At this moment, not far from the left side of the warship, a pirate ship was emitting thick black smoke, its hull riddled with holes, heavily damaged by the warship's artillery.
Even though the pirate ship was riddled with holes and leaking everywhere, seemingly on the verge of sinking, the pirates on board were still arguing incessantly.
On that ship, a young girl with a tender face seemed out of place among the fierce pirates surrounding her. Most of Kenji's attention was on the girl, but he also listened to what the pirates were arguing about. He then discovered that the reason for their intense argument was related to the girl.
'...Are they fighting over the girl's ownership?' Kenji found it amusing after hearing the reason for the pirates' dispute.
'Every single one of them can barely protect themselves, yet they still have the thought to think about women, to fight over women...'
Suddenly, Kenji's heart stirred, and he thought of a possibility:
'Could it be that her ability has been exposed?'
'Hmm... If her ability has been exposed, it's indeed worth fighting over.'
'After all, she can truly escape from danger...'
Thinking of the girl's miraculous Devil Fruit ability, Kenji's smile involuntarily faded, and his eyes revealed a sense of relief and understanding. The desire to live is a human instinct.
At this moment, in the eyes of those pirates, the girl was their only hope of survival, like a straw on the edge of a cliff that they had to cling to desperately.
'As expected of a legendary Devil Fruit ability.' Kenji's gaze turned to the girl surrounded by pirates, and he felt a strange sensation in his heart.
It was similar to witnessing history or a legend firsthand.
After all, the girl on the pirate ship not far away was named Amatsuki Toki.
Furthermore, she possessed the power of the legendary Paramecia-type Time-Time Fruit, which could travel through space and time.
This was a truly legendary ability!
After all, after a user of this ability travels through time to the future, the Time-Time Fruit will not appear again in the original timeline, or even for hundreds of years, making it a legend, wouldn't it?!
Such legendary abilities are sought after by countless people, who wish to catch a glimpse of them. This included Kenji.
Of course, Kenji's desire to find Toki was not to seize her Time-Time Fruit. He didn't possess the Dark-Dark Fruit, and besides, even with the help of the Dark-Dark Fruit, given his physical constitution, unlike Blackbeard's unique body, he could only possess one Devil Fruit ability at most.
Becoming a landlubber for the sake of a Devil Fruit ability was completely unnecessary. Therefore, before today, Kenji's main purpose in seeking Toki was to ask for a small favor from her.
For a Time-Time Fruit user, it would be a simple task, but for others, it would be an absolutely impossible mission.
However, this idea and plan were from before today. Now that he had obtained [Super Comprehension], the original plan would naturally have to change. It was just that Kenji hadn't yet carefully considered the changes to the plan.
'Hmm, with the strength of my current [Super Comprehension] trait... I wonder if I can comprehend and successfully use the Time-Time Fruit ability?' Kenji stared at Toki on the ship not far away, carefully observing her every move.
In this real pirate world, he had never witnessed the use of the Time-Time Fruit ability firsthand. At this moment, he was waiting, waiting for Toki to use her Devil Fruit ability so he could observe and comprehend it.
Unfortunately, the girl who was being fought over by the pirates, for some reason, not only didn't use her Devil Fruit ability, but instead watched the surrounding pirates argue with a smile. She seemed to feel no sense of crisis at all, standing calmly in the midst of a group of ruthless pirates.
'Was Toki... like this at the beginning?' Kenji observed carefully for a moment, feeling that something wasn't quite right.
This girl who had traveled from the past should not be so calm, should she?
The Toki in Kenji's impression would become nervous and draw her sword in self-defense even when encountering a suspicious person.
'If she hasn't grown, then it's possible that...' Kenji's heart stirred, and he looked at Toki.
Looking from afar, the girl's exquisite face shone in the sunlight, and her eyes revealed confidence. But at this moment, Kenji saw something deeper.
He vaguely saw that beneath Toki's confident exterior was a panic that she was desperately trying to suppress. Of course, this discovery could also be attributed to Kenji's prejudice.
When a person develops suspicion towards someone, it affects their judgment.
For example, if you lost something at school and had a suspicious target in mind, then observing that target would make you feel that their every move was suspicious, like a thief.
However, in this world, strong individuals have a way to avoid the influence of prejudice, and that is Observation Haki.
Therefore, to prevent his prejudice from affecting his judgment, Kenji continuously used Observation Haki to carefully sense the changes in Toki's aura.
He even used [Future Vision], which was quite a wasteful overkill. And what Kenji saw through Observation Haki, and even [Future Vision], was... Toki was so scared she was almost peeing herself.
Yes, Toki was so scared she peed herself—though it was in the 'future'.
'So she was pretending to be calm.' Kenji couldn't help but curve his lips into a smile.
The girl opposite seemed calm, but in reality, she was panicking internally. And her act of feigned calmness did temporarily deceive those pirates.
You see, in a den of vicious pirates, the more panicked you appear, the easier it is for the pirates to manipulate you.
Toki, on one hand, appeared calm, and on the other hand, she may have also displayed her strength, which made the pirates hesitant to act rashly.
However, this situation wouldn't last long, and this could be seen from the 'future scene' where Kenji foresaw her peeing herself out of fear.
'Hmm... How about helping her?' Kenji suddenly thought of a 'good idea'.
At this moment, Kuzan finally fulfilled his duty as a subordinate and came over to report, "It has been confirmed that the opposing party is the Triangle Pirate Crew. They specialize in human trafficking, and it is said that their business is very large, referred to as 'Triangle Trade' by those in their industry."
"Industry?" Kenji raised an eyebrow slightly upon hearing this, then a half-smile appeared on his face.
"Human trafficking, that kind of thing, has actually formed an industry?"
In this world, human trafficking, an illegal activity, is actually secretly supported by the official government, which is the World Government. There's no way around it, who else would allow those so-called World Nobles, the Celestial Dragons, to indulge in buying slaves?
This has almost become a form of competition within the Celestial Dragons.
And with the Celestial Dragons as their backing, human trafficking activities naturally proceed smoothly.
Who can investigate? Who dares to investigate?!
"Kuzan, go deal with those pirates." Kenji casually ordered.
Kuzan, standing by, was rubbing his fists, seemingly already prepared. At Kenji's command, Kuzan immediately stood up and, with a single leap, landed on the leaking pirate ship opposite.
Bang!
Kuzan landed heavily on the dilapidated deck, causing the entire pirate ship to suddenly sink into the sea, accelerating the ship's demise.