Chapter 13: Starting a Business Needs a Catchy Name
That stance...
Gin's eyes widened. "Captain, you actually... there are still our men here!"
"What men..."
A ruthless voice came from inside the mask. "Pirates can be recruited again. For victory, anything is worth it! Gin, I haven't trusted you for a long time. Thank you for holding back that kid. I'm going to poison you all together!"
"Captain!"
Gin's lips trembled. "You... don't trust me anymore?"
"What is there to trust about you! If you hadn't taken it upon yourself to spare that cook and give the gas mask to the Straw Hat kid, I wouldn't have failed back then, let alone ended up in this state!"
Krieg roared. "I don't need guys who disobey my orders!"
Since arriving on this island, he hadn't given any of these men gas masks, precisely to deal with this situation.
This kid gave him the same feeling as the Straw Hat kid!
He wouldn't let anyone drag him down again, and he wouldn't give this kind of person a chance!
"Captain, I..."
Gin dropped the staff he was holding tightly. He knelt on the ground, his expression dejected. "So, I've really been expelled, huh?"
"That's great."
Sag said, "You've been expelled. You're free to join my pirate crew."
"You won't be his match. Krieg may have failed once, but this time it's on land, and you don't have a gas mask. On land, he won't fail."
Gin lowered his head and smiled bitterly. "As for me, it was I who betrayed the captain's will. I deserve to die."
"Gin..."
Gin looked up at Sag, who didn't show any negative emotion.
"Pirates who have come out from under the jurisdiction of the World Government have never been protectors of order. If we're talking about betrayal, the first thing you betrayed was the World Government. If that's the case, you should have died then. You like this, you're not a pirate."
"I'm not a pirate..." Gin was stunned.
Sag said: "What are pirates? Pirates are of course free. They do what they want to do, and likewise, they don't do what they don't want to do. You don't agree with your former captain's methods, that's also a kind of freedom. If you don't even have that freedom... how can you be considered a pirate?"
"Also, there's no such thing as always winning at sea, nor are there coincidences. As long as you're human, you will definitely fail... You can fail once, you can fail a second time. What's important is not failure, but whether you have the heart to fight again."
Just like himself, it didn't matter how many times he failed, he was still chasing his dream!
Sag looked up at the sky. In the darkness of night, the stars were shining brightly, and among these stars, one was particularly dazzling.
"The stars are all pretty bright tonight, especially..."
Sag looked at Krieg, his voice becoming lower. "Your Death Omen Star!"
"What big talk, MH5 gas..."
"Soru!"
Before the word 'bomb' even left his mouth, and before Krieg could pull the trigger, Sag flashed to his front and punched upwards, deflecting Krieg's shield.
*Bang!*
At the same time, that fist slammed into Krieg's steel armor. The enormous force made a muffled sound, and even made a dent in the armor's surface. Around the dent, cracks spread out.
The huge force made Krieg's body bend slightly, and his eyes widened.
"You..."
"Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken!"
Sag's hands turned into afterimages. Without giving Krieg time to react, he rapidly struck the steel armor.
*Bang bang bang!!*
The sound was like a drumbeat, rapidly striking the steel armor a hundred times. With each punch, Krieg's steel armor gained more dents, and the cracks became denser. Krieg was like a small boat rocking on the sea, frozen stiff under these punches.
Until the last punch was delivered, the steel armor shattered into fragments and fell off. Krieg swayed for a while before stopping, raised his shield, and laughed loudly: "What's the use of breaking my armor? I can still fight! MH5 gas b..."
"No..."
Sag suddenly turned around, no longer looking at Krieg, and said faintly, "You're already dead."
"What?!"
Krieg shouted, but the fingers he was using to pull the trigger couldn't move. And his body suddenly began to swell, like a balloon being inflated, constantly growing larger...
*Boom!!*
The balloon burst, flesh and blood exploding, scattering on the ground. Only that gas mask remained intact, lying in the blood and gore.
"Krieg..."
Gin watched Krieg explode, then looked blankly at Sag walking over. "You... a man like you... why haven't I heard of you?"
"Just came out to sea. It's normal not to have heard of me. Besides, instead of hearing about my reputation, wouldn't it be better to join in and make a name for ourselves together?" Sag said.
"If I don't join... will you let me go?"
"That option doesn't exist."
Sag laughed. "I'm a pirate. I'll definitely get what I want. If you want to die, then feel free."
"Is that so..." Gin lowered his head and smiled bitterly.
He actually had no ambition, and he didn't want to be a leader. All he had ever wanted was to follow someone with a strong reputation.
Krieg was like that. Even if he was defeated, it didn't matter, because he was still strong.
He wasn't the kind of person who liked to switch allegiances. Once he chose someone, he would stick with them.
He didn't like Krieg's methods.
But he was his captain, the person he had chosen, so he would carry out his orders.
But now he had been expelled, and it was the second time he had been expelled.
Back at Baratie, he had already been expelled by Krieg once...
And this powerful man was inviting him...
Gin glanced at the pirates lying on the ground and asked, "What about the others?"
"Of course, they'll join too. I'm short on hands," Sag said.
Gin looked directly at Sag and said, "If we fight, there are some people I don't want to kill."
"I said it, pirates are free. What you want to do is your freedom. You are a pirate, not a servant."
Sag extended his hand towards Gin. "So, will you accept my invitation?"
Gin stared blankly at Sag's hand, took a deep breath. "I still have a promise I haven't fulfilled. Before that, I don't want to die."
He firmly grasped Sag's hand and said solemnly, "Please take care of me, Captain!"
Sag smiled. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Norton Sag. From now on, I'm your captain."
He looked at Lily, who was approaching, and said, "This is Biendetta Lily, the navigator."
Lily nodded and said, "You're very strong. We should spar sometime."
Gin's evasion of her attacks earlier had left a deep impression on her.
"You're not bad either, a powerful swordswoman..."
Gin smiled. "From now on, I'm a member of the Sag Pirates!"
These words stunned both of them.
*Sag Pirates?*
Sag blinked and looked at Lily. "Is that our name?"
"You're the captain," Lily said.
Sag scratched his head and said to Gin, "Well, we just set out to sea today, and we haven't thought of a name for the pirate crew yet."
He really hadn't thought about the name of the pirate crew.
The pirate crews he knew of didn't really have meaningful names, like the Krieg Pirates or the Buggy Pirates. They were just groups of pirates gathered around the captain.
The captain's name was the name of the pirate crew.
But since they had formed a pirate crew, Sag wanted a proper name.
For others, this was piracy. For him, this was starting a business!
And starting a business, of course, needed a catchy name.