The Miniature

The residential district was one part of Mad Hatter Island. In terms of land area, it was less than half the size of the other districts.

As for popularity, the difference was even more drastic.

That was because the residential district was prepared for pirates and people from the underworld who were willing to settle down permanently.

But most of the people living there were old pirates like Saul, who had retreated from the open sea, or pirates who had been crippled in battle but still possessed enough savings to support themselves in retirement.

These people had already lost the capital to look forward to the future. All they had left was a way to drag out their miserable lives.

Under such circumstances, the residential district's overall atmosphere tended toward lifelessness.

Walking through any alley, one was always surrounded by a stench like that of "dead rats."

Finding corpses in the streets was also commonplace.

After all, not every pirate discarded by the times could be like Saul...

Possess the capital to trample money underfoot.

Open a shop in a place destined to end in bankruptcy.

Go to the taverns on Flower Street every day to indulge and spend freely.

Or, when bored, spend a fortune buying a famous blade they would never have any use for.

By comparison, all they could do was spend the money they had left.

They could buy a bottle of wine and sit in a tavern, listening to the vigorous boasts of young pirates to reminisce about the past, then lick the last drop of wine clean.

Or they could go to the brightly adorned Flower Street and use money to exchange for the familiar, exhilarating gazes of the past. It did not matter even if those gazes were false, piled up with money.

Until they spent their last penny.

Then they would wait to die, or struggle a little longer.

They were all pirates, so why did their final treatment differ by such an enormous margin?

Maud knew the answer very well.

It was strength—the strength to make one's own decisions.

If one wanted to live better and more freely, one had to possess the strength to twist other people's wills.

Especially in a world like this.

Otherwise, one might very well end up like the few blind pirates in front of him.

Maud raised his eyes and looked at the several pirates blocking the alley ahead, each missing an arm or a leg and holding rusty, chipped machetes.

His gaze swept over their bodies hollowed out by alcohol and women, and he felt their eyes, devoid of all vitality and filled only with malice.

Maud silently drew his dagger.

After passing through a few more alleys, he should be able to leave the residential district.

Even as he was being stopped and robbed, Maud was thinking about how many meters remained before he reached the street.

Then, before he could strike, Maud heard a conversation.

"The part around his stomach... is mine."

"I-I only want everything below the knees."

"Fine. Everything left over is mine."

It was rare to encounter someone so young and fair-skinned in the residential district.

The few pirates who had almost nothing left were so excited that their voices trembled faintly.

It was only a dagger. What kind of deterrence could it offer?

If they had not exchanged their flintlock pistols for drinking money long ago, shooting this boy dead would have been even easier.

Their future had been compressed to the brink of death, and cold darkness gripped their thoughts.

Nothing mattered anymore.

As long as they could experience the feeling of eating their fill one more time.

As long as they could once again savor the refreshing sensation of wine sliding across their tongues and down their throats.

Having long since become impatient, they raised their long knives and hacked at Maud once they had settled who got what.

It was as if they had already seen their future being rekindled.

Even if it was only for one day!

That was what they imagined.

However, the "prey" before their eyes suddenly vanished.

Before their thoughts could catch up, a long-lost chill came from somewhere on their bodies.

Had they been cut?

They fell to the ground one after another, blood gushing from their wounds.

They had overestimated themselves and underestimated Maud's threat.

Realizing that hope had been destroyed and death was approaching,

they cried out in agony.

Maud stepped over the three pirates and continued forward without the slightest pause.

Since he did not want to be splashed with blood, he had deliberately avoided places such as the carotid arteries, where the bleeding would have been excessive.

This also meant that before they lost enough blood, the three pirates—not worth Maud wasting a single line of narration on—would draw closer and closer to death, drop by drop.

Ignoring the despairing howls coming from behind him, Maud turned a corner and continued ahead.

This insignificant interlude was nothing more than a miniature within the miniature of the One Piece World.

Although there were still rays of light in these miniatures capable of breaking through the darkness, under the influence of the Great Pirate Era, people were more willing to face the unavoidable darkness directly.

Before truly embracing this world, Maud knew exactly what he had to do.

Before establishing a foothold, he first had to stand firm.

Becoming stronger as quickly as possible was what Maud was working hard to accomplish at present.

After passing through several more crooked alleys, Maud finally left the residential district and arrived at a broad street bathed in sunlight.

The "stench" and "dead air" that had always lingered in the air were finally dispersed by the bright sunlight.

Pirates carrying weapons came and went along the street. The air was filled with noise and voices, and the scene was quite lively at a glance.

After the auction ended, most of the pirates it had drawn in were in no hurry to leave.

Rest and pleasure were often more important than going out to sea.

Besides, once the major event ended, they could anticipate warships roaming the outer seas.

Because the navy was currently unable to interfere in Mad Hatter Town, that did not mean it could not cast a net in the outer seas and scoop up some small fry.

Experienced pirates would avoid such potential risks as much as possible.

Maud joined the crowd, discreetly observing the pirates passing by him.

Most of them were powerful-looking men. Female pirates existed too, but they were rare, and every one of them was built like a walking bear.

By comparison, the female servers in the tavern were practically angels.

"I'll go straight to a tavern."

Maud planned to return to the weapon shop before evening. Time was limited, so he had no energy to wander around.

Last night, Maud had been able to leap across rooftops under the cover of Night Color, avoiding the problem of not recognizing his destination.

Things were different now. Finding the tavern he had visited last night while walking normally through the streets would indeed be somewhat difficult.

But he had never intended to go to that tavern anyway.

There were taverns everywhere in Mad Hatter Town, with every district having some. They only differed in size.

As he followed the street, Maud moved through the crowd.

Whenever he saw a tavern, he would slow down immediately.

He would not enter a small one.

He would not enter a large one with few customers, either.

Thus, he picked and chose his way forward.

Before he knew it, he had walked one or two kilometers, but he had also found a fairly large tavern with plenty of customers.

Battle Axe Tavern

Maud looked up at the sign, which depicted two bloodstained axes crossed around a wine bottle. He then pushed open the tavern door and walked inside.

About half an hour after Maud entered Battle Axe Tavern, the carefully groomed Wolf Rat also arrived at its entrance.

Wolf Rat looked at the tavern door, then took out a small mirror and checked his reflection.

Looking at his own "devastatingly handsome" face in the mirror, Wolf Rat murmured drunkenly, "It was worth bathing for more than an hour."

Then he tried to force a warm, approachable smile.

Someone this handsome and amiable—making a friend would be easy, right?

Wolf Rat nodded in satisfaction, put away the mirror, and pushed open the tavern door. He walked inside without noticing the strange looks cast his way by several pirates nearby.

"What a sleazy bastard."

One pirate gave a blunt assessment of Wolf Rat's smile.