One by one, the slaves had their collars unlocked. However, they chose to stay behind until everyone was freed.

"Miss Shaska, we cannot thank you enough. Please, what do you want as compensation?" asked an elderly man.

"Normally, I'd ask the mayor to set up a Kemuri Mart in the town, but I don't have the rights to that anymore," said Shaska, hands still covered in blood. "But I do have a new business venture that I'd like to talk to him about!"

She puffed on her cigar.

"Now, as for you freed slaves, you don't owe me anything. I'd be no different than a damn pirate if I charged you for freeing you."

The freed slaves started getting tears in their eyes.

"Please, Miss Shaska," began a young woman. "There's still more slaves at the secret port down below!"

"Hmm…"

She turned to her crew.

"Look alive, Worldwide Smoke! We still got some more slaves to free!" Shaska said, holding out the key. "Who wants to do the honors?"

Schwarz grabbed the key and said "on it."

He went down the hatch near Ruth's former cage, and in less than ten minutes, he came back out, covered in blood and followed by thirty-six freed slaves.

"All done. Destroyed the ship, too."

"Good job, pretty boy," said Shaska. She pulled out a stack of cash. "Here's ten thousand berries as a bonus."

"Alright, everyone, back to your lives, I'm sure your friends and families miss you," she said, puffing on her cigar.

One by one, the freed slaves thanked her and the rest of Worldwide Smoke. They begged to repay her any way they could, but Shaska refused.

—

As Worldwide Smoke left the park, Prince Samudra spoke to Shaska.

"I must say, Lady Shaska, you are nothing like what the newspapers portray you as. I read in the papers that you are a cutthroat businesswoman who would rather die than spare a berry. They call you-"

"Yeah, yeah. 'Shaska the Greedy' or 'Shaska the Squeeze'. That's how I was when I was young. I came to realize that you need to incentivize people properly to get them to work better. But your real mistake was believing anything the newspaper says. Government hates bounty hunters because we do the jobs that the Marines won't do and thus can't get credit for."

She took another puff of her cigar.

"Not like the World Government doesn't lie constantly anyway."

"What do you mean, Lady Shaska? You are sounding…"

"Slavery is ostensibly illegal. Yet within the span of a month, I've personally broken up two slavery rings. And World Nobles are the biggest purchasers of slaves. It ain't right."

"I see…"

"Probably something worth addressing at the next World Summit, eh, prince?"

"Unfortunately, even someone of my status would not be able to override the whims of the Celestial Dragons, Lady Shaska."

Shaska gritted her teeth and blew some smoke.

"Mrrrr… can't stand those jerks. Someone needs to punch one of them square in the face."

—-

The crew made it back to the main part of town, where they were greeted by throngs of cheering citizens.

"SHASKA! SHASKA! SHASKA!"

"Oh. A cheering populace," she responded dryly, puffing on her cigar.

"Miss Shaska, you seem bored. Is this a common occurrence for you?" Zinnia asked.

"Oh yeah." Schwarz, Andy, Roxanne, and Lulupo responded in unison.

The mayor of Przystan, a middle aged man in a top hat, stepped forward.

"Madam Shaska, on behalf of citizens of Przystan and all of Mazurka Kingdom, I cannot thank you eno-"

"Nuh-uh. Let me just stop you right there, mayor. There's no way a slavery ring was operating out of a major tourist spot without some serious corruption going on," Shaska interrupted.

The mayor started to sweat profusely. The crowd slowly fell silent, save for a few murmurs here and there.

"Now, the government probably isn't going to do anything. Hell, the king of this backwater kingdom probably won't do anything, because you probably gave him a cut, too."

"Well, uh…"

"So, here's the deal. If you don't want me to beat you down in front of all your citizens, you're gonna open up a Roxandy's in your town and give Worldwide Smoke all the profit."

The murmurs among the crowd grew louder.

"Did she just save us, then threaten mayor?"

"She's no different than pirate!"

"But… if mayor knew…"

"I told you fish freaks are brutes!"

"Don't think I didn't hear that!" Shaska shouted.

"What is… what is Roxandy's?" the mayor asked.

"Yo." Andy and Roxanne said, waving.

"It's those two's restaurant chain that I'm bankrolling. Gotta have some sort of income after they kicked me out of my business."

Shaska cracked her knuckles.

"What's it gonna be, mayor?"

It was at that point a squad of Marines surrounded Worldwide Smoke.

—-

At the shipyard, Kowalski looked through his binoculars at the Marine battleship that docked next to the Humo Robinson.

"Good. Marines are here to collect pirates we caught."

"Wait, th'Marines are here?" Ren interjected, looking up from her work.

"What is problem, Ren? We called them a few hours ago to pick up pirates, as usual."

"Shaska's a wanted woman! They'll catch her!"

"Again, what is problem?" Kowalski asked, confused. "I thought you didn't like her."

"Ah mean… ah don't… but…"

"You want to go to sea with her, don't you?"

"Ah…"

Ren stopped and thought for a moment.

"Ah want to see th'world, ah-"

"Ren… it is just us. No need to do accent," Kowalski said with a smile.

