Chapter 205 Barnett's Past
"By the way, Vic, Karp called me just now and said something similar to what Sengoku said, asking you not to cause trouble for Sakaski in the future.
After all, a general will be appointed soon, which will affect the unity within the navy and undermine the faith of the lower-level marines.
As I said before, I am just delivering the message. You decide what to do. I don’t agree with Sakaski’s justice.”
Although Zefa said that he was a messenger, his last sentence had already made his attitude clear, that is, he stood on Vic's side.
Vic nodded and smiled. He knew that old man Cap couldn't stand his old friend buzzing like a fly in his ear and was annoyed, so he made the call. Normally, he wouldn't care about these things. They were not mortal enemies. What's the big deal about a fight? He has always done this.
Everyone who returned to the warship was a little lazy. Those who had just taken a hot spring bath had not yet come out of that comfortable state. Barnett even took out tea leaves to make tea for several people. Vic also rarely came back to practice, and was also chatting and drinking tea with several people.
"Barnett, I've never seen you so angry towards pirates before. What happened today?" Although Vic had left the bathhouse long ago, he had been paying attention to the place with his observation Haki, and he sensed Barnett's abnormal reaction.
"This is related to my experience before joining the navy, and it is also the beginning of my decision to join the navy!" Barnett pondered for a moment before speaking, his voice a little soft, as if he wanted to pull people into his memories.
Vic and the others didn't say anything, waiting for Barnett's next words to learn about his past.
"Five years ago, our family was just ordinary civilians living on an island in the New World. There were no more than a few people in our family, including my parents, sister, brother and me.
You all know that the New World is a lawless place. The navy has never set foot in most areas. Our island is also ruled by a large pirate group, and we have to pay a lot of money every year!"
Barnett was recounting his past experiences, his eyes were a little red. The people who were listening were no longer ordinary people, so they naturally knew that this world was a world where people eat each other.
This Vic knows a little more. The waters of the New World have basically been divided up by pirates and have become their own territories.
Only a few islands that had just entered the New World could be reached by the navy. Some became naval bases, and some became member states of the World Government. Other weaker countries were basically divided up by pirates.
In a country like Big Mom's Banko, people under her protection need to pay a certain amount of life as protection fee every year, and those islands must provide a certain amount of specialties every year for the BigMoM Pirates to eat. This is a hard and fast rule, and even handing over gold is not an option.
Many people will die if the mission is not completed. Most people cannot bear Big Mom's wrath. Of course, there are many such pirate groups. They have many tricks and their demands are different. Therefore, the civilians at the bottom have become the most difficult people. They live completely for others and are taken away by others.
"In order to collect the tribute, the families on the island worked day and night. If they couldn't complete the assigned work, they would kidnap the children and sell them, and use the money from the sales to offset the debt.
In order for their children to grow up safely, many adults have worked themselves to the point of numbness, and many have died suddenly while working.
Their children still couldn’t escape the fate of being trafficked. My parents were also working there. They didn’t have the extra time or money to get food for the whole family. Only the three of us had to worry about the source of food! ”
From Barnett's narration, the few of them roughly understood the environment he was living in at the time. It was no exaggeration to say that he was in dire straits, and there was the danger of being sold out at any time. This pirate group did not understand the principle of long-term development at all. It looked like they were ready to make a quick buck and run away. Victor's hand unconsciously fell on the hilt of the knife at his waist.
"The division of labor among the three of us is pretty clear. My elder sister is a woman and my younger brother is still too young, so I asked them to focus on safer planting. They will take care of the wheat and vegetable fields, which can provide us with basic food and clothing.
I was responsible for obtaining the more dangerous meat. I became a hunter, hunting in the forest and catching fish in the sea. My parents were assigned too much work, and I was afraid they would die suddenly if they didn’t get enough nutrition! ”
After saying that, Barnett closed his eyes and raised his right hand to wipe his face. Wendy looked at Barnett with some heartache and felt that she would cry sooner than Barnett.
The life stories of the other people are not very good either. Vic, Rebecca, Fredek and Ian are all alone. Ian has been an orphan not long ago, and perhaps he meets his family in his dreams every night.
"In this way, my family was able to maintain their basic living conditions, and I gradually grew into an excellent hunter. Our family no longer lacked meat.
Maybe God didn’t want my family to have an easy life. What happened that day is still fresh in my memory.”
Barnett may be suppressing his emotions or organizing his words, as he stopped here.
Vic and the others also knew that some kind of tragedy must have happened later, so they did not say anything to disturb Barnett. Some things are better said out loud than buried in the heart.
"That day, I went hunting in the forest as usual. I don't know if I was lucky or not, but I caught a lot of prey in the forest. I returned home later than usual. I walked towards the village with my prey in my happy mood.
However, before I could see the shadow of the village, I saw thick smoke and flames coming from that direction. I had a bad feeling in my heart and quickened my pace to rush to the village.
When we arrived at the edge of the village, we saw that all the houses were engulfed in flames. There were also people dressed as pirates guarding the outskirts of the village, as if they didn't want to see anyone run out of the burning houses.
There were screams coming from the house, one after another, but the doors were locked from the outside, so they couldn't escape at all.
I heard the familiar voices of my family members, and they also cried out in pain. I felt a surge of rage in my heart, and I dropped my prey and rushed forward regardless of everything.
Because of hunting, I was used to keeping my footsteps low, and when a pirate didn't notice, I slashed his throat with a hunting knife.
Afterwards, I was discovered by other pirates. They surrounded me and wanted to kill me, the one who was left out. Haha, although I had learned a little bit of skills when I was hunting,
However, after they were on guard, I couldn't hurt those pirates at all. I was no match for them at all. I could only fight and retreat, and I still had a lot of scars on my body.
I managed to hold on for a while thanks to my agility gained from hunting, but I was besieged by several pirates and was no match for them. I ended up falling into the sea with serious injuries."