"So, you're a pirate with a five million berry bounty, and this is all the money you had?" Marcus asked curiously.
After collecting everything Alvida's former crew had stolen, he found they only had a few million berries to their name.
How to describe that amount... not exactly a fortune, but not pocket change either. If he had to convert it to his old world's currency, it was roughly around 45,000 dollars.
About what you'd make from a decent office job for a year.
And this was supposed to support an entire pirate crew?
No wonder those guys had been thinking about jumping ship.
Alvida, whose sore spot had been poked, glared at Marcus unhappily. "Did you consider the difference between your appetite and mine?"
You never realize how expensive basic living costs are until you're the one paying for them...
"How much would it cost if we had to buy that roasted wild boar we ate yesterday?"
"Around 200,000 berries."
"What? 200,000? For that boar?"
Alvida nodded. "What did you think? That was actually considered cheap."
Marcus did a quick conversion in his head, that was over 2,000 dollars for one pig.
He fell silent, processing this information.
He suddenly remembered from the original story that Nami's adoptive mother, Bellemere, had savings of only 100,000 berries, just enough to buy her own life from Arlong.
Shit... If you look at it that way, Arlong's protection fee of 100,000 berries per month meant he only needed to catch one wild boar every two months to pay it?
It sounded expensive, but also somehow... reasonable? The economics of this world were seriously messed up.
"So, how much would it cost to hire a navigator?"
"Depends on their skill level. Some demand higher rates. For the guys I had before, it was about 110,000 to 120,000 per month."
"Jesus..."
Marcus suddenly had an epiphany about why Buggy the Clown was so obsessed with finding treasure, and why his crew was so loyal they'd risk everything to break into Impel Down just to get an Eternal Pose.
Turns out, he was actually a pretty good boss who brought in loads of treasure every month.
As they walked through the port town, Marcus decided to do some market research.
"How much is this bag of rice?"
"The 10-pound one? 30,000 berries. You buying?"
"No, just asking."
The shopkeeper gave him a weird look.
A quick conversion: 30,000 berries was about 300 dollars for 10 pounds of rice.
"Really does fit the economic situation of a wartime economy," Marcus muttered.
"What did you say?" Alvida tilted her head.
"Have we reached that recruiting place you mentioned yet?"
"Yeah, that tavern up ahead," Alvida said, pointing with her chin toward a building that looked like it had seen better days.
The place looked like chaos incarnate.
Inside, groups of rough-looking men sat around tables, each one looking like they'd been in more fights than Marcus had eaten hot meals.
Alvida's arrival immediately drew the attention of every man in the room. Their eyes lit up like they'd just spotted a treasure chest.
Only a few men at one table, all bruised and battered, quickly looked down at their drinks.
Marcus looked at the collection of misfits and lowlifes inside the tavern and felt momentarily speechless.
Then came the whistling and catcalling, filling the tavern with noise.
After all, what kind of decent people could you expect to find in a place like this?
If "den of scumbags" had a picture in the dictionary, this tavern would be it.
He rubbed his temples, already feeling a headache coming on.
But Alvida was clearly pleased with the current situation. In the past, when she'd come here, every man's eyes had been filled with contempt and disgust when they looked at her.
"I need a navigator," Alvida announced to the room.
Instantly, the tavern erupted with enthusiasm.
"Look at me, gorgeous! I've got over a decade of navigation experience! Put it this way, anywhere in the East Blue you want to go, I can take you there!"
Just as he finished bragging, someone else tore him down: "Oh please, last time you set sail, you nearly led your whole crew into a death spiral!"
"And you think you're any better? Last time you sailed, you led people straight into a Sea King's nest!"
The tavern instantly descended into chaos. Two of them even started throwing punches, and they'd been laughing and drinking together just moments before.
Everyone's attention was focused on Alvida, while Marcus got pushed to the sidelines.
He shook his head helplessly and looked around the room. Many people quickly averted their eyes after meeting his gaze, which puzzled him at first.
Was he really that intimidating?
Then he spotted the group of guys who'd been on the receiving end of Alvida's rampage earlier, all sporting fresh bruises and cuts.
He understood immediately, word had already spread about what had happened at the dock.
He didn't really mind. After all, with the commotion they'd caused, it was natural for news to travel fast.
After scanning the room for a few more minutes, he quickly lost interest. These guys were all bottom-feeders.
Meanwhile, Alvida, despite being surrounded by eager volunteers, had also lost interest.
None of them seemed reliable in the slightest.
Either they led people straight into disasters, or they pulled shady moves like delivering pirates directly to Marine bases. One guy even bragged about how he'd "accidentally" sailed his last crew into a whirlpool because he'd been drunk.
Earlier, she'd thought the people here might be decent candidates. But in just a few minutes, they'd all revealed their true colors as complete disasters.
The more she listened, the more her head hurt.
Finally, she just walked over to Marcus, grabbed him by the arm, and started dragging him toward the exit.
"What's wrong?" Marcus asked, confused.
"These guys are all useless," Alvida said once they were outside the tavern. "I even hired a few of them before, and guess what? Their resumes were completely fake! One of them claimed to have fifteen years of experience, but he didn't even know how to read a compass!"
She was getting angrier as she spoke.
Marcus found it amusing. If they were really reliable navigators, her previous crew wouldn't have ditched her and run off in the first place.
Trying to find trustworthy people in a place full of untrustworthy scumbags was questionable logic at best.
Just then, a timid voice came from behind them.
"Um... I heard you're recruiting a navigator?"
They turned around and saw a skinny figure standing there shyly, hair covering their eyes, looking meek and frail.
Alvida glanced at the scrawny figure and immediately rolled her eyes.
"You know how to navigate? With that build, you'd get blown overboard in the first storm."
"I... I do. I've read lots of books on navigation. P-please give me a chance!"
Alvida impatiently waved her hand to shoo them away, but Marcus looked at the person with curiosity.
There was something different about this one. While everyone in the tavern had been loud, boastful, and clearly unreliable, this person seemed nervous rather than putting on an act.
"You heard what we were discussing in the tavern. You should know what kind of people hang out in there, right?"
"I-I do," came the still-timid reply.
Alvida impatiently asked, "So tell me, what exactly can you offer us?"
The figure hesitated for a moment, then said quietly, "I can bring you... a navigator."
"..."
Alvida felt her temper starting to flare again. This person was wasting their time.
Marcus, on the other hand, found it oddly amusing, like a recent graduate nervously facing a job interview, radiating a kind of naive stupidity.
"What's your name?"
"Kira."
Marcus made a snap decision. "Alright, you're hired."
Alvida rolled her eyes but didn't object. Since Marcus made the call, she wasn't going to argue. After all, she'd agreed to follow his lead, so she wouldn't make a fuss over small things.
Kira looked shocked. She'd assumed the beautiful woman was the captain and decision-maker.
Now she felt confused.
Already lacking confidence, she became even more self-conscious.
Alvida reached out and casually put an arm around Kira's shoulders, and immediately noticed the trembling body and distinctly feminine features.
"Wait... you're a girl?"
"Y-yes... I'm sorry," Kira said, looking like she wanted to disappear into the ground.