Chapter 1
“Attack!”
“Port side, load! Fire!”
Shells flew from all directions.
Countless bullets and cannonballs.
And vivid, multi-colored magic illuminating the sky.
The deafening roars of explosions, intermingled with desperate screams.
Some clutched the corpses of the dead, sobbing in anguish.
Some held onto their severed limbs, their faces blank with shock.
And some… unable to even close their eyes, lay cold with shrapnel embedded in their chests.
Watching the cruel massacre unfolding on the vast ocean.
A girl with blonde hair and red eyes, shackled at her hands and feet, and a cross-shaped scar on her forehead, thought:
Beautiful…
This is the face of death.
A scene of people leaving behind a world filled with nothing but pain and heading towards peaceful and joyous rest.
Feeling envy toward those who could enjoy such bliss,
She wanted to etch every bit of this sacred ritual into her mind.
At that moment.
-Slap!!
“…”
In an instant, the glimmer in her eyes disappeared, leaving only a dark shadow.
Pus and blood oozed out from the deep wound inflicted by the whip.
Pain that would have made an ordinary person faint.
But her only reaction was to turn her head silently and continue walking.
“Move faster! Where does a filthy slave like you think you can afford to be distracted?!”
A sharp voice pierced her ears.
Her ‘Master’ shouted with a voice unusually gentle, as if out of courtesy.
“Move immediately! If you keep dawdling, I’ll throw you into the sea!”
The Master’s whip left another wound on her back.
But even so…
No scream escaped the girl’s lips.
It hurt, but the sensation was already too familiar.
Through long periods of learning, she knew well.
Slaves do not have the right to scream.
Nor do they have the right to express pain.
“…”
She lifted the cannonball that felt as if it would tear her arms off.
With a broken and battered body, even walking across the violently swaying deck was not easy.
The spray of water erupting from all directions.
The wooden splinters grazing her cheek.
The sweet, alluring temptation of death beckoned to her from the side.
But…
Even so, she had to walk.
Slaves did not have the right to complain.
Nor did they have the right to die.
Everything had to be done according to the will of the Master…
At that moment.
“Uh…what, what’s that?!”
“Wha…what the hell is that?!”
“!”
Suddenly, voices filled with confusion rang out.
And then…
-BOOM!!!
With a thunderous roar, the deck beneath the girl’s feet shook violently.
A cannonball…
No, something even bigger seemed to have flown in.
The impact made the girl lose her balance and fall to the ground.
The cannonball she was barely holding onto vanished somewhere.
However,
At this moment, no expected whiplash.
No angry curses reached her ears.
All she saw were the faces of her Master and others, filled with shock.
And…
The enormous shadow covering her entire body.
“Pardon me for interrupting.”
“!”
A deep male voice echoed in her ears.
Just the sound of his voice alone seemed to radiate power and authority, prompting her to slowly turn around.
And then she saw him.
A figure, towering at 2 meters tall,
A body covered in muscles that looked ready to burst.
And…
A middle-aged man with golden hair and beard.
His appearance alone made it clear that he was no ordinary man. He glanced at the girl briefly and then smiled.
A terrifying, yet strangely captivating smile…
At that moment.
“Gol…Golden Beard…”
“Ezra Drake!”
“The Pirate King! The Pirate King has appeared!”
Voices filled with fear and panic resounded as the surroundings grew chaotic.
But the giant man paid no mind to the commotion. Instead, he reached his hand out toward the girl.
“!”
A hand large and strong enough to crush her head in an instant.
Believing that pain would follow as always,
The girl instinctively closed her eyes tightly.
But,
“!”
Her head, touched by the large hand, felt no pain at all.
It merely caressed her gently.
It was the first time.
The first time she had felt such a sensation.
With a blank expression, she looked up at the face still smiling down at her.
At that moment.
“Y-you…! Do you even know who I am to be doing this?! I am the Marquis Philipp of the Grand Franz Kingdom! How dare a lowly pirate cause such a disturbance?!”
Her ‘Master’ spoke, trembling with fear.
However…
“Do nobles have two lives or something? If so, that’s convenient. I’ll take this chance to test it out.”
The man showed no reaction, his gaze unwavering as he began to radiate golden magic power from his body.
“Wha-what are you all doing?! Why… why aren’t you dealing with that filthy pirate right now?!”
“B-but, Marquis! The opponent is the Pirate King!”
“A m-monster who has reached the 12th rank! How could we possibly…”
Even though they held guns and swords, the soldiers were already losing their will to fight.
At that moment.
-Bang!!
“Gahhh!!”
“…”
Their ‘Master’ shot a soldier in the head, still gripped by fear.
He then shouted in a sharp, frenzied voice.
“Don’t spew nonsense! Pirate King? 12th rank? What does any of that matter?! I am Marquis Philipp, a high noble! Bring me his head immediately! If any of you hesitate, I’ll kill you with my own hands first!”
In response to their Master’s enraged commands, the soldiers, as they always did, frowned and started to follow.
Watching them take up their guns and draw their swords with trembling hands…
The man slowly raised his bandaged fist and took a stance.
“As expected… all of you nobles are utterly revolting.”
The man spoke in a voice filled with strength.
He wasn’t even holding a weapon from the start.
Yet, even the heavily armed soldiers—at least dozens of them—wore expressions of fear and anxiety that even the girl could recognize.
