Dealing to the Average IQ in the World of Pirates

"So hungry! The amount of energy spent on activating the devil fruit is too much, so it's good that it was finally a success. That sister is wearing the most expensive children's clothes, and the money she has with her should not be less, so she might be able to almost save up for the ship fare out of this country." After hiding in a corner, a delicate young face was revealed under the dirty clothes, looking around to make sure there were no outsiders before she took out a wad of bills from her pocket.

"One million berries, two million berries, three million..." as her right hand counting the bills is soon stalled in mid-air, she mutters to herself, "Wait, something doesn't seem right about this one! "

After rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn't mistaken, the little beggar took in a breath of cold air and said, "The smallest denomination is 100,000 berries, does her family run a mine?"

"It's bad, and if I had known it was like this, it would have been enough for me to steal one, now that they have lost so much money, they will not give up." The little beggar said with a small embarrassed face, "The most important thing is, where do I go to fill up my stomach with such a large denomination in cash?"

...

While Longinus was lamenting the true colors of Hina's little rich lady, a group of dumb young men dressed in black pants and hoods in broad daylight leapt out of the streets as if they were worried that people had no idea they were bad guys. They were startling the vendors and guests who had come to the food festival and make them flee in all directions.

"Captain Keanu, that little girl has disappeared again, what should we do now?" A man in black asked with an upset.

"What to do? What to do?" The significantly larger black-clothed man slapped him hard on the head. He snapped, "Of course keep chasing after her, she was one of our most precious commodities, and now she's stealing the captain's Devil Fruit, if we don't get her back and sell her for a high price, the Captain will skin us when he comes back!"

"Right. That's a more precious commodity than the Giants and Mermaids, many big names in the underground world want her, and if she is lost from our hands, the Captain will surely kill us with the cruellest punishment." There was fear in the words of a group of black-clothed people, and it was clear that selling them all didn't make that little beggar any less valuable.

Suddenly, some men in black finally noticed Longinus and Hina's presence and leaned in to whisper in their Captain's ear: "Captain, it's the Marine! Do you want to be that kid?"

The captain-looking black-clothed man checked Longinus with suspicion, waved his hand and said, "Don't make any different problems. That fellow is wearing a justice coat and civilian clothes, which is a dressing that only the officers around would be allowed to wear. Although I don't know how that brat did it, it's better not to draw the Marine into the scene now."

After that group of black-clothed people walked away, Hina acted as if her mind was updated and said speechlessly, "Are those pirates idiots? They didn't lower their voices at all, could it be that they are deliberately saying it to us to bait you, Longinus-san?"

Seeing that Hina was shocked and worried that those pirates had set a trap, Longinus reassured, "Don't be mistaken, that's the average intelligence of those pirates, just get used to it from now on."

"However, they don't seem to be ordinary pirates, but pirates under the banner of human trafficking slavers." Longinus' face remained the same, but the killing intent in his heart was already growing.

"Damn, is it even the most disgusting kind of pirate?"

Hina had dreadful disdain on her delicate little face, clearly disgusted with those pirates.

But Hina didn't want to influence Longinus' judgment because of her position. She knew very well that a woman who liked to dictate everything was very unattractive, and she didn't want to be loathed by Longinus because of that even if it was just a slight possibility.

"What should we do now, Longinus-san?"

"As a member of the Marine Corps, I naturally can't ignore such criminal acts when I see them!" Longinus stated flatly, while his mind pondered, "That passing wave of devil fruit is..."

"Hina knew that Longinus-san would be a true hero!" Hina didn't say it out loud, just secretly admiring in her heart. Then she suggested casually, "Hina staying here will only hinder Longinus-san operations, why don't you let Hina go back and inform the marine and kingdom army to come over to support you?"

"Too late and the presence of the marine and kingdom forces will only force them into a desperate attempt to capture the vendors and customers of the food festival as hostages, causing more destruction and damage." Longinus rejected Hina's suggestion with immediate consideration.

"The most crucial point is that it's too far away from the King's City. And now with the unrest happening, it's easy for you to be in danger instead of leaving alone, I've promised Uncle Louis to keep you safe, so how can I leave you behind because I have to rescue others?"

Longinus shook his head hypocritically at the right time. They mocked himself, "It's kind of funny, a lot of people call me a hero, but when it comes to making a choice, I still can't afford to put down my friends because of some strangers, so I've always been just a regular guy with some power."

Which is the little girl is just easy to impress.

Though the words were not too sentimental in Longinus' opinion, yet made Hina's eyes fill with tears, "Well yeah, Hina will not drag Longinus-san down!"

"Don't worry about it; those pirates were average in strength. It's not that hard to protect you even in a battle." Longinus wasn't purely comforting, a pirate of that quality just now wouldn't be able to break him more or less.

...

The venue that had been used as a food festival was already empty, leaving only two black-clad figures in the spacious venue.

"Well, have you found the little girl yet?"

"No, no..." the black-clothed man replied fearfully, "That brat is just too good at hiding; it's hard to find in a short time."

"Damn, those marine hounds would probably smell something and catch up soon, we don't have much time." The lead black-clothed man gave a decisive order, "Block all the exits, and tell everyone here that if they can't help me find that brat, I'll kill them all together!"

"Let those people become our accomplices, boss you're so clever, I'm going to convey the instructions." The short black-clothed man gave little flattery and quickly turned around and left the meeting.

"Idiot, what's an accomplice, it's obviously... it's just..." the lead black man reacted, cursing and quickly stuck, unable to think of any words to use instead.

Da-da-da-da!

Faint footsteps were heard, and the black-clothed man's brows creased in anger as he scolded, "Why are you back again? Didn't you understand what I said before?"

Seeing no response from his "men", the black-clothed man turned around, somewhat uncomfortable.

"Two fine merchandise!" The man in black began with a respectful, professional gaze, examining the two men who appeared before him before snapping awake.

"No, why are there two people here when it's one person's footsteps?" In the slightly darkened venue, the gloomy wind blew, and the men in black shed creepy sweat.

Published in Qidian, February 23, 2019