Atou confidently said, "It must be praising us for being amazing! Fengchu means... Wolong... Wolong!"
Adai suddenly puffed out his chest. "That's right!! It's praising us."
Rhett laughed so hard he nearly fell off his boat. You didn't even understand it, but you're already confident? That's a kind of confidence in itself, isn't it?
He wiped away tears of laughter and asked, "So... are you still going to rob me or not?"
Adai suddenly remembered what he was supposed to be doing and quickly put on a stern face. "S-Serious! Hand over your fresh water... uh... half of it!" He sneaked a peek at Rhett's water barrel.
Rhett nearly burst out laughing. This pirate might actually be worth keeping around.
Captain Adai's face turned red. "S-Shut up! We're only taking half!" The crew behind him all swallowed hard in unison, their eyes fixed intently on Rhett's water barrel.
"You can have my water," Rhett said, shaking his canteen mischievously. "But will taking it be enough to get you to the next island?"
The pirates immediately huddled together for an emergency meeting. Five minutes later, Adai pushed the water barrel back with a miserable face. "N-Not enough... Here, take it back... but can we at least have a sip?"
Rhett looked at their chapped lips. "How many days since you last ate?"
"Three days..." Atou said quietly. "Last month, we robbed a pirate ship, but then we found out the food had just been stolen from a village... so we gave it all back..."
Rhett raised an eyebrow. "So you've been hungry ever since?"
Adai nodded sheepishly. "The villagers needed the food more than us. We still have our strength. We won't starve. There are a lot of elderly people in that village, so... heheh."
Rhett once again marveled at the diversity of species in the pirate world.
On a nearby island,
The campfire crackled, and the aroma of roasted wild boar drifted through the sea breeze.
The pirates devoured the meat ravenously. Adai ate while wiping his tears, his clothes soaked through with them. "Mmm... this is so good... I've never eaten anything this delicious in my whole life..."
"Eat slowly," Rhett said, tossing over another roasted rabbit.
Adai looked up, his face covered in tears and snot. "Boss, you're so good to us! You're our real boss!"
He turned to the other three and shouted, "Brothers, say thank you to the boss!"
"Thank you, boss!" The four voices were out of sync, but the gratitude in their eyes was completely sincere.
Rhett watched them with a bit of embarrassment. They weren't very professional pirates.
"Alright, you can come work for me. I'll find you jobs."
The four of them lit up. "Really? You're going to find us jobs? Thank you, boss!"
Of course, they wouldn't be crew members on the Bruma Jackson. Rhett was an Emperor of the Sea. Finding them work would be no problem at all.
Through Adai's introduction, Rhett finally figured out their background:
The tall and skinny one was Aya, the ship's "strategist." His mind wasn't particularly fast, but he could at least come up with some ideas.
Atou, who was always quick to chime in, was the ship's "think tank." He often made a fool of himself, but he was optimistic.
The quiet one, Ayo, was a skilled fisherman. Unfortunately, there were fewer fish in the area lately, making their lives even harder.
The strongest among them was Adai, who had惊人的 strength. Rhett estimated that his power was probably a little weaker than Morgan's.
As for their bounty — 65 dollars and 25 cents — it was purely a symbolic number. Well, what else could it be? They were flying a pirate flag. The other three didn't even have bounty posters.
And with the four of them doing good deeds and helping people, why would the Marines bother arresting them? That's why their bounty was so low.
In the pirate world, having a low bounty was a laughing stock. The Marines only issued that bounty to try to get them to take down their pirate flag and become bounty hunters.
Clearly, these four weren't real pirates at all.
The Marine branch figured they lost too much money by issuing bounty posters for them. In fact, no one at the branch even wanted to print them. That's why Adai's bounty poster was so crumpled — it was a collector's item.
Not every 50-berry bounty was called Laboon Tony Tony Chopper.
Rhett asked a completely unrelated question: "Do you like kids?"
What was the most abundant thing on the seas?
Orphans.
As everyone knew, One Piece had two extreme kinds of fathers: biological fathers with little love for their children, and adoptive fathers with an overflowing love for them.
Looking at you, Yasopp. Staying in Windmill Village all that time and never going home to visit? In the real world, laws protect you, but the pirate world is a畸形 society ruled by morality. That beating you've got coming isn't going to be a small one.
Rhett, you're really meddling in other people's business. Why do you care about his family affairs?
Because it makes me unhappy. A father should take care of his family, not abandon them for the sake of a dream. That's the consensus among many fans. Take Senior Pink, for example. His评价 has always been mixed, precisely because he failed his family when they needed him most. Even though his character later became very well-developed, that mixed评价 still remained.
To put it more bluntly, it affects my mood. And I am an Emperor of the Sea. Is that reason enough?
Rhett: I'm going to cosplay as a world police officer once. If I don't like what I see, that's reason enough. If I want to eat a watermelon, it has to grow according to my mood. Watermelons that aren't shaped like five-pointed stars aren't allowed to be exported to us.
Back to the topic,
The four of them nodded, looking warm and gentle.
"If you hadn't met me, what were your future plans?"
Rhett also had a habit of collecting children who couldn't afford food. Those with talent would be brought into the organization. Those without could find a place they liked to live and collect local information. That was enough. Raising kids who didn't want to become Pirate King was actually pretty cheap.
The pirate world didn't lack kind people. It didn't lack strong people either. What it lacked were people with some strength who were willing to take care of children.
Adai puffed out his chest, looking full of hope. "We were going to go join 'Star Clown' Brother Buggy! We heard he's recruiting crew members, with room and board included!"
Rhett's expression instantly turned strange. "Buggy? He's doing pretty well for himself, huh."
Rhett was amused, but not satisfied. Even though he hadn't seen Buggy in all these years, he still occasionally caught news of Buggy and Shanks.
"Red Hair" Shanks had a bounty of 1.16 billion berries.
"Star Clown" Buggy had a bounty of 1.03 billion berries.
Buggy's strength had changed dramatically compared to the original story, in terms of ability, character, and everything else.
Rhett: That's my doing, heheh.
Recruiting crew members and still hanging around Paradise? Is that the best he can do?
Rhett muttered softly, "Little Buggy, it's been a while since I've taught you a lesson. You're asking for it, aren't you?"
The four of them shuddered involuntarily, a chill running from the soles of their feet straight to their heads.
Adai asked cautiously, "B-Boss, do you know Brother Buggy?"
Rhett smiled slightly, a dangerous glint in his eye. "Know him? We go way back... I'll go visit him. Need to pick up some gifts for my nephews anyway."
Young Buggy~~~ You'd better pray your strength is enough to satisfy me. Otherwise, your backside is in for a world of pain.
That day, Buggy remembered what it was like being trained by Rhett back on the Oro Jackson.