"No."
Tashigi immediately ran in front of Qingyun, her eyes brimming with unwilling tears as she looked helplessly into his eyes, pleading,
"I beg you, please don't take the lives of Colonel Smoker and everyone else."
"I am willing... I am willing to board your ship..."
[Congratulations to the host for recruiting Tashigi to the Neptune Crew. Please select Tashigi's position.]
Qingyun smiled slightly:
"Very well."
"Then from this moment on, you are the swordsman of my Neptune Crew."
"Yes... Captain Qingyun."
Although Tashigi was extremely reluctant, she had no choice but to bite her lip and answer.
"Tashigi..."
Smoker and the accompanying Marines watched helplessly as Tashigi was forced to agree to Qingyun's terms, feeling extremely bitter inside.
"Tashigi..."
Nami, Nojiko, Kaya, and Makino saw this and felt some sympathy for Tashigi, as they could all empathize with her to some extent.
"You seem a bit reluctant, don't you?"
"How about we just forget it?"
"I might as well just kill Smoker and the Marines, right?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Qingyun immediately bypassed Tashigi and continued walking toward Smoker.
Upon hearing and seeing this, Tashigi hurriedly reached out to grab Qingyun's hand, holding him back, and looked up at him, pleading:
"I am willing..."
"I am boarding your ship of my own free will."
"Please, I beg you to spare Colonel Smoker and everyone else."
"Tashigi, don't beg him, don't join his pirate crew."
"Pirates are despicable and shameless people; even if you agree to his terms, he will never let us go."
Smoker desperately urged Tashigi.
"That's right, Tashigi, don't beg him."
"We are not afraid of death."
The accompanying Marines all chimed in, desperately telling Tashigi.
"As long as you are boarding my ship voluntarily, that's all that matters."
Ignoring the words of Smoker and the Marines trying to dissuade Tashigi, Qingyun smiled slightly at her, returned her katana, and then turned to walk toward Nami and the others, saying to Tashigi:
"Let's go."
Tashigi looked at the katana in her hand, then glanced at Qingyun's back.
After thinking carefully for a moment, she sheathed her katana and followed in Qingyun's footsteps.
"Tashigi, don't go with him."
Smoker and the accompanying Marines called out to Tashigi one after another.
But for the sake of their lives, Tashigi could only grit her teeth, ignore their calls, and follow closely behind Qingyun.
"Let's enter the city."
Arriving in front of Nami, Nojiko, Kaya, and Makino, Qingyun smiled and said to them.
"Okay."
Nami and the others nodded with smiles and walked side-by-side with Qingyun into East Blue City.
They must have been threatened just like me, right?
Tashigi followed behind, watching the backs of Namiand the others, feeling sure that their situation was the same as hers, and began to sympathize with them.
Smoker and the accompanying Marines were helpless, and could only watch as Tashigi left with Qingyun.
Upon entering East Blue City, Qingyun was in no rush to find Carina.
After all, he didn't even know if Carina was in East Blue City.
He chose to take Nami, Nojiko, Kaya, Makino, and Tashigi shopping and sightseeing, buying them all sorts of things.
Qingyun's behavior took Tashigi by surprise.
She had assumed Qingyun was a ruthless pirate who would just steal whatever he took a liking to.
But she never expected that Qingyun would actually pay for things, which made her impression of him improve slightly.
Although Qingyun wanted to be an unscrupulous villain who did whatever he pleased.
He would not bully civilians.
Especially ordinary people, just like in his past life, who scrambled desperately to earn a few coins to get by.
Only those who are weak and afraid of the strong would bully honest people.
If he were to bully anyone, it would be the strong.
As the largest entertainment city in East Blue, East Blue City naturally had its fair share of casinos.
And that was where the money and the wealthy people were concentrated.
Qingyun knew that Carina loved treasure, so if she was in East Blue, she would most likely be in a casino.
So, after they had finished having fun, he took Nami, Nojiko, Kaya, Makino, and Tashigi to buy and change into gorgeous, expensive suits and gowns, and then went directly into the largest casino in East Blue City.
As the saying goes, clothes make the man, and gold makes the Buddha.
Qingyun was already handsome and dashing, and Nami, Nojiko, Kaya, Makino, and Tashigi were already stunningly beautiful.
After they changed into the appropriate suits and gowns, they became even more handsome, charming, and sexy.
As soon as they entered the casino, they instantly attracted many gazes.
The men looked at Nami and the others with lewd eyes, like starving wolves, wishing they could just pounce on them.
However, they didn't dare to act recklessly.
It wasn't because they recognized or feared Qingyun, but because they dared not break the casino's rules.
The owner of this casino had bribed both Marines and pirates with money, establishing the rule that whoever entered the casino, whether Marine or pirate, was an equal gambler.
No one was allowed to attack anyone else, or they would be besieged by everyone.
It was because of this rule that many Marines and pirates came here to gamble.
East Blue City had developed into the largest entertainment city in East Blue precisely because of this.
"Hello, honored guest. What would you like to play?"
Not long after they entered the casino and were still looking around, a young woman in uniform walked up to Qingyun and asked with a smile.
"Honored guest?"
Qingyun was a bit confused: "This is my first time here, how did I become an honored guest?"
Hearing Qingyun's words, Nami, Nojiko, Kaya, Makino, and Tashigi also felt puzzled and looked at the woman.
"It's like this: in our casino, no matter who enters, as long as they have money or value, they are our guests."
"Inside the casino, no one is allowed to attack anyone else, otherwise they will be expelled by everyone."
"You are a great pirate with a bounty of 50 million Berries, so naturally you are an honored guest of our casino."
The woman explained with a smile.
"I see."
Qingyun, Nami, Nojiko, Kaya, Makino, and Tashigisuddenly realized.
Nami and the others were also shocked; they hadn't expected such a place to exist in East Blue.
Especially Tashigi.
She hadn't expected the Marines to allow such a place to exist.
Qingyun was not surprised by this.
After all, he knew how corrupt the Marine organization was; many Marines were even more detestable than pirates, stopping at nothing to achieve their goals.
"Honored guests, you must be a bit tired after playing for so long, right?"
"Let everyone take a break, and let us welcome our casino's most beautiful songstress, Lady Carina, to sing a song for everyone."
Just at this moment, a voice rang out through the speakers across the entire hall.
"Carina."
"Carina."
"Carina."
In an instant, the entire casino was in an uproar.