Scarred

"Don't push it too far, brat!"

Scarred was stunned at first, then flew into a rage, grabbing Luffy by the collar.

"How dare you say you don't know us! How could you even say that? Do you know how much food you've taken from us these past few days!"

"Food?"

Luffy thought hard, then his eyes widened. "Uncle, are you talking about that grilled meat? Was that yours?"

"What else would it be!"

Scarred grew even more furious, roaring and spitting a stream of saliva onto Luffy's face. "Do you think grilled meat just grows out of the ground by itself?"

"But I didn't see anyone around?" Luffy asked blankly. "So I picked it up. I thought the beasts in the mountains had grilled it."

The words sounded a bit outrageous.

But Luffy wasn't lying.

Gorillas that could fish, monkeys that could brew alcohol, bears that could knit sweaters, leopards that could build huts in trees...

The Colbo Mountains were full of talented beasts, each more peculiar than the last. He had seen it all with his own eyes.

Compared to them, beasts that could grill meat was perfectly normal, and their skills might even be better than most people's.

Scarred had seen similar things before, so he was momentarily taken aback:

"So it was a misunderstanding? Then why, the last few times our food went missing and we questioned you, you attacked without a word?"

"You were all holding weapons and shouting from afar that you were the Scarred Mountain Bandits, which was very scary, Uncle!"

Luffy said with a pained expression. "I have a bad impression of mountain bandits. I still felt that way even after being adopted by that woman. Anyway... I just hate mountain bandits the most!"

Scarred's eye twitched.

Did being a mountain bandit eat your rice?

Fortunately, it's me standing in front of you. If it were that notorious mountain bandit, Higgs, he'd have twisted your head off, brat!

"Forget it, untie the kid."

Scarred sighed and waved his hand dismissively.

"Really?" Luffy was overjoyed.

"But there's a condition."

Scarred snorted. "You have another companion, right? When is he coming to save you?"

"He also stole our food a few times, just like you. Aren't you two brats pretty good at fighting? When he gets here, you two will go hunting for me together and make up for the meat we lost, five times... no, ten times!"

Ten times?!

Luffy's eyes widened. That was asking for his life!

He and Ace had been sent into the mountains by Dadan to train, as per Garp's request, to survive the winter on their own.

Many beasts in the mountains were fierce and not easy to hunt. It was already difficult to feed themselves, and now they had to produce so much meat?

"Ten times is too much! Six times!"

"Nine times. I'll reduce it a bit since you're still young."

"Five times!"

"Eight times. Absolutely no less."

"Three times!"

"Who haggles like that! You little brat! At least go learn some math!"

Scarred roared, almost choking with anger. He waved to interrupt his subordinate. "This is impossible to communicate with. Don't untie him yet! Wait for his companion to arrive. I don't believe that guy is as brainless as you."

"Then you should untie me first."

A faint voice came from above. "I'm really afraid that when your companion arrives, you'll get so angry you die again."

"Who's talking!"

Scarred's face changed drastically. He drew his saber and pointed it at the source of the voice—only to see a black-haired boy squatting on a tree branch above, looking at him with a strange gaze.

"Scarred, the great mountain bandit with a bounty of three million Belly?"

Xianuo dangled the wanted poster he'd found on Skinny Monkey, comparing it for a long time. "Judging by how you look, you're two completely different people..."

The Scarred on the wanted poster had sinister eyes and a fat body.

The leader in front of him was merely well-built, and his facial features were completely different.

The only similarity was the long scar on both their faces.

"Is this photo you?"

Xianuo turned the wanted poster around and pointed at the photo.

"It's me." Scarred nodded. "I was very fat back then."

"Then this isn't you!"

Xianuo sneered, "I heard of Scarred's reputation before I entered the mountains. He's known for murder, rape, arson, and all sorts of scum. The villagers fear his name like the plague. If you were truly Scarred, this brat wouldn't be here alive and spouting nonsense, would he?"

"Also, your subordinates don't look like mountain bandits at all. Otherwise, how could three or four of them be unable to defeat an eight-year-old child?"

Xianuo scanned the surroundings.

The dozen or so bandits in the camp were all sallow and emaciated, their clothes tattered, and their weapons worn and broken.

Only two carried old flintlock guns; most people were armed with nothing more than sharpened wooden sticks.

Scarred was silent for a moment, then muttered in a low voice, "...You saw through it."

"But it's strange, you have a subordinate whose marksmanship is quite accurate."

Xianuo tossed the Skinny Monkey, whose mouth he had gagged with a rag, to the ground. "If I hadn't dodged quickly, he would have shot me right between the eyes."

"Accurate marksmanship?"

Scarred was stunned. He looked at the Skinny Monkey groaning on the ground, yanked the cloth from his mouth, and asked in confusion, "Ah Yin, when did you become a sharpshooter?"

"I didn't! I didn't!"

The Skinny Monkey gasped for air, finally able to speak after holding his breath for so long, tears welling up in his eyes. "I was aiming for the branch at this guy's feet, trying to make him fall to the ground. Who knew, who knew it would just be a little bit off..."

From his feet to his forehead, that's just a little bit off?!

I'm almost 1.8 meters tall!

Dark lines appeared on Xianuo's forehead.

Scarred, however, understood the gist of it and quickly looked up to explain:

"Sir, you might have misunderstood. Ah Yin wouldn't shoot directly at your head right off the bat! He's not that kind of person, and his marksmanship certainly isn't that accurate!"

"In fact, his marksmanship is terrible. Everyone who knows him knows this, otherwise, he wouldn't have ended up coming into the mountains with me!"

"He was a reserve soldier in the Royal Guard. During the New Year's celebration two years ago, he was temporarily called upon to fire celebratory shots. He was supposed to shoot into the sky, but he hit Her Majesty the Queen in the face... After that, his leg was broken, and he was sent to the Uncertain Destination."

He's still alive after all that?

Xianuo listened, dumbfounded. He glanced at the aggrieved-looking Skinny Monkey and patted his forehead speechlessly. "So... you guys aren't really mountain bandits at all, but residents from the Uncertain Destination?"

He suddenly thought of something, his expression becoming a bit complex. "Your homes were all burned down?"

The Goa Kingdom was always hailed as "the most beautiful country in the East Blue."

In reality, it was merely a facade of prosperity within the city walls, while behind the high walls lay a massive garbage disposal site.

That is, the Uncertain Destination.

All the filth, garbage, and the starving populace of the lower class were concentrated there, gradually evolving into a large slum with an unbearable environment.

And just at the end of last year, the King of the Goa Kingdom, in order to welcome a Celestial Dragon's inspection, didn't even leave them this last desperate means of survival.

He directly set fire to the destination and its residents, treating the poor as "trash" and clearing them out.

"Yes, gone. All gone."

Scarred's expression was dejected, his eyes filled with memories. "Many people died or were injured that night. I heard there was a group of kind people called the Revolutionary Army who took in refugees on their large ships at the docks. But there were also some like us who fled south, forced by the flames into the Colbo Mountains to survive."

"On the outskirts of the mountains, I accidentally stumbled upon Scarred's burned corpse. So, for the past few months, I've simply started impersonating his name and operating in the mountains until now. This way, at least it scares off many other bandits and prevents them from bothering us."

He sighed deeply, looked up, and said with a bitter smile:

"Sir, we don't want this either. We're even afraid that if we continue like this, we'll slowly become real mountain bandits. But, what else can we do?"