Chapter 9: Do You Take Me for a Fool?

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“How did you manage to grow more than a dozen centimeters in a single week?”

“What kind of martial arts training makes that much noise every day?”

“Do you think I still have a chance to learn it?”

In the dining hall, Shano was devouring food at an astonishing pace. Two mountains of empty plates had piled up beside him, and in the narrow space between them, a deeply wrinkled old man hovered like an overly curious child, pestering him with question after question.

Shano had brushed aside the first two with all kinds of vague and evasive excuses.

But when he heard the last one, he finally lifted his head from the plates and gave the old man a speechless look.

“You’re pushing seventy, aren’t you? Do you really want me to tell you the truth?”

“…” Gatte let out a long sigh. “Perhaps not. I’d like to live a few more years. I’d rather not have these old bones shaken apart.”

“Now, to business.” The old man smacked his lips. “The voyage these past few days has gone smoothly. At most, we have another two hours to go. We’ll reach Shallow Cherry Island before sunset today.”

“…”

Shano paused slightly, then nodded. It was hardly unexpected.

If the Nearshore King had not given them such trouble, forcing the Gatte to remain anchored for an entire day of repairs the following morning, they would have arrived by this time yesterday.

“Thank you for taking such good care of me these past few days.”

Only after he had thoroughly swallowed the food in his mouth did he look at Gatte and speak with complete sincerity.

“If you hadn’t given me a safe environment in which to devote myself to training, I never would have been able to break through in such a short time.”

“What nonsense! Compared with the life you saved, this is nothing!”

Gatte threw back his head and laughed heartily.

“Still, it feels pretty good to hear you say that. This old man’s quite pleased, ha-ha!”

“Oh, right. From now on, the Gatte will always reserve its finest cabin free of charge for you and your family! We’ll cover all your meals and drinks as well! The entire crew agreed to this decision unanimously, so don’t even think about refusing!”

“Only an idiot would refuse.”

Shano had never been one to spoil the mood, and he laughed along with him.

“Then it’s settled. When you come back to Cocoyasi Village next year, I’ll bring my whole family to mooch off you! Luckily, my two younger sisters don’t eat very much. If they were both like me, they could probably eat you into bankruptcy!”

“You’re being far too modest. In truth, just feeding you alone these past few days has nearly bankrupted me.”

“Heh-heh…”

As they chatted and laughed, the young man suddenly remembered that it had been exactly one week since he had left home.

There were still two hours before they reached shore. He could use that time to have a proper conversation with his family from his cabin before disembarking.

………

“We’ve arrived! This is Shallow Cherry Island!”

“You can disembark here. It’s too late today, so you can find an inn in the outer district and spend the night there. Tomorrow, you can enter the city and look for the swordsmanship dojo you have in mind. There’s no hurry.”

“We’re heading to the warehouses at the northern docks to unload our cargo. Once that’s done, we’ll have to continue our journey immediately. We probably won’t see each other again until autumn next year.”

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At the southern harbor of Shallow Cherry Island, the sailors crowded along the railing, waving reluctantly to Shano on the shore as they bid him farewell.

Old Gatte accompanied him across the final stretch of the pier.

Shano listened attentively to his instructions, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed beggars squatting at several crossroads leading from the outskirts of the harbor toward the city. Their clothes were ragged and filthy.

They appeared scattered at first glance, but taken together, there was quite a considerable number of them.

Unable to restrain himself, he asked, “That’s strange. Shallow Cherry Island is famous throughout the East Blue as a thriving commercial center. It should be quite wealthy. So why are there even more beggars and vagrants here than in my hometown?”

“Naive.” Old Gatte gave a scornful laugh. “They’re professional beggars who actually have homes in the city. They squat here all year round. There’s a huge flow of people through the harbor, and plenty of rich outsiders come into the city to spend money. Sooner or later, some traveler who doesn’t know better will fall for their act.”

“Those people become filthy rich by exploiting that. And the few who really are destitute have usually lost all their money in gambling and been thrown out of the casinos. They’re not worth pitying.”

“All right, this is where we part. Farewell!”

The pier finally came to an end. Old Gatte patted Shano on the shoulder without saying anything more, then turned and walked toward the bow, puffing away noisily on his pipe.

Shano stood silently where he was, watching him board the ship.

Only after the Gatte raised its sails and gradually dwindled into a tiny black speck on the horizon did the young man turn around. He chose the fork on the left and headed toward the outer district.

It was already dusk, and the sun was sinking in the west.

Looking up, he could see the ancient-looking town in the distance, shrouded in twilight.

