One Piece: Failure’s Road to the Pirate King

Touched by the kindness, the civilians' wariness towards Sag suddenly decreased. One of them, after quickly swallowing the piece of meat, said:

"Captain, we're from Campas Town."

"Campas Town?" Ajin was startled.

Sag looked at Ajin.

"Captain Sag, Campas Town is a famous place in the East Sea. The canvas they produce is very popular," Ajin explained.

"That's right."

The civilian continued, "We're a merchant ship from Campas Town. We were originally sailing with a shipment of canvas, but we encountered pirates on the way. They stole all our canvas. The captain and guards tried to resist but fell into the sea and disappeared."

"They left a barrel of water, I suppose that's showing some mercy," Sag nodded.

"No, they didn't take anything except the canvas. The food was lost due to cannon fire," one civilian raised his hand and argued.

You seem quite proud. "Um, Captain..."

The civilian who spoke first timidly said, "I know this might be presumptuous... but could you let us off at the next inhabited place?"

"I'm not interested in making civilians into pirates anyway."

Sag glanced at him and asked Ajin, "Is Campas canvas valuable?"

"The canvas they produce sells for 20,000 berries per bolt," Ajin replied.

Ajin scanned the sailboat and said, "A ship this size could carry about fifty bolts."

That would be one million berries.

This was a considerable sum.

Sag and his adoptive father had worked hard farming for a year and didn't make this much. These people made it in just one voyage.

"What about their defensive capabilities?" Sag continued to ask.

Ajin understood his intention.

"Campas Town itself doesn't have strong defenses, but the Navy patrols frequently. There's a branch nearby."

Sag nodded, "Lily."

Lily thought for a moment and said, "We can give it a try."

Sag smiled at the civilians, "Well then, I'll take you back."

"Take... take us back..."

The civilian's face turned pale, "You mean..."

Sag bared his cold white teeth, "I'm a pirate, of course I'm going to rob you."

Since they were going to rob anyway, robbing a merchant ship or robbing a town was the same.

A town with such economic value must have a lot of money.

Why not rob a wealthy town instead of looking for poor ones?

"Captain, are we going to rob the town directly?" Paru asked excitedly.

"That's right. Change course, head for Campas Town."

Sag stood up, "Lock these people in the hold. We'll let them off when we reach the town."

Several pirates followed the order and took the group of civilians below.

Sag went up to the second floor of the deck structure, which was usually where the captain's quarters were located. He opened the door to find various items scattered all over the floor, books and papers strewn everywhere.

He grinned, not minding the mess, stepped over it, righted a chair, and sat down with a thump.

"Ah, feels good!" Sag let out a satisfied sound.

"What feels good?"

The wooden door opened again, and Lily walked in. Seeing the messy captain's quarters, she frowned, "Are there any navigation charts in the captain's quarters?"

"Lily!"

Sag grinned, "Our pirate career is flourishing!"

"How is it flourishing?"

Lily retorted, crouching down to search. Her eyes lit up, "Here are some navigation charts."

"You see, this is strong evidence that our career is flourishing!"

Sag laughed heartily, "As our navigator, you've obtained navigation charts. As the captain, I've not only gained subordinates but also seized our first ship, and we're about to go looting. These are all good things!"

Lily pursed her lips and said diplomatically, "Sag, this ship... won't sustain our long-term voyage."

"That's not important!"

Sag waved his hand dismissively, "What's important is that we've taken the first step!"

Can't sustain the voyage?

She just wants to say it's a broken ship, right?

Sag didn't care at all.

A broken ship is still a ship. The point is that he, Sag, has managed to seize a ship.

As long as you take the first step, it's a great achievement.

Because of his previous endeavors, he had never taken the first step.

Crops wouldn't sprout, fish wouldn't bite, he never got to start as a bodyguard, mercenaries didn't go to war... he couldn't even get a chance to do those crappy things like becoming a yangko dance star.

He even had a feeling that even if he wanted to collect manure, he couldn't find any!

