Listening to the conversation coming from the shop, Maud couldn't help becoming interested in Saul's origins.
To be acquainted with someone as influential as Shanks and be addressed respectfully by Yasopp, he clearly couldn't be some obscure nobody.
In the mere two days since arriving in this world, Maud had already come to deeply understand one thing.
In this Great Age of Piracy, where countless ships competed on the seas and ruthless figures emerged one after another, there were certainly many formidable people who had never been mentioned in the original story.
If he wanted to establish himself in a world like this...
The difficulty was nothing like that of Hunter's World.
Maud instinctively tightened his grip on the flintlock musket he had asked Yasopp for.
He had a weapon. Next, he needed to find a second prey.
But the prerequisite for finding a second prey was having the capital to move about freely outside.
The intimidation brought by a single gun was nowhere near enough.
After all, although he knew how to shoot, he didn't possess Yasopp's almost supernatural reloading speed.
In a fight, he estimated that after firing one bullet, he wouldn't have a follow-up shot.
"Hm?"
Maud's eyelid twitched as he suddenly thought of an even more important problem.
"I don't have any bullets..."
He had been focused on leaving the scene as quickly as possible and hadn't had time to ask Yasopp for gunpowder and lead bullets.
Maud was speechless.
That night.
The restaurant was brightly lit. The table was covered with delicacies, and the fragrant aroma of wine filled the cups.
Looking at the wine stains inside his wooden cup, Shanks sighed with emotion. "I've drunk countless fine wines, but only the wine from my homeland can make me yearn for it endlessly."
"Why are you still here?"
Saul's eyelids drooped, and the look of disdain on his face was practically ready to be sprinkled into the dishes as seasoning.
"Don't be so cold. It's been quite some time since we last met, after all."
Shanks set down his cup with a bright smile, as though the confrontation earlier that day had already vanished like smoke in the air.
Sunny promptly refilled Shanks's cup, while Yasopp kept his head down and ate and drank.
As for Lucky Roux, after carrying the alcohol back to the ship, he never returned.
Maud sat in a seat against the wall. While feeling fortunate that Yasopp hadn't left yet, he considered when he should ask Yasopp for some gunpowder and lead bullets.
There was no way he could ask for them at the dinner table.
After thinking it over, the only suitable opportunity was—
Go to the bathroom, go to the bathroom, go to the bathroom...!
Maud silently chanted in his mind.
Yasopp, who was drinking, suddenly shuddered for no apparent reason.
Hm? Could it be because the temperature difference between day and night is too great?
He shook his head and continued drinking.
Saul glanced at Shanks's empty left sleeve and said coldly, "I wasn't joking about what I said earlier, either. Someone as important as you keeps coming to me from time to time just to buy alcohol. It's bound to bring me some unavoidable trouble."
"That's true."
Shanks looked at the wine in his wooden cup.
"Then have you ever thought about... coming aboard my ship?"
"Go aboard your ship?" Saul let out a cold laugh. "I'm already an old fellow with one foot in the grave. Do you want me to go aboard your ship to retire? Besides, having Yasopp aboard is enough for you."
"Uh, I'm going to the bathroom."
Yasopp couldn't withstand Saul suddenly placing such a heavy burden on him, so he stood up, intending to use the bathroom as an excuse to avoid the conversation for a while.
Seeing this, Maud secretly cheered and quietly followed him.
The absence of two people from the table didn't affect Shanks and Saul's conversation.
"True..."
Shanks smiled, unable to refute Saul's words.
Saul drained the wine from his cup and said calmly, "For decades, pirates have been as numerous as carp crossing a river, but in the end, how many of them have actually met a good end? For an old fellow like me who has already been eliminated by the times, being able to draw breath for one more day is enough to satisfy me."
"..."
Shanks fell silent.
Sunny muttered softly, "An old man who still goes to Flower Street every day..."
Shanks immediately broke into a grin.
"Less talking, more eating."
Saul glared at Sunny first, then cast a sidelong look at Shanks and snorted. "What are you laughing at? If you understood what I meant, then don't come back in the future."
Shanks said seriously, "Then at least reveal the location of the island where you hide your liquor."
"Get lost!"
In the hallway.
"Did you need something from me?"
Yasopp stood at the bathroom door and turned his head toward Maud, who had followed him there.
Maud nodded and lowered his voice as he explained, "I wanted to ask you for some lead bullets and gunpowder."
"Huh?" Yasopp looked at Maud strangely. "This is a weapons shop, you know."
Asking for a gun during the day was one thing, but now he was asking for ammunition too?
"That's true, but..."
Maud was momentarily at a loss for words. He wanted to come up with a suitable reason immediately, but he didn't possess Sunny's practiced ease at pinning the blame on Saul with a few casual words.
Seeing Maud hesitate to speak, Yasopp didn't pursue the matter. He simply took a small amount of lead bullets and gunpowder from his ammunition pouch.
"Is this enough?"
"Enough!"
Maud nodded rapidly, afraid Yasopp might change his mind, and quickly reached out to take the ammunition.
Yasopp was somewhat speechless. It was only a few rounds of ammunition. Was there really any need to act like that?
He glanced toward the lights of the restaurant, thinking that the captain and Mr. Saul would probably continue talking for a while. He simply squatted down in front of the bathroom, took out a cigarette, and lit it.
After getting the ammunition, Maud had no intention of lingering. He planned to go upstairs and store it in his room first.
But before he could take a step, he saw Yasopp hold out a cigarette to him.
"Want one?"
"Uh..."
Maud found it hard to refuse. He first carefully put the ammunition into his pocket, then accepted the cigarette.
Yasopp exhaled a cloud of smoke. Perhaps because he was bored, he promptly opened the floodgates of conversation.
"Have you ever thought about giving your gun a name?"
Maud thought about it and was just about to answer when Yasopp cut him off. "Ah, I always call it Old Partner, but I never managed to accompany it to the very end. Guns are like that. Unlike swords, they're not easily remembered by name."
"Even if you give a gun a resounding name, people will usually remember the person who used it instead. But I want you to remember this: only a good gun can make a good sniper. By the way, what do you plan to name Old Partner?"
"I..."
Maud had just begun to speak when Yasopp cut him off again.
"Actually, I'm still a little reluctant to leave Old Partner behind. But after handing it to you, I don't know why—I just feel an indescribable sense of relief."
"I..."
"But as a marksman, you also need the physical condition to match. Someone as weak as you won't do."
"I..."
"Eh, what am I doing? With Mr. Saul here, it's not my place to give you advice anyway. Haha. Right, I still don't know what you want to name the gun."
"I..."
"Why not call it Usopp? What a lovely name. Actually, that's my son's name. Thinking about it now, he should be about your age."
"..."
Choking smoke filled the space in front of the bathroom.
Maud understood.
When facing a chatterbox who had been drinking, don't even think about getting a word in.
Just listen.
Before you continue