"What a lively place."
The blond young man who pushed open the door and entered the tavern was Steel Pipe, the guy who had just arrived in Mad Hatter Town that day.
He lightly pressed down the brim of his hat with one finger, a hint of a smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.
The tavern was basically full, while the table where Maud was sitting still had two empty seats, making it unusually conspicuous.
Steel Pipe did not hesitate at all. He walked straight toward Maud's table.
Knowing little about the undertaker profession, he had no concerns about bad luck, disgust, or anything of the sort.
Arriving at one of the empty seats, Steel Pipe glanced at the silent, masked Maud, then sat down without saying a word.
This was a free and casual tavern. If there was a seat, you sat; if there was none, you stood. Wherever you sat or stood, you did not need anyone's permission.
After sitting down, Steel Pipe kept watching Maud's reaction from the corner of his eye. At the same time, he waved to the waitresses, who were as busy as ants on a hot pan, signaling that he wanted to order.
Maud observed the youth who had just sat down. Those dark-tinted sunglasses looked especially out of place here and now.
To conceal his gaze, Maud started eating the appetizers he had ordered some time ago for the first time.
A few dozen seconds later, a waitress carrying a tray hurried over to the table and softly asked Steel Pipe what he wanted.
Steel Pipe smiled and ordered a draft beer and an appetizer.
"Please wait a moment."
After taking the order, the waitress hurried away.
As time passed, the taverns, restaurants, casinos, and other places near the Mad Hatter Auction House where people could take a short break were instead packed to capacity.
That was because most of the potential buyers attending the auction had brought a large group of people with them.
The auction house stipulated that each guest could bring at most two attendants. As a result, the other people who had come along could only wait outside, making places like taverns their destination.
If Steel Pipe had not sat down, someone else would certainly have taken the seat later. If he encountered a pirate accustomed to throwing his weight around, they would probably threaten Maud and force him to give up the table.
From another perspective, having a seemingly much more amiable young man occupy one of the seats had invisibly eliminated some of Maud's potential trouble.
After ordering, Steel Pipe leaned back, only to have the pipe behind him jab him. He simply removed it and placed it on the table.
Maud glanced at the plain-looking pipe, a strange glint flashing through his eyes.
He uses a pipe as a weapon? That's certainly unconventional.
"Do you mind?"
Steel Pipe noticed that Maud was looking at the pipe and smiled faintly.
Maud remained silent.
He did it first, then asked whether I minded.
This guy was clearly the willful type.
Seeing that Maud did not speak, Steel Pipe took the opportunity to start another conversation:
"I saw several people wearing masks like yours on the street today. I heard it's a profession called an undertaker. Are you an undertaker too?"
While speaking to Maud, Steel Pipe was also distractedly listening to the conversations of the surrounding pirates, trying to pick out some valuable information.
Before the auction officially began, he and Clara had split up and were using various methods to gather as much information as possible.
Maud did not speak. He merely nodded in response.
Most of his attention remained focused on listening for information.
Thus, Steel Pipe spoke a sentence or two from time to time, while Maud sometimes nodded and sometimes shook his head. In any case, he simply did not speak.
On the surface, the two were like this, but in secret, they were doing the same thing.
One could only say that fate was truly wondrous enough to bring them to the same table.
After several exchanges, both Maud and Steel Pipe quickly noticed something unusual.
Whether by coincidence or not, the two exchanged a rather tacit glance. Their eyes met briefly before they each looked away.
"This guy..." x2.
Maud narrowed his eyes.
Steel Pipe raised a brow.
"What's his background?" x2.
Maud and Steel Pipe each wondered the same thing.
The atmosphere at the table instantly dropped to freezing point.
Creak—
The tavern door was pushed open.
A man with a cane and unnaturally pale skin walked in.
It was none other than Lafitte, known in the West Blue as the Devil Sheriff.
He had originally been a law enforcer somewhere in the West Blue, but he had gained a notorious reputation through excessive use of violence. In the end, he had even been expelled from the country.
Afterward, he naturally fell in with the pirates. However, he retained his former nickname, which showed just how notorious he had been at the time.
With a single glance, Lafitte immediately spotted the only empty seat in the tavern.
He walked straight toward it.
That empty seat was at Maud and Steel Pipe's table.
Many of the pirates chatting and drinking in the tavern looked toward Lafitte. His recent spree of slaughter made people wary of him instinctively.
Lafitte's arrival caused the lively atmosphere to falter slightly, relying on nothing but his vicious reputation and brutal deeds.
Maud also saw Lafitte. The man's striking outfit and appearance allowed Maud to recognize him at once.
Isn't he one of Blackbeard's companions?
Why is he here?
A change came over Maud's eyes.
Although Blackbeard's companions had not appeared much in the original story, nearly every one of them possessed an intensely distinctive personal style.
Thus, although Maud did not know Lafitte well, he remembered them and recognized Lafitte's identity immediately from his style of dress.
Hmm?
Seeing Lafitte walking in this direction, Maud instinctively glanced at the empty seat beside him and immediately felt a headache coming on.
Should I slip away first?
At that thought, Maud shifted his gaze slightly and discreetly glanced at a table five or six meters away.
Those people were the target he had selected after spending several dozen minutes here.
The reason was that they had taken their own Bounty Posters to the table and were boasting about them.
As for prey that came with its own guidebook, how could Heaven possibly allow him to let it go?
He had originally planned to wait until they left, then follow them and look for an opportunity to ambush them.
However, Lafitte's arrival made Maud change his mind.
He did not necessarily have to stake out the place from inside. He could also find somewhere outside and watch from there.
Just as Maud's thoughts began to turn, Lafitte had already sat down leisurely.
Maud prepared to leave.
Steel Pipe, however, showed little reaction, standing in clear contrast to the surrounding pirates.
Facing the many gazes around him, Lafitte acted as though no one else existed. He was just about to call over a waitress and order when the tavern door, which had only just been closed, was suddenly smashed open.
The tremendous noise immediately drew everyone's attention, and they instinctively looked toward the entrance.
Two pirates with savage expressions charged into the tavern side by side.
They did not issue threats or offer an opening line. Under the increasingly astonished gazes of the crowd, they raised their pistols.
The direction their gun barrels pointed was unmistakably where Lafitte was sitting.
Bang! Bang!
In the blink of an eye, two gunshots rang out inside the tavern.
When the gunshots faded, the entire scene fell silent.
The two pirates at the entrance, who had clearly come seeking revenge, had frozen expressions and stiffened bodies.
A bloody hole venting wisps of white smoke had appeared between each of their eyebrows.
The situation took a sudden turn. The many pirates followed the sound of the gunshots with their eyes.
They saw only a masked undertaker putting away two pistols.
"What incredibly fast shooting...!"
Someone exclaimed in astonishment.
Steel Pipe, his right hand gripping the pipe, looked at Maud in mild surprise.
Beside him, Lafitte had already grasped his cane and wore an expression of surprise.
Third update.
I don't know how long it's been since the last time I released three updates in one day.
Suddenly, I feel as though I've returned to being eighteen.
Also, your recommendation votes have truly been amazing and genuinely valuable. They've made this book's collection count rise quite quickly. Thank you for your enthusiastic support~!!!
Before you continue