One hour before the outbreak of the Summit War.
The Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
"Boss, aren't we going to Marineford?"
Lucky Roux carefully followed behind Shanks, his tone uncertain.
But even at such a critical moment, he didn't forget to hold onto his delicious roasted meat.
"Don't worry. Naruto is there, things won't get out of control."
Shanks waved his hand, then signaled to Benn Beckman to take a high position for lookout.
Benn Beckman gave his captain a helpless look.
"You're really acting recklessly."
Even as he said this, he obediently headed towards a tower-like structure.
After knocking out the guard with an elbow strike, Benn Beckman took out his flintlock, closed his eyes slightly, and began releasing Observation Haki to perceive everything around him.
His Observation was arguably the strongest in the Red Hair Pirates… at least in terms of large-scale 'detection'.
Even the sniper Yasopp couldn't match him in this… Yasopp was better at long-distance, single-point reconnaissance.
Considering their unfamiliarity with the current state of Mary Geoise, such caution was understandable.
After all, the last time Shanks was here, he was surrounded by the God's Knights and the Five Elders.
"Tsk... a city truly full of sin."
"A place like this deserves to be called a 'Holy Land'?"
'Seeing' the tormented, humiliated slaves one by one in his perception, along with the lackeys assisting them, even Benn Beckman, who had long been accustomed to injustice, couldn't help but feel a rare surge of anger.
Click.
Benn Beckman returned to the group.
"There aren't any noteworthy characters here."
Hearing this, the other Red Hair Pirates crew members let out a collective sigh of relief and stopped restraining their auras.
Shanks, however, keenly detected the unusual mood of his First Mate.
"What is it? Did you see something?"
"..."
"You'll know soon enough."
After saying this, Benn Beckman sighed lightly and lit a cigarette.
Hearing this, Shanks seemed to instantly understand what he meant.
Yes, he had already sensed it during his last visit here… this 'hell on earth' concealing countless people's blood and tears.
He didn't have the chance last time. This time, he would completely destroy this place.
Confirming there were no more high-level combatants in the city, Shanks signaled everyone to split up and act in pairs, initiating the complete liberation of Mary Geoise.
Of course, he also reminded everyone not to approach the core area of Mary Geoise, the Pangaea Castle.
According to Naruto's intelligence, a terrifyingly powerful individual should be hidden there.
If a battle erupted with him, those slaves would certainly not survive.
But according to Naruto, as long as they didn't approach that area, that being wouldn't act. At most, the Five Elders would intervene.
At that point, he just needed to hold off the Five Elders, buying time for Beckman and the others to carry out the rescue.
However, things went even smoother than Shanks expected.
Because the Five Elders had also been dispatched to Marineford by Imu-
At this moment, Mary Geoise's defensive forces consisted only of some black-suited World Government's agents, who were no match for an elite pirate crew like the Red Hair Pirates.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hearing the familiar gunshots, Shanks knew Yasopp had already begun acting.
Sure enough.
As the smoke cleared, the men blocking Yasopp and Benn Beckman's path each had a bullet hole in their foreheads.
Although the Red Hair Pirates rarely killed, when facing these lackeys who aided tyrants, they wouldn't hold back.
"You... you... you insolent fools! Guards! Come quickly!"
"You lot! Go! Bite him!"
The fallen Celestial Dragon tried to call for help. Seeing no response, he brandished the whip in his hand.
Chained to his other hand were over a dozen young children.
Those children's faces showed no emotion… their eyes were vacant. Their clothes, like rags, couldn't conceal their bruised and battered bodies.
It was clear these children had suffered destructive torture, both physically and mentally.
Driven by the Celestial Dragon, they instinctively attacked the unbeatable enemy.
Seeing this, Benn Beckman's brows furrowed deeply, anger rising.
Crack...
A series of snapping sounds echoed. The collars around those children's necks were all crushed to pieces by Beckman.
"You are free."
Hearing this, the children seemed unable to react at first. But feeling the cool breeze on their necks and seeing the shattered chains on the ground, a glimmer of life finally returned to their eyes.
"Go. Leave this place."
Yasopp walked over, preparing to take these children to the hot air balloons they had prepared in advance.
But the children didn't move. Instead, they all turned to look at the Celestial Dragon who had collapsed on the ground.
"Hey, you're not going to follow-"
Seeing the children approach the Celestial Dragon again, Yasopp instinctively wanted to stop them but was held back by Benn Beckman.
"You useless trash, hurry up and attack! Help me stop them!"
Seeing the slaves he usually regarded as ants gather around him again, the Celestial Dragon became less fearful.
It seemed the presence or absence of the chains wouldn't change these slaves' status in his mind.
He continued to boss them around, ordering them to act as cannon fodder to buy time. But this time, his commands received no response.
Snap!
A thin whip lashed across a child's arm, adding another crimson line to his body.
Yet such a minor injury meant nothing to children who had endured countless tortures… it didn't even make them blink.
The children silently surrounded the Celestial Dragon, closing in.
Now, even the stupidest Celestial Dragon sensed something was wrong.
"You... you scum, what do you think you're doing?! How dare you disrespect a noble like me?! Get lost... Ahhh!!!"
His words were cut off by his own scream.
A slave child had picked up a fork from somewhere and stabbed it into the Celestial Dragon's eye.
"Ahhh!! It hurts! It hurts so much!!"
Under the intense pain, the Celestial Dragon instantly lost all his previous arrogance before these slaves, clutching his bleeding eye and howling.
But his howls didn't stop the children's retaliation, just as their own screams during his tortures never made him stop.
Stones, railings, teacups... they grabbed whatever was at hand, smashing these objects heavily onto the Celestial Dragon.
Even without weapons, they used their nails, their teeth, tearing flesh from the Celestial Dragon.
Their malnourished bodies now erupted with strength not inferior to adults'.
Benn Beckman and Yasopp watched silently as these children repaid all the suffering they had endured onto the perpetrator.
They did not stop them.
"Don't judge others' suffering… don't preach kindness you haven't endured."
Similar scenes were happening all over Mary Geoise.
Almost every member of the Red Hair Pirates, after rescuing slaves, witnessed something similar to varying degrees.
Some of these slaves had been captured only a few months ago… some had been captured just a week before.
Yet even such a short time was enough to completely trample their dignity and personality into the mud.
As for those captured even earlier?
Sadly, not every slave had the tenacious vitality of the Hancock sisters. Not every slave could live long enough to be saved.
Most of them had turned into piles of bones, casually thrown into some pit.
Witnessing all this, Shanks understood why Naruto had sought him out before the final battle, asking him to come here early to liberate the slaves.
These pitiful people had already suffered so much… they shouldn't die in the possible aftermath of the upcoming battle.
While everyone's attention was fixed on Marineford, the Celestial Dragons' 'Holy Land', Mary Geoise, was silently liberated.
Those arrogant Celestial Dragon nobles died at the hands of the slaves they looked down upon the most.
Blood debts paid with blood.