One piece :Nox ( Before Dawn)

Dozens of slavers tightly surrounded a group of slaves. The goods intended for auction at the House of Merchants were of excellent quality. Sal, who had offered 500,000, was not selected.

Most of the slaves were humans, including women, pirates, and even members of rare races.

Among them stood out a giant man, towering at 16 meters, with a time-worn face that Sal glanced at several times. A giant in his prime is no weakling.

Giants live for hundreds of years. Usually, even an unsuccessful capture of an adult giant is worth tens of millions. Select elders among them are comparable to the supernovas, not to mention those who hold the title of hero.

As for the leader of the group, Sal was also interested in him. He was a devil fruit user, granting him poison abilities. Three years ago, this man caught 40 million worth of pirates and was nearly a renowned bounty hunter.

"To be precise, if we round up, then by our estimates, he possesses power close to that of a supernova, so there's no room for retreat."

A long caravan moved through the red trees, the unfeeling slaves could only obediently follow because each of them wore explosive collars, and the people controlling them could take their lives at any moment.

Among the slaves, a young girl fell to the ground, her face pale, her whole body trembling. Seeing this, the slavers mercilessly raised their whips.

The girl was of ordinary appearance, her only remarkable feature being her beautiful scarlet eyes.

Suddenly, a beautiful slave with long blue hair, dressed in a dancer's costume, blocked the path. Her graceful face bore deep scars.

The costly cargo ended up with a damaged face, which enraged the leader, who kicked one of his men and then shouted fiercely.

"Sakura, do you want to die?"

The dancer named Sakura stubbornly bit her lip and remained silent because she knew that if she retreated, the little girl behind her would perish, and her frail body couldn't withstand the beatings.

Seeing that the "goods" were not obeying, the leader of the slave traders was ready to deal with the dancer, whose value had decreased, but above his head, a male voice sounded.

"Lady, you're doing well. I'll handle it from here."

"Ba-a-am!..."

With a crash, to everyone's astonishment, Sal descended from the sky, landing foot-first on the unfortunate slaver. As for the poor soul beneath his foot, his chances were nonexistent.

"Enemy!"

Noticing the approach of the enemy, the slavers grabbed their weapons and surrounded Sal.

"I don't care who you are, but if you dare insult our country... ..."

He wasn't allowed to finish, as Sal had already unleashed an incredible "Conquers Haki," accompanied by dark red lightning that swept across the entire area, even distorting the air as silence enveloped everything.

Sal felt a slight tightness in his chest. Physical strength is the gate, and Dominant Color is the flow of water. A flow that's too strong puts pressure on the gates if they are of poor quality.

With the sound of bodies falling, the slave trader leader's eyes gradually turned white as he lost consciousness, foam at his mouth, unable to resist. Even some of the slaves were affected.

[B-level characters have negative emotions toward you: intense fear, 50 experience points x 5]

[C-level characters have negative emotions toward you: strong fear, 12 experience points x 29]

[D-level characters have negative emotions toward you: high level of fear, 3 experience points x 49]

[Level up: 13 levels 231/700]

Sal habitually finished off his enemy by taking money and the key while the slaves were still in shock. After that, a system message sounded.

[The fate of many characters has greatly changed, earning an additional 731 points.]

Sal handed the key to the girl who was still in a daze:

— Help them remove their collars, you are free now.

— …

As time passed, the initially despondent slaves were revived by joy and tears. Since coming to the Sabaody Archipelago, they had lost hope of survival and could only silently await a dreadful life.

The explosive collars were being removed one by one, and the system notified of another level up.

[A-level characters have positive emotions towards you, high level of friendliness, 500 experience points]

[B-level characters have positive emotions towards you, high level of friendliness, 50 experience points x 3]

[C and D-level characters have positive emotions towards you, high level of friendliness, 12 experience points x 43, 3 experience points x 10]

[Level up: 14 levels 126/700]

[Significantly changed the fate of several characters, 1159 reward points.]

2 levels in one action, and 1863 points. This trip was worth it. It's worthwhile spending time gathering information. There are two more tasks for today.

As for potential retribution, he never worried about that. The most important thing in this world is power.

Once everyone received their travel expenses and set off, only the dancer named Sakura hesitated to leave, her eyes full of gratitude.

Sal understood that this was her most vulnerable time, but he didn't want to discuss feelings with a woman. A little casual comfort would be more than enough.

As he watched them go, Sal turned and saw a giant still wearing an explosive collar. He hadn't expected not to have the key.

The giant made a humming sound and said:

— Your "Conqueror's Haki" just now was very powerful; it could even slice the enemy apart. That's a very advanced skill.

Judging by what he knows about "Conqueror's Haki," it means he knows a lot. Sal was very interested in capturing the giant. After all, the system noted him as an A-level character, at least as strong as an ordinary supernova.

— It's just regular "Conqueror's Haki," nothing special. Let me help you break the chains. Why were you captured and enslaved?

The giant drooped and simply said:

— Betrayed, became a slave.

— I see.

Sal didn't want to expose his wounds. He approached the giant, looked at the chain, and released "Advanced Conquers Haki." The controlled "Advanced Conquers Haki" penetrated directly into the collar to deactivate the trigger switch.

At the same time, his face paled, and he dropped to his knees, sweating. The "Advance Conquers Haki," comparable to normal "Conquerors Haki," puts a significant strain on his body.

If he had "Armament Haki" now, he could simply break the chain using its flow. Unfortunately, he hadn't yet met the basic conditions for awakening "Armament Haki."

— I will repay you, even if it costs me my life, that is my promise, Luke.

The giant's eyes were very serious; their tribe could sacrifice their life for an oath.

In the end, the giant took Sal's paper with his life plan written on it and left, promising to become his subordinate in a month. This initiative came from the giant.

Once the matter was resolved, Sal needed to find his next objective.

The system suddenly issued a reminder.

[Character of level A, Drake, has positive emotions towards you, initial friendliness, 100 experience points]

Sal immediately deployed "Observation Haki" and indeed saw the departing figure in a hat. The marine intelligence from Hell's Department was also there. And he saw them freeing the slaves.

This person is one of the supernovas, the Marine traitor "X Drake," with a bounty of 220 million…

In the afternoon, the scorching sun filtered through the mangrove leaves, illuminating the roots of trees in the Sabaody Archipelago.

Sal, with a bit of fatigue, arrived at the shopping street in area 24. The proportion of pirates on the whole street was very high.

After almost a whole day of hard work, he ambushed several large groups of slaves again, causing the slavers to scatter and prompting bounty hunters in the human trafficking trade, drawn by curious onlookers, to surface.

His level also rose significantly. It wasn't for nothing that he acted recklessly and warned the enemy. In the next few days, the slavers would have to be more restrained. Who knows, this might disrupt the plot.

[Level: 19, 74/950]

He ignored the slaver patrol nearby, and suddenly a scene on the street caught his attention. A woman with long straight pink hair, a rough demeanor, and bright lipstick was devouring food. Even Sal admitted that he wasn't as fast as she was.

And he knew the identity of the woman, the only female supernova, Jewelry Bonney . The bounty on her head was 140 million berries; she is the daughter of one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Kuma The Tryrant.