Gabi Town

"What a prosperous town."

Gato watched the bustling crowds and sighed.

Baratie had come here to restock and resupply. Naturally, they would not go to places where even the locals could barely afford food. They were not pirates who could plunder the meager leftovers of ordinary people without a shred of guilt.

Thus, this prosperous town called Gabi became their destination.

Gabi Town lay not far from the East Blue Marine branch base, so pirates rarely dared to raid it. The common people here were able to live and work in peace.

Given that, as long as Gabi Town was not completely barren, it could not possibly be too poor. In fact, Gabi's land was extremely fertile, and every year they grew far more grain than they could eat themselves.

With no pirate attacks, the grain gradually piled up. To avoid wasting it, they could only sell it elsewhere. Over time, this place became one of East Blue's largest grain exporters.

After learning the details, Gato could not help sighing. Pirates truly were one of this world's greatest scourges.

But that did not hinder his determination to become a pirate. Even if he had to bear the curses brought upon that group by other pirate scum, he did not care.

Gato was not a kind person. Even when he had been a commoner, he had done everything a commoner could possibly do. He could decide the life and death of other commoners, and therefore did not care about their cries.

He actually understood Princess Kaguya's mindset. The weak could flatter, beg, despair, and rage all they wanted, but none of it had any effect on the strong. Naturally, there was no need to care.

Of course, he would not rob the weak either. Wouldn't that be far too cheap?

He who steals a state becomes a lord; he who steals a hook is executed.

A true great pirate should rob the strong, or contend with the strong. On the road to the throne of One Piece, everything had to be fought for, and those competing with you could never be weak.

Those who fought with commoners over scraps only had that much ambition.

Of course, Gato was not rigidly principled. If it was truly necessary, then robbing was robbing. Making him feel guilty or apologize was impossible. Perhaps he had simply been born with the makings of a pirate.

Gato decided to buy a ship of his own in this town. It would only be temporary, but it still had to be a sturdy vessel. The kind of ship truly capable of carrying him could not possibly be found in a place like this.

Food was secondary. On this fertile island, grain was cheap merchandise.

Was earning enough for a ship that did not need to be too large difficult for Gato?

The business knowledge he had accumulated in his previous life was probably more advanced than this world's entire commercial trade network.

It was not as fast as simply stealing a ship, but he was not in a hurry now. It was also necessary to properly learn about the customs of the pirate world and integrate himself more fully into this world.

In just a few days, Gato had earned ten million Beli—more than enough to buy a decent ship—and he had thoroughly come to understand this land.

No pirates came to raid Gabi Town, but plenty of rookie pirates set sail from here to begin their voyages.

Perhaps being too poor or too rich was equally bad. Poverty drove some people to become pirates.

Yet lives of excessive prosperity also gave Gabi Town's youths too much idle time to think about so-called dreams. They went to sea in the name of adventure, only to end up becoming pirates anyway.

The Marines would not bother with such small-time thieves. Even if they raised a pirate flag the moment they set sail, so long as they had done no evil and carried no bounty, the Marines would ignore them.

Naturally, Gato, with his tremendous potential, was an exception. The Marines had already decided that if they could not recruit him, they would destroy him. He simply did not know it yet.

Now, some fellows preparing to go to sea had set their sights on Gato. They had probably noticed that this newcomer had earned so much money in only a few days, and he was always smiling pleasantly, looking like an easy target.

"Everyone, listen to me. That newcomer who recently arrived in town will be the target we plunder before our first voyage to sea."

"This operation will be the Gabi Pirates' first operation. Failure is absolutely not allowed."

A youth dressed in fancy clothes spoke to two boys who appeared even younger than he was.

His clothes were merely ordinary cloth garments with a little color, but in a world where commoners generally wore plain hemp clothing, they already counted as luxurious.

Although the other two boys followed his lead, one of them raised an objection and interrupted him. "B-Big Brother, isn't this a bad idea? The Marine base is right nearby. What if the Marines come to arrest us?"

The Marines' reputation had long inspired fear, and their leader's proposal was simply too crazy. Robbing someone right under the Marines' noses?

"Relax. What are you afraid of? Since we're going to be pirates, facing the Marines is something we'll have to do sooner or later. Besides, we won't run into the Marines. As for why, listen to me first."

After seeing that the boy would not interrupt him again, the youth continued, "Look, that guy is just an outsider. If we rob him, maybe no one will even report us to the Marines."

"That guy came here and immediately earned so much money from this town. If we rob him, then share some of the money with everyone else, they won't think we're robbing him at all. They'll think we helped them."

The youth's analysis was quite sound. Such things really did happen. That was human nature. They had only misjudged one thing: Gato's strength.

The three brats were narrow-minded. All they could see was their tiny patch of land, and they had no concept whatsoever of what the word pirate meant. They did not know just how powerful pirates could be.

They simply thought that three against one meant they could not possibly lose to Gato, who was younger than any one of the three of them.

They had never seriously considered such a possibility. Thus, when the youth's explanation persuaded the other two, they were ready to act.

They did not rashly go straight to Gato. Instead, they quietly observed him during the day, intending to strike at night.

Even if no one reported them, it was still not something honorable. Having only just developed the thought of becoming pirates, they were not vicious criminals either. Naturally, they did not dare rob Gato in broad daylight.

They had been born and raised on this island. Even if they were not robbing one of their own, being seen robbing someone would still make them lose face.

Gato had noticed their hostile gazes the moment they began following him. He was not some inexperienced brat like them. With the experiences of three lifetimes combined, he was old enough to be their father.

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and his eyes nearly curved into crescents. Life on this island had been comfortable, but once the initial novelty wore off, it had become unbearably boring.

And now, it seemed there was finally something entertaining to do.