Red-Nose

Leiyin came up with a simple, easy-to-carry-out plan.

He would sneak into Tom's quarters that very night and stab him to death.

There were plenty of ordinary fighters like Tom aboard Buggy's ship, so no one would really care. Leiyin didn't believe Tom would have any defenses in place while he slept.

But Leiyin was preparing to kill a living person, not a chicken. If he killed Tom, Buggy would definitely investigate. Everyone aboard the ship knew that he and Tom usually had an extremely poor relationship, so after Tom's death, the pirates would almost certainly suspect him. When that happened, he would surely meet the same fate—being executed to set an example. After all, someone like Leiyin was worth less than an ant. No one would regret his death.

That was why Leiyin planned to die with Tom. After killing him, he would take his own life.

If he continued living in humiliation like this, there would be no hope for him at all.

With that thought in mind, Leiyin put his plan into action. He was only the lowest-ranking deckhand aboard the ship, so no one had equipped him with weapons such as a katana or a rapier. Thus, he found a rusty boning knife with a sharp point and a square whetstone missing one corner in his workplace—the almost completely lightless lower cabin.

The knife was supposedly a sharp boning knife, but no one had used it for years. It had been discarded in an ignored corner and was already covered in rust.

Leiyin fetched a basin of seawater and began sharpening it on the whetstone.

The boning knife scraped against the stone with a "scree, scree" sound. In Leiyin's eyes, this forgotten piece of rusty iron had already become a blade capable of slaughtering his enemy!

In fact, that was not an exaggeration. After being sharpened, the rusty iron already gleamed faintly and showed signs of a sharp edge.

Leiyin had no superhuman strength, so this was the only method available to him.

He was not a spineless man who meekly accepted everything. If he continued enduring even this, it would only prove that he was a coward. And if that were the case, even he would look down on himself.

"I'll repay you for all the humiliation I've suffered with your blood." Leiyin gazed at the sharpened boning knife and muttered to himself.

Just as Leiyin was preparing to carry out his plan that night, something that happened at noon made him abandon his thoughts of revenge.

More precisely, he no longer needed revenge.

Buggy's ship was sailing toward Orange Town in the East Blue. Buggy had obtained maps of the East Blue and the Grand Line, as well as information that Orange Town was a wealthy place far from the Emperor's reach, where the local Marine branch was generally too busy to intervene. Thus, Buggy had decided to attack Orange Town and use it as his base.

For the powerless civilians there, it would be a one-sided and brutal slaughter!

But that was a story for later. Returning to that noon, Buggy already regarded Orange Town as his possession, so he held a banquet aboard the ship.

Speaking of banquets, they were the pirates' favorite activity. Though most of them were violent and cold-blooded, deep down they yearned for a free and unrestrained life. A banquet was practically the best diversion they had in their daily lives.

When the banquet began, all kinds of Sea Beast meat sizzled with grease after being prepared by the ship's cook, filling the air with waves of meaty fragrance. Various vegetables and fruits whose names no one knew were casually arranged on the dining table, but the most important thing at a banquet was, of course, the wine.

It was the wine that made Leiyin's hatred of Tom vanish without a trace.

Tom not only enjoyed bullying the weak, but also loved getting drunk. Whenever he had nothing to do, he liked to grab a bottle and drink heavily. He was also an especially bad drunk, flying into a drunken rage whenever he had too much.

Taken together, those two hobbies made Leiyin, the weakest person aboard the ship, Tom's primary victim. Especially when Tom was in a bad mood—once he got drunk, he would go beat Leiyin.

That hobby of Tom's brought about his complete ruin.

Captain Buggy raised his wineglass and enthusiastically drank with everyone. Chief of Staff Kaby performed juggling tricks on his unicycle to entertain the crowd, while the most excited of all was Riki, the comical lion belonging to Vice Captain Moji. It wolfed down the meat on its plate, emptying it in just a few bites.

The sailors and fighters likewise raised their wineglasses and cheered excitedly for their captain's plan to seize Orange Town. The ship's musician played the violin to add to everyone's merriment, while Leiyin and several other low-ranking deckhands were ordered to carry wine, dishes, and fruit platters around.

The seemingly harmonious scene was shattered by a single remark from Tom.

"Our Red-Nose Captain is finally going to lead us in taking a territory for ourselves!"

Tom had drunk quite a lot that day—nearly two jin of brandy. As the saying went, alcohol gave cowards courage, and in his drunken haze, he said the word he normally would not dare utter even at the cost of his life.

The moment he said it, the previously lively and noisy ship fell into deathly silence!

Most of Buggy's men slowly lowered their wineglasses.

Tom's voice had been loud enough to reach everyone aboard. Even Leiyin knew that Tom's luck had run out.

The pirates looked at Buggy in unison. His originally ridiculous, comical clown face gradually turned livid.

"Tom, what the hell did you just say?"

As Buggy spoke, the corners of his mouth visibly twitched twice.

It was a twitch of extreme fury.

When Tom heard Buggy's words and saw his ferocious expression, he finally realized what he had just said. In an instant, most of the alcohol left his head.

He had caused a huge disaster!

Sure enough, Buggy's face darkened as he said coldly, "Someone, bind him to the cross!"

The pirates received the order and immediately carried it out, tying the dazed Tom to the wooden cross.

Chief of Staff Kaby held his unicycle in his hands, as if he knew what was about to happen, and watched with great interest.

Only when Tom had been tied to the cross and was slowly moved toward the bow did he come to his senses. He hurriedly begged for mercy. "Lord Buggy, I was wrong! Please, let me go! Please let me go!"

Hearing the feeble cries, the clown Buggy was not moved in the slightest.

Anyone weaker than him who dared call him "Red-Nose" would incur his merciless retaliation.

Every crew member knew that it was forbidden, yet Tom had gone and drunkenly uttered the word anyway.

As the saying went, those who did not court death would not die.

For Tom, now tied to the cross, a terrifying hell was about to begin.

And Kaby, who greatly enjoyed watching torture, was eagerly anticipating this "magnificent" performance.