Starting with two Kamui, they raised the flag of rebellion in One Piece.

"If you don't want to, then forget it."

"...No! I didn't say no, I'm just considering it!"

Karina was extremely unwilling when Li Mingyuan ordered her around.

But if it's the other way around, the situation is different.

Karina immediately snapped out of her daze, grabbed Li Mingyuan's arm hastily, and nodded repeatedly, saying, "You have a good eye! That's right! After so many years of naval experience in the East China Sea, my knowledge of navigation is quite good. As long as you're willing to follow my orders, whether it's a naval base or anywhere else, I guarantee I'll get you to your destination!"

"Of course, that's on the premise that you follow my orders."

Before she could finish speaking or even give any formal orders, Karina couldn't help but chuckle.

Seeing Karina's appearance, Li Mingyuan couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing.

He could tell what Karina was thinking even with his toes.

Fortunately, Li Mingyuan managed to maintain his composure for the moment, and said with a serious expression, "Then I'll leave it to you, Miss Temporary Navigator of this ship. If our temporary destination is the island's edge, please steer the ship back to the cargo ship's crew."

"If there are any problems, just let me handle them."

After saying that, Li Mingyuan stood in front of Karina, waiting for her instructions.

At this moment, Karina felt a sense of comfort in the face of Li Mingyuan's serious attitude. She didn't care what Li Mingyuan was thinking, but since the command had indeed fallen into her hands, she would not hesitate to order Li Mingyuan around.

"Alright, you said it yourself. There are only the two of us on the ship now. Can you really do the work of ten sailors? I'm really going to have to use you like ten men. Don't complain later!"

"Then first, let's furl down all the sails!"

And so, under Karina's command, Li Mingyuan began busily preparing for the voyage.

Despite the tedious labor, Li Mingyuan soon broke out in a sweat, but he did follow Karina's instructions one by one, which gave Karina a feeling of liberation and triumph.

Even Karina herself was somewhat surprised that Li Mingyuan would actually follow her commands.

In no time, she couldn't help but smile slyly as she watched Li Mingyuan's busy back.

"Hehehe! You never thought you'd see this happen, did you? You actually have a day like this!"

Karina was secretly delighted. "Just wait and see how I make you pay for all that sweat I shed before!"

the other side.

After tidying up the ship, Li Mingyuan watched the pirate ship about to leave Arlong Paradise and gazed at the sea scenery.

Karina, of course, couldn't possibly understand why he was now obediently listening to her.

They probably thought they had gotten revenge.

Little did she know, while she was currently focused on how to torment herself, Li Mingyuan was actually eyeing Karina's people.

Based on their time together at Alon Amusement Park, Li Mingyuan was quite certain that he had left a deep enough impression on Karina. Now, all he had to do was to officially reverse his image and start building her favor.

The deliberate decision to put Karina in command was also a subtle psychological maneuver. After all, the relationship between Li Mingyuan and Karina was currently far too unequal. Li Mingyuan not only had complete control over Karina's actions, but could even decide her life or death in an instant.

One-sided fear alone cannot build up intimacy in a relationship.

He now deliberately puts himself in a position of being commanded, while also making Karina feel that she is playing a key role and is needed in the voyage. This small reversal is enough to make this space between the two of them closer.

Otherwise, even if he did need someone knowledgeable in navigation, he could have casually mentioned to Nami that he needed help, and she probably wouldn't have refused. There would have been no need to create this space for just the two of them.

The pirate ship is now sailing normally.

As Li Mingyuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, at the last moment, he turned around and took one last look at Arlong Park. Inside Arlong Park, he could see Nami and Nojiko's figures leaving.

Li Mingyuan's gaze did not linger on the two people for long.

His gaze was now mostly focused on a rather inconspicuous corpse—the fishman Hachi.

"Unexpectedly, Nami never even once looked down at Hachi's corpse."

Li Mingyuan was somewhat at a loss for words to describe his current feelings.

But thinking about it, it makes sense.

