Jack Sparrow's hand, clutching Roger's calf, trembled like someone with advanced Parkinson's.
He felt as if he wasn't holding a leg, but a stick of dynamite about to explode.
He could clearly sense a low pressure emanating from that leg, a pressure that screamed, "The boss is angry, and the consequences will be severe."
"Captain! My good Captain! This is a misunderstanding!"
"A huge misunderstanding!" Jack wailed, trying to explain.
"I'm conducting in-depth market expansion for the company!"
"I'm infiltrating the enemy, corrupting their core management!"
"See, I'm already their spiritual leader!"
"Shut up!"
Kikkawa Motoharu finally couldn't listen anymore. He roared, pointing his katana directly at Roger's throat, the tip of the blade quivering slightly with anger.
"Who exactly are you, sir! How dare you be so rude to Teacher Jack! Release him at once, or you'll regret my merciless blade!"
The samurai behind him also drew their swords in unison, and the atmosphere in the entire banquet hall instantly shifted from lively song and dance to tense hostility.
Roger didn't even bother to lift his eyelids.
He just looked down at Jack, who was still desperately overacting at his feet, the smile on his face growing even more gentle.
"Jack, I recall the company's employee handbook, didn't it state, 'Prohibition of developing relationships beyond friendship with clients'?"
"Huh?"
Jack was stunned.
"Also, where's your business trip report? Your expense claim form? Becoming sworn brothers with enemy executives and accepting their stock options—this is a serious workplace violation, do you know that?"
With every word Roger spoke, Jack's face grew a shade paler.
What the hell is an employee handbook!
What kind of employee handbook do we pirates have!
And what in the world are stock options!
"We are a legitimate maritime security company, Jack."
Roger patted his head meaningfully.
"We have our corporate culture and regulations."
"For serious actions like yours, which harm the company's interests and attempt to establish a separate power base, according to regulations, you are to be made into fish food and disposed of harmlessly."
"Baka!"
Kikkawa Motoharu, seeing himself so completely ignored, became unusually enraged.
He stopped talking nonsense, let out a furious roar, and his katana flashed with a cold light, striking towards Roger's neck with the force of a thunderbolt!
He used all ten-tenths of his strength in that strike!
He wanted this arrogant madman, who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth, to pay a bloody price for his insolence!
A collective gasp echoed through the banquet hall.
Jack Sparrow was so scared he closed his eyes.
However, the expected scene of blood splattering did not occur.
"Clang!"
A crisp, loud sound, like a blacksmith striking iron.
Kikkawa Motoharu's sword stopped in mid-air.
No, it was stopped.
A black, metallic-sheened skeletal hand casually gripped his precious, razor-sharp sword.
Buck, the strange figure in a woman's kimono with feathers in his hair, had appeared in front of Roger at some point.
He didn't even turn his head; he simply raised his hand and steadily caught the deadly blow.
"You..."
Kikkawa Motoharu's pupils constricted.
He tried to pull his sword back, but found that it seemed to be welded into the other's hand, unmoving.
"Are you out of your mind?"
Buck turned his head, his hollow eye sockets revealing a displeasure that said, "You're interrupting my show."
He squeezed the blade slightly.
"Crack!"
A crisp snap.
That katana, crafted by a master and worth a fortune, was forcibly cracked in the middle of its blade by his bare hand.
Kikkawa Motoharu was struck by lightning, completely dumbfounded.
With bare hands... he cracked my sword?
"Hey, you ruined my glove."
Buck released his grip and held up his skeletal claw, revealing a shallow white mark on it.
He blew on the white mark with an expression of disgust, then looked at Kikkawa Motoharu with a gaze reserved for trash.
"Captain, this guy's toys are of poor quality. They're not even as hard as the spatulas we stole last time."
"Impudent!"
"Everyone, attack! Kill him!"
The surrounding samurai finally reacted.
They roared, rushing towards Buck from all directions.
Dozens of samurai swords simultaneously hacked at Buck's magnificent black iron skeleton.
"Clink, clank, clatter!"
A dense sound, like heavy rain on a tin roof, rang out.
Sparks flew.
Those sharp blades, striking Buck's bones, couldn't even leave a white mark.
Instead, several swords broke at the edge from being used with too much force.
"That's it?"
Buck shook his body, feeling as if someone had tickled him.
"Too weak! Haven't you eaten!"
He waved his hand irritably.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
The dozen or so samurai were sent flying backward, screaming, as if hit by a raging bull, overturning a swath of tables and chairs.
The entire banquet hall fell into a deathly silence.
All the Japanese, including Kikkawa Motoharu, looked at the "iron man" in the ridiculous women's clothing, who was impossibly strong, with eyes that saw a monster.
Their worldview shattered into a million pieces at that moment.
"Alright, warm-up's over."
Roger finally stood up.
He adjusted his collar, then walked over to the completely stunned Kikkawa Motoharu.
He took a broken sword, just confiscated from a samurai, from a nearby skeleton pirate, then squatted down and lightly tapped Kikkawa Motoharu's face with the flat side of the broken blade.
"Now, can we have a proper talk?"
Kikkawa Motoharu's body trembled violently. He looked at Roger, then at the group of strangely drawn yet terrifyingly powerful "people" behind him, and finally understood.
These people were not human.
They were demons from hell!
"Jack."
Roger turned back and said in an extremely calm tone.
"Please, translate for Mr. Kikkawa."
"Tell him, I, Roger, CEO of the explorer Maritime Resource Management Co., Ltd."
"Now, officially inform them."
Roger stood up, spread his arms, and surveyed the Japanese nobles in the banquet hall, who were now pale with fear.
"Your Iwami Ginzan Mining Group, due to serious issues such as illegal mining, malicious competition, and tax evasion, has had a detrimental impact on the maritime trade order in the East Asia region."
"Therefore, our company has decided."
A devilish smile appeared on Roger's face.
"To conduct a... forced acquisition of you."
Jack Sparrow had completely given up thinking.
Like a soulless puppet, he stammered Roger's words, translating them into his newly learned, broken Japanese for Kikkawa Motoharu.
When he heard the term "forced acquisition," Kikkawa Motoharu's samurai face was filled with bewilderment.
Acquisition?
What does that mean?
"It means."
Roger snapped his fingers, clarifying for him.
"From now on, this silver mine, along with all of you, belongs to me."
"Of course, we are a reasonable company; we won't take your things for nothing."
Roger paused, then held up a finger.
"I've decided to acquire your Iwami Ginzan for the price of 'one copper coin'."
"Now, please have your chairman, the one called Mōri Motonari, come out and sign the contract."
"Oh, and tell him, if he refuses, my subordinates here would be very happy to have a good chat with him."
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