Chapter 08: Pirate Street
Goa Kingdom, Central Street.
This was the most prosperous area in the entire Goa Kingdom. Every day, countless merchants passed through here to buy and sell goods in exchange for funds.
However, near the edge of Central Street, close to the border town, there was a long corridor famously known as "Pirate Street."
Every day, quite a few vicious pirates gathered here.
There had even been great pirates with bounties of hundreds of millions here, causing quite a stir. It was said that even the Marines were alarmed and spared no effort to catch them.
However, since then, the Marines basically stopped patronizing this place. Naturally, it became an area where pirates were active.
"Pirate Street? It doesn't look that special."
Ye Jia, dressed in black clothes and wearing a cloak, walked along Pirate Street.
Vendors were shouting on both sides, appearing to be resident merchants.
There were quite a few entertainment venues, taverns, and gambling places.
"Let's pick one."
Ye Jia randomly selected a tavern and walked in.
As soon as he entered, a boiling clamor filled his ears, making Ye Jia feel like his eardrums were vibrating.
"So that's how it is. The patrons inside are all pirates."
With a casual glance, sure enough, the people sitting here drinking heavily, eating meat in large bites, laughing loudly while discussing their "illustrious battle records" of murder, arson, and robbery were all pirates from various parts of the Goa Kingdom.
"There are so many pirates. I wonder which one has a relatively high bounty."
Ye Jia didn't want to kill a pirate only to find out that the guy didn't even have a bounty.
He walked straight to the front desk, knocked on the table, and signaled: "A glass of Blazing Flame, thanks."
Having stayed at Makino's tavern for so long, Ye Jia knew some secrets.
Every area basically had an "underground intelligence organization," and these organizations often operated under the name of a tavern.
If you wanted to know certain information, you could ask the tavern staff. As long as you could pay, you could basically get any information about this area.
"Guest, your Blazing Flame."
The waiter handed Ye Jia a glass of fiery red beer with flames burning on top.
"I have something to ask."
Ye Jia flicked his finger, and a silver coin landed accurately in the waiter's hand.
"Guest, feel free to ask." Seeing the silver coin, a hint of surprise flashed in the waiter's eyes, and he hurriedly leaned closer to Ye Jia.
"I want bounty information on all the pirates in Pirate Street. Name a price."
Ye Jia said while drinking.
The waiter glanced at Ye Jia in surprise, instantly understanding Ye Jia's intention.
However, he quickly revealed a confident smile: "Guest, no problem, but you see..."
"One gold coin, is that enough?"
"Please wait a moment!" The waiter turned and entered the back room.
The gold and silver coins were exchanged by Ye Jia after much effort selling over a dozen fierce beasts, precisely to buy information.
Soon, the waiter returned, holding a thick package in his hand.
"Guest, this is what you need." The waiter handed over the package.
Ye Jia opened it and took a glance inside; it was a thick stack of wanted posters.
"It's yours. Do you have a room? Book one for me."
Two coins were thrown out: a gold coin for the information and a silver coin for the room reservation.
"Here is the key. Your room number is 3056." The waiter quickly took down a key ring and placed it on the counter.
Ye Jia took the key, grabbed the package, turned around, and went upstairs.
Closing the door, Ye Jia sat on a chair, took out the thick stack of wanted posters from the package, and flipped through them one by one.
"3000 Belly, really little. Not even as valuable as a few fierce beasts."
"25,000 Belly, passable, but he wasn't in the crowd just now. Seems I haven't seen him. Wasting time looking for him for this little money isn't worth it."
"140,000 Belly, acceptable. He has some strength, but it's a pity I'd have to look everywhere for him."
"..."
Ye Jia flipped through them one by one. Eventually, he lost patience looking at each one and simply threw all the posters with bounties under a million Belly into the trash can.
Only those with bounties over a million were left.
"One million is for building the ship. I need to buy supplies for the sea voyage, which shouldn't be cheap. I can't make money at sea, so I have to save more. At least three million Belly should be enough, right?" Ye Jia pondered.
"Wait, what if I dock somewhere and there are no pirates there, so I can't earn bounty money? How would I replenish supplies? Going to sea costs money, and the expenses aren't low!"
"Calculating this and that... forget it. I might as well take out a pirate with a ten million Belly bounty in one go so I won't have to worry about money later."
So, Ye Jia threw all the posters of pirates below ten million into the trash can as well.
Only three remained in his hand.
One with 12 million Belly.
One with 18 million Belly.
One with 26 million Belly.
"I'll choose these three. Whoever I bump into first can consider themselves unlucky!"
After memorizing the bounties and faces on the posters, Ye Jia rubbed his hands together. The light-speed friction directly ignited sparks on the three posters, turning them into ash instantly.
...
At this moment, the tavern hall became lively again.
The originally dense crowd of drinkers in the middle suddenly moved away, creating a vacuum zone.
Two flush-faced pirates holding large sabers were confronting each other.
Pirates naturally had bad conduct.
Insulting people at the slightest disagreement, fighting at the slightest disagreement, killing at the slightest disagreement... these had long become the norm.
With pirates frequenting the tavern all day long, such occurrences were more common than eating and drinking.
Therefore, no one stopped the two pirates from fighting. Instead, everyone cheered from the side, drinking and watching the show.
The two pirates rushed forward and began close-quarters combat, fighting each other.
It could be seen that both of them had some skills; their moves and stances looked decent.
"Heke and Carlo, you represent my 'Scar' Pirate Crew. If you lose, I won't forgive you!"
Outside the ring, a tall, burly man with a full beard drank his alcohol and said in a muffled voice.
"Scar Pirate Crew? That guy, could he be Scar Walker, the boss of the Scar Pirate Crew?"
"Yes! No wonder he's so rampant. I heard Scar Walker's bounty has reached 12 million Belly, right? He sank a Marine ship last time!"
"Stop flattering him. Don't you know that guy's opponent is from the 'Vile Tooth Pirate Crew'! Don't forget Vile Tooth Garcia, the captain of the Vile Tooth Pirate Crew. His bounty is 18 million Belly, a whole 6 million higher than Scar Walker!"
"Hehe, there's really a good show to watch this time. Members of two ten-million-level pirate crews fighting each other is rarely seen on Pirate Street!"
The onlookers discussed enthusiastically, and some even opened betting pools.
"12 million and 18 million are both here... This is great. I can earn 30 million Belly at once. This trip is truly worth it!"
Sitting in the corner, Ye Jia heard the discussions, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl into a cruel smile.