In Cocos Village, along the street, Nami and Nojiko huddled behind Bellemere. In front of them stood Constable Genzo and many villagers of Cocos Village, holding shotguns and confronting a group of pirates.
The two sides were locked in a stalemate. The pirate leader was a yellow-haired youth, a long sword at his waist. He looked at them and said, "Give us the money, and we promise to leave."
Genzo snorted and said, "The money you want is too much."
Behind the yellow-haired youth, a thin figure stepped out, holding a musket and pointing it at Genzo's head. "If you don't give it, we'll kill you."
"You'd better put down your gun barrel."
Bellemere aimed her gun at the other party, her eyes carrying a murderous intent.
"You're asking for death."
The pirates raised their weapons one after another, but the villagers were not to be outdone.
The yellow-haired youth narrowed his eyes and asked, "Are you sure you want to fight us? After we kill you, we'll take the money?"
"Of course, we don't want that."
Genzo sighed and said, "But what you're asking for is simply too much. Four million Belly is a burden for us."
"How about two million Belly? Your village has at least four hundred people. At most, five thousand per person. This request of mine isn't excessive, is it?"
The yellow-haired youth asked with a dark expression.
Genzo said, "But children and the elderly have no income. We can at most offer eight hundred thousand Belly, but we can give you some food and water."
"Eight hundred thousand? Are you trying to fool a beggar?" a portly pirate shouted loudly.
"Our village is rather poor, so we can only give this much."
Genzo shrugged, then his tone turned firm, and he looked at them, saying, "This is the most we can offer. Any more, and we won't be able to live ourselves."
"One million Belly, plus food and water."
The yellow-haired youth coldly snorted and said, "This is our bottom line."
"Fine, then one million Belly."
Genzo nodded and immediately arranged for people to prepare the money, food, and water. They were moved to the seaside, and then Genzo stepped back, watching the pirates warily.
Although the pirates were not satisfied with this payment, they still accepted the money, loaded the food and fresh water onto their ship, and set sail.
Seeing them leave, the villagers of Cocos Village breathed a sigh of relief.
"They're gone."
"The pirate crew has left."
"Genzo, you're amazing. They chose to leave for one million Belly."
The villagers surrounded Genzo, their faces showing expressions of relief.
Genzo smiled and said, "Mainly, this pirate crew was too weak. Their leader isn't even on the wanted list, and they only have two cannons on their ship, with a dozen pirates. Their strength is too weak. If a real fight broke out, we could have won."
"Don't be modest. If you hadn't negotiated with them, they wouldn't have backed down."
Bellemere smiled and patted his shoulder.
"Yes, Genzo, we really have you to thank this time," the surrounding villagers also said with smiles.
"It's my duty."
Genzo's face turned red, and he coughed. "Right, this one million Belly, everyone will share the burden. Two thousand five hundred per person, is that okay?"
"Two thousand five hundred per person?"
Bellemere heard this and said irritably, "Meaning I have to pay seven thousand five hundred? That's too much. And we have two brats at home. Why are adults and kids the same price? It should be half at least, right?"
"Bellemere, it's only two thousand five hundred. You can afford seven thousand five hundred, can't you?" a villager said.
"And if children only need to pay half, then the adult price will increase. Eighty children, when calculated, your family would still have to pay around five thousand five hundred, only two thousand less. That's just a day's worth of meal money," another villager couldn't help but say.
"Two thousand is already a lot," Bellemere said huffily.
Genzo coughed and said, "I'll pay a portion of it. Bellemere only needs to pay five thousand. I'll pay two thousand five hundred."
"Really? That's great."
Bellemere smiled and said, "Genzo, but I can't get the money right now. You pay for me, and I'll give you the money back later."
"Will you pay back your debts?" Genzo asked irritably.
"Don't worry, I'll pay you back," Bellemere said with a smile, then leaned closer and whispered in a voice only they could hear, "In other ways."
"No, don't talk nonsense."
Genzo's face instantly turned red. He looked into the distance and said, "But if you don't have the money right now, then, then I can pay it for you."
"Genzo, thank you."
Bellemere said with a smile, then put her arms around Nami and Nojiko and walked towards home.
"Genzo, you really spoil Bellemere too much."
"Genzo, you're in love with Bellemere, aren't you?"
"Bellemere's been single for a long time, and you two get along great. Nami and Nojiko like you a lot too. Why don't you pursue her?"
The villagers nearby teased with smiles.
"Don't talk nonsense, I don't like her."
Genzo looked at Bellemere's retreating figure and shook his head, saying, "They're a mother and her children, living a hard life. I'm just helping them out."
"So you don't like Bellemere?"
"No, not at all."
Genzo's voice drifted back. Bellemere, in the distance, raised an eyebrow, a smile flashing across her lips, but a hint of regret hidden in her eyes.
"Let's go, let's go."
Genzo waved his hand and said, "Bring the money to the constable's office tomorrow."
"Got it."
The villagers dispersed, heading back to their homes.
But just then, a voice rang out, "The ship, the ship is sinking."
"What?"
Everyone's attention was drawn to the voice. Following the direction the person was pointing, they saw a pirate ship on the ocean, slowly sinking.
The pirates on board were jumping into the sea one by one.
"What is this?"
Genzo's eyes widened as he stared into the distance at the massive pirate ship slowly sinking into the sea.
"How could it be sinking?" a villager asked, confused.
"Retribution. The sea is punishing them," another villager said, looking at the sinking pirate ship with delight.
Nami, hearing the commotion from afar, pulled her hand away from Bellemere's and ran to the front of the crowd, looking towards the sea.
In the distance, the pirate ship sank bit by bit. The pirates who had jumped into the sea were swimming frantically towards the island.
"They look terrified. Is something in the water?" Genzo asked, frowning.
The next moment, a huge dark shadow caught up, bit into the pirate lagging behind, and swallowed him whole.
Since they still have the strength to swim in the sea, they aren't Devil Fruit users.
Then it's fine to eat them.
Xia Qiu thought, devouring the pirates one by one. After finishing, he swam towards the distance and disappeared into the ocean.
"What a huge sea fish! It actually sank a pirate ship."
"To think there's such a big fish in the waters around us. It's dangerous."
"If this fish can smash a pirate ship, what about our fishing boats and merchant ships? What if it attacks?"
A villager asked worriedly.
"We can only pray it was just passing by," a fisherman said.
"Tell the fishermen to be careful. Don't go out fishing for now. And everyone, don't go near the water without permission," Genzo urged.
The villagers left, worried about the threat posed by the giant sea fish.
However, after Nami returned to her room, she took out a notebook and opened it. On one of the pages, a drawing of a giant sea fish was depicted.
This sea fish looked almost identical to Xia Qiu.
She looked at the sea fish and couldn't help but frown. "Did that sea fish deliberately attack the pirate ship and eat people? Was it a coincidence?"
Nami had first seen it catching dolphins a year and three months ago, in March of last year. Since then, she had seen traces of it multiple times.
Based on the areas it appeared in and the times it showed up, she could tell it lived near this island.
Nami had also felt concerned seeing its ferocious feeding behavior.
But it had never attacked people before. Even much smaller fishing boats, or fishermen gathering sea urchins, shrimp, and crabs in the sea, had never been attacked.
Like today, there were three or four fishing boats out at sea.
It hadn't attacked, nor had it harmed anyone.
The feeling was as if it was avoiding people.
But now, it had launched an attack.
Was it just a random act? Or had it started seeing humans as prey?
Nami didn't know, but it was always better to be cautious.
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Translation by: randomtranslator.com
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