring inside . But I've managed to shove them down and seal them away, convinced that showing them now would be pointless, that futile defiance would only get hurt. There's nothing I can do anyway.
And so, compartntalizing everything, I genuinely enjoy hearing their stories.
For the mont, I pushed aside the emotions I was trying to suppress, prioritizing my imdiate intellectual curiosity. I genuinely enjoyed talking to the pirates and listening to their tales of adventure.
It was as if I was thinking, "That's one thing, and this is another."
With remarkable ease, I compartntalized my feelings and interacted with the pirates as if nothing was wrong.
But looking back, my behavior was far from normal, wasn't it?
Had I always been this detached? Even after enduring sothing as brutal as having everything stolen from , how could I just... write it off like this?
Am I... am I broken? I must be.
I'd been wrestling with these thoughts for weeks when the inevitable day finally arrived.
We had finally arrived at the island where we were to be sold.
"I thought they'd take us to the Sabaody Archipelago," I said. "But I guess not."
"Well, they do have a 'job center' there too," the pirate chuckled. "But you seem to know a lot about this, Missy. Truth is, places for these kinds of deals are everywhere."
While not as grand as the Human Auctioning House in the Sabaody Archipelago, human trafficking was a major source of inco for pirates, gangs, and mafias in this era. The underworld teed with clients eager for such rchandise.
Apparently, these trading hubs existed all over the world, even in the Four Blue, far from the Grand Line.
The place they'd brought to was just one of these naless trafficking centers—a slave trader's shop that served as a regular client for the pirate crew.
So there I was, being sold into slavery along with a few others.
Apparently, we fetched a decent price, because the pirate captain was grinning from ear to ear.
When it ca ti to hand over the rchandise—that's —the pirates I'd gotten friendly with started calling out:
"Good tis, Missy!"
"Listen good to what the Slave Trader tells ya!"
"Behave yourself for your new master!"
"Hope you get bought by soone nice!"
"Sniff... Take care out there!"
What the heck was this? It felt more like they were seeing off than selling off.
Especially that last guy—I could swear he was getting teary-eyed. Right, well, I'll do my best.
Watching this whole scene, the gorilla-powered captain and the Slave Trader looked at us like we were exotic animals, which I guess made sense.
I'd never seen slaves sent off with smiles and tears like that before. Even I was grinning and waving goodbye, calling out, "Take care!"
Yeah, well, that's just how it went.
Anyway, that's how I ended up leaving the prison cell after so long, disembarking from the pirate ship, and being sold to a slave trader.
When I arrived at the trader's shop—my new owner—I found other slaves waiting to be "exhibited" at the auction. We tried to pass the ti chatting, but most were too anxious to talk much. I ended up speaking only to the few who seed relatively calm.
One guy had been kidnapped from his impoverished country and said he'd eaten better food since becoming a slave. It's amazing what kind of lives people lead.
Right, it's almost my turn.
As I ntioned earlier, I'm going to be sold at auction.
The collar around my neck is just plain leather, but it's incredibly sturdy and looks impossible to break. It doesn't seem to be one of those explosive collars from the Sabaody Archipelago Arc in the original work, but either way, there's no way soone like , with no special powers, could ever remove it.
Looking around, this seems to be a deserted island. Were we all brought here just for the auction?
I don't even have my legs... Yeah, there's no way I can escape.
All I can do now is hope I'm bought by a master who's at least halfway decent.
Oh, they're calling .
***
Third-Person Perspective
Several days after the auction...
A certain pirate crew t its end on the open sea.
Weeks earlier, they had foolishly attacked and plundered a town under the protection of the Kuja Pirates. They underestimated the all-female crew, scoffing, "What's there to fear from a bunch of won? Let them try to retaliate if they dare!"
They had underestimated the Kuja and their strength, a mistake that cost them everything.
The entire pirate crew had perished in the naval battle.
The fight had been a slaughter from the start. Almost all of the Kuja pirates were Haki users, and their captain, the only Ability User, was swiftly defeated. Their pleas for surrender were ignored.
The few prisoners they had kept for interrogation had just been executed.
"Reporting, Captain... It seems the kidnapped victims have already been sold."
"I see... Then chasing them is impossible."
The auction had taken place days ago, and the slave traders and their custors had likely already dispersed.
Even if they managed to track down and crush the slave trader who handled the deal, it wouldn't bring the victims back.
Having settled the score with the pirates, Captain Shakuyaku of the Kuja Pirates sighed. She now had the grim task of informing the surviving townspeople.
"Captain," one of her crew said, "we learned sothing else during the interrogation..."
"What is it?" Shakuyaku asked.
"It seems... Sue was among those sold off. The description matches."
"W-what?! Sue?!"
"No... Sue..."
"Yes."
A wave of shock rippled through the crew. Shakuyaku maintained her calm facade, but inwardly, she felt a pang of sorrow. She knew all too well the fate that awaited those sold into slavery. As pirates, they had countless encounters with the dark underbelly of the world.
For a ti that felt both fleeting and enduring, Sue had sailed alongside them as a true companion, sharing their joys and hardships. Now, the thought of her, sowhere unknown, sinking into a cruel fate... even the familiar taste of Shakuyaku's cigarette seed to have gained a bitter edge.
She desperately wanted to help her, but he had no way of knowing where she was.
At least, Shakuyaku prayed, let her be safe, even in her hardship.
If anyone could overco such adversity and still smile, it was her—the girl whose holand had been destroyed, who had joined a pirate crew, who had always laughed and seed carefree despite the hardships of their voyage, who possessed a heart as resilient as it was innocent.
She can overco any hardship and keep smiling, Shakuyaku told himself. I want to believe that.
With that hope, she returned to the ship.
☆☆☆
anwhile, elsewhere...
"Buhihihihi... Listen up! From today on, I'm your master! You'll obey my every word and work yourselves to the bone, got it?"
"Yes, sir. Thank you for taking in."
(Oh man... I think I ssed up this 'master' gacha.)
To be continued...
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