In contrast, the towering man’s face showed no hint of concern.
Instead, he even seemed to exude a sense of ease.
The golden energy emanating from his body began to flare even more intensely.
To the girl’s eyes, it looked so beautiful.
That radiant energy, like the brilliant morning sun, swirled around his clenched fist as if it were a thread of light.
At that moment.
“! F-fire! Shoot!!!”
-Bang! Bang! Bang!
Along with the panicked voice of her Master, bullets were fired.
The bullets flew not only at the giant man but also at the girl in front of him.
A situation that naturally led the powerless girl to think of death.
However…
-Whoosh!
“!”
Suddenly, a flash of light appeared before the girl’s eyes.
A brilliant wave of light, so dazzling and irresistible, swept away all the bullets flying at them.
Even though she wasn’t the target, the tingling sensation that enveloped her entire body made the girl instinctively curl up.
And moments later.
As soon as the radiant light that filled her vision vanished…
“Ah…!”
The girl’s eyes, which had been overshadowed by darkness until then, began to show a clear emotion—surprise.
“Ugh…ugh…”
“G-gahhh…”
Those who were holding weapons just moments ago now lay crumpled on the ground in a bloody mess.
The sight of her ‘Master,’ who had held the power to decide her life and death like an unquestionable god, now rolling on the floor, his arms that once wielded the whip broken in a gruesome state.
Seeing her Master, who had controlled her fate, sprawled out like garbage, the girl felt something stir within her heart.
At that moment.
“!”
The giant man offered her a small sword.
He then spoke in a voice different from before, one filled with calmness.
“Finish it. With your own hands, break the shackles of oppression and seize your freedom.”
“F-freedom…?”
Something she had always longed for but never experienced.
The man was telling her to seize it with her own hands. The girl hesitated.
The unknown is terrifying.
Even if it is something one has always wanted,
A step into the unknown can only be accompanied by hesitation.
However,
“Wha…what are you doing?! S-stop! Stop it right now! If you touch me, the Franz Kingdom won’t just…!”
The egg of fear,
The girl began to crack it slowly,
With the small, dagger-like beak of a chick in her hand.
-Slash!
“Gyaaahhhhh!!!!”
The sound of her Master’s scream echoed in her ears.
But,
At this moment, that sound felt incredibly refreshing to the girl.
“P-please… spare me! I-I’m sorry, I was wrong… I’ll never, never hit you again… P-please… Sp- Gaaaah!!!”
Gone was the arrogance he showed just moments ago.
Now, the Master cried desperately, his face a grotesque mess of tears and mucus.
But that voice no longer reached the girl’s ears.
Her focus was solely on one thing,
Breaking the shell before her…
Breaking the world called slavery and chains.
With pure passion, with pure desire.
That small chick, with all her strength, continued to peck away at the shell with her frail beak.
And finally…
-Crack!!!
“Guh…hah….”
Her Master’s skull, shattered cleanly.
The dagger that pierced through his skull and stabbed into his brain made sure to extinguish the life that was slowly fading away.
Like that… a world was shattered by her hands.
As she vaguely realized that the world called slavery had disappeared,
The girl slowly lifted her head.
The sky, shrouded in a gray haze due to the smoke rising all around.
But to the girl, this sky appeared clearer and brighter than ever before.
The sensation of something that had once tightly bound her heart loosening.
Though that realization scared her…
At the same time, for the first time, she felt a sense of joy.
A single tear, whose cause she could not identify, ran down her cheek.
“Well done. You are free now.”
A gentle hand patted her shoulder.
At that, the girl finally turned to look at the man who had given her freedom…
The man whom so many had just called a pirate.
She bowed her head deeply towards him.
“Thank… you, Pirate… Sir.”
“There’s no need to thank me. That freedom was something you just seized with your own hands. I only gave you a little push.”
The pirate smiled, a smile that felt both frightening and warm.
The girl smiled back at him.
At that moment.
“Captain! We’ve finished up over here too!”
“Jeez… You really went all out this time. You didn’t kill them all, did you? It’s good to work hard, but please leave something for us to clean up at least!”
A ship was approaching.
However, the grandeur of that ship was entirely different from the other sunken vessels here.
Pushing through the wrecked ships,
It was a massive warship with a flag adorned with a distinct skull symbol on its black mast.
Hearing the voices coming from the ship, the pirate waved lightly before looking back at the girl and asking.
“Alright then, let’s get you back. Tell me your name and where your home is, and I’ll send you there.”
The pirate offered kindness once more.
Feeling gratitude for that fact,
And at the same time, feeling a bit awkward, the girl replied cautiously.
“I-I don’t have a home. I was a slave from birth…”
“I see… is that so…”
The pirate’s face showed a hint of regret.
For the first time, the man, who had been laughing boisterously, revealed a heavy expression.
Feeling a strange discomfort at that sight,
The girl, almost instinctively, spoke with a slightly desperate tone.
“B-but I have a name! My name is… Ambasha.”
“Cough!?”
Suddenly, the pirate’s face twisted with a strange expression, and he coughed roughly.
Immediately after, the pirate moved with slight urgency, kneeling down and examining her face…
To be precise, examining the cross-shaped scar hidden among her hair.
And then…
“What the hell? Why is the protagonist here?”
—
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