By the next day, Moll, sitting on his camel, was dozing off and could barely keep his eyes open. Having gone almost twenty-four hours without sleep, he just couldn't take it as an ordinary person. Every time he thought about it, he shot a resentful glare at Yuristin. If not for him, Moll would never have been forced to stay up all night.
"Looks like Moll holds quite the grudge against you," Baichuan remarked to Yuristin.
"You can't pin this all on me. If you guys hadn't joined in so enthusiastically, there wouldn't have been a game in the first place," Yuristin said, feeling rather wronged. Sure, I was the one who brought out the cards, but if none of you had been willing, then no matter how much I tried to rally everyone, it would've been pointless.
"It's all those sand bandits' fault. If those sand bandits hadn't shown up, we definitely would've slept soundly and comfortably last night," Riddle spoke up, coming to Yuristin's defense—he was also the one who'd enjoyed himself the most during the games the night before.
"Exactly, blame those sand bandits! Next time we meet them, I'm definitely not letting them off. How dare they try to drug the minors on our ship," Yuristin said, his confidence bolstered now that someone was taking his side.
"Yeah, those sand bandits are seriously despicable. They actually dared to lust after my body. Isn't that right, Salar?" Adala said, turning to Salar.
"Mm." Salar, however, only responded flatly.
Baichuan suddenly noticed that Salar seemed to have a bit of a player streak in him. Weren't the two of them all lovey-dovey just a while ago? Why was he acting so lukewarm now? Could it be the Speed-Speed Fruit's ability was making him faster? No, that shouldn't be it—the Speed-Speed Fruit should have a deceleration ability too. At this thought, Baichuan couldn't help sinking into deep contemplation. Just what exactly was causing the two's feelings to cool?
"Captain, I get the feeling you're thinking something strange," Salar suddenly said from right beside Baichuan, startling him. After all, he'd just been inwardly condemning the guy's player behavior.
"N-no, nothing. How could that be? You must be imagining things." Baichuan let out an awkward laugh, hurriedly waving his hands to indicate no such thing.
Just as Baichuan was racking his brain for a way to change the subject, a ship appeared in their line of sight—a ship sailing across the desert.
"Look! There's a ship up ahead!" Baichuan shouted, pointing forward to draw his crewmates' attention.
"No way, an actual ship? It can't be a mirage, right?" Jora rubbed his eyes and spoke in disbelief. After widening them, he still saw a ship. And it was getting closer and closer to them.
"Idiot, that's no mirage," Moll told Jora.
"That really is a ship sailing across the desert," Yuristin added.
"It must be the sand bandits' desert vehicle. Same idea as our pirate ship," Kulokam said, having spotted a bandit's flag on that ship.
"These sand bandits… We didn't go looking for them, and here they are coming right to us. They really don't know when to stop." Baichuan and the others all brought their camels to a halt and waited for the sand bandits to arrive.
"Oi! You're the ones who killed my men, aren't you?" A fierce-looking, bald, burly man appeared on the ship, talking down at Baichuan's group. He had savage scars on his head, and you could tell at a glance he was no good person.
"If you're talking about those petty thieves from last night, then you're spot on. We killed them," Baichuan replied.
"Good. Very good. Just you lot, and you dare kill my men? Have you got a death wish?" He raised the spiked club in his hand and pointed it at Baichuan viciously.
"I think you're the ones with the death wish. As it happens, we've taken a liking to your ship. Hand it over," Baichuan shot back.
"Boys, get them! Let them witness the might of me, the great Sand Bandit King!" Baichuan's words had thoroughly enraged him. It had been a long time since anyone dared speak to him like that.
"Sand Bandit King?" At that title, Baichuan and his crew all burst out laughing. They hadn't expected to run into a name this ridiculous here. It reminded them of that Mountain Bandit King from the East Blue. What would happen if those two ever met, they wondered—would they manage to topple the World Government?
"The Sand Bandit King? Ooh, I'm so scared," Jora said, putting on a pitiful, delicate expression. On Adala, that look would have worked, but on Jora, it gave off a definite vibe: Ugh, gross. Even the densest observer could tell Jora was mocking him, and this Sand Bandit King was no exception.
"Boys, cut that one's head off and use it as a football!"
"Leave it to us, Captain. I guarantee you'll be pleased with the results," one of his underlings declared with absolute confidence. In their eyes, Baichuan's crew was just a bunch of pretty boys and a few tough guys, with two women along. Nothing to fear.
"Good. If you satisfy me, I'll promote you to vice-captain."
"Thank you, Captain!" The word "vice-captain" instantly made him even more fired up.
"I'll leave them to you," Baichuan ordered his own crew. He was starting to wonder—did they really look that easy to bully? Why was every opponent so ridiculously overconfident?
"Relax, Captain. I'll beat them so badly their own mothers won't recognize them."
"Captain? Don't tell me you lot are sand bandits too?" Hearing Jora call Baichuan "Captain," the enemy leader asked doubtfully. Both sides, who'd been raring to go, paused.
"Sand bandits? Us? Nope. We're pirates, actually," Jora replied.
"Pirates?! Then that makes you even more unforgivable!" For some reason, the sand bandit captain suddenly flew into a rage.
"So you're that bunch of sand bandits the camel seller uncle mentioned—the ones who absolutely despise pirates," Baichuan said.
"That's right. Pirates are all scum, every last one."
"I wouldn't say that. Are you sand bandits any better? Take yourself, for example—you've done plenty of burning, killing, and looting, haven't you?"
"Hmph. I've got nothing to say to you. Boys, chop them to pieces! Leave no one alive!" He had over a hundred sand bandits with him. Taking on a handful of opponents was more than enough.
"In that case, no need to leave any of them alive either," Baichuan said to Jora and the others.
"Relax, Captain. The results will definitely satisfy you."
The two sides then clashed fiercely. Lisa and Moll hid behind Baichuan, as neither of them had any combat ability and he had to make sure they didn't get taken hostage.
"How is this possible?!" After fighting for a while, the sand bandit captain was completely dumbfounded. Why were his men so fragile? The enemy was cutting them down one by one like they were kids.
"No, this can't go on." He decided to step in himself.
Seeing the man jump down from his ship, Baichuan was genuinely surprised. The guy's first reaction wasn't to flee? Was he an idiot?
Thank you to all the readers for your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Thank you, everyone.
/-\
Enjoying the story? Want to read ahead?
Support the novel and unlock early access to unreleased chapters!
~ +20 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon! (+1 Chapter daily)
https://p-atreon.com/Its_Zack
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access Patreon normally)