You Throw It! I Won't!

"Da Bao, yeah, he looks about seventy percent like me. Black-haired boy. Help me look for him from up there."

Mercer spoke to Karasu on his shoulder.

Karasu nodded and let out a "Caw~." He pushed off Mercer's shoulder with his claws, spread his wings, and flew into the sky.

"Going by the direction Dadan pointed out, he should be near the Uncertain Terminus."

Mercer stood at a wooden suspension bridge spanning a hundred-meter-deep gorge. He looked toward the distant forest, then started across.

A magnificent white-necked crow circled overhead, surveying the area as Mercer walked through the lush forest.

Towering trees.

All kinds of strange plants and flowers.

He hopped across the stones protruding from the water and crossed a crystal-clear stream.

The endless forest brimmed with the raw breath of life.

He breathed in the fresh scents of flowers and trees.

An urge to shout rose in his heart before he knew it.

Unlike Drum Island, where winter lasted all year,

the seasons here came and went as usual, and flowers and plants grew in abundance. It was autumn now, and Mercer's state of Unity of Heaven and Man made him feel especially at ease here.

Just then, Karasu swooped down from the sky and landed on the ground not far from Mercer.

With sneaky little steps, she snatched up a three-centimeter-long black bee and bit down, bursting it with juice.

Mercer blinked and walked closer, stopping five meters away.

A swarm of at least a hundred plump black bees had flown out of the earth and circled Karasu. Their stingers gleamed black, but they couldn't get close.

Karasu flapped her wings, driving them back with gust after gust of wind.

Her sharp beak struck true with every peck. Mercer narrowed his eyes. He wasn't surprised by Karasu's gluttonous behavior.

She was just curious.

It was a crow's nature.

Why should he suppress it?

Besides, he was getting something out of it too.

Mercer clearly saw a glistening, earthy-brown liquid trickling from a crack in the dirt beneath Karasu's feet.

Wild honey.

Smelling the faint, sweet scent in the air, Mercer couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from lifting. "You really are a good bird. Always finding something nice for your own people."

He'd already thought of several ways to make a big haul. The simplest, without a doubt, was to use fire.

But Heaven had a virtue of cherishing life.

Since he was going to be a bandit, he might as well spare the bees.

Where there was poison, there was an antidote within a hundred paces.

That saying wasn't entirely accurate, but there was some truth to it.

Mercer's gaze landed precisely on something good. In a pool where a river gathered nearby, broad lotus leaves floated on the water, each at least a meter across.

Some had yellowed, but that didn't matter.

With a light step, Mercer went to the riverbank and lowered his sandal-clad foot into the clear water.

The water was only two meters from shore, and it came up to his shins.

He gripped Hanlu and slipped it beneath the surface. With one light sweep, the broad lotus leaves floating on the water came free.

After picking several round, clean leaves, Mercer stepped back onto the bank. He layered two leaves together, folded them into a fan shape, and hurried over to the bees.

He swung his arm in a wide arc, wielding the fan-shaped leaves. They cracked like rain beating on banana leaves. Using just the right amount of force, he struck the bees with precision.

He hurt them, but didn't kill them.

A few minutes later, the ground around him was covered in plump black bees.

Karasu and Mercer worked together seamlessly. She flapped her wings on the ground around him like a chicken, driving away the bees that were still attacking. Those that dared to keep coming got pecked and eaten.

Holding Hanlu in his right hand, Mercer slipped the short sword into a crack in the earth and carefully pried up a chunk of dirt. Inside, he saw a honeycomb filled with amber-colored honey.

He wiped the dirt from Hanlu on his clothes, then began cutting out pieces of the honeycomb.

He wrapped them in the open lotus leaves.

It was a rich hive. Mercer took two-thirds of it, enough to fill five large lotus-leaf bundles with honeycomb.

He left the rest alone, covered it with dirt, and left an opening. It was the sustainable way to do things.

Once he'd finished gathering the honey, Mercer saw the bees around him beginning to recover and take flight. He called to Karasu, and they quickly left.

Karasu had eaten at least a hundred bees and had thoroughly satisfied her appetite, but she still seemed reluctant to leave. She mumbled:

"Caw... should've... brought Xiaoniu... too. This... sweet... bug... really... tasty."

Far from the hive, Mercer held five bundles of honey and a large piece of honeycomb. He pinched off a piece and handed it to Karasu, who was flying beside him, then smiled.

"We have five bundles. We'll save one for us and take it back so Crow Xiaoniu can have a taste."

