Listening to the Mind

"Marine? Are you here to cause trouble?" After settling down, the man in black didn't move his feet back, his eyes looking wanderingly behind the two.

"Are you looking for your men? Don't bother, and those guys won't wake up again." Longinus approached step by step. The sound at intervals seemed to be on the heartbeat of the man in black, and the invisible might made even his forehead leak droplets of sweat as if he was not facing some teenage kid at all, but a ferocious beast capable of devouring life.

"I can't believe he dropped my men without making a single move; he seemed like a tricky one!" The man in black said with intense fear in his heart.

"Is Longinus-san unknown even to you, a newcomer to the Grand Line, or a loser retreating from the New World?" Hina wondered.

"Hey! Does it look like this Marine brat is famous in these seas? But, little girl, we are no losers, as Felix the Night Arbiter, who has the vicious might of an evil spirit even in the entire first half of the Grand Line, is the captain of our Black Corsair Pirates." The man in black leaned forward on his upper body, trying to assume a fierce and hideous stance.

"...The Black Corsair Pirates, the naming style of the pirate world is coherently clear!" Longinus thought speechlessly.

"Hina doesn't know what your black-suited band of pirates are, but it's always the least competent losers who are involved in human trafficking and such!" Hina didn't give a face at all to expose the sores.

"Little girl, you have to think before you speak, offending our Black Corsair Pirates will end in cruel consequences!" The man in black threatened with a sinister smile.

"You're the one who had to think before you spoke, is it hard to believe that by now, you still think there's a chance of reconciliation between us?" In the middle of the conversation, Longinus had already neared the other one.

"Damn marine brats, don't think I'm terrified of you!" The black-clothed man pulled out two long swords behind him and gripped them in his hands, as he was a swordsman who practised dual sword stances.

"Drink up! Tiger and Panther Twin Slay!" As if he was boosting himself up, the Twin Sword Swordsman roared and charged in with a blast of wind that could be faintly heard as the air-popped.

Boom!

Longinus appeared above the black-clad swordsman like a teleporter and punched down like lightning, smashing his opponent directly onto the crumbling ground.

The next moment, Longinus grabbed him by his hair and lifted him out of the ground, and the black man stopped resisting as if he had been caught with his destiny.

"..." Hina looked at the scene blankly, although she knew that the swordsman would not be an equal to Longinus-san, this was such the clean defeat!

Is this guy a brutal pirate?

"I ask, and you answer, understand?" Longinus made a clear and concise threat.

"I... I understand, Marine-sama, ask." Unaware that his hood had ripped, the black-clothed man's eyes darkly shifted, clearly not planning to give in so soon.

Longinus didn't care and seized the moment to ask, "Who is that little girl you're trying to arrest? Why is there such a surge of interest after freeing a slave?"

"Surely the captain wouldn't tell a little man like me about such things! I roughly know that there are a lot of big names in the underground world who want her!"

"How many people can you use? Where is it roughly located, other than around the venue?"

"We sent out a total of... 600 people this time, except for the 50 people who stayed behind in the centre of the venue, the personnel were mainly placed around the three-venue entrances in case that brat sneaks out."

"What about your captain, what are his abilities and his strengths?"

"Our captain is known as a Great Pirate with an 80 million berries bounty on his head. His abilities are said to be related to the Darkness and the Shadows. Any more than that I don't know because everyone who has seen the captain display his abilities is dead."

Seeing the sudden silence of Longinus, the man in black tried to ask, "This Marine-sama, since you see me behaving so well, why don't you just let me off lightly. I used to have no choice, but now, I want to be a good person!"

"This showy idiot brat loves to show his heroic side to women, and he'll let me go if I'm nice and soft." Longinus looked at the other with a gentle smile on his lips, "That's what you have in mind, am I right?"

"You, you, you, you, you...how do you know?" The man in black hysterically shouted as if he'd seen a demon, and then came to his senses to deny it, "No, no, I mean..."

"Knowing ancient texts, desired by those underground forces, you seek to use her as access to the deeper darkness of this world as a path to promotion."

"Secondly, your captain took most of the battle power of the pirates to stop the other pirates from claiming this favour alone, and less than 200 pirates stayed behind, and most of them are in the place where those slaves are being held."

"Finally, your captain's abilities have more to do with fear, which is why he continues to spread his reputation for terror."

"You, you, you, you, you...who the hell are you? How do you know all this?" The man in black was no longer as tough as nails.

"Isn't that what you told me?"

"I said..." the man in black muttered and gradually realized, "Could it be that you can see through my mind? That's why you know I'm lying, and you continue without reacting because every time you ask something, I subconsciously think of the answer!"

"I just didn't expect you to be so loyal to your captain that you'd rather die than reveal his secrets!"

"Rather die?" The man in black struggled with a frightened face, "Give me another chance, give me another chance. I promise I'll do a good..."

Longinus twisted his neck without any expression fluctuation. At the same time, Hina, who was born in a military family, did not have any reaction to this kind of scene, just said with little stars twinkling in her eyes: "Wow! Longinus-san, can you read the minds of those people? Awesome, is this a natural talent?"

Longinus asked with some surprise, "Aren't you afraid? No one should want their inside mind to be read by someone else!

"Why should Hina be afraid?" Hina retorted with a twisted smirk, "It's not like Hina has any ulterior motives, and Hina knows that Longinus-san must be doing the right thing!"

"But if you don't want anyone to know, Longinus-san, Hina will keep your secret."

"Really? Thank you so much, Hina!" Longinus once again put his hand on Hina's light hair while his mind was rather gloomy as he thought, "It's a shame that Hina needs four more years to enter the Marines. Otherwise, she would be a more worthy candidate for training than Gregory and the others, given her trust in me."

Published in Qidian, February 24, 2019