Doubt

In Cocoyasi Village, Nami and Nojiko huddled behind Bellemere on the street. Ahead of them stood Sheriff Genzo and many of Cocoyasi Village's villagers, holding hunting rifles as they faced off against a group of pirates.

The two sides remained locked in a standoff. The pirate captain was a yellow-haired young man with a long sword at his waist. Looking at them, he said, "Hand over the money, and we guarantee we'll leave."

Genzo snorted. "You're asking for too much."

A gaunt figure stepped out from behind the yellow-haired youth, holding a musket and aiming it at Genzo's head. "If you don't pay, we'll shoot you all dead."

"You'd better lower that gun."

Bellemere aimed her rifle at him, her gaze filled with killing intent.

"Courting death."

The pirates all raised their weapons, but the villagers refused to back down as well.

Narrowing his eyes, the yellow-haired youth asked, "Are you sure you want to fight us? Should we kill you first, then take the money ourselves?"

"Of course we don't want that."

Genzo sighed. "But you're demanding far too much. Four million Belly is a burden for us."

"Then make it two million Belly. Your village has at least four hundred people. That's only five thousand per person at most. My demand isn't unreasonable, is it?"

The yellow-haired youth asked with a grim expression.

"But children and the elderly have no income," Genzo said. "At most, we can come up with eight hundred thousand Belly. We can also give you some food and water."

"Eight hundred thousand? Are you trying to fob us off like beggars?" a pot-bellied pirate shouted.

"Our village is poor. This is all we can give."

Genzo shrugged, then his tone hardened as he looked at them. "This is the greatest compensation we can offer. Any more, and we won't be able to survive ourselves."

"One million Belly, plus food and water."

The yellow-haired youth snorted. "That's our bottom line."

"Fine. One million Belly, then."

Genzo nodded and immediately arranged for people to prepare the money, food, and water, carrying everything to the shore. Then they retreated and watched the pirates warily.

Though the pirates were dissatisfied with the payment, they still took the money, loaded the food and fresh water onto their ship, raised sail, and departed.

Seeing them leave, the villagers of Cocoyasi Village breathed a sigh of relief.

"They're gone."

"The pirate crew has left."

"Genzo, you really did it. They chose to leave for just one million Belly."

The villagers gathered around Genzo, their faces full of relief.

Genzo smiled. "Mostly because this pirate crew was too weak. Their captain didn't even have a bounty, and they only had two cannons and a dozen or so pirates aboard. They were far too weak. If it had come to a fight, we could have won."

"Don't be modest. If you hadn't negotiated with them, they wouldn't have backed down."

Bellemere smiled and patted his shoulder.

"Yeah, Genzo, we have you to thank this time," the surrounding villagers said with smiles.

"It's my duty."

Genzo's face reddened. After coughing once, he said, "By the way, everyone should share the burden of the one million Belly this time. Two thousand five hundred per person. Is that alright?"

"Two thousand five hundred per person?"

Hearing that, Bellemere said irritably, "So I have to pay seven thousand five hundred? That's way too much. And there are two little brats in my family. Why should adults and children pay the same price? Children should at least pay half."

"Bellemere, it's only two thousand five hundred. You can't possibly be unable to afford seven thousand five hundred, can you?" one villager said.

"And if children only have to pay half, the price for adults will go up. There are eighty children, so your family would still have to pay around five thousand five hundred. That's only two thousand Belly less—just one day's food money," another villager could not help saying.

"Two thousand is already too much."

Bellemere huffed.

Genzo coughed and said, "I'll cover part of it. Bellemere only needs to pay five thousand; I'll pay the other two thousand five hundred."

"Really? That's wonderful."

Bellemere smiled. "Genzo, though, I can't come up with the money right now. Help me pay it all first, and I'll give it back to you after a while."

"Will you actually pay back money you owe?"

Genzo asked irritably.

"Don't worry, I'll pay you back."

Bellemere smiled, then leaned closer and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "In other ways."

"No, don't talk nonsense."

Genzo's face instantly turned bright red. Looking into the distance, he said, "But if you don't have the money for now, then... then I can cover it for you."

"Genzo, thank you."

Bellemere smiled, wrapped her arms around the two little brats, Nami and Nojiko, and headed home.

"Genzo, you really do spoil Belmere."

"Genzo, you've fallen for Belmere, haven't you?"

"Belmere has always been single. She's close to you, and Nami and Nojiko like you too. Why don't you pursue her?"

The nearby villagers laughed as they teased him.

"Don't talk nonsense. I don't like her."

Genzo looked at Belmere's retreating figure, shook his head, and said, "They're a mother and two daughters living alone. They have it hard, so I help them out."

"So you don't like Belmere?"

"I don't. Not even a little."

Genzo's voice carried over. In the distance, Belmere raised an eyebrow, a faint smile flashing across her lips, though a trace of regret lay hidden in her eyes.

"Alright, enough."

Genzo waved his hand and said, "Bring the money to the Security Office tomorrow."

"Got it."

The villagers dispersed and headed back to their homes.

But at that moment, someone cried out, "The ship—the ship is sinking!"

"What?"

Everyone turned toward the speaker and followed the direction of his pointing hand. Out on the sea, the pirate ship was slowly sinking.

One pirate after another jumped into the water.

"What is this?"

Genzo's eyes widened as he watched the enormous pirate ship slowly descend beneath the waves in the distance.

"Why is it sinking?" a villager asked in confusion.

"Serves them right. The sea is punishing them," another villager said joyfully as he watched the pirate ship sink.

Hearing the shouts in the distance, Nami pulled free of Belmere's hand and ran to the very front of the crowd, looking toward the shore.

Far away, the pirate ship sank bit by bit, while the pirates who had jumped into the sea swam frantically toward the island.

"They look terrified. Is there something in the water?" Genzo asked with a frown.

The next moment, a massive black shadow caught up to them, biting the last pirate and swallowing him whole.

Since you still had the strength to swim in the sea, you weren't Devil Fruit users.

Then there was no problem eating you.

Xia Qiu thought as he devoured the pirates one by one. After finishing them, he swam into the distance and vanished into the ocean.

"What a huge sea fish. It actually rammed the pirate ship and sank it."

"There's such a huge fish in the waters around us? That's dangerous."

"If that fish can smash apart a pirate ship, what about our fishing boats and merchant ships? What if it attacks us?"

Some villagers asked worriedly.

"We can only pray that it was just passing through," a fisherman said.

"Tell the fishermen to be careful. Don't go out to sea for now, and no one should approach it on their own," Genzo hurriedly warned.

Worried by the threat posed by the sea fish, everyone left.

But after Nami returned home, she took out a notebook. When she opened it, one of the pages contained a drawing of a gigantic sea fish.

That sea fish looked almost exactly like Xia Qiu.

Looking at the fish, she could not help frowning. "That sea fish deliberately attacked the pirate ship and even ate people. Was it just a coincidence?"

Nami had first seen it catching dolphins a year and three months ago, in March of last year. Since then, she had spotted traces of it many times.

Based on the areas where it appeared and the times it showed up, she could tell that it lived near this island.

After seeing its vicious feeding behavior, Nami had worried about it before.

But it had never attacked people. Even fishing boats far smaller than the pirate ship, as well as fishermen gathering sea urchins, shrimp, and crabs in the water, had never been attacked.

Just like today, there had been three or four fishing boats out at sea.

It had not attacked them, much less harmed a single person.

It gave people the impression that it was avoiding humans.

But now, it had launched an attack.

Had it merely been an accidental act? Or had it begun to see humans as prey?

Nami did not know, but there was nothing wrong with being cautious.