Karasu heard him and laughed merrily. "Mercer... good. Xiaoniu... happy. Thanks."

"Speaking of which, Da Bao, you should put in more effort too. Don't keep speaking in broken phrases. Try to make your sentences flow smoothly. You just haven't practiced enough. This won't do. If you're bad at it, practice more."

"Caw... understand." Karasu nodded, pecked off another piece of honeycomb Mercer had offered her, and tipped her head back to swallow it. "Tasty. Sweet."

Then she flew to a nearby pool, drank a few mouthfuls of clear water, and flew back. "Eat too much... cloying."

Mercer ate a piece of honeycomb and smiled at her. "Finished eating? If you are, get back to work."

"Okay. One more piece."

This time, Mercer tore off a large piece and handed it to her. Karasu grabbed it in her claws and flew up into the sky.

Walking through the forest,

Mercer glanced at the piece of honeycomb in his hand.

Appraisal

[F+ Grade Wild Honey]: A natural sweet treat, a gift from nature. Regular consumption can relieve fatigue, improve sleep, nourish and protect the liver, and improve digestive function.

That made sense. Something so delicious and easy to get probably wasn't that high in quality.

But its flaws didn't outweigh its merits.

Even if the quality was low, a good thing was still a good thing.

"This counts as a Cultivation Resource too. Eating it for a long time can improve your constitution."

"There are plenty of good things in this world. I can feel my desire to explore starting to burn."

He ate honeycomb as he walked. When the sweetness grew cloying, he ate a few wild fruits he picked along the way or took several big gulps from a mountain spring he came across.

Half an hour later.

Mercer kept sensing with his Observation Haki, but for some reason, he couldn't sense Ace's presence at all.

Only when he left the forest and reached a dirt slope did Mercer see the towering curved walls in the distance and the garbage mountains shrouded in smoke beyond them.

"The Uncertain Terminus."

The lawless area between Corvo Mountain and the Kingdom of Goa.

Calling it a lawless area was giving it too much credit. It was really just a garbage-strewn wasteland where people who couldn't survive, people with no value, street thugs, pirates, and bandits gathered.

Most people here made a living off the garbage dumped from the city.

"Did that brat Ace still run off over here?"

Through his Observation Haki, he sensed a familiar presence inside the garbage mountain.

Mercer waved up at the sky, and Karasu flew down.

He handed her the five lotus-leaf bundles he'd tied with vines along the way, and she gripped them in her claws.

"What is it, Mercer?"

"I found him. I'm going to take a look. You hold on to these."

Mercer said this, then walked down the slope and entered Trash Mountain.

Looking at the hills of discarded debris stretching out before him, Mercer thought with exasperation, Are the nobles of the Kingdom of Goa pigs? How do they make so much garbage?

Breathing in the foul smoke left behind by burning garbage, Mercer picked his way through piles of rubble.

Every so often, he saw scavengers digging through the trash. Their faces were numb, their clothes ragged, but their eyes held a wary, ruthless look.

A group of miserable people who had no idea what tomorrow meant.

A group of people living in garbage with no hope for the future.

No, they did have hopes.

Maybe they hoped to dig something valuable out of the garbage.

And when they did, a bloody scramble might follow.

He looked at one face after another.

Adults, children, men, women, and the elderly.

Mercer looked at them calmly. He didn't feel sorry for them. The roads leading to Corvo Mountain or other forests were right there.

If they truly wanted to live, the way forward had always been there. They'd chosen to turn a blind eye.

As for the wild beasts in the mountains?

Ridiculous.

There weren't that many powerful beasts. As long as you had the determination, wild beasts were never an obstacle.

Following the presence he'd sensed with his Observation Haki, he climbed to the top of a garbage mound made of discarded buildings.

Mercer looked down.

"Brats, we found this. Give it back."

"You must be looking to die."

"Enough talk. Get them!"

Three adults with knives were threatening two little kids, around five or six years old. More precisely, they were after the shabby cloth bags the kids carried.

The bags bulged with their contents. Through the untied openings, Mercer could see all sorts of odds and ends inside.

The two little kids—

One wore a large hat with goggles and a blue coat in a noble style, along with black boots.

The other wore a red short-sleeved shirt and shorts made of fine material, and black cloth shoes.

The blond kid in the hat held an iron pipe.

Mercer's gaze lingered on him for only a few seconds before settling on the other boy, the black-haired one.

Ace.

"Tch. Nothing in this area belongs to anyone. Around here, your fists do the talking."

Ace glared at the three adults, gripping an axe whose unusually sharp blade gleamed coldly.

