Achieving Nothing, I Can Only Be the Pirate King-Chapter 617 - 366: A Full Meal Speaks Louder Than Words_2

Chapter 617: Chapter 366: A Full Meal Speaks Louder Than Words_2

"Then you’d better not catch it... If the master finds out, he’ll break you like a fishing rod, hahaha."

The two laughed as they walked toward the cabin with arms around each other.

Half a day’s journey was nothing for a motorcycle with jet propulsions.

No matter how steep the road was, the strong and stable chassis ensured that no accidents would occur, making the ride as smooth as low-altitude flight.

At least two hundred miles an hour!

A half-day walk would only take ten minutes!

The storm, carrying raindrops, violently swept over the land.

Amidst the rain, a small town was engulfed in flames, and at the town gate, a group of people gathered, wanting to enter but not daring to, watching helplessly as the fire spread in despair.

Whoosh!

At that moment, one person felt the wet wind, turned their head and saw the once-clear sky being devoured, dark clouds spreading rapidly.

"It’s raining!"

With the shout, the storm arrived instantly, bringing fierce rain and wind that extinguished the fire.

As the storm hit, a huge cloud of dust was stirred up. As it gradually dissipated, a group of motorcycles came to a halt at the town gate.

On the giant, beast-like motorcycles were menacing figures, each one watching intently.

Boom!

A flash of lightning suddenly cut through, casting light on their faces, making them look even more intimidating.

The townspeople instinctively stepped back, and one person swallowed hard, bravely asking, "You, you guys..."

"Everyone!"

A voice suddenly sounded from the motorcycles as people from the West Sea jumped off and ran excitedly, "What happened to the town!"

"Becky!"

The questioner widened their eyes, looking at the rushing West Sea people, blinking in disbelief, "Hal! Kasdine! Didn’t you set sail?!"

"We’re back. We brought our master back with us. We crossed the Calm Belt into the Grand Line, and our master took us in. We’re saved!"

The West Sea man named Becky shouted loudly.

Sage got off the motorcycle and brushed his wind-blown, disheveled hair back in place, looking at the crowd gathered at the gate, roughly counting around two thousand people.

Each one was emaciated, malnourished, some so starved their bodies were disproportionately small compared to their heads, nodding off in the arms of their relatives.

"Just perfect, saves me the trouble of gathering people, Marika."

Sage waved a big hand, "Give them food!"

Marika took a large box from the motorcycle’s storage, opening it to reveal neatly wrapped, well-cured powder pills.

With a flash, she entered the crowd, approaching a nodding-off, skeletal child.

The child’s mother instinctively backed away, using bone-thin arms with inexplicable strength to hold him tightly, watching Marika warily.

"Don’t be afraid, this is food."

Marika unwrapped a powder pill, letting it get soaked by the rain, releasing a fragrant aroma of food.

"It doesn’t taste great, nor is it nutritious, but it’s very filling."

Marika smiled, offering the pill, "Don’t worry. Just add water, and it becomes a paste, easy to swallow."

The aroma made everyone around swallow collectively, their eyes flashing with hope.

The mother hesitated, then looked at her child, steeling her heart, grabbed the powder pill almost forcefully, letting it dissolve a bit in the rain.

Using the paste, she fed it to the child by hand.

Upon contact, the child mouthed like tasting nectar, unconsciously opening wide and sucking in every last bit of paste.

Gradually, the child opened his eyes weakly, "Mommy, I’m hungry..."

"Hungry is good, hungry is good!" 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Tears mingled with rain as they streamed down the mother’s face, trembling hands feeding the rain-soaked paste to the child.

Under the rain, everyone watched silently as Lily gripped her sword, fury in her eyes.

What’s so good about being hungry, it’s just... as long as there’s strength left to speak, being alive is good.

How could they be oppressed to this extent!

"This rain, I don’t like it."

Sage glanced upward, calmly commanding, "Stop."

Buzz!

A black-red torrent surged from around him, piercing through the gloomy sky, creating a large hole. Though the sky became darker, the storm stopped abruptly.

"Rainwater isn’t good. We have prepared water too."

Marika smiled at the people, "Rest assured, everyone will get some. Although we are pirates, even pirates have their honor..."

Boom!

The storm ceased, muted thunder stirred, and the lightning lit up Marika’s figure, making her seem to glow.

"The feeling of an empty stomach is unbearable," Marika said slowly.

At this moment, the thunder was no longer terrifying.

Thud.

Among the surrounding people, some fell to their knees, gazing at the momentarily glowing Marika, murmuring, "Saintess..."

Having once fed a multitude in a land more barren than this with local ingredients, Marika possessed not only culinary skills and brute strength but a powerful charisma.

Compassion, at times, is a formidable weapon!

Gin clenched his fists, speaking in a deep voice, "The feeling of an empty stomach is indeed unbearable!"

Even after entering the New World, following Sage and dining in style, in his heart, the fried rice from Baladi remained...

The best fried rice he’d ever had!

For these gathered individuals, there was no need for initial distrust, nor lengthy explanations of how things happened or how to instill trust...

For the starving, a hearty meal... bore more weight than any words!

The powder pills Marika brought were made by grinding jerky into powder, mixing fish egg meat paste with cooked rice porridge and fried flour, supplemented with carrots, yams, plums, and other vegetables, along with sugar, honey, soy sauce, and other seasonings, then preserved with Sela Bais Island’s Octagonal Star.

And so a Soldier’s Food Pill capable of staving off hunger was made.

For the resource-rich O’hara, it was less practical than canned food, being cumbersome to make, with numerous ingredients, rendering it unnecessary.

Marika made them upon hearing about fifty thousand starving people there, out of her own initiative.

As for the taste...

Sage tried one, it wasn’t tasty.

Due to its crafting process, a lot of nutritional value was lost, falling behind canned food.

But it was edible.

And filling!

For famine-stricken people... being filled was the ultimate delicacy.

Nearly two thousand people collected the soldier’s food pills voluntarily, consuming them with water, showing satisfied expressions, careless of the muddy ground, sitting or kneeling, dazed for a moment before bursting into tears.

"Thank you very much!"

Soon, these people spontaneously knelt before Marika and those distributing the food, bowing their heads to the ground, loudly proclaiming:

"We will never forget your immense kindness and virtue, we will remember your grace for a lifetime!"

"No need for that."

Sage walked into the crowd, looking down at those beneath him, "Feeding you is so that you have the strength to come with me. I need people in my territory, so I want all of you to come with me, to serve me in a different place!"

"Illegal sailing, then we’d be pirates..." one person in the crowd said fearfully.

"I am a pirate!"

Sage laughed maliciously, "Whether you want to or not, you’re all coming with me!"

"Well, will we have enough to eat?"

The question came from the mother holding the child earlier.

"If you want, you can eat until you’re stuffed!"

"Then I’ll go with you!"

She stood up, firmly saying, "My child was starving to death, if being caught as a pirate means death, staying here ultimately means death too... I’d rather be a fed ghost with my child!"

"Yes! Be a fed ghost! I’ll sail too, not stay here anymore! What’s being caught at sea!"

Her words were like a lit fuse, triggering a chain reaction.

The feeling of starvation, they had enough of it!

Sage watched the emotionally fired-up individuals, a smile forming, yet not taking much heed.

Because this wasn’t about seeking their opinion.

This was something bound to happen.

For pirates, whatever they wanted, they just took.