Xiao Ba was successfully redeemed in the original work, partly because he always acted like a simpleton, but it was probably also due to some authorial favoritism. However, in essence, he is still a fishman who harmed Nami. Without subsequent patches and redemption, Nami will never forgive him. Even if he is killed by Li Mingyuan, it will only be the elimination of a hateful fishman for Nami, and she will not feel anything.

So, if Hachi is dead, then he's dead.

Unlike in the original story, Nami didn't cast a single extra glance at Hachi at this moment.

I wonder what Rayleigh's reaction would be if news of the Arlong Pirates' annihilation reached the Sabaody Archipelago.

Originally, Li Ming had considered this point, which was why he didn't want to kill Hachi immediately. But since he had already killed him, it didn't matter. When Hachi joined Arlong's pirate crew and wreaked havoc in the East Blue, Rayleigh, the Dark King, never stopped him. After all, One Piece emphasizes that everyone has their own adventures, and it's best for others not to interfere. Since he allowed a real pirate to run rampant, it was only natural that he would be killed in return.

Hopefully, this rather likable figure from the old era won't be misjudged and lead to irrational behavior towards him.

Turning his gaze away, Li Mingyuan continued with his manual labor.

Thus, the enormous pirate ship slowly sailed around the island.

About a short period of time later.

Before Li Mingyuan's eyes, he saw again the cargo ship crew members who were still on the island's shore, with a bunch of small boats moored nearby.

"Ah! What's that!?"

"There's no mistake, isn't that the guard on the bow of the ship?!"

As the pirate ship drew closer, a murmur of discussion could be faintly heard from the island's shore.

Li Mingyuan told Karina to stay on the boat, while he himself jumped and landed directly on the shore.

He looked at the group of sailors with different expressions in front of him.

Li Mingyuan didn't stand on ceremony and immediately started asking for two of Arlong Pirates' officers.

"The matter of the Arlong Pirates has been resolved."

"Of course, I reckon the news would have spread all over the island by now, even if I hadn't said anything."

"Thank you for guarding them. Now you can return those two cadres to me."

As Li Mingyuan spoke, the crew members exchanged glances, and some of them quickly ran into the forest.

A moment later, the first mate and boatswain, who had been nowhere to be seen before, appeared on the shore, dragging two fishmen with them. Judging from their panting appearance, they probably didn't expect Li Mingyuan to return so quickly.

The first mate and the boatswain looked at Li Mingyuan with fawning smiles on their faces.

During the handover of the fishmen, they not only inquired about the battle situation of Li Mingyuan and A Long, but also, after some reflection, explained their future plans to Li Mingyuan, as well as the current itinerary of the crew.

To Li Mingyuan's surprise, the cargo ship's sailors did not seem to intend to participate in the islanders' banquet, nor would they stay on the island for long. They planned to rest here for a while before taking the unconscious captain directly to a nearby island.

Unlike Ah Long Paradise, which was a ghostly place I didn't dare approach at all, other nearby islands still had cargo ship-related outposts.

so.

This is probably the last time Li Mingyuan will see the crew members in front of him.

"That's fine too."

Li Mingyuan, carrying two fish-man officers, stood on the pirate ship, looking at the sailors on the shore.

Looking at the first mate who was still waving at him, he seemed to be lost in thought, his expression thoughtful.

"What's so good about it? It's all just garbage."

Upon hearing this, Karina couldn't help but purse her lips.

"Even if it seems like a touching farewell, in the end you might not even be as close to them as you are to me, so what's the point of saying goodbye?"

"They seem so respectful to you now, but that's only because you're powerful and have helped them. If you were just an ordinary civilian, what would you think? These people would skin you alive and use all the money on you to cover the losses on the cargo ship."

Karina shivered with disgust, rubbing her goosebump-covered arms vigorously with both hands, shaking her head repeatedly, "I can't take it anymore, it's too disgusting, I simply can't bear to look at it."

"I'm going to the captain's cabin first. You can stay here and continue to look at those fake smiling faces."

After saying that, Karina didn't care about Li Mingyuan's reaction and turned to leave.

