Takero irritably pushed back the sweat-matted black hair from his forehead, revealing a youthful but sharp and determined face. His brow was furrowed, and his black eyes were now filled with annoyance. He had been working so hard, hunting for food and searching the entire forest for giant trees to build a boat. All he wanted was to set sail and find some strong opponents—some real "experience packs."
But right in the middle of his work, he had sensed a disturbance in his "territory." He rushed back, only to find a group of flashy, suspicious-looking people who had not only trespassed but had also smashed his most important piece of training equipment. He was not going to let this slide.
Meanwhile, Shanks and his crew were still trying to wrap their heads around the situation. Where was the powerful hermit they had imagined? Where was the muscular monster who could drag a boulder the size of a house? How did that person turn into this little kid who only came up to their waists?
Shanks's gaze fell on the fluffy, brown-black tail wagging behind Takero, which swished back and forth with the boy's anger. "Are you from the Mink Tribe?" he blurted out.
Normal humans didn't have tails unless they were Devil Fruit users. But Shanks had sailed the seas long enough to spot a Devil Fruit user from a mile away, and he could see no trace of that power on this child. 1That meant he had to be a Mink, a member of an extremely rare type that looked almost human. 2 "A Monkey Mink?" Shanks guessed, before asking with a tone of sympathy, "Little guy, where are your parents? How did you end up all alone on a deserted island?"
"What Mink Tribe?" Takero's frown deepened. "I'm a Saiyan! A pure Saiyan! 3 And I'm the only person on this whole island, so there are no adults to find!"
Hearing this, Shanks immediately came to a conclusion. It seems this Mink youth has created a new identity for himself because of some past trauma.
Combining the fact that the boy was living alone and training in such an extreme way, Shanks quickly invented a tragic backstory in his mind: a poor Monkey Mink child, cast out by his own tribe because he looked too human, was abandoned by his parents and forced to survive alone on this island. Thinking about this, his expression softened. "I see… So you're like me. A wanderer with no real home…"
"You're an orphan, too?"
"Uh… that's one way to put it…" Shanks suddenly didn't know what to say.
Takero impatiently cut him off, his face growing even angrier. "Don't try to act friendly with me, and don't change the subject! You think you can just break my stuff and get away with it? No way! Tell me, how are you going to pay for my gym equipment?!"
Shanks was taken aback by the direct question. He tried to put on a stern face to scare the boy with his pirate reputation. "Oi, kid! Look closely! We're the famous Red Hair Pirates! Our bounties combined would scare you to death! 4 You've got some nerve asking us for compensation!"
"Red Hair Monster!" Takero shot back without a hint of fear, pointing a small finger at Shanks's bright red hair. "I don't care if you have red hair, black hair, or no hair at all! If you break something, you have to pay for it! Even a kid knows that! Aren't you an adult? You should be ashamed!" 5
"Pfft—!"
"Gyahahaha!!"
"Red Hair Monster?! Captain, you've got a new nickname!"
"You hear that? Even a child gets it! You're not setting a very good example, Captain!"
"Yeah! He's right! You're the one who broke the rock, so it's your problem, not ours!"
As soon as Takero finished, the crew behind Shanks burst into laughter. They threw taunts and jokes at their captain, and the tense air was instantly filled with joy. Shanks's face turned bright red with embarrassment. He awkwardly scratched his head. When he thought about it… maybe the kid was right. This was probably his fault. He had been trying to have a "romantic" greeting between strong warriors, but he'd ended up challenging a child. He couldn't exactly draw his sword on a kid, could he? This was a real headache.
He instinctively looked toward his reliable first mate, Benn Beckman, hoping for some support. But Beckman simply turned his head to look out at the sea, as if to say, "What a lovely day. The sea is so blue. I didn't hear a thing."
Shanks sighed and held up his hands in surrender. "Look, kid, we've been lost at sea for almost two months. Our ship is nearly out of supplies. 6 We're completely broke, so we don't really have anything to give you."
"Oh? So you're trying to get out of paying your debt?" Takero folded his arms, a look of pure disdain on his face as he looked Shanks up and down. "Tsk, tsk. And you call yourselves the 'famous' Red Hair Pirates? Trying to cheat a kid out of what you owe him? How pathetic. You should just change your name to the 'Red Hair Debt-Dodging Crew'!" 7
The words "pathetic" and "Debt-Dodging Crew" stabbed right at Shanks's pirate pride. His smile vanished, and a vein throbbed on his forehead. "Alright, kid, name your price! What do you want? As long as it's not money, we can talk!" It wasn't that he didn't want to pay; it was that he really had nothing to give. 8
Hearing this, a cunning glint appeared in Takero's eyes. He put on a reluctant expression and said, "It's simple. Fight me. Give me a good, satisfying fight, and we'll call it even."
Who said all Saiyans were simple-minded? His taunting had worked perfectly. From the moment he saw this group, Takero had sensed a powerful energy coming from them—an energy far beyond that of normal people. A normal person wouldn't have noticed it, but thanks to his natural Saiyan warrior instincts and his Observation Haki, he knew at once that it was the feeling of Ki.
He couldn't tell exactly how strong they were, but he could feel a deep, condensed power from them. The red-haired man, in particular, felt like a dormant volcano, ready to erupt at any moment. He knew these were powerful martial artists. If he could have a real, all-out fight with someone that strong, the rewards from his system would be huge. His hands were already itching for a battle. He had to fight them, right here and now.