Blood Money

"I thought I could stay hidden a little longer."

As he spoke, the sailor pulled a pouch from his chest and handed it to Li Mingyuan.

"What a bore. Here, I'm giving it back."

Li Mingyuan took the sealed pouch and weighed it in his hand. It was considerably heavier than when it had been lost.

He looked up at the sailor before him.

"So, is this an apology?"

"All the money I have on me is in there. My knife helped you out earlier too. Can you spare my life?"

The sailor scratched his cheek and gave an awkward grin. "If it's not enough, I still have some property on the last island. I can lead you there and dig up the treasure. It should all be worth around twenty million Beli. That should be enough to buy my life, right?"

Twenty million Beli.

The moment those words came out, the sailors around them erupted into commotion. In terms of sheer amount, it was an astronomical sum none of them had ever come close to touching in their lives. It was even comparable to Arlong's bounty. They had never expected a mere thief to be able to produce so much money.

But before long, someone else who had heard him could no longer hold back.

"You bastard! Don't talk like this has nothing to do with you!"

The first mate's face had turned red as he suddenly leaped out from among the crew and roared furiously, "At least several million of your twenty million Beli was stolen from our ship, wasn't it?! Do you have any idea how important that money was? It concerned all of our lives! Because of you, we had no choice but to risk coming to Arlong Park, and that's how things ended up like this!"

"What grudge do you have against us that you had to steal from our ship?! I remember you. You boarded at Treet Island, and you've been on this ship for at least several months!"

"Why? Is that so strange?"

The sailor tilted his head and asked in bafflement, "Those goods of yours were stolen in the first place, weren't they? And then there's all the money you squeezed out of different places, preparing to hand it over as Heavenly Tribute. Since it was dirty money to begin with, what difference does it make if I stole it?"

"Since you asked, let me ask you something too. Do you really think you're innocent in how things turned out?"

The sailor sneered. "You lost the cargo and came straight to Arlong Park. You even deliberately concealed your next destination and tricked a bunch of people into boarding as replacement sailors. And that Captain Nezumi—since he had dealings with Arlong Park, did you honestly think being able to contact him made you decent people? As far as I'm concerned, you're all birds of a feather. A pack of scum rotten to the core."

"You bastard—!!"

Having heard that, the first mate could no longer restrain himself. With bloodshot eyes, he lunged at the sailor.

He raised his fist high and smashed it fiercely toward the man's face.

At the sight, the sailor instinctively squeezed his eyes shut and curled into a ball.

But after a moment—

The pain he had expected never came.

The sailor opened his eyes shakily and saw that Li Mingyuan had raised a hand, firmly gripping the first mate's wrist.

"I don't recall saying you were allowed to deal with him."

Li Mingyuan's expression was indifferent. "Don't make me repeat myself. If you don't want to die, do as I say."

The first mate's face immediately turned pale.

Trembling, he withdrew his fist.

Li Mingyuan turned back to the sailor before him.

"Twenty million Beli to buy your life? Your life is quite valuable, then. Fine, I agree."

"But before that, there's one last thing I want to ask you..."

Li Mingyuan said in a low voice, "Why did you steal my money?"

"Your reasons don't apply to me. My money was earned through rewards and gratitude for capturing wanted criminals. Up until now, apart from those Fish-Men who deserved to die, I've never harmed a single civilian. We even spoke a few times on the ship, didn't we? Why did you target me?"

"Did you think I was easy to bully? That I wouldn't settle the score with you?"

As he said that, Li Mingyuan narrowed his eyes.

A chill instantly spread from his body, engulfing the entire deck in the blink of an eye.

The sailors nearby all backed away in terror.

Only the sailor standing directly before Li Mingyuan had nowhere to run. He bore the brunt of that pressure, his face turning deathly pale as his dry lips trembled incessantly.

He gave a bitter smile, but he had nothing to say in his defense.

"A thief is a thief. There's nothing to explain."

The sailor could only throw caution to the wind. "I've already bought my life with twenty million Beli. If you don't like my explanation, or if you think I don't have that much money, then just kill me!"

"But if you kill me, you won't get anything."

With that, the sailor stiffened his neck and stood rooted in place, forcing himself not to move.

He was no righteous thief, nor did he have some unspeakable hardship like Nami. He had become a thief simply because he needed to survive and because he enjoyed it.

This time, stealing from the cargo ship had at least given him a reason to use. More often than not, he simply stole on a whim, just as he had casually picked Li Mingyuan's pocket.

Explain himself? Where was he supposed to come up with so many excuses?

He might as well honestly resign himself to fate and see whether the savings he had exaggerated by ten million Beli would be enough to buy his life.

While putting on a tough front, the sailor quietly opened his eyes a sliver to observe Li Mingyuan's reaction.

Li Mingyuan continued staring intently at his face. Perhaps angry at his reasoning, the chill around him grew even stronger.

But soon, just as the sailor's heart was about to leap into his throat, the man seemed to ponder something. For some unknown reason, the chill around him lessened considerably.

A few seconds later, the suffocating atmosphere around him vanished completely.

"All right. Whatever your reason was, it doesn't really matter."

"You're right. The money on you is indeed more important."

As though nothing had happened, Li Mingyuan nodded and spoke again. "In that case, until you hand over the twenty million Beli ransom, you'll stay with me for a while. Once you bring out your treasure, I'll let you go."

"Really?!"

The sailor asked in delight.

"When we take the small boats later, you'll ride in the same one as me."

As he faced the sailor, an unreadable meaning flashed through Li Mingyuan's gaze. "My destination is Arlong Park. That was why I came here from the beginning. Once I've dealt with these Fish-Men, we'll return to the previous island together."

"Uh... Arlong Park."

A trace of reluctance appeared on the sailor's face.

Li Mingyuan ignored his resistance and continued, "You're in no position to refuse."

"This ship is about to sink. Now, let's leave together."