However, the scene that met Charlotte Linlin's eyes made her slightly knit her brows.
It was not the simple, or perhaps even somewhat dilapidated, architecture she had imagined, but several magnificent and astonishingly large temples.
The tallest among them even exceeded Charlotte Linlin's twelve-meter height, appearing to be at least sixty or seventy meters tall. With their carved beams and painted rafters reflecting dazzling light under the sun, their level of luxury was staggering.
"This... is this really a place that adopts orphans? Built so luxuriously... it doesn't feel like it at all, does it?"
Just as Charlotte Linlin was pondering this, Rocks pointed toward the expanse of golden temples below from the bow of the ship and said domineeringly, "My boys! The prey is right before our eyes! Get ready to move!"
"Hey! Rocks! Who is your subordinate!" Newgate stood up in annoyance, shouldering his Murakumogiri, and protested against Rocks's presumptuous way of addressing them.
"Gahahahaha! The rules are the same as always!" Shiki licked his lips excitedly. "Whoever grabs the loot, it belongs to them! No problem, right?"
"Of course, no problem!" Captain John drained the wine in his cup, drew the sword at his waist, and the greedy light of treasure flickered in his eyes.
"Hey, hey, hey! That won't do!" The newly joined Gin, shouldering his terrifying giant axe, objected in a muffled voice. "When it comes to the speed of grabbing loot, who can beat you and John? That's not fair!"
"Wuhahahaha! Whatever! Enough talk, I'm going first!"
Rocks laughed wildly, not caring at all about these trivial details. With the aura of someone looking down upon the world, he was the first to leap from the ship's rail at an altitude of a thousand meters!
"Damn you, Rocks! Watch out for an ambush!" Newgate roared in annoyance and leapt out from the ship's rail right after him.
"Well~ you're quite loyal, aren't you, Newgate!" Charlotte Linlin chuckled, lightning flashed around her body, and she instantly entered her Dragon Girl Form, her massive blue Dragon Wings unfurling with a "whoosh."
She beat her wings once, transformed into a bolt of blue lightning, and rapidly chased after the falling Newgate. "Need some help? At this height, even for you, falling down won't feel good, right?"
"Hmph! Linlin, I don't need help. I am Whitebeard!"
Newgate laughed heroically in mid-air, the muscles in his right arm bulging, and a constantly vibrating, transparent white light sphere instantly condensed on his fist — the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit activated!
He punched violently into the empty space beside him! Crack—!
It was as if space itself had been torn apart; huge ripples of vibration spread out, creating a powerful recoil that caused Newgate's falling speed to suddenly slow down, becoming controllable.
"Fine! You've got it! Then we'll meet on the ground!"
Charlotte Linlin seeing this, no longer insisted. She flapped her Dragon Wings with all her might, whipping up air currents, and her speed soared once again as she dove at extreme speed toward the most luxurious-looking temple on the island.
Behind her, on the gibeck, the other executives also showed off their unique skills. Whether relying on powerful physical techniques or special abilities, they transformed into streaks of black shadows and pounced toward the "prey" below.
...
Bang—!!!
Like a meteor falling from the heavens, a massive figure crashed onto the pristine white square at the center of the International Charity Alliance Temple, "Pute Karoni."
The solid stone ground instantly cracked and sank; the stirred-up dust rose like a small Mushroom cloud, and the violent tremors made the nearby temple structures tremble.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! There are intruders!"
A piercing alarm immediately rang throughout the entire island, and the originally peaceful atmosphere was instantly torn apart.
Countless "monks" wearing yellow robes and with shaved heads swarmed in from all directions. In their hands, they did not hold prayer beads or wooden fish, but standard-issue rifles, sharp clubs, and even machetes. They trainedly surrounded the center of the dust cloud at the landing point, their eyes fierce, devoid of any mercy typical of those who have renounced the world.
"Honestly, that bastard Rocks just rushed down like that without even the simplest plan!" A dissatisfied female voice rang out from within the dust and smoke.
Charlotte Linlin walked out, shouldering her massive nodachi, her long pink hair flying in the air currents.
Her Observation Haki could no longer sense Rocks's presence; the guy didn't know where he had rushed off to the moment he landed, making her unable to help but mutter to herself:
"Relying entirely on brute force to barge in—at this rate, this Pirate Crew will sooner or later fall apart because everyone is fighting their own battles!"
When the dust finally cleared, Charlotte Linlin's stunningly beautiful face and tall, sexy figure were completely exposed to everyone.
"A... a woman?! And a peerless beauty at that!"
The fierceness and vigilance in the eyes of all the "monks" surrounding her vanished instantly, replaced by pink hearts that seemed to be overflowing from their eye sockets. The sound of gulping saliva rose one after another, and the originally murderous atmosphere became ambiguous and sleazy.
A fat monk draped in a gold-trimmed kasaya, who appeared to be the leader, rubbed his hands together with a disgusting, lecherous smile plastered on his face and stepped forward a few paces:
"Hey! You female donor! Judging by your extraordinary skills, why bother associating with pirates? Why not convert to my Buddha? As long as you surrender now, I can make an exception and take you as my chief disciple! You only need to focus on'serving' me every night, and I guarantee you'll enjoy endless glory, wealth, and boundless bliss!"
He deliberately emphasized the word "serving," the filthy intentions behind it self-evident.
Charlotte Linlin slightly knitted her brows, a flash of cold disgust in her eyes:
"Disgusting gaze. With your kind of trash, you deserve to be a monk? It seems this so-called 'International Charity Alliance Temple' is indeed just a name, a place of filth and corruption!"
The reason she followed Rocks down was to confirm whether this place was truly the sanctuary for orphans as rumored; if it was, she wouldn't mind saving some innocent people while she was at it.
But now it seemed that this group of so-called "monks" had nothing but greed and lust in their eyes. Rather than people who had renounced the world, they were more like a bunch of lechers wearing monk robes!
"Whether it's just a name or not, why don't you try it out yourself, female donor?" The gold-robed monk felt no shame at all, instead showing off smugly, "Our 'Pute Karoni' has the reputation of being a 'friend to women'! Every high monk in the temple has at least personally 'comforted' and 'helped' more than three poor women without husbands, and 'raised' several children they gave birth to!"
As for how those children came to be, and the true situation of their mothers, it was naturally deliberately ignored.
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