"Once I sell this lousy fruit to the Marines, I'm buying ten places on Whisky Peak!"
As soon as Jiyue finished speaking, the other pirates raised their bottles and cheered.
"That's right! I'll take on ten!"
"Hahahaha! We're all going to be rich!"
While they were celebrating, a tremendous force suddenly blasted the wall apart.
Rosinante walked in with steady steps, an unlabeled bottle of whiskey in his left hand and his right hand tucked into his coat pocket.
"I hear you have a gift for the Marines. How about letting me have the first taste?"
The pirates instantly aimed their guns at him.
"Who are you?"
Rosinante shook the bottle, and the liquor condensed into tiny ice crystals amid the freezing mist.
"Me? I'm a doctor here to treat a little boy."
He suddenly raised his hand. The whiskey bottle exploded in midair, its shattered glass and liquor turning into sharp icicles.
As three pirates' throats burst open, he crushed the lock on the wooden crate beneath his foot. The Op-Op Fruit's blue glow illuminated his bloodshot eyes.
"This is it!"
Rosinante was already beside himself with excitement. The pirates roared and opened fire, but he scooped up the crate with his right hand and turned to run. A hail of bullets and the shock waves from the explosions sent him flying. His back slammed into a rusty iron spear, and salty, fresh blood surged into his throat.
"Catch him! Don't let that bastard escape!"
The pirate captain roared, clutching his blast-scorched face. Fifty pirates chased after him with flintlock guns raised. Lead bullets grazed Rosinante's ear and lodged in the ice wall as he stumbled into an abandoned lighthouse.
Just hold on a little longer!
He tore off his shirt and pressed its hem against the wound.
"You