It was unmistakably the Umbrella Corporation fleet!
Damn it, how did these guys appear here?
Without any further hesitation, Wicks immediately shouted loudly at the lackeys behind him: "Board the ship! Everyone, board the ship now!"
"Captain Wicks, we haven't finished capturing the slaves yet!"
"Who cares about slaves? We can just find another island later and catch them there."
Hearing his subordinate's words, Wicks couldn't help but roar loudly. "If we don't run now, we might end up becoming slaves ourselves. No, falling into Umbrella Corporation's hands, our fate would be even worse than being slaves. Everyone, get on the ship immediately. We must leave here at once!"
As he spoke, he no longer paid attention to those foolish lackeys. Even if all of them died, it wouldn't matter; at most, he could recruit more people later.
He believed there would be no shortage of people who wanted to serve the Celestial Dragons!
Wicks immediately turned around and rushed toward his ship. Then, looking at the slaves scrambling aboard in panic, he continued to roar: "Hoist the sails! Hoist the sails now! Where's the navigator? Get over here and set sail immediately!"
As his words fell, the navigator at the helm, equally panicked, suddenly shouted loudly at Wicks: "Captain Wicks! Captain Wicks! The marine warship has blocked our route!"
"What?!"
Hearing the navigator's words, Wicks no longer had the leisure to worry about the Umbrella Corporation warships drawing ever closer. He immediately turned around and rushed toward the bow.
Sure enough, he saw a marine warship that had left its original course and was blocking their route ahead.
Without any hesitation, Wicks roared loudly: "Tell them to move aside immediately! No, tell them that the World Government's wanted organization, Umbrella Corporation, is on the left. Tell those marines to go catch them, to block them for us!"
However, just as the lackey on the ship heard his words and immediately shouted toward the marine warship ahead, the other side quickly replied.
But those words...
[The ship has malfunctioned and cannot be started for the time being. Please go around and enter another route!]
The slave-hunting group: "..."
Everyone stared blankly at the marine warship ahead.
The warship had broken down at this moment?
But in the blink of an eye, Wicks was the first to react, seeming to understand something. His face filled with panic, tinged with a shade of ashen fury. "D–damn marines. These Marines are definitely doing this on purpose. I'm going to report this to the World Government; these marines are colluding with the Umbrella Corporation!"
Lackeys: "...?!"
As soon as those words fell, the lackeys beside him instantly understood.
The Marines were deliberately blocking their route!
Everyone immediately began cursing loudly, but when they looked at the ships drawing ever closer and came back to their senses, they hurriedly looked at Wicks in panic. "Captain Wicks, what do we do now?"
"What do we do? How the hell would I know what to do? Those bastards!"
Wicks forcefully suppressed the rage in his heart, then turned his head again to look at the Umbrella Corporation warships. "Go negotiate with them. Tell them that the ship is full of Celestial Dragons' slaves. If they dare to lay a hand on us, the World Government will absolutely not let them off!"
This was the only method he could use now.
"I swear, if I leave safely, I will absolutely not let those marines off!"
As his words fell, upon hearing Captain Wicks' declaration, the other lackeys also forced themselves to calm down, just as they were about to send someone forward to negotiate...
"Boom!"
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning descended from the sky and struck Wicks, instantly charring him black and leaving him smoking.
As everyone stared in shock at their captain, who had just finished swearing and was immediately struck by lightning, a disdainful voice came from beside the ship's rail.
"Looks like your oath failed. After all, it seems you won't be leaving safely."
As that voice fell, everyone abruptly turned their heads toward the side of the ship. When they saw a person who had somehow appeared there at some unknown moment, sitting on that narrow rail, bare-chested, looking at them with a bored expression, everyone's faces changed, and despair appeared in their eyes.
An Umbrella Corporation senior executive...
"Enel, the God of Thunder!"
"Correct, but there's no reward. And as for negotiations..."
Enel, squatting on the ship's rail, didn't even change his position. He dug in his ear and looked at them. "I refuse your negotiations!"
At this, a domineering, punchable grin appeared on his face. "Because all of you will be buried here!"
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
At this moment, boundless dark clouds instantly covered the sky above them, and countless terrifying bolts of lightning began to rain down.
"Enel, the God of Thunder!"
Looking at the dark clouds filling the sky, even though Tashigi had long known that man was the Rumble-Rumble Fruit user, when she witnessed that terrifying power of lightning with her own eyes, shock still inevitably appeared on her face.
"This is simply too terrifying. Is this the strength of an Umbrella Corporation senior executive?"
"Hmph."
Smoker, who was also watching this scene from the side, snorted coldly, but his eyes were fixed tightly on the cloud cover that blotted out the sky, and the hand holding his cigar was trembling slightly.
However, a moment later, he withdrew his gaze and said indifferently: "What are you still standing around for? Hurry up and set sail, we're leaving! What's wrong? You don't actually want to stay here cheering them on, do you?"
He was well aware of how much the Marine Headquarters and the World Government currently valued the Umbrella Corporation.
Especially after the recent Buster Call incident, any move made by the Umbrella Corporation would attract the attention of Marine Headquarters.
Although the Marines had no authority to arrest slave-hunting groups, nor any responsibility to assist or protect them, if this scene were reported back to Marine Headquarters, he would probably be unable to avoid a round of reprimands.
As a well-known troublemaker within Marine Headquarters, he did not particularly care about criticism from those people. Let alone now that he was in the West Blue, even if he were at Marine Headquarters, he would not care.