"Bastard, are you robbing us?"
Hearing the tavern owner's quote, Benn Beckman immediately jumped to his feet. This was far more than an outrageous demand. He dared ask for that much for a tavern thrown together from a few rotten planks—if it had been built with bricks or something, would he have demanded hundreds of millions?
The tavern owner's expression turned cold. He snorted. "This is already a very fair price. You affected my business. Don't tell me you're trying to skip out on the bill?"
"Even if I do skip out, what can you—" Before Benn Beckman could finish, Shanks grabbed hold of him.
Walking up to the tavern owner, Shanks smiled. "No problem. Eight million Berries is a very reasonable price. But I never carry money on me. How about using this to settle the debt?"
As he spoke, he rummaged through his clothes before finally pulling out a gemstone that shone with dazzling brilliance, roughly the size of a thumbnail.
"Hm?" The tavern owner made a nasal sound as he took it and inspected it carefully. After a moment, he asked suspiciously, "Top-grade from Diamond Island?"
"Sharp eye." Shanks smiled and praised him.
Diamond Island was located somewhere in the New World, the latter half of the Grand Line. Legend said the entire island was made up of all kinds of diamonds, and anyone who reached it could obtain inexhaustible wealth.
However, the island's location was far too remote, with no fixed coordinates. Even the great pirate crews of the New World rarely managed to reach it. And after arriving, mining those hard diamonds required tremendous strength. The number of people who had truly been there could be counted on one hand.
But none of that had been a problem for the Roger Pirates. As the only