A main canal ran through the city from north to south. Cherry trees lined both banks, while the buildings were arranged symmetrically along the water, laid out in neat, orderly rows.

It was also the season when the blossoms fell. Millions of pale pink petals floated upon the surface of the river, drifting downstream. The evening breeze carried their delicate fragrance all the way to the harbor, light and graceful as a veil.

“Prosperous commerce, beautiful scenery, and springlike weather all year round. No wonder it’s become a tourist destination of the East Blue.”

Walking through such pleasant surroundings, Shano found his mind growing considerably calmer.

As he was about to leave the harbor, he noticed the Port Shipping Administration office beside the road. It had already closed for the day.

It really was too late. He would find an inn first, then come back in the morning. He should be able to ask the office about the passenger ships he needed.

Gatte still believed that he had come to the island to study swordsmanship. In reality, his goal had never changed: he intended to make use of the island’s flourishing shipping trade to find a vessel bound for the Kingdom of Goa.

In theory…

After sacrificing Shanks’s severed arm, he already had more than enough points. The urgency of obtaining Luffy’s straw hat had naturally diminished considerably.

But once someone had tasted one crab, who could resist the temptation of another enormous haul of points?

Besides, he had a full month.

Only a week had passed so far. He still had plenty of time—more than enough to make a round trip from here to the Kingdom of Goa.

“Please… please, sir, have mercy. I haven’t eaten anything for two days and two nights. Just give me whatever you can…”

A weak moan suddenly came from nearby. A filthy palm extended a metal box toward him.

Remembering what Gatte had said, Shano could not be bothered to pay attention. He simply walked past the beggar.

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He had taken only a few steps when he heard coins clinking as they dropped into the metal box behind him.

Shano turned around instinctively and saw a frail young boy dressed in a tattered martial arts uniform standing before the beggar, who looked to be somewhere in his fifties or sixties. The boy cautiously shook every coin from his cloth wallet.

His eyesight was far sharper than an ordinary person’s, and even in the fading light he could see clearly that they were all small-denomination coins worth twenty or fifty Beli. Altogether, they amounted to no more than two or three hundred Beli.

The beggar was plainly dissatisfied. He frowned at the frail boy and glared at him, still holding out the metal box.

“I—I only have this much…”

The boy looked deeply embarrassed. Then, as if he had suddenly remembered something, he hesitated briefly before taking a large, blackish loaf of bread from the bundle on his back. He tore off more than half of it and gently placed it atop the metal box.

“I haven’t had dinner yet, so I need to save some for myself. I’m sorry.”

The frail boy did not dare look at the beggar. Stammering, he said, “Don’t let its appearance fool you. It doesn’t smell very good either, but believe me, it’s very filling. One whole loaf is enough to last you an entire day.”

Without waiting for the beggar to respond, he gathered up his bundle, hurried up the steps, and headed toward the city gate.

Shano looked toward the beggar.

Just as expected, the old bastard merely lifted the black bread, glanced at it, and tossed it aside with disgust without even bothering to take a bite.

Then he poured the coins from the metal box into his palm and counted them. With a spit toward the side, he cursed, “What rotten luck. Filthy pauper!”

Shano frowned and turned around, intending to call the boy back.

But although the boy looked thin enough for the wind to blow him over, his legs were remarkably strong. In the blink of an eye, he had vanished from sight, and Shano had no idea how far he had run.

He remained where he was for a while longer, silently watching the beggar. The beggar, in turn, stared back at him with bewilderment.

“Couldn’t you have been a little more arrogant? Something like, ‘What are you staring at, brat? Keep looking and I’ll gouge out your eyes,’ perhaps?”

Shano suddenly spoke in a gloomy tone.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” The beggar rolled his eyes. “Your muscles are terrifying. Anyone can see you’re not someone to provoke. Why would I threaten you for no reason?”

Shano looked down and finally remembered that, while leaving the harbor, he had found the island too warm and had worked up a sweat. He had taken off his coat and put it away some time ago.

Now he was wearing only a single shirt, leaving his exaggerated physique on full display.

“Ah…”

What a disappointment.

Shano sighed. Under the beggar’s incredulous gaze, he forcibly pried the two hundred Beli from the man’s hand, then continued down the road toward the city.

He could only blame his bad luck. He had failed to stumble upon a more substantial scam, and he had only just broken through, still unused to this body. Whenever he made a move, it was difficult for him to control his strength.

Two hundred Beli would only buy Nami two cheap hair clips. Beating someone half to death over such a small sum would ultimately be a little excessive.

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