I formed the El Cat Investigation Team in Pirates

Like the West Sea, where gangs are prevalent, and the... rural East China Sea, where the strength is the weakest, the South China Sea also has its own unique characteristics, that is, various mechanical creations are very popular here.

In addition to the supernova Kidd who can create various mechanical beasts and electromagnetic guns after eating the magnetic fruit, Franky who will join the Straw Hats in the future is actually from the South China Sea.

In addition to the two of them, there are many craftsmen in Nanhai who are good at making various machines.

But the amazing thing is...the weapons here are not much better than those in Xihai, or even worse. They are still mainly flintlock guns, but there are many pirates or bounty hunters who are good at mechanics. They will make some modifications to their weapons. Although they still look like outdated weapons such as flintlock guns, the effect is much more powerful than a Chicago typewriter.

There are various traces of transformation in the living facilities, but at the same time, the civilians in South China Sea are as poor as other places. This has led to the fact that most of these mechanical facilities are assembled from a pile of scrap copper and iron, which is quite a wasteland. Punk flavor.

Of course, there are poor areas and there are also rich areas, but most of the wealthy royal families and nobles disdain the mechanical technology developed by civilians. On the contrary, it is no different from other sea areas.

The few wealthy people who have access to mechanical technology only use it for enjoyment.

In addition, although the mechanical technology here is very strong, it is rarely used in shipbuilding. Even the pirates who have mechanical technology themselves do not seem to have thought much about modifying their ships, but only modified the weapons... Have yourself.

This is one of the reasons why Xie Wen feels that this place has the flavor of wasteland punk. Among the pirates in the South China Sea, there are many cybernetics, but most of them are just equipped with various cheap-looking mechanical prostheses, like Frank and Xie Wen has never seen an advanced transformer like Quinn...

It probably has something to do with the limited resources and materials available here in the South China Sea.

However, compared with the situation in Xihai where gangs are everywhere, although the machinery in Nanhai is a specialty industry, the overall distribution is not so dense, because even if civilians renovate machinery, they must have scrap copper and iron to pick up, and in Nanhai On more islands, they can't even pick up scrap metal, or they don't have the time to pick it up.

These islands have either been mired in war for a long time, or are so poor that they don't even bother to take a look at the passing pirates. This is quite similar to the East China Sea. A few islands are prosperous, some islands are in dire straits, and many more islands are in dire straits. Among them, it is not that bad to say that it is bad, but it cannot be said that they are doing well.

Xie Wen and the others have seen too many similar scenes in the East and West seas. It's not that these countries and towns don't want better development, but that the heavenly money they turn in every year leaves them no room for development.

If you meet a better ruler, although your life is not rich, it is still satisfactory. But if you meet a stupid king, you will quickly fall into the dire straits of the islands.

It is precisely because he has seen too many such scenes that Xie Wen understands more and more why there are so many pirates in the world...

Although there are many people who choose to become pirates for plunder, treasure hunting, or dreams, there are also many who go out to sea to plunder simply to survive. There are also some people who accidentally offend the nobles and the royal family out of carelessness or intolerance. , and was eventually forced to become a pirate and escape to the sea.

Maybe some of them can keep their true intentions and not do things that oppress civilians, but more of them will eventually join in the same trap as other pirates.

The principle is the same as in ancient times, whenever there was a major disaster or war, a large number of bandits would appear. They were forced to have no choice at first, but after they tried a business without capital and found that they would hardly be punished, how many of them would Can people resist the temptation to give up a life where they can easily enjoy good food and drink spicy food, and continue to choose to live a life of hardship and not having enough to eat?

However, although Xie Wen sympathizes with these oppressed civilians, he has no ability to change all this, not to mention that he can't even improve the economic situation of a village. Even if he really succeeds in doing this, as long as the heavenly gold does not cancel , those pirates can still get away with it, and these civilians who live honestly will eventually return to a precarious state of poverty.

Therefore, Xie Wen just followed the route planned by Hua Mei Miao, traveling all the way, buying some local specialty products, collecting writing materials, beating pirates he met along the way, and exchanging their heads for bounties. And collect famous swords and devil fruits that he can encounter...

(=ΦωΦ=)つ

After overturning a pirate's stronghold, Linkmiao, who had eliminated the pirate leader, dragged the opponent's weapon back and handed it to Xie Wen.

"Thanks a lot."

Xie Wen rubbed Link's cat head to express his gratitude, and then took the spear from him.

(=ω=)

After Link's cat came over and rubbed Xie Wen, he ran to continue cleaning the battlefield with Meowjuro...

Because this time we were attacking a pirate stronghold, there were a lot of people to kill, so Xie Wen did not bring Kelimiao and Haiyuan Meow as usual. Naturally, Hua Mei Meow had to stay and watch these two little guys (mainly... Needless to say, Sanji-meow, Kare-meow, he was wherever Kame-meow was, so the only ones who followed were Nyajuro and the newly joined Link-meow.

Xie Wen did not clean up the battlefield with them. He wanted to take a good look at the "famous sword" in his hand first.

The blade of this spear is very long, taking up about one-third of the length. It looks more like a sword with a long handle, and there is a crescent-shaped bend of about 30 centimeters at the end of the blade. Blade, which makes the gun look a bit like a fork.

Although the shape of this gun looks a bit weird, Xie Wen doesn't mind. Not to mention that he doesn't usually use guns. Even if he really wants to play with it, Xie Wen won't feel awkward. After all, the shapes of the guns in the monster hunting world are , but much more flashy than it.

Of course, the more important thing is... this thing is one of the real "good and sharp knives" called "Astaron".

This was the clearest piece of information Morgans had given him, and it happened to be on Xie Wen's route.

In addition, according to Morgans' information, this gun was originally supposed to be in the royal collection of the Kingdom of Chiado near the island. As for why it appeared in the hands of a group of pirates...

That's because this group of pirates were originally soldiers who "defected" from the Kingdom of Chiado. Every year, they would send the looted property to the royal family of Chiado in exchange for more weapons, equipment and food.

It's just that Xie Wen is just a passing bounty hunter, so it's impossible to know such secretive things. He just came here to earn some bounty money because he was short of money, and he just collected "famous swords" by the way.

While Xie Wen and the cats were cleaning the battlefield, Linkmiao and Meowjuro moved their ears at the same time, and then looked at the sky in the distance.

Xie Wen followed their gaze and saw a figure wearing a top hat flying towards this side, and behind him, he was carrying something similar to a jetpack. This was also the reason why he could fly in the air. .

After the other party got closer, he just hovered in the air. Then, he took out a strange-looking pistol and pointed it at Xie Wen.

"What is this guy doing?"

Xie Wen scratched his head, then turned his head and said to the little ocelot on the side: "Link, knock him down."

Although he was a little confused as to why this person wanted to attack him as soon as they met, he was not the kind of guy who wouldn't fight back or scold him, even if Xie Wen had already recognized the other person's identity——

The commander of the Southern Army of the Revolutionary Army, a fur tribe member who should be a feline, Lindbergh.