"If you aren't afraid to die, come on. Let's see who wants to test whether my axe is sharp."

The three adults glared viciously. If they let a little brat who didn't even reach their waists scare them off, how would they ever make a living around here again?

The three exchanged glances, their eyes filled with ruthlessness. Without hesitation, they gripped their knives and charged.

The fight was about to begin!

Nervousness flashed in Ace's eyes. Suddenly, he shouted, "Sabo, execute Plan B!"

In the next second, both boys pulled a handful of plaster dust from their pockets and flung it at the faces of the three men charging toward them.

None of them had expected the kids to fight so dirty. Two of the men were hit, while the third had been a half-step slower charging forward, so he spotted the attack in time and threw his arm up to shield his face.

The two who'd been hit panicked at once.

"Ah!! My eyes, you little bastards! That's not fair!"

"Quick, retreat!"

"Don't retreat! Charge! It's plaster, not lime! Don't let them get away!"

The one who hadn't been hit shouted harshly. He grabbed one of his companions who was trying to retreat and shoved him hard toward Ace.

In an instant, Ace stared at the man stumbling toward him in terror.

He froze. He couldn't decide whether to swing his axe or not. He only hesitated for a moment before the man shoved into him and knocked him onto the ground.

A vicious glint flashed in the man's eyes as he rushed forward, bent over, and slashed at Ace's face with his knife.

Ace's eyes sharpened. Kneeling on the ground, he stared intently at the attacker, ready to fight back.

The little boy named Sabo was stunned by the sudden turn of events. He quickly shouted:

"Ace, watch out!!"

Just then, a streak of cold light shot down from above. A muffled thud rang out.

The next moment, there was a clang. The knife fell from the man's hand and clattered to the ground.

"Ahhh!!!" The man clutched his right arm with his left hand and let out a piercing scream. "My arm! My arm!"

Ace knew he had to seize the moment. His expression turned fierce as he sprang to his feet and swung the axe in his right hand. Its blade flashed coldly as it slammed into the man's chest.

Blood sprayed into the air, spattering Ace's face.

The man was sent tumbling backward.

Seeing this, Sabo steadied himself and swung his iron pipe at the dazed man rubbing his eyes in front of him.

Thud!

The pipe struck his head.

Thud! The pipe hit his face.

Thud! One more swing knocked him down.

Ace wiped the blood from his face, looked at the unlucky man who'd just been betrayed, stepped forward, and kicked him in the face.

With a muffled thud, he knocked the man unconscious.

At last, the three men were taken care of. Ace immediately looked up at the ruins of the building behind him.

The sunlight was blinding, so he had to shield his eyes with his left hand.

But once he could see clearly, there was no one in sight. The top was completely empty.

Ace furrowed his brows and asked in confusion, "Who saved me?"

Ace then turned to Sabo. "You okay, Sabo?"

Sabo stepped forward and grabbed the object embedded in the man's arm. He yanked it out and took a look, his eyes widening.

"A surgical knife?"

Ace came over and inspected it. A flicker of suspicion crossed his eyes.

"This knife looks really well made. Maybe even better than my axe? Who's rich enough to just throw it away?"

He turned to his blond buddy and asked, "Sabo, do you know who it belongs to?"

"No idea." Sabo stared at Ace, dumbfounded, then said in exasperation, "That knife obviously came to save you. What's that got to do with me?"

"And, Ace, what was with you just now? Why didn't you dodge, block, or attack? That was dangerous!"

Ace looked sheepish and turned his eyes away, embarrassed. "I've never hit anyone with an axe. I couldn't decide whether to just swing at him. Sorry!"

Sabo stared at Ace in disbelief. Then his face darkened, and he suddenly glared at him and shouted,

"Then why are you messing around with an axe? Pulling something like that in the middle of a fight is scary as hell! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Sabo took a deep breath and waited a moment before asking, "So what do we do with these three? They're already like this. Do we finish them off?"

"You do it?" Ace nudged his shoulder, his gaze wavering. "I've never killed anyone."

Sabo snapped, "Neither have I! Didn't you say you had? Were you lying to me?"

Ace turned away again and clicked his tongue. "Does killing prey count?"

Sabo: "So, are you going to kill them or not?"

Ace: "I'm not ready yet."

Sabo: "You have to get ready for something like this?"

Ace: "How about you kill one first and show me?"

Sabo: "No way. You do it."

Ace: "Then I won't either."

They stared at each other. A few seconds later, they said in unison,

"Then let's not kill any of them."

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