Only Li Mingyuan remained.

He remained standing there, glancing helplessly at Karina's retreating figure.

I only said one thing, nothing more, right? How did that upset her?

"never mind."

Li Mingyuan sighed.

Distracted, Li Mingyuan lost interest in watching the sailors' farewells. He turned back to the two fish-men's corpses, tossed them and A Long's head together, and then sat down on a box on the deck.

Leaning against the edge of the boat, gazing at the sun-drenched sea, his thoughts began to wander.

Li Mingyuan believed that Karina's accusations against the sailors were probably true. Karina had no reason to lie to him on this point. The main reason he didn't say much to the crew was that whether those words were true or false, it had nothing to do with him.

After all, regardless of what these people on the ship had done outside, it was a fact that they were very polite to him. Including the captain, they also showed him a lot of respect during the journey. If it weren't for that, when the cargo ship was attacked by those officers, he probably would have waited until the fishmen were killed before cleaning up the scene, instead of rescuing the people first and then killing the fishmen.

According to Li Mingyuan, this is his standard of conduct.

He will deal with anyone who is polite and kind to him, even if they are truly evil.

This habit wasn't something he had from the beginning. It mainly came about after he transmigrated to the Warring States period in the Naruto world. His values ​​were shaped by the battlefield. In that blood-soaked melting pot, neither Madara nor Hashirama had clean hands. Everyone was stained with the blood of innocent people. But would he turn against them because of that? Of course not.

Humans have two sides, and this applies even to One Piece.

Kaido committed countless evil deeds in Wano Country, but wasn't he a good older brother to King? Judging from their fighting style and personal demeanor, they don't seem like the same person at all, but without a doubt, they are two sides of the same person.

So, regarding the cargo ship incident, he ultimately chose to turn a blind eye and pretend he hadn't seen it.

"Perhaps my current moral compass is a bit abnormal."

"If things continue like this, it's not impossible that one day I might actually join the Celestial Dragons' side?"

Thinking of this, a bitter smile appeared on Li Mingyuan's face.

time flies.

Next, Li Mingyuan and Karina's pirate ship sailed in the direction of the compass and the nautical chart. After about two or three hours, they approached an island with a naval base.

Upon landing on the island, Li Mingyuan and Karina wasted no time. While the surrounding residents stared in disbelief, they carried the heads of the fish-men straight through the residential area and reached their destination.

Inside the 16th branch of the naval base, naval personnel were still conducting drills.

After arriving at the naval base, Li Mingyuan went straight to the point and communicated with the naval personnel at the entrance. Before long, someone greeted them and led them to the reception room.

A few minutes later.

Sitting on the sofa in the reception room, Li Mingyuan saw the repulsive face of Colonel Rat appear before him.

"Hmm~ Indeed, these are the heads of those fish-men."

After examining the fishman's corpse, Colonel Rat initially wore a somewhat grim expression. However, he quickly turned to Karina and Li Mingyuan, smiling broadly, and said, "Thank you for ridding this sea of ​​a menace. You must both be quite skilled, right?"

"From what I've heard, these fishmen are pirates from the Grand Line, and it seems they have the Seven Warlords of the Sea backing them up... To be honest, we've been quite troubled until now. If we act rashly, we might end up like those other East Blue Marines who were defeated by the fishmen, suffering a miserable fate. But if we just let it go, it would be against our duty. I never expected that today, these fishmen would actually fall into your hands."

"Do you have any official titles? In any case, you shouldn't be pirates, right?"

Colonel Mouse spoke tentatively, while carefully observing Li Mingyuan's expression.

Clearly, he was still wary of the powerful figure who suddenly appeared in the East China Sea and wiped out Ah Long's gang.

After all, according to common sense, such a person could not possibly exist in the barren East Blue. Even if such a person did exist, they would certainly not be an unknown nobody. The fact that such a person has suddenly appeared out of nowhere makes it more likely that they are like Arlong and his crew, who came from the Grand Line in the opposite direction to the East Blue.