Saving a Coward for Respect

"What...what do you want?" The two gangsters swallowed hardened saliva in their mouths, they are just brave and ruthless street thugs who are scared to death, and they are merely good citizens compared to the cruel people who disagree and use guns.

"Can't you see what we're doing?" Yassop said with a fierce gaze at the two men.

"Uh-oh! Understood, understood." The two delinquent youngsters took a glance at Jake, who was dressed similarly to them and repeatedly nodded, "Big Brother, you'll be the first, we'll be the second...no, no, we'll just be the fourth and fifth."

"Ah! So that's the kind of person you are!" The young girl screamed with tears in her eyes, apparently recognized someone who had been pretending to be behind Yassop.

Shanks looks confused, is he being forced to lie down?

"Huh?" Yassop fumed awkwardly, did he look that much like the bad guy? While it's true that pirates are bad guys in a sense, it's still a bit upsetting to be considered on the same level as these delinquent youngsters!

Shanks approached with six steps, his eyes too sharp to look at, "I'm telling you scum to get the hell out of my sight, or you'll be here forever!"

"We...we're leaving."

Although Shanks didn't have any Haoshoku Haki yet, the overwhelming presence that came out of his words was not something that a few delinquent youngsters could withstand, surprisingly being so shocked that they sat on the ground and stammered that they were ready to flee.

"Take that guy with you and leave!"

Hearing Shanks' commanding tone, the two delinquent teens instinctively snapped back, one grabbing a foot and fleeing desperately.

"Ouch...ouch...gently, my balls!"

Shanks ignored the idiots and smiled kindly at the girl in the corner, "I..."

"Ah! Stay away from me!" The petite girl was intimidated by the words of the delinquent teens, and the fact that Jake was not dressed like a nice guy, so she was still wary of Shanks, who was in the same group as Jake.

"No, I...," Shanks was embarrassed and ready to defend himself when he was suddenly interrupted by a scream filled with fear and desperation.

"Argh!"

All three of the Shanks group could not help but follow the sound to the back of the room and see that the three delinquent youngsters had fallen in a pool of blood. And at the end of the street stood a marine in a coat of justice.

"Ahhhh! It's Ensign Longinus!" The petite girl let out a gasping scream, and if she converted her lung capacity into combat power, she was at least over ten thousand.

"It's that Marine!" Yassop is a little depressed, as the sniper on the ship, he is not even as fast as the girl to identify the people coming, so the nymphomaniac can be considered a talent?

Benn Beckman, who had been coldly observing, also finally looked severe, and this Marine was the most serious person on the island.

"Get rid of the evil! One in a hundred scum may be saved, but the catastrophe caused by the remaining ninety-nine will never be repaired by one salvation." The iron-blooded words spoken in mild tones by Longinus, instead, gave the ultimate contrast, and the sunlit coat of justice did not stain the slightest bit of blood, as if disposing of a few petty criminals at random was a mere nothing to him.

"As the guardian of justice in the Marines, don't you think that's a bit reckless? They're living people too, and when they die, someone will be sad, and someone will be upset." Shanks didn't care much about whether the punks lived or died; he was just a little curious as to how Longinus, who was called a hero, would answer the question.

"I'm guarding human justice, not scum justice, and that kind of scum... can't be human!" Longinus walked modestly, but steadily as if nothing could disturb his stride.

Benn Beckman even noticed that the Marine across the street's pacing remained unchanged throughout, like one of those lifeless robots from a science fiction story. "Does this guy have the Marine creed so engrained in his bones that he can't find any flaw in him for self-indulgence? Such self-discipline even in personal settings, what a terrible fellow!"

"Ensign Longinus, it's fortunate that you came to rescue me, or else..." the petite girl ran to Longinus as if she was running into the sun, and said excitedly.

"Hey, hey, hey, I'm the one who saved you, so don't discriminate so much!" In his heart, Shanks swore to himself, however, what made him even more frustrated was that the young girl looked at them with a guarded look and "whispered", "Ensign Longinus, you must be careful with these guys, they don't look like good people."

Indeed, the combination of the redhead, gangster and "moron", in the eyes of ordinary people, is not associated with term good guys by any means.

Only, none of the three members of Shanks' trio was weak, and even when the girl lowered her voice, it was clear and explicit to their ears.

Benn Beckman is acceptable, while Jake and Shanks are both depressed to the point of being internally wounded, and that's not a good feeling to be a good person and still be under suspicion.

What the three of the Shanks group didn't expect more was that instead, the Marine relieved them, "That's because you misunderstood them, they did come to rescue you."

"Huh? Is that right?" The young woman had no doubts about Longinus' words as she blushed and apologized, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry, I thought you were bad people!"

"Next time, when you come out, watch yourself." Shanks and Yassop were frustrated, what else could they do, they weren't going to be preoccupied with a little girl.

Just the fact that that Marine's baseless words could make the young girl choose to believe without any reservations and the fact that they had to be doubted for being good people was simply a world of different treatment that made them question their lives.

After the young woman left, Longinus said with a gentle smile, "It is indeed thanks to the three of you this time, otherwise, would late justice be justice?"

Shanks didn't think a pirate-like himself would still have a day to laugh with the Marine, and while the Marine was intense, it wasn't that annoying.

"Haha! That's not as hypocritical as the rest of the Marines I used to talk to you..."

"Cough cough!" Seeing that his boss was full of shit again, Yassop quickly coughed twice to warn him.

"...I used to be ready to join the Marine, but sadly the person in charge at the time turned me down because of the scars on my eyes." Shanks finished with a dark sigh of relief, praising himself for his wit.

"That was indeed a bit much, a marine selection isn't a beauty pageant, even if you don't look like a nice guy..."

"Cough cough cough!"

"What's wrong with you?"

"It's fine, it's too windy, and my throat is a little itchy."

"How about this, you come back to the marine base with me, with your thirst for justice, I'm sure you'll soon grow up to be an excellent marine!"

"Cough cough cough!"

"What's wrong with you guys, why are all three of you suddenly coughing?"

"No...nothing, it's too windy, and my throat is a little itchy."

Seeing Beckman and Yassop throw murderous looks at him, Shanks said in a rush, "No, the appointed time is coming up, we need to get to the port, or we'll miss this passenger ship..."

"Don't worry, if you miss it, I'll just have a warship escort you."

"A warship escort?!!!"

"Cough cough! I thank Ensign-san, for your kindness, but we have urgent business, so let's talk about it at our next meeting."

Seeing the three of Shanks fleeing and generally leaving the alley, the smile on Longinus' face gradually diminished. He muttered under his breath, "I never expected to run into the future Yonko here! It's just a pity that he's so insignificant now that no one would consider an intern on a pirate ship to be much of a threat, even if he were reported to the World Government."

"Although I might be able to mobilize a large fleet from the G2 branch to surround and annihilate them if I urged it strongly, that wouldn't do me any good, it would just be a lot of effort, and there might be a large number of people who would think I was making a fuss."

"What's more, it is because of the darkness that light has a meaningful existence!"

"Because of the threat of the Yonko, the Government can only tolerate a bigger and stronger marine, and only if the marine is stronger, then all that I do will make sense."

"Of course, the final result of raising a pirate is likely to be self-destruction, so let's see who's more tactful! Akagami Shanks, I'm sure the day we meet again won't be too far off!"

Published in Qidian, March 03, 2019