.....(Title at the end)

And like that, Coby stood in line for his turn to enter the large building. When he first saw the line, Coby expected the line to take hours upon hours, even days.

But in fact, it only took five hours for His turn. Since the person who entered only stayed for a maximum of one to three minutes, then immediately afterwards, the other pirates were called in.

"It's your turn." The agent said to Coby, Who nodded his head nervously and walked in after bidding goodbye to Poppoko and following behind the agent.

While following the agent into the big infrastructure, he wouldn't lie that he was pretty nervous and scared because all the people who entered before him didn't return, so he guessed they might've taken to another place, used another exit, or... Dead.

Coby shivered when he thought of that, so he quickened his pace behind the agent. Along the way, the pink-haired Boy was awed by how large and active the Reformation center was.

He had a lot of questions to ask but didn't dare as he was scared of what the agent would do, so he merely looked around at passing agents and pirates who no longer wore the collar and chains. Instead, they had a tattoo on their neck, collarbone, chest, or head.

This baffled Coby a little because he recognized some of them as the ones who entered before him. He wondered how fast they put the tattoo on them since some of them had just entered 5 minutes ago, and he wondered what the tattoo meant exactly.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Push!

The agent knocked on the door three times and then walked in and said with a slight bow.

"Madam LittleFinger, here's another one." (A.N: Gone use Madam or the short form Ma'am when a million agent speaks with a number agent, Hundred, Thousand or even a billion agent starting now)

Coby walked behind the agent to see an exquisite office room with a large chandelier hanging above and captivating carvings on the red walls that had paintings suspended upon them. Mahogany wood shelves filled with books and files all over the room.

In the middle of the room was a large table made of dark mahogany, and sitting behind the table was a beautiful woman. Who was busying sign the papers.

"I see..." The woman said without raising her head. Instead, she extended her hand. Coby was confused by her gesture. But then the agent dragged him toward her hand and pushed him to his knees so she could place her hand on the pink-hair boy's head.

"!!!" Coby's instincts rang loudly, telling him to remove the hand or else something terrible would happen to him.

"I'm not a pirate, Ma'am!" Which Coby did while yelling, surprising LittleFinger and the agent, who quickly used the rod to hit this disobedient little shit on his back. But it didn't stop Coby, who clenched his teeth in pain and continued saying.

"Hiss... like I told your agents previously, I was a captive in the pirate ship! If you want evidence, ask any of Alvida's pirates. They would tell you!"

When the agent saw that Coby didn't stop talking, he raised the rod again, only to stop when he noticed LittleFinger lifting her hand to stop him while saying.

"I see... so you were a captive... Aww, what a poor boy..."

"Sigh..." Coby breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the agent stopping, but he felt something was amiss as his instincts didn't stop ringing, so he looked at the woman called LittleFinger. who was looking at him with a fake sympathetic expression that even he could see through.

"Fufufufu, Mr. Merchant" A smile grew on LittleFinger when she realized that Coby saw through her poor acting.

"What's your order, Miss?" An old man appeared suddenly as he walked out of a secret door that looked like a bookshelf.

"Go and check whether what the boy said was true."

"On it!"

Mr. Merchant left after listening to LittleFingers command. Then LittleFinger dismissed the Million agent, leaving only Herself and Coby in the room.

"Why are you still standing there? Come, sit wherever you like," LittleFinger said as she pointed at the sofa in front of her table. Coby nodded and sat on the couch while LittleFinger went back to signing the paperwork and asking.

"How long were you with the pirates?"

"Hmm. One month" Coby replied while clutching his arms closer to his chest. LittleFinger paused for a moment, then raised her head to look at the pink-haired Boy while saying sadly.

"....That must've been hard."

"...It was hard. but it's alright now since I'm free, and that is all thanks to your agents" Coby became a little shy by her kind gaze and gesture.

"..." LittleFinger's eyes widened from surprise as she didn't expect to see somebody thanking her in this place.

Making her able to see the state Coby was in.

"Hoh, Dear! I apologize for how my agent must've handled you," She apologized while bowing a little.

"Huh, No! It's okay! No need to bow to me" Coby waved his hand as his face reddened a little from shyness. He thought that he might have misjudged her.

"And besides, I know that the agent was just following orders and that they couldn't treat me differently until I'm proven innocent by the court of justice."

"Huh? Court of Justice? Ohh, That! Yes, you're right. They couldn't treat you differently..." LittleFinger was initially confused, but then she remembered the false information they released to the public and promptly fixed her expression, but lamentably for her, Coby had already noticed.

'Huh? How could she forget about the court?' Coby thought perplexedly.

