Pirate: I was just slacking off, do you really think I'm bad?

Pushing open the heavy city gate, it was as if this place was another world entirely.

Although the outside world looks rather dirty due to air pollution, the buildings are still uniform and tall.

However, the inside is very different from the outside.

Looking around, one sees rows of messy, dilapidated houses built on a small open space.

In the dragon's vision, he could even see the large chimneys clearly visible in the distance.

It was constantly spewing black smoke, accompanied by sparks, into the sky.

The people who live here look even more terrifying.

Everyone was emaciated, and their eyes were like stagnant water.

The arrival of Long and Swall went unnoticed by anyone.

They just did what they were doing, either cooking or lying down waiting to die.

The dragon was shocked by what he saw; he had never imagined that a person could be in such a state.

He thought that the people he had met in other kingdoms were already miserable enough, but at least they still had feelings.

Whether it's hatred or some other emotion, all that's left for these people is numbness.

"You two, as long as there's no one around, just find a place to stay. If you don't have anything else to do, get back to work."

"I'm warning you one more time, don't cause trouble here, or you'll know what happens."

After saying that, the soldier took his gun and left.

Just as he was leaving, a person who had fallen down in front of him due to hunger blocked his way, and he kicked the person aside without any politeness.

"You damn bastard, how dare you block my way!"

Seeing this, Swall clenched his fists, wishing he could go over and teach the soldier a lesson right now.

The dragon reached out and stopped him.

"Swall, don't let your impulse cloud your judgment. Go and help him up first."

Swall nodded; he was going to check if the man was still seriously injured.

The dragon, on the other hand, fell into contemplation of the current situation:

1. The management here is very strict. You can tell from the high walls and the soldiers with real guns that they will not easily allow miners to enter or leave the outside world.

2. The surveillance here is very lax. When I came in, I already scanned the area with my Observation Haki. There are very few soldiers inside; most of them are concentrated on the city walls and outside.

3. The people here seem very numb, having lost faith in life. They are probably still alive because of the instinct for survival.

Long secretly recorded all of this in his notebook.

When Swall returned, he was still writing furiously, but he hesitated to speak.

The dragon stopped writing with his charcoal pencil, looked up at Swall, and said:

"Say whatever you want, Swall."

Swall only spoke after hearing this:

"Chief... I just went to see that person. He has a broken rib, but when I said I could treat him, he just glanced at me indifferently, then got up and left."

"His eyes were terrifying. I could only see death in them; there was no other human emotion in them."

The dragon said with emotion:

"Yes, it seems that the current situation of the people at the bottom of this country is ten times more difficult than we imagined."

As darkness fell, one by one, the dim lights came on.

A group of workers, their bodies covered in soot, returned from their work to rest.

Then a group of people dressed as foremen came and distributed something that could hardly be called food.

Dragon spotted the foreman who had brought him there, but the foreman seemed not to have noticed Dragon.

Each person was roughly handed a small piece of black bread and a small bowl of equally black paste.

These foods, which were somewhat unpalatable to the dragons and Swol, were already commonplace for the workers who had long since become numb to them.

They wolfed down the food, stuffing it into their mouths without even thinking about what it tasted like.

They had worked hard all day and now just wanted to take a good rest.

Because the work in the mine is very strenuous, if you don't get enough rest, it will take longer to do the heavy work tomorrow.

Watching the workers hurriedly finish their food and fall asleep immediately, Long and Swall were somewhat bewildered, holding the black bread in their hands.

"Chief, how could they wolf down such disgusting food?"

Swall couldn't quite understand.

The main difference is that Svor's situation back then was different from that of the miners in front of him.

Although Swall was also oppressed, their area was relatively prosperous and they never lacked food.

Long put a small piece of black dry bread into his mouth, chewed it slowly, and savored the bitter and astringent taste it brought.

His expression remained as calm as ever, as if this dry, hard black bread was no different from any other food he had eaten before.

After finishing the black bread and the bowl of black porridge, the dragon patted his stomach and turned to Swall, saying:

"This is awful; it's the worst food I've ever eaten."

Swall was shocked.

"Huh?"

Didn't you say it tasted bad? But when I looked at your expression just now, there wasn't anything unusual about it.

You ate all of this like you would any other food, and then told me it tasted awful?

Following the example of the miners around him, Long found an empty hut and lay down on it, ignoring the filth on the ground.

"Swall, this stuff tastes awful, but it's best to eat it to conserve your energy."

The dragon didn't say anything more.

Although he lived a life of luxury for the first ten years or so, from the moment he decided to seek justice, his lofty beliefs became his most powerful weapon.

"The bitterness of food is only temporary. Whether it tastes bad or good, you just have to swallow it down. But the bitterness of their lives seems to have no end in sight."

After hearing what the dragon said, Swall felt a little guilty.

Yes, I am a staunch self-reliant soldier, how could I be stopped by a little food?

The leader is right. If they can't even endure this little bit of hardship, how can they bear the suffering of the people at the bottom of society?

Swall tossed the bread into his mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and then slurped it down with the paste.

"But Chief, this really tastes awful!"

Looking at the miserable-looking Swall, Long laughed heartily.

"Go to sleep, the real test begins tomorrow."

Swall agreed and found a place to lie down and rest.

North Sea Naval Base, in Raleigh's office.

In the large office, only Raleigh was busy at work. Today, he wasn't slacking off; instead, he started making his plans.

He clearly marked one small red dot after another on the map.

Connecting these red dots creates a route map from the East China Sea Branch No. 133 to the Red Earth Continent Snail Transport Team.

Raleigh wrote down one name after another on the map, deleting and adding, some of which were crossed out as soon as they were written.

"That's fine then." Raleigh put down his pen, picked up the Den Den Mushi beside him, and dialed the number.