Playing Around

Whenever Gato was thinking up bad ideas, he liked to smile with narrowed eyes. That way, others couldn't clearly see the look in his eyes.

Even if he was overflowing with killing intent, anyone talking to him might still find that smile friendly.

If this trio of pirates knew about anime, they would know a saying: people with squinting eyes were all monsters.

Unfortunately, they didn't know that. When they saw Gato's signature narrowed-eye smile, they felt even bolder. Someone who smiled so gently was obviously easy to bully.

So, late at night, they came to the temporary place Gato had rented and arrogantly pounded on his door.

The moment Gato saw the three of them, he put on a different kind of smile. Unlike his narrowed-eye smile, this was the hearty laughter he only showed when he encountered something that truly made him happy.

"Gahahaha, you finally came!"

Seeing this, the three thought Gato had seen through their intentions and had already set a trap to wait for them. They immediately grew wary and prepared to draw the swords hanging at their waists.

"You..."

Before the leading youth could finish, Gato interrupted him with laughter.

"Hahaha, Boss! You finally came looking for me! So, what do you think? I'm really strong—take me out to sea with you!"

The three of them were dumbfounded. What kind of development was this? Before they could recover, Gato continued.

"Hehe, I heard you guys had wanted to go to sea and become pirates for a long time. You kept staring at me during the day—you wanted me to join your crew, right? My dream is to become a pirate too!"

The youth stared blankly at Gato, seeming somewhat uncertain as he said, "We... do seem to be short on manpower. Do you want to join the crew?"

"Ah, of course! Of course! Boss, you're still short a ship, right? When it comes to that, I'm an expert. On this island, only the biggest ship is worthy of someone as important as you. Tomorrow, I'll buy it as our pirate ship."

The youth was left dizzy by Gato's string of moves. He thought that achieving their goal without having to fight didn't seem too bad, and a pirate crew with only three people really did seem too small.

He became quite happy as well. "Haha, kid, you know what's good for you. Fine, from now on, you're a member of the Gabi Pirates too."

Gato secretly laughed to himself. These brats were far too easy to fool.

That night, Gato invited them to stay over at his place. He told them some stories about the sea and cracked a few jokes. Before long, the three youths had all let down their guard around him.

The next day, Gato excitedly woke them up to discuss going to sea.

The youth asked blankly, "Do we need to prepare anything before going to sea? We're pirates. Can't we just take what we need from other people?"

"Of course we need to prepare properly. There's a Marine base nearby. We can't rob people around here, can we? If we don't prepare the necessary supplies, there's no way we can sail to where we want to go."

"Haha, I see. You really are smart, worthy of being my partner. What should we do?"

"Well, first, you and I will go buy a ship, Boss. The other two brothers can each go buy food, water, fruit, and other necessities for sailing. If all goes well, we can set out today."

"Then it's decided. Let's go."

The youth gave the order to depart with high spirits, beginning a journey that was destined to fail from the very start.

Gato and the youth arrived at the shipyard in Gabi Town. More than a dozen brand-new ships awaiting launch were displayed there, making it a fairly large operation.

After hearing what they wanted, the owner eagerly began introducing the ships. However, Gato waved him off and said excitedly, "No need. Which ship is the biggest and sturdiest? That's the one. Only that kind of ship is worthy of my boss's status."

He then looked eagerly at his "boss." "Boss, isn't that right?"

Seeing Gato act like this, the youth's scalp went numb. Who knew how expensive the most expensive ship would be? But at a time like this, he couldn't lose face, so he could only force himself to say, "Th-That's right, of course!"

The owner was even more delighted upon hearing this and led them before the finest ship in the dockyard.

The youth had initially been somewhat unwilling, but after seeing the large ship up close, he found that none of the other ships could catch his eye anymore.

"Fine, this one. How much?"

"Fifteen million Beli."

The youth's expression immediately turned ugly. "What? That expensive?"

"That's not expensive at all. A ship this large won't be affected in the slightest by even the wind and waves of the open sea. Its sturdiness is absolutely worth the price."

Gato nodded. This ship was much larger than the Baratie—almost comparable to the flagship of Don Krieg, the "strongest pirate" in the East Blue. In his opinion, it was worth even more than this price.

Over the past few days, he had earned nearly ten million Beli. He had thought it would be enough, but apparently he had miscalculated a little.

But that was precisely why he was playing these three brats. The youth was dressed quite well, so he presumably wouldn't be setting out to sea empty-handed.

At that thought, Gato revealed a faint, imperceptible smile. He leaned close and whispered to the youth, "Chief, we don't have enough money. I only have ten million Beli."

Instead of getting angry, the youth was delighted. "Good kid! I knew you were rich, but I didn't expect you to have that much. It's enough, it's enough. Your big brother still has money."

He confidently told the owner, "One million Beli. I saw this ship when I was young. I imagine no one has been able to afford it for a long time. If that won't do, then I can only buy another ship."

The owner hesitated. This ship had indeed been sitting around for a long time. Although the people of Gabi Town were relatively wealthy, they generally had no use for such a large ship.

Its construction had actually been an accident. A wealthy merchant had ordered it to transport cargo, but he had later heard that the man was killed by pirates, so the ship had been left here.

In any case, one million plus the deposit paid before was already a profit. It was better not to be too greedy.

The "boss" was already laughing inwardly. Though he came from a well-off family, he had only been able to afford a ship worth two or three million Beli. He never expected such good fortune, running into a fat sheep like Gato.

The transaction was quickly and happily completed. Gato took out every last bit of the money he had earned over the past few days and bought the ship together with the youth.

That afternoon, the other two arrived beside their ship with a group of people. They had bought too many things and could only hire people to carry them. Clearly, anyone who could run with that youth wasn't exactly poor.

Watching the lively scene, Gato smiled even more happily. All these things would become his. He had thought he would have to spend some more time here, but with the "help" of those three, they could set out today.