Where Did My Money Go?

But just as he picked up the bundle, before even a second had passed,

Li Mingyuan's expression froze.

"..."

He slowly lowered his head and looked at the slightly deflated pouch in his hand.

It was so light.

Unbelievably light.

Had this bundle ever been this light before?

Li Mingyuan stared blankly at the bundle as if time itself had frozen. Only after an unknown amount of time did he finally come back to his senses. Though his mind had returned to reality, his hand gradually began to tremble.

Then, his expression twisted into something between a smile and a grimace, veins bulging at his temples.

Li Mingyuan put down the bundle, closed his eyes, raised his head toward the ceiling, and took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.

But he simply couldn't do it.

15 million Beli...

That was 15 million Beli!

What did 15 million Beli mean in the East Blue? Nami's adoptive mother, Bell-mère, had been directly killed by Arlong because she couldn't pay 100,000 Beli. Nami had nearly been crushed by the burden of that 100 million Beli ransom. She had risked her life stealing money from pirates throughout the East Blue for eight years, yet before meeting the Straw Hat crew, she had still been several million short of 100 million.

Not to mention, Li Mingyuan had planned to save those 15 million Beli to buy a ship and head to the Grand Line.

During his days in the village, even after spending the Beli Joseph and Johnny had given him, he had not used up even a third of it.

And now, his 15 million Beli was just gone?

That money had come from personally capturing bounty criminals. It was his first real fortune in this world, and now it was just gone??

"Haha, hahaha."

Li Mingyuan couldn't help laughing out loud.

Other than laughing, he truly had no idea how else he was supposed to react to this situation.

Just moments ago, he had been standing on the sidelines, listening as the thief casually passed by his door.

Well, look at him now. He was the clown.

He had actually watched the culprit walk away so easily...

What had that thief been thinking when he saw Li Mingyuan's room as he passed by? Had he secretly laughed at him, thinking that this idiot had been robbed without even realizing it? Or had the thief simply forgotten where the victim was and therefore dared to swagger past a room that was obviously occupied?

Just imagining it made Li Mingyuan feel his blood pressure rise.

He had thought he was just watching someone else's drama, only to find out it had happened to him!

"You actually dared to steal from me. Of all people, you stole from me."

"I thought it had nothing to do with me, so I was going to let you go... But since you're determined to court death, I have no choice."

Li Mingyuan slowly exhaled. When he opened his eyes again, a "kind" smile appeared on his face.

"I'll have to settle this 15 million Beli debt with you properly."

You really have no idea how the word death is written!

There was no need to open the pouch and confirm it again.

Li Mingyuan casually tossed aside the clearly empty pouch. With a dark expression, he pushed open the door and headed for the deck.

His heavy footsteps made the wooden boards creak with nearly every step.

Nearby, sailors who had been anxiously searching for the thief were looking around in every direction. But the moment they heard those footsteps, they almost instantly felt a tangible pressure descend upon them.

They instinctively turned around, only to discover that it was the ship's hired "guard." The young man who had seemed relaxed and approachable over the past few days was now walking toward them step by step with an icy expression.

Sweat trickled down their foreheads.

The sailors stared at Li Mingyuan, unable to understand why the same man now seemed like a completely different person from the easygoing young man they remembered. As he approached, the space around them seemed to darken and grow oppressive, leaving them without even the courage to ask what was wrong.

Only after Li Mingyuan passed them by

did they finally snap out of it as his footsteps faded away, gasping for air like people waking from a dream.

"W-what happened...?"

Someone muttered.

Yet even after regaining their senses, no one present dared to step forward and ask what had happened.

In the dead silence, the sailors could only look at one another, seeing the deep fear in each other's eyes.

Li Mingyuan strode through the ship's corridors.

Following the direction those footsteps had gone earlier, he continued toward the deck.

He passed the dining hall and the living quarters. During that time, he brushed past many sailors searching for the thief, but none of them dared speak to him.

This even included crew members who had chatted with him and shared stories of life at sea not long ago. Now, they could only stare at him stiffly, not daring to breathe too loudly.

All of this was because, though they did not understand it, they were truly being affected by the chakra within Li Mingyuan.

Even a slight dip in his mood was enough to make those around him tremble in fear.

Some even felt the suffocating pain of being unable to breathe.

Of course, such reactions were not strange. Chakra was refined from spiritual energy and physical energy, and to some extent, it could even be said to be an abstract concept representing the soul.

That was right.

The abstract concept of killing intent truly existed in the Naruto world as well.

Back when Naruto, wrapped in the Nine-Tails' chakra cloak, fought Haku, killing intent had appeared in the story and had nearly overwhelmed Haku.

Later, during the Chunin Exams arc, Orochimaru suddenly released his killing intent, frightening Sakura and Sasuke so badly that they could not move. They even thought they had fallen under his Genjutsu. Sasuke, who had been the main target, was hit so hard that he vomited on the spot.

Through the miraculous power of chakra, a person's will could indeed affect the surrounding area like a spiritual shockwave.

In a sense, it was somewhat similar to the release of Conqueror's Haki in the One Piece world.

Its power was nowhere near as great as Conqueror's Haki, which could make tens of thousands of people faint at once. And this chakra-based spiritual pressure only worked well against people vastly weaker than the user. However, unlike Conqueror's Haki, it had no particular talent requirement. As long as one possessed powerful chakra, they could use it. The threshold was much lower.

Li Mingyuan was in a bad mood and could not be bothered to say anything to the people around him. The unconscious pressure he gave off was enough to keep the crew from wasting his time by speaking to him, and he had no intention of restraining it.

Incidentally, he wondered whether this pressure had reached the thief nearby.

If it could make the thief feel regret and fear, then that would count as achieving its purpose.