"Kowalski…"

Ren kept thinking.

"You are still young, Ren. Only seventeen. It is big decision you are making."

Ren thought about the grand adventures she saw in her comic books. She thought about the tall tales of sailors she heard when they came to the shipyard. She thought about the legend of Gold Roger and the legendary treasure, One Piece.

She thought about her business… and her parents.

"It is wide, wonderful world out there, Ren!" said her father, banging nails into a ship.

"Will I be able to see world some day, dad?" a twelve-year-old Ren asked, holding her father's tools.

"Maybe when you are older. Maybe one day you can be shipwright on ship that travels world!"

"Kowalski… I know it is not good idea… but I think traveling with Shaska is my best bet to see world," Ren said.

"Are you sure, Ren? She is wanted woman, after all."

"As abrasive as she is, she wants me. She sees talent in me. Men on pirate ship or in Marines would not take me seriously because I am young girl."

Tears started welling up in Ren's eyes.

"Kowalski… please, take care of business and Przystan while I'm gone. I will return someday. But now, adventure calls to me."

Kowalski couldn't help but chuckle.

"What is so funny?" Ren asked, angrily wiping away tears.

"It was just earlier this afternoon that you were so adamant about not leaving. And now your true colors show," Kowalski replied, still smiling, with tears forming in his eyes too. He spread his arms wide, and Ren ran in for a hug, all while sobbing into his chest.

"Ad-adventure is all I w-w-wanted! I w-will m-m-miss you, K-k-kowalskiiiiii!" she cried.

It was then that the gunshots started ringing out.

Ren pulled herself away from Kowalski, trying to get her tears under control. "Marines! They must be shootin' at Shaska!" she said, putting her fake accent back on. She grabbed her rifle and ran to the tower for a better view.

—-

In the town square, an eight foot tall woman in a green suit with long, orange hair, a Marine officer's jacket over her shoulders, and a sword at her hip clapped her hands sarcastically.

"Very impressive staff work there, girl," she said to Zinnia, who had deflected the gunfire with Ruth's helmet.

"Are you crazy?" Lulupo shouted at her. "You're supposed to be an agent of justice! You could have shot one of those townspeople!"

"The World Government doesn't really care if one or two innocent bystanders get mowed down in pursuit of a criminal," the officer said with a crooked smile.

Shaska puffed on her cigar.

"Who are you?" she growled.

"My name's Rear Admiral Izmena," the officer replied. "HQ was called a few hours ago about some pirates that needed to be brought in. Looks like we got a little extra bonus, too."

"Happy couple, get back to the ship. If we're not back in thirty minutes… crap, you guys don't know how to sail, do you?" Shaska attempted to order. Andy and Roxanne fled anyway, not being able to fight.

"And just where do you two think you're going?" Izmena asked coyly. She pointed at Andy and Roxanne. "FIRE!"

Lulupo jumped in front of them with his hair out, stopping the bullets dead.

"You're insane," said Shaska. "Those two can't even fight!"

"But they're clearly working for a wanted criminal. I'm sure they'll enjoy their bounties," Izmena replied. "Besides, my men are already tearing your ship apart to find any other stragglers."

Shaska grimaced. "Doctor kid!" she thought.

"Oh ho!" Izmena chortled. "That look says a lot! Looks like there's someone there you don't want me to know about!"

"Dammit!" Shaska thought. "If we fight them, not only will my bounty go up, everyone else is probably gonna get slapped with a bounty, too! And we still haven't even gotten the Robinson fixed!"

Ren stood at the top of the tower, looking through her scope. At the other end of the docks, she saw Puerco on the Humo Robinson being put in sea-prism stone handcuffs as Marines searched the ship. But in her more immediate vicinity was the town square, where Shaska was squaring up with Izmena.

"Alright…" she thought. "If I'm gonna work for Shaska, I gotta make this shot count!"

She got Izmena's head right in her sights.

"Alright, Ren, you can do this. This is most important shot of your life."

As she pulled the trigger, though, Izmena stepped forward; the bullet only grazed her shoe.

"What the?" asked a confused Izmena. She looked around and saw the tower, along with the figure of someone with a gun, in the distance.

"Hm. So you have a sniper, eh, Shaska?"

"Dammit, shipwright girl! Of all the times!"

"Shit!" Ren exclaimed as she started descending the tower in a panic.

Izmena pulled her leg back, and then kicked the air in Ren's direction. A blade of compressed air shot out of Izmena's leg.

"Tempest Kick!"

The blade flew at a blinding speed and sliced the tower clean in two, causing Ren to start falling from over ten stories high.

The entire town witnessed as their hero, Ren the sniping shipwright, began screaming as she fell to her death. But before she made it halfway down, Schwarz materialized a hole by the tower and one right above and in front of him, drastically reducing the distance she fell, allowing her to land safely in his arms.

"You…" said Ren, blushing. "Ya saved me…"

The top part of the tower crashed into the shipyard, though fortunately, the workers managed to get out of the way.

"Worldwide Smoke! Everyone get back to the ship! We need to retreat!" Shaska ordered. "Shipwright girl! Are you with us?!"

