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Flip thought about his family's background—how his father, Wetton, ran things—and quickly regained his confidence.
'So what if they know my family used to be pirates?'
'They wanted to collect taxes?'
'Ha! Let's see if they even have the guts to step foot near our estate!'
After reassuring himself, Flip's expression hardened once more.
"Alright, boy… you want my family to pay taxes? Fine! But first—you need to pay your taxes right now."
With that, Flip started tallying up the amount of food Ikki and the others had eaten.
Henzo, who had been silent until now, suddenly stood up.
"Flip, don't push it!"
Flip turned and smirked. "Dr. Henzo? Oh, so you're here too?" He sneered mockingly. "Shouldn't you be off studying your precious rainbow mist?"
"Researching the rainbow mist requires money, doesn't it?" Henzo shot back coldly.
Flip chuckled. "So these guys—who are threatening us to pay taxes—are your friends, huh?" His grin widened as he turned back to Ikki and Luffy.
"But rules are rules, Henzo. Since they've eaten, they have to pay the meal tax. And even better…"
Flip's eyes gleamed with amusement as he looked between Ikki and Luffy.
"They're planning to come to my house to collect taxes, aren't they?"
Ikki met his gaze without hesitation and nodded.
"That's right."
Then, without missing a beat, he reached into his space ring and pulled out a massive pile of gold.
"Is this enough for the taxes?"
Flip's jaw nearly dropped.
He had expected to squeeze maybe a few hundred thousand Beri out of them, but this? This was way more than he had imagined!
"A-Ah, yeah! This is more than enough!" Flip hurriedly accepted the gold, barely able to contain his glee.
With a smug smile, he added, "Private Marine, don't forget to visit our estate for your tax collection."
Ikki grinned. "Don't worry—I'll be there soon."
Satisfied with his haul, Flip left the restaurant and headed straight for his family's villa on the mountaintop.
The moment he was gone, Usopp turned to Ikki, looking completely exasperated.
"If Nami finds out you willingly handed over that much gold for taxes, she's definitely gonna lose it."
Ikki simply shrugged. "It's fine—as long as we recover it all with interest."
Hearing that Ikki actually planned to visit Flip's estate for tax collection, Henzo, who had been sitting nearby, suddenly became alarmed.
"You do realize Wetton used to be a vicious pirate, right? He's not going to just hand over his wealth—he'll kill you before you even step through the door!"
Ikki didn't even acknowledge Henzo's warning. Instead, he waved his hand, and suddenly, several uniforms materialized out of nowhere.
On the chest of each uniform, a bold nametag read: "Taxation Bureau."
"Alright! Let's suit up—we're going tax collecting."
Usopp picked up one of the uniforms and inspected it.
"So… does this outfit have any special abilities or what?"
Ikki pointed at the Tax Bureau uniform and said, "As long as you wear it, you can collect money anywhere you go!"
"Amazing..."
Usopp, thoroughly impressed, immediately put on the uniform.
As soon as he did, the badge on the chest automatically changed. Below the words "Tax Bureau," three additional characters appeared: "Usopp."
Seeing this, Luffy found it fascinating and quickly put on a uniform himself.
Of course, the combination of the uniform and his signature straw hat looked completely ridiculous.
Ikki then handed uniforms to Vivi and Robin.
The two women exchanged glances, sighed in resignation, and finally put them on.
Henzo watched the group's antics and sighed. These young people were really going to Wetton's estate to collect taxes.
Thinking about Wetton's methods, he could only shake his head helplessly.
At that moment, a sudden commotion erupted in town.
"Did you hear? A ship just appeared at the port!"
"Oh? What kind of ship?"
"I'm not sure… but I heard it came drifting out of some kind of colorful mist."
"Colorful mist?! Could it be that bastard Henzo—"
"Shhh! Stop talking! Let's go check it out first!"
Hearing the conversation, Henzo's eyes widened, and without a word, he took off running toward the port.
Ikki didn't bother stopping him.
They would investigate the Rainbow Mist eventually—but only after settling matters with the Wetton family.
"Alright, let's go! Time to visit the mountaintop villa!"
With that, Ikki led the group toward the estate.
After only a few steps, they ran into Sanji, Nami, Chopper, Ace, and Sabo.
At that moment, Ace—who had transformed into his Slime-Slime form—was facing off against a discharging robot.
Sparks of electricity crackled from the machine, but they had absolutely no effect on Ace's slime body.
Instead, Ace casually threw out his arm, launching a glob of red slime at the robot.
The operator inside the machine immediately screamed.
Thanks to the Tiger Talisman, Ace could now fully utilize the combined power of both the Flame-Flame Fruit and the Slime-Slime Fruit.
His slime might have looked harmless, but in reality, it was equivalent to liquid fire.
Within moments, the high-temperature slime melted through the steel, and the robot collapsed in a smoking heap.
As the machine sputtered and died, the man inside jumped out, drenched in sweat.
Luffy pointed at him with wide eyes.
"Huh? You're that tax collector guy from before!"
The man—who was currently having cold water poured over him by his subordinates—turned to Luffy and scoffed.
"You're talking about my father, Flip. I am Lake."
After introducing himself, Lake narrowed his eyes at Ace.
"Not only did you not pay your docking tax when you arrived at Ruluka Island, but you also attacked my men."
Then, he motioned toward the now-destroyed robot.
"And now you've broken my property. So tell me—how do you plan to compensate me?"
Hearing the word "compensation," Nami's expression immediately darkened.
But before she could explode, Ikki stepped forward.
"Wait, wait… when you say money, you mean Beri, right?"
Lake crossed his arms. "Of course."
Ikki smirked. "Perfect. I was already planning to visit your house."
Lake raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You're coming to apologize in person?"
"That's right," Ikki said with a grin. "I'll stop by your house… for taxes."
Lake completely misunderstood, assuming that Ikki meant he was coming to pay taxes instead of demand them.
Upon realizing that money would be delivered straight to his family's hands, Lake suddenly grinned.
"Well then! If that's the case, let me show you the way!"
And just like that, with Young Master Lake happily leading the way, Ikki and the crew easily bypassed all security measures and strolled right into the Wetton Family Villa—the grand estate of Mayor Wetton himself.