Respect

PS: New book, seeking collections, recommendations, and clicks.

If you brothers have read this far and haven't added this to your collection yet, please come and give Xiao Jiao a collection; it doesn't cost anything, anyway. Brothers reading on other sites can also create an account to give Xiao Jiao a collection, a click, and a recommendation vote.

Every vote, every collection, and even every click from you brothers allows Xiao Jiao to appear on the new book charts, letting more readers see it. So, I hope everyone can help Xiao Jiao push for the new book rankings.

In a few days, after my other Bleach fanfic is completely finished, I guarantee at least two updates per day.

The next day, Loxi rubbed his still-sleepy eyes as he stepped out of the cabin, but what greeted his sight was the figure of Bai Ina swaying as he stood and swung his sword.

"Ah... Mr. Bai, your leg injury hasn't healed yet."

However, Bai Ina acted as if he hadn't heard, continuing to swing his sword mechanically, lost in his own world.

Loxi opened his mouth to speak, but he felt a bit of fear toward Bai Ina, and after a moment of hesitation, he didn't continue to stop him.

After about half an hour, Bai Ina finished his two thousand swings, stood still with his sword, and prepared to begin his next training session.

"Mr. Bai, let's have a meal first."

Just then, Loxi, who had been waiting for a long time, called out urgently.

Bai Ina was stunned at the words.

A meal... he didn't know how long it had been since he heard that word, especially in the last half-month, where he had survived on dry rations, and even raw fish for the final few days.

"Mr. Bai... Mr. Bai?"

Loxi's voice snapped Bai Ina out of his daze. He looked at Loxi with a thoughtful expression, then walked into the cabin without a word.

Opening the cabin door, the rich aroma of food immediately hit his nose, causing Bai Ina's stomach, which hadn't felt particularly hungry, to churn.

Walking closer and looking at the three dishes and one soup, which weren't exactly a feast, a warmth welled up in Bai Ina's heart for no reason, and he held his chopsticks, unsure where to start.

"These are the only vegetables left in the storage, I don't know if they suit your taste." At this moment, Loxi walked up and placed a bowl of rice in front of Bai Ina. After serving himself a bowl and sitting down, he continued, "While you were training, I adjusted our course. We should see the island where Flower Lake Town is located in about half a day. If you like meat, we can go ashore and buy some, and there is also a Naval Base there where we can directly exchange for Bandejie's bounty."

"You can bandage wounds, cook, and navigate? Is there anything you can't do..."

Bai Ina was somewhat shocked. He knew that whether in his past life or this one, he was never skilled at things like cooking. In his past life, he had always lived a life where he was waited on hand and foot; his main task was to study various professional knowledge, while others took care of his food, clothing, housing, and transportation.

After transmigrating here, he had to prepare his own food to survive, but what he made could definitely not be called delicious.

As for navigation, that was even more impossible; the city he lived in didn't even have a view of the sea.

"Hehe—"

Loxi scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed. "I've always lived with my younger sister, who is a year younger than me, so the cooking at home was always done by me. As for navigation, it's because my sister and I are orphans adopted by a Naval Base, so we were taught some navigational knowledge and combat skills from a young age."

"I see." Bai Ina nodded in understanding. That made sense; otherwise, if a 13-year-old boy could bandage, cook, and navigate, it would make him, a former genius with an IQ of 200, feel quite ashamed.

However, this couldn't be blamed on Bai Ina. The laws of the world were different, and many things had to be learned from scratch. After all, no book would teach you how to survive after transmigrating... even if there were, they would be fantasy novels.

"Can you find the island where your home is? I'll take you back!" Bai Ina said after a period of silence.

Loxi looked disappointed at the words. "No need, there's no one I know left there. When we were captured, the Navy had already issued an order that in three days, they would send us orphans to various Naval Bases in the Grand Line for training."

"Oh, sorry!"

Bai Ina lowered his head and continued eating, not asking any further.

Loxi was stunned. He really hadn't expected to hear the word 'sorry' from Bai Ina's mouth. It made him feel, for the first time in his half-year life as a servant, that he was being respected rather than treated like a pig or a dog.

"It's okay. Besides, my sister is a genius, so she doesn't need me to take care of her. Perhaps without me dragging her down, she can have a better future."

A bright smile appeared on Loxi's face. He suddenly felt that if things could continue like this, maybe it wouldn't be so bad...

Breakfast passed in such a relaxed atmosphere. After eating, Bai Ina went back to training. However, before training, he and Loxi used paint to cover the skulls on the sails. After all, the island they were about to dock at had a Naval Base, and a pirate ship docking directly would surely cause a commotion.

Half a day later, the two of them docked at the island Loxi had mentioned.

After dropping the anchor, Loxi took the cloth bag containing Bandejie's head and said, "I'll go. Mr. Bai, your leg is injured, it's better not to move around." After saying this, he suddenly felt that he might easily cause a misunderstanding, as Bandejie's head was worth 500,000 Beli, enough to support a family for several years.

Thinking of this, Loxi hurriedly added, "Um, I'll help..."

"Hmm, go ahead!"

Before he could finish, Bai Ina said without looking back, then continued doing handstand push-ups on his own.

Loxi felt a surge of gratitude, but he didn't say anything more. He went straight off the ship and into the island.

After he left, Bai Ina, who was training, revealed a warm smile.

On the other side, after asking an old man for directions, Loxi walked straight toward the Naval Base.

After going through the procedures, he exchanged Bandejie's head and the bounty poster for 500,000 Beli. The Navy officer who verified the head didn't try to pull any tricks just because he saw Loxi was young. It was well known that many Bounty Hunters rarely showed their faces; the very name "Hunter" was enough to earn the hatred of pirates, and if they were unlucky enough to be targeted by a major pirate, it would be a death sentence.

Therefore, except for Bounty Hunters like Zoro who were extremely confident in their own strength, most Bounty Hunters were secretive. Even their methods of collecting bounties were varied, and hiring children with no combat ability to collect the bounty was a very common method, as they were confident that these children wouldn't be able to escape their sight once they had the money.

Thus, the verifying Navy officer simply categorized Loxi as a hired child and didn't feel surprised or harbor any ulterior motives.

Successfully receiving the bounty, Loxi let out a long sigh of relief. He clutched the money bag nervously, looking around as he ran toward where the ship was docked. He planned to send the Beli back first; walking on the street with so much money was inevitably frightening, and he wouldn't need that much to purchase supplies.

However, he didn't know that from the moment he entered the island, someone had already been watching him.

"Ha, looking at that weight, that's a big fish!"

"Not bad, we really have to thank Old Seven's dog nose this time; he could smell the stench of a corpse even just brushing past him."

"But, won't we offend the bounty hunter backing him by doing this?"

"What's there to be afraid of? Once we finish this job, we'll take a boat and leave this island. Where is he going to find us then?"

Just as Loxi walked out of the small town, six sneaky figures were watching him from the small woods he had to pass through, whispering to one another...

A dangerous aura emanated from the eyes of every single one of them.