"I'm a pirate!"
Shanks' soliloquy was heard by Ji Guoyuan who was repairing the roof on the roof. He slightly lowered his head and glanced at Shanks, and then shouted to Bucky not far away:
"Hey, Bucky, bring up some nails."
As he spoke, the two fists holding nails slowly floated to Enichi Tsukuni's side.
It has to be said that Bucky's Devil Fruit ability is quite useful at certain times.
Enichi took the nail from Bucky's hand and asked Shanks below:
"Shanks, what do you think pirates should do?"
"From what I heard in your words, you seem to have a lot of admiration for pirates. Is it because you are a pirate yourself? Are you proud of your... profession?"
"As a Marine, your words make me very uncomfortable."
As Ji Guoyuan spoke, he knocked the nails into the wooden board.
When some of the marines working below heard this, they all looked at Shanks, with some complicated emotions in their eyes.
The navy is naturally hostile to pirates. Most of Kuzan's crew members are navy recruits, all young people under the age of thirty.
These navies have not yet experienced the baptism of "reality" and have the purest longing for the navy.
And he also has the purest hatred for pirates.
Shanks has always regarded himself as a pirate, and was already disliked by these marines. However, when the navy saw that even a child like Shanks was proud of being a pirate, they felt mixed emotions in their hearts.
"Pirates are the freest beings on this sea."
"I want to be like Captain Roger and become the freest person on this sea!"
When Shanks said the word "freedom", his eyes were filled with excitement. However, before Ji Guoyuan could speak, Bucky, who was not far away, spat disdainfully and interrupted:
"Freedom and stuff..."
"Shanks, you are really naive!"
"Pirates just want to hunt for treasure!"
"Only treasure is what pirates should pursue!"
"This is manly romance!"
Bucky and Shanks seemed unaware of their current situation, talking about freedom and treasure hunting in front of everyone in the navy.
They didn't even notice that some of the surrounding navy's eyes had changed when they looked at the two of them.
"Is it free..."
“The word freedom really means convenience!”
"As long as it's for freedom, it doesn't matter what you do."
"Even if your freedom hinders the freedom of others?"
Ji Guoyuan just turned his head and glanced at Shanks, then turned his head, while busying with what he was doing, he shook his head and said.
The sailors below heard what Ji Guoyuan said, nodded their heads, and glared at Shanks. There was even a young marine with a bad temper who scolded Shanks directly:
"Damn pirates, aren't the things you do just to get money and women? It's nothing more than venting your own animal desires that have nowhere to go. Why do you need to put up a banner of freedom for yourself?!"
"Pirates! They all deserve to die!"
When he heard the young marine's scolding, Shanks was not angry. Instead, he nodded seriously, without denying it, and said directly:
"There are pirates like that, but I, Captain Roger, and my companions on the ship have never done such a thing."
"We pirates at least dare to admit what we do, but what about you?"
"Aren't your navy also hiding under the banner of 'justice' and doing what you want to do?"
"It's just that your animal desires are vented on the pirates. There are even some things the navy does that are even more outrageous than the pirates, right?"
"Whether it's the desire to kill or the desire to destroy, can the navy hiding under the banner of justice really be any better than the pirates?"
The young Shanks has already seen all kinds of darkness in this world during the years he followed Roger as he sailed around the world. In terms of knowledge, these young marines are far from being able to compare with young Shanks.
Faced with Shanks's rhetorical question, the marines could only yell at Shanks angrily, saying "You're talking nonsense", but Shanks simply sneered at these young and uninformed marines, and didn't care. Paying attention to the other party, he raised his head and looked at Enichi Tsukuni who was repairing the roof.
"What do you think? Colonel Jiguo Enichi!"
"If it were you, you should be able to understand what I'm talking about, right?!"
"Or is it that the captain of the Navy Headquarters is just like these ignorant ordinary sailors, stupidly thinking that the Navy is absolutely just?!"
Faced with Shanks' question, Ji Guoyuan showed no intention of stopping his movements. He just repaired the roof of the house and replied:
"Individuals are simple, organizations are complex."
"People who join the navy must have various purposes, such as power, strength, maintaining world peace and tranquility, protecting the people around them, etc."
"These purposes cannot be said to be good or bad, but the banner of justice can often restrain some people's personal ambitions."
"Justice is heavy, it means responsibility, it means position, it means restraint."
"But pirates are different."
"The freedom you believe in is expanding indulgence and expanding desires."
"Human beings need to be restrained, with morality, responsibility, and strict laws. Human beings who indulge their desires infinitely and have no restraints are no different from ghosts."
"And the ghosts need to be eliminated."
"Our navy is just purging ghosts."
Ji Guoyuan knocked the nails into the wooden board with a click. After speaking, he turned to Shanks and said gently with a smile:
"The world can be without pirates, but it cannot be without the navy."
"The reason why you can still stand here and chat with me now is precisely because you are not a ghost, that's all."
"Send some boards up."
Ji Guoyuan was "discussing" with Shanks one second, and then directly changed the subject and gave an order the next second. When Shanks heard this, he skillfully grabbed a piece of wood and threw it up. Then he pursed his lips and frowned, thinking about how to refute Tsukuni Enichi's words.
At this moment, the street not far away suddenly became noisy, and several arrogant shouts came from the street.
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Get out of the way, get out of the way!"
While he was talking, a group of sailors walked across the street with steps that they would not recognize as relatives, and walked slowly towards this side. The aura of this group of sailors was ferocious, which was completely different from the temperament of the sailors under Kuzan, and each of these sailors was... Their clothes were disheveled and their hats were worn sideways. Some of them smelled very strongly of alcohol and walked crookedly, looking like they were hungover.
On the way here, several residents carrying things accidentally blocked their way and were pulled away by the marines. A heavily drunk marine even kicked a passerby. He was swearing and saying dirty words that needed to be coded.
Shanks noticed the movement over there, and when he saw this scene, he raised his head in amusement, looked at Enichi Tsukuni, and said mockingly:
"The restraints of justice are really powerful!"
(End of chapter)