What? This world has toilets?

Then he couldn't even collect manure! The promising bounty hunter career, he did catch a pirate, but unfortunately, there was no bounty. He originally wanted to persist, but after taking the blame from the Oikot Kingdom, it was basically over.

But as soon as he became a pirate, he managed to take this first step.

No wonder it's the hottest career trend on the seas! Sag stretched out his fingers, then clenched them tightly, as if grasping everything around him.

Rich landowner, there's hope now! "Haha, hahahaha!" Sag let out an arrogant laugh.

Lily sat down next to him with the organized navigation charts and started looking through them one by one.

Outside, the pirates seemed to be infected by this laughter, each bursting into laughter. Paru beat his shield, his footsteps shaking the deck, creating a rhythmic sound. The pirates followed this rhythm, arm in arm, singing pirate shanties.

Ajin, looking at these happy pirates, couldn't help but smile.

After experiencing so many days of failure, they were finally back on a ship! The rickety ship, swaying with these strange sounds, rode the sun in the sky, stirring up waves on the sea surface as it sailed towards the distance.

...

Two days later.

The ship finally arrived at Campas Town.

Campas Town wasn't far from here. Ajin and the other experienced pirates knew the route in the East Sea. If the ship hadn't been so badly damaged, they could have arrived in one day.

This town was on an oval-shaped small island. There were no barriers around the island, and it was a large plain. The island's specialty was high-quality cotton and linen, which was why their canvas was so well-made.

The town was located on the east side of the island, and the broken ship was now sailing towards it.

Sag was standing on the second-floor railing, with Lily standing by his side, looking at the pirates on the deck who had drawn their swords and were grinning fiercely, as well as the civilians waiting in the corner, ready to disembark.

One of the civilians looked up at Sag, gritted his teeth, and stepped forward, "Captain, why don't you give up? You saved us, but Campas Town has well-equipped guards, and the Navy will arrive immediately. You only have about thirty people, it's absolutely not enough! Let us go, and I'll give you a new ship!"

A single-masted sailboat was worth about 600,000 to 1 million berries. If they pooled their resources, they could manage it.

Over the past two days, the pirates hadn't mistreated them. Instead, they regularly invited them up for meals. Except for not sleeping well, they were treated almost like guests.

In the words of Captain Sag, they were all unfortunate people, so there was no need for differential treatment.

This was a generous captain.

Although he was a pirate, he was worthy of respect.

Sag smiled calmly, looking down at the pirates, "Boys, he's telling you to give up."

Clang! Lily drew her rapier, her gaze turning cold.

"Captain Sag, we are pirates!"

Ajin gripped his cane tightly and laughed, "Pirates don't accept charity. If we want something, we just take it! Men of the sea are not afraid of life and death!"

"Well said, Captain Ajin!" The pirates cheered.

Sag hadn't revoked Ajin's position as the combat captain, so the pirates naturally followed the old custom.

This way, he didn't have to worry about commanding these ordinary pirates.

"That's right!"

Sag pointed forward, "Since we've chosen to be pirates, we'll do things the pirate way. All those things you mentioned..."

He clenched his fist and grinned fiercely, "I want them all!"

Pooling money for a ship?

With his bad luck, what kind of ship could he get?

It's safer to take one by force.

Moreover, these people speak with such confidence, which means the town is even richer and more worth robbing.

The ship followed the island's border, approaching Campas Town's landing point. This town was naturally a port town, so they just needed to get close.

As the town got closer, the pirates eagerly stood on the ship's edge, waiting to jump off as soon as the ship docked.

But when the ship arrived and they could see the town clearly, they suddenly froze.

Campas Town was a prosperous large town. The port was usually busy with loading and unloading goods every day, and the streets were full of people. But now, the scene they saw was completely different.

The sea surface of the port was littered with ship wreckage. Extending from the port inward, the ground was cracked with holes everywhere. Buildings were damaged, either half-destroyed or completely collapsed, with scorch marks everywhere.

Half of the entire town had been destroyed!