"Ah am!" she responded as she left Schwarz's arms.

"Oh ho… what part of 'my men are at your ship' did you not understand?" said Izmena, drawing her sword and shifting to the form of a half-woman, half-rhinoceros. "Don't tell me the mighty Shaska the Squeeze is scared of a little confrontation?"

"Grrr!" Shaska growled as she pulled her fist back. "Arabesque Brick Fist!" she called as she punched the air, creating a huge shockwave in the water vapor that knocked over the grunts. Izmena dodged with a "Shave!", appearing right behind Shaska and slashing her back with her sword.

The shock of this made Shaska drop her cigar, but she quickly picked it up and took another puff.

"You're cute, Rear Admiral, real cute," Shaska responded, beginning to swirl water vapor around her fingers for a Cerulean Cannon.

"I'm adorable!" Izmena shouted as she started bouncing off the air with her Moon Walk ability. She bounced around Shaska seemingly at random.

"Focus…" Shaska thought, closing her eyes. "Can't get in a prolonged fight with the Marines right now. Gotta get out of here. Been a long time since I've used my Haki, though…"

Izmena propelled herself forward at Shaska's chest, horn and sword first.

"SAI-YONARA!" Izmena called out.

Shaska opened her eyes, which flashed red for a brief instant. She dissipated her Cerulean Cannon, and instead sidestepped, grabbing Izmena right out of the air and slamming her into the ground, horn-first.

Izmena howled in pain, as the force broke the tip of her horn off. Shaska backed up several feet away from Izmena and crossed her arms, holding her cigar in one hand.

"Hey! Government dog! Wanna know what I can do and you can't?"

Izmena looked at Shaska with a death glare as she turned around and ran off the dock, diving into the sea. Before Shaska dove far, she poked her head back out, pulled her eyelid down, and went "bleeeeeeh", before diving again.

Izmena and the Marines got up. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE, SHOOT HER!"

The Marines charged forward and started shooting wildly into the water, but not a single shot connected. Shaska turned her legs back into tentacles and dove deep enough that it would take a submarine to hit her.

"And this is why I'll never eat a Devil Fruit," she thought, wincing at the pain of salt water flowing into her back wound.

"Dammit! Head to her ship!" Izmena shouted, and the Marines took off to the other side of the dock.

Worldwide Smoke managed to knock the Marines off the Robinson, and Lulupo used his hair powers to unlock Puerco's handcuffs.

Shaska poked her head out of the water for a moment when she got close to the Robinson. "Snake girl! Raise the anchor and get us out of here! I'll be there in just a minute!" she ordered.

"Yes, ma'am!" Zinnia called out, raising the anchor and dashing for the steering wheel.

"I'm in enough trouble as it is. Might as well make sure they can't chase us," Shaska thought, swimming under the Marine battleship.

She squared up, and with all her strength, lifted the ship out of the water. "Heeeeeeave!" And with one swift motion, she tossed it up onto the land, where it landed with a mighty crash, just barely missing any Marines or townspeople.

"That. Bitch." Izmena managed to choke out, extremely annoyed that she'd have to move the ship manually back into the sea.

Shaska swam ahead to the Robinson, climbed up the side with her suction cups, and landed on the deck safely, but completely out of breath. Worldwide Smoke had successfully escaped.

"Ooooooooh…" Izmena seethed. She felt her blood begin to boil as she returned to her human form. The townspeople stood in shocked silence, unsure of how they should feel. The Marines returned to formation in front of Izmena.

"Dammit!" Izmena shouted. "Dammit dammit dammit!"

"Furious" and "enraged" did not even begin to describe what Izmena was feeling. "Twenty years in the Marines and I've never let a capture get away! I'll never make Admiral at this rate!"

She stood there for a moment… and then she got an idea. A good idea on how to get back at Shaska for making a fool of her in front of an entire town.

"Captain Vryzk!" she ordered.

A buff man with a bomb tattoo on his right shoulder, spiky black hair, and a surgical mask ran up and saluted. "Ma'am!"

"Round up the townspeople…"

—

"Ow, ouch…" Shaska whined as Puerco stitched up her back. "Don't you have any anesthetic?"

"Sorry, no… wow, she really got you good, didn't she?"

"Shut up and keep stitching," Shaska responded, lighting up a new cigar.

"What happens now?" Schwarz asked.

"Well, my bounty's probably going up. Only question is by how much. But we got what we came for. Sort of."

She puffed on her new cigar.

"We got a navigator and a shipwright. Now all that's left to do is stop the civil war in the prince's homeland."

"Lady Shaska, thank you," said the prince.

—-

The next day, a news coo dropped the morning paper on the deck of the Humo Robinson. Roxanne picked it up… and almost dropped it again because what was in there was unbelievable.

"Everyone!" she called out. "Everyone!"

The crew gathered on the deck, and their jaws dropped at the headline.

Twenty Thousand Dead in Mazurka Kingdom Massacre. Shaska the Squeeze and "Worldwide Smoke" to Blame

TO BE CONTINUED