Money Comes In

In the end, Ma Qiao did not tell Vivi Mr. 0's true identity ahead of time, but he did give her something to hope for.

The hope that, as long as she worked hard to win him over, she could use his relationship with Miss All Sunday to obtain the relevant information.

He did this mainly to avoid unnecessary complications.

By Ma Qiao's reckoning, Vivi and Igaram had exposed themselves in the original story precisely because she had secretly investigated Mr. 0's identity.

According to the timeline, she would not be exposed for another two or three years, but who knew whether the butterfly effect might make it happen sooner?

Rather than let her investigate at random and put others on alert, he might as well draw the fire himself.

Besides, what good would it do to let Vivi learn Crocodile's identity ahead of time?

Report him to the World Government?

Ma Qiao thought that was an option.

Although Doflamingo had left Mary Geoise and given up his status as a Celestial Dragon in his father's generation, he still received preferential treatment from the World Government.

Going by that, the Nefertari family should have some sort of VIP channel as well.

But in the original story, the father and daughter of the Nefertari family never seemed to have considered asking the World Government for help.

When King Luffy knocked Vivi down with a punch and demanded to know why she was willing to gamble with her life, Vivi lowered her head and sobbed, "I don't have anything else left to gamble with."

Ma Qiao thought the relationship between the Nefertari family and the World Government was probably less than friendly.

As for the Marines, without solid, credible evidence, they would certainly not launch a campaign against a Shichibukai based on one person's word.

As for the fact that Vivi had always held something back and had not told Ma Qiao she was the princess of Alabasta, he did not mind at all.

Given Vivi's character—she would rather be covered in wounds herself than see others get hurt—she had probably never intended to drag an uninvolved person like Ma Qiao into the crisis.

Even in the story, Vivi had done her utmost to avoid implicating the Straw Hat Pirates. It was just that King Luffy was stubborn and had no sense of martial virtue, so he refused to listen to her at all.

In short, Ma Qiao was not a coldhearted person.

In a sense, he and Robin were more alike.

As long as his own safety was assured, Ma Qiao had his own sense of empathy and morality.

But all of that required strength.

And strength.

Required more Beli.

Nezumi had returned!

Igaram was nearly in tears as he directed the lackeys to rebuild the wall of the office that the booger man had half blown up.

What had I done to deserve this?!

What business, especially a shady one, could stand having the authorities in charge come around for inspections every few days?

Because a large number of bounty prisoners had escaped, Whiskey Peak was already operating at a serious loss this quarter.

If they could not increase revenue, they had to cut expenses, right?

And now the cost of entertaining guests kept shooting up.

After mulling it over, Igaram had no choice but to call his superiors and request another transfer from the reserve funds for the emergency.

Needless to say, Igaram got an earful, but after a great deal of persuasion, he finally secured about two million Beli in lifesaving funds.

The sun was setting, and the Unluckies (pictured) had just delivered the money when Nezumi's flagship appeared in the distance.

[From now on, pictures of some unimportant characters will be provided in the chapter comments, rather than given character profiles.]

There was no time to prepare a banquet, and Igaram only hoped that Nezumi would take the money and leave as soon as possible.

Ma Qiao naturally had Twitch graciously accept the 800,000-Beli bribe.

After all, the justice Twitch practiced was that of a "great guy."

As a great guy, how could he refuse someone's little token of appreciation?

Wouldn't that make them uneasy?

But when Igaram saw that Nezumi had taken the money, he showed no sign of leaving at all.

Nezumi had Sergeant Major Qiangsen book him a modest single room at the best inn in town.

Igaram felt terrible.

It looked like this harbinger of misfortune was determined to stay for dinner!

However, Igaram soon found that he seemed to have misunderstood Lieutenant Nezumi.

He had not ordered a grand feast, nor had he opened his mouth to demand fine wine and meat.

Perhaps it was because Black Diamond Santini had cleared out his passage, but Lieutenant Nezumi's eating habits had changed considerably...

In the dining room.

"If I soak it in sewage and then leave it in the sun for a while, that's right! Absolutely perfect!"

With a napkin tucked around his neck and a fork in hand, Nezumi dug into the rotten, spoiled food before him, constantly moaning at how delicious it was.

Igaram wiped the sweat from his temple and asked quietly, "Lord Nezumi, would you like a drink of water first?"

"Never trust any transparent liquid!"

Nezumi turned down the water and wine, gulped down the sour, stinking milk, and let out a burp. He stood up and said, "Thank you for the meal!"

The Marines eating ordinary food nearby all had tears streaming dramatically down their faces.

"As expected of Lord Nezumi, who's turned over a new leaf!"

"As expected of Colonel Twitch, a future great guy!"

"So that we could eat fresh food, Lord Nezumi has eaten all the spoiled food on the ship since we set sail!"

"That's right. What's the most terrible thing on a voyage? It isn't fierce winds and huge waves, vicious pirates, or terrifying sea beasts. It's illnesses caused by unclean food!"

"On long voyages, the officers enjoy fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, and meat, while the lower-ranking soldiers eat food that's nearly rotten, or even already rotten. It's long been an unwritten tradition in the Marines, but Lord Nezumi... Lord Nezumi..."

"Boo-hoo-hoo... I'm crying my eyes out... He's just too kind..."

Nezumi had single-handedly polished off more than half of the spoiled food Whiskey Peak had been planning to throw into the sewers.

Compared with a lavish banquet, those things were truly cheap.

Igaram had to believe that this sleazy Nezumi really had reformed and intended to become a good man.

Was Teacher Ma Qiao really that charismatic?

Igaram scratched his curly head, looking perplexed...

For the time being, Nezumi's return to Whiskey Peak had nothing to do with the Big Bird Spin-Spin Tavern.

The Big Bird Spin-Spin Tavern was an honest business and had never made a habit of storing expired, spoiled food.

So neither Vivi nor Ma Qiao went down the mountain to see what was happening. They simply waited for Nezumi to come up the mountain and visit the next day.

What no one knew, however, was that the stated purpose of Nezumi's trip was to invite Ma Qiao to G-2 Base to register as a special talent of the Marines and collect an allowance for nothing...

However, although that sum was steady, it was actually only the smaller portion.

What Ma Qiao cared more about was the 130 million in assets Nezumi had brought with him.

Hmm...

It was 130.8 million now.