Bang!

Li Mingyuan violently threw open the cabin door and stepped onto the deck.

At the moment, the sailors had all gone down into the cargo hold to search, leaving only the captain on deck, apparently deep in thought. When he saw Li Mingyuan suddenly appear, surprise immediately showed on his face.

"What is it? Why did you suddenly come up to the deck?"

The captain frowned and cautiously asked, "We haven't reached the point where we need your help yet..."

"Stop the ship immediately."

Li Mingyuan said, "Until I say otherwise, no one is allowed to disembark."

That single sentence changed the atmosphere.

The captain's eyes widened as he stared at Li Mingyuan in astonishment.

"What?!"

The captain exclaimed, "What are you talking about?"

"I don't intend to explain anything, but I can tell you this: I've lost some money. Not only is the thief you're searching for now under suspicion, but all of you are as well."

"You lost a batch of goods at the port a few days ago, didn't you? You said then that it was a matter that could cost you your heads. Sorry, but I was nearby and saw what happened. I now suspect that you may have stolen my belongings to make up for your losses."

Li Mingyuan's expression remained calm. Facing the captain's shock, he said flatly, "This isn't a discussion. It's a notice."

"If you dare refuse this proposal, I'll immediately kill everyone on this ship and search every corner of it slowly until I find it. According to what you said earlier, there are thirty minutes before the ship reaches shore, right? At this distance, even if I kill all of you, I can still swim to land."

"On the other hand, if the ship docks in thirty minutes, the thief may slip off the ship together with the sailors and disappear forever. Less than thirty minutes is too little time to search. I can't risk never recovering that money by rushing to find it within such a tight deadline. So for now, we can only extend the search period a little."

"Don't worry. If I find the thief afterward, then aside from returning my own belongings, the things the thief stole will also be returned to you as compensation for my misunderstanding. That shouldn't be such a bad outcome for you, should it? After all, as you said yourself, this shipment concerns your lives."

"That's all I have to say. Now, you can get moving."

After saying that, Li Mingyuan thought for a moment before adding, "Of course, if you want to test whether I can really do what I said and kill everyone aboard this ship, you may try. I don't care. But considering we've been on the same ship for so long and you've prepared meals for me, I personally wouldn't recommend it."

"My patience is limited. I hope you won't challenge it like this thief did."

"Trust me, you won't want to see the consequences."

With that, without caring about the captain's reaction, Li Mingyuan walked straight to the bow, picked up a stool he had grabbed on the way, and sat down.

He crossed one leg over the other like a Marine admiral, folded his arms over his chest, and leaned back against the rail.

He had already begun waiting for the sailors to gather.

Li Mingyuan did exactly as he said. His expression now looked as natural as though nothing had happened.

Only the captain remained standing there in a daze, staring fixedly at Li Mingyuan from afar, unable to say anything for a while.

Did this count as digging his own grave?

He had invited this mysterious man aboard because he seemed unfathomable, only for him to become the rope tightening around their necks.

The captain did not doubt Li Mingyuan's words in the slightest.

At this moment, facing Li Mingyuan felt just like their first meeting. That strange oppressive feeling rose in his heart again, even stronger than before. It nearly left him unable to breathe, goosebumps spreading all over his body.

During their time living together aboard the ship, Li Mingyuan had seemed completely ordinary. The captain had even wondered whether he had overreacted back then, or whether he had hallucinated and placed such importance on a man he had just met, inviting him aboard.

But now, the captain was certain.

He would die.

If the man before him made a move, then he would definitely die. Everyone on the ship would die too.

His instincts were frantically sounding the alarm!

"That damned thief! Stealing the ship's cargo was bad enough, but how did he dare steal from this man whose background we know nothing about? Was he blind while on the ship? This man was specially hired as a guard. Even his treatment is different from that of ordinary sailors."

The captain gritted his teeth. "Now this is really a disaster!"

Though it was not impossible that the thief had noticed there was someone aboard who did nothing all day yet was constantly treated to good food and drink, and had therefore targeted Li Mingyuan out of curiosity.

But the captain deliberately ignored that possibility, placing all the blame on the thief.

After all, it was true that he had lost cargo, and it was also true that cargo had now been stolen again. His life might even be in danger because of it.

The only issue was that they had yet to find the thief.

Otherwise, with old and new grudges combined, he would have wanted nothing more than to tear that person apart alive.

Seeing that Li Mingyuan had no further instructions, the muscular captain did not dare remain alone with him on the deck. He hurried into the cabin with quick, urgent steps.

Li Mingyuan paid no attention to the captain's reaction.

He merely continued staring ahead, a faint blood-red gleam beginning to appear in his eyes.

When he had followed the thief's departing footsteps to the deck earlier, only to find the captain there alone, he knew things had gone bad.

If the culprit was not the captain, then it meant the thief had most likely hidden somewhere Li Mingyuan had not noticed, slipping away right under his nose.

The thief's movement technique was probably extremely skilled.

He truly had no other option.

If this continued and the ship really reached shore, then what if the thief fled onto the island and disappeared? Where would he find him?

The thief had acted several times without being caught. Li Mingyuan would not have been surprised even if he was one of the sailors. Besides, what he had told the captain earlier was not a lie.

When Li Mingyuan saw that only the captain was on the deck at their destination, he had sincerely begun to suspect that the crew had deliberately staged this act for him as the ship was about to dock, while actually stealing from themselves.

After all, though this was a cargo ship with plenty of places to hide, common sense said that after the ship had already been robbed once, anyone with a brain should know that everyone aboard would be on guard and searching intensely afterward.

If he were the thief, after stealing that shipment last time, he would have immediately gotten off the island and gone home. Why would he remain aboard a ship where the risk had skyrocketed?