Seeking the Gun

Red-Haired Shanks...

One of the Four Emperors, ruling the New World like an emperor.

No matter how hard Maud racked his brain, he couldn't think of a reason why such a big shot would come to a dump like this.

He was so stunned that he couldn't immediately respond to Shanks.

Shanks was used to reactions like Maud's and didn't mind. He turned to Sunny behind the counter and waved.

"Yo, Sunny, long time no see."

"L-Long time no see."

"Why'd you cut your hair?"

"That, uh, Saul said my hair was too long and would waste water when washing, so he told me to cut it."

Sunny lowered her gaze, her heart beating a little faster, and she quickly made up an excuse.

[At that moment, Saul was walking leisurely down the street with a bag of leftovers when he suddenly sneezed hard. He wiped his nose and thought for a moment, suddenly having a bad feeling. He subconsciously quickened his pace.]

Inside the shop, Shanks chuckled helplessly. "Saul is really as... thrifty as ever."

"Uh, why are you here this time...?"

Sunny changed the subject at the right moment, asking Shanks the reason for his visit.

"Same as always, just came to buy some wine from my hometown."

Shanks laughed heartily, walked past Maud, and went to the counter.

Only then did Maud belatedly look at Shanks's back.

I was rude.

Fortunately, Shanks's personality is different from the other Four Emperors...

The curly-haired man, Yasopp, glanced at Maud subtly before following Shanks, who was holding a chicken leg along with Lucky Roo.

Maud silently watched their retreating figures, composed himself, and casually left the shop door ajar before stepping aside to observe Shanks and Sunny chatting.

From their conversation, it seemed Shanks was a regular customer.

What Maud found most absurd was that Shanks had come to buy wine, not weapons.

Does this shop even sell alcohol?

Maud suddenly thought of the basement entrance downstairs.

Could that be a wine cellar...

Behind the counter, Sunny was uncharacteristically a bit timid.

However, when the topic shifted to Shanks coming for wine, she remembered Saul's resolute and heartbroken instructions from before, and her stance as a member of Saul's weapon shop immediately firmed up.

She looked up at Shanks and said seriously, "After you cleared us out last time, Saul instructed that you could sell to anyone, but not to you."

"What?"

Shanks was startled and turned to Lucky Roo, asking in confusion, "Didn't we pay last time?"

"We paid, it's just that... when we were taking the goods, we 'borrowed' two barrels of wine that the boss had specifically set aside."

"..."

Shanks was silent for a while and sighed, "So that's what happened."

After sighing, he leaned towards Sunny and changed the subject, lowering his voice. "Is Saul home?"

Sunny straightforwardly replied, "No."

"Then it's easy."

Shanks said with a serious expression.

"You...!"

Sunny's eyes widened.

Before Sunny could say anything else, Lucky Roo, understanding Shanks's intention, placed the money for the wine on the counter and then, as if he had done it many times before, headed towards the stairs.

As Sunny watched Lucky Roo walk towards the wine cellar, she instinctively moved to step out from behind the counter to stop him.

Thump—

Just then, a light sound came from the counter.

Sunny followed the sound and saw Yasopp, who, during a lull in the conversation, had taken a flintlock musket and a short-barreled flintlock from the shelf and placed them on the counter.

"Sunny, how much for these two guns?"

Yasopp leaned forward, resting his arms on the counter.

The timing was incredibly awkward, but his expression didn't seem like he was joking; he genuinely intended to buy the guns.

Sunny glanced at Lucky Roo's retreating back, then at the two guns on the counter. She gritted her teeth and sighed inwardly, her heart sinking like a stone, and quoted the prices: "Flintlock is 1.2 million Belly, short-barreled is 3.8 million Belly."

By this time, Lucky Roo had disappeared from sight, presumably already heading down to the wine cellar.

"Whoosh—"

Upon hearing the price Sunny quoted, Yasopp whistled. He didn't question the seemingly unreasonable price and directly took out the money.

Shanks glanced at the flintlock musket slung on Yasopp's back and asked, "Is that settled then? Maybe Saul can fix it."

Yasopp pouted, "Boss, you want to wait here in the shop for Mr. Saul to come back?"

"Haha."

Shanks laughed indifferently, "It's not like we have anything else to do. We can take the alcohol first and come back later."

"..."

Yasopp was speechless for a long moment before shaking his head. "Forget it, let it end here. As an old partner, it's done its best."

With that, he unslung the flintlock musket from his back and placed it on the counter.

This gun was his original old partner, brought from the village. Along the way, it had ultimately succumbed to the ravages of time.

Even though he consciously used Armament Haki to nurture it, it was ultimately a case of too little, too late.

After all, he was a sniper, specializing in Observation Haki rather than Armament Haki.

Furthermore, he had only learned Armament Haki a few years after setting sail. By then, it was already too late to realize he should have used Haki to nurture his beloved gun.

Over time, his original old partner could only become a backup gun.

Now, with its aging worsening, it was struggling even to serve as a backup.

Yasopp had deeply felt this during his regular maintenance checks.

Helpless, he could only move towards the final choice—replacing the gun.

Sunny glanced at the old flintlock gun Yasopp placed on the counter and said calmly, "I'm sorry, this shop doesn't accept used guns, especially broken ones!"

She emphasized the words "broken ones" with a heavy tone.

"It's not broken, just old."

Sensing Sunny's pointed remark, Yasopp felt quite helpless.

"We don't accept old ones either!"

"..."

"Haha."

This was Shanks' cheerful laughter.

Yasopp shook his head and said, "If you're not buying it, just tell Mr. Saul that I left it here."

"Can't you just throw it away? It's not useful anymore anyway."

"That won't do!"

Yasopp said with a serious expression, "Let Mr. Saul keep it. Maybe one day, if he's inspired, he'll transfer the old partner's mechanism to another gun. Then, it can at least continue on in another way."

"Actually, you have another option."

The person who spoke was Maud, who had been observing from the side.

Hearing Maud's words, everyone present couldn't help but look at him.

Meeting their gazes, Maud, who had calmed down, showed no fear and spoke with a solemn and earnest tone.

"Give it to me. I'll take it on another journey."

Thank you to the big shots Qing Quan Liu Xiang and Luo Cheng Ci Shi for the 500 reward, thank you to Gui Shou Wen Wu Hen for the 200 reward, thank you to Dao Pian Dao Fa Zi Ran for the 100 reward, thank you to book friend 20190527115205323 for the 100 reward.