"May I know your name, age, the island you were born on, and who your guardian is. So that we could inform them of your safety," LittleFinger said as she tried to change the topic when she realized that Coby noticed her expression slipping for a moment.

'Fufufu, this Boy made me briefly lower my guard and show my real emotions. Fufufu If Bryan knew this, he would surely break into laughter and use it against me every chance he would get,' LittleFinger thought for a moment with a faint smile on her face.

"Thank you very much! my name is Coby, 14 years old, born in Lilypad Island, Rosemoor Village. As for my guardian... I don't have one since I'm an orphan... but if you want to inform anyone in the village, then inform Mother Alyssa, who works in the orphanage. She is the one who took care of all the children and me! She would definitely be delighted when she learns about this. Oh man, how I miss the village and mother Alyssa's food." (A.N: The island name, Mother Alyssa, and Coby being an orphan are all made up as there isn't any information on him, so don't go wasting your time searching this)

At some point, Coby forgot the main topic and started to ramble on, making him overlook LittleFinger writing something as he informed her of his background, LittleFinger paused when she heard that he was an orphan, but then she quickly resumed writing and continued to listen to him ramble on with a kind smile.

"Huh! Sorry, I got excited for a moment there" Coby kept on talking for a moment until he realized where he was and stopped while rubbing his head embarrassingly with his cheeks reddening a little.

"No, it's alright Dear. You just miss your home," LittleFinger said after closing the book, standing up to walk toward him, and then rubbing his head gently.

"..." Making the already Red-faced Boy even redder than before. 'It has been a long time since anybody treated me like this... it's nice...'

LittleFinger kept rubbing his hair with an intense look in her eyes, making the shy Boy even shyer, which LittleFinger noticed.

"Fufufufu, I'm sorry. I'm just curious to know if this is your true hair color?" LittleFinger laughed sightly while retracting her hand.

"My hair color? Yes it's real. I've had it since I was born. See..." Coby said when he learned why she was staring so intensely before. He then stood up and spread his hair to show her his scalps.

"Fufufufu. I see" LittleFinger laughed faintly at that moment. The office door opened as Mr.Merchant returned and reported his prompt investigation.

"Miss, everything the boy has said was true."

"I see... Good job. You may leave now."

"yes, ma'am" After saying that, Mr. Merchant left the room. LittleFinger stood there with her back to Coby, who was too happy and eager to notice the change in atmosphere.

Now that he was finally free, he could follow his dream, which is what Coby did. He bowed deeply toward the Black-haired woman while shouting loudly.

"Thank you very much for saving me, Miss. LittleFinger. but I have something I want to ask of you!"

"Ohh? What is it?" LittleFinger said with an odd tone as she turned around and walked toward the bowing Boy, who didn't notice since he was too excited to declare the following.

"I would like to join Baroque Works!"

"..." LittleFinger didn't say anything but tower over the bowing Boy her expression was hidden by her bangs.

"It has been my dream to set out and capture pirates since am a child! I originally planned to join the Marines, but then you guys came and changed the East Blue showing me what true justice looks like! So please let me join."

"True justice..." LittleFinger said as she gently patted Coby on his head, making the Boy shudder sightly and notice how cold her fingers were, but he ignored it and continued saying.

"Yes ma'am, true justice. While on Alvida's ship, I learned that they didn't fear anyone in the past. Whether they were the Marines or other pirates, they would fight them without an ounce of fear, but that changed when Baroque Works came. Only by hearing your name, they would tremble in fear. That is how much fear you struck in their hearts! "

"Fufufu... I see that we've done an excellent job in establishing a great reputation for Baroque Works... A really great reputation... That is threatened by your presence... Seal-Seal: Freedom!" LittleFinger said with an ominous tone that even Coby noticed, but before he could do anything, LittleFingers's fingers started to glow and restrain and hurt the pink-haired Boy.

"Ahhh... Why!" Coby cried out in pain as He tried to move his body, but regrettably, he couldn't. Tears gathered around his eyes which were filled with betrayal and dread as he gazed at the person towering over him.

LittleFinger ignored Coby's question as she stated, "Conditions: One- You must obey all your owner's commands. Two- You aren't allowed to think or try to harm, curse, rebel, kill, or any hint of hostility against your owner. Three- you can't run away or try to kill yourself without your owner's commands.

If you are to break any of the conditions, you will be electrocuted until you pass out, or if your owner stops it"

After LittleFinger finished saying that, the glowing lights slowly started fading away, leaving a black tattoo on Coby's left chest in the shape of a crying man wallowing in despair.

......

[Chapter Title: Lost Freedom ]