A Meat Meal for a Way Out

"Put me down. First, let's see where the cannonballs land."

Su Hang patted Dadan on the shoulder.

A second thunderous boom came from the sea.

The cannonball in midair was split apart by a slash.

The two halves of the iron shell fell into the woods outside the village, and the gunpowder burned into two clouds of black smoke in the air.

Luffy stepped onto a reef.

"It's Shanks!"

At the distant bow, Red-Hair sheathed his sword.

The pirate ship lay between the Clearance Ship and Foosha Village.

The Clearance Ship turned its broadside, and several naval cannons were forced to redirect toward the Red-Haired Pirates.

Su Hang slid down from Dadan's shoulder.

"They can't hold them off for long. Go back to the village and evacuate everyone."

Dadan supported his arm.

"You can barely stand. How are you going to evacuate them?"

"As long as I can talk, it's enough."

"Can your talking carry the villagers up the mountain?"

"It can make them walk there themselves."

By the time they returned to the tavern, Makino had already led the wounded away from the backyard.

Seeing Su Hang soaked from head to toe, she set the medicine box down on the table.

"You really went into the sea."

"I'm still alive."

"What if Luffy had been even a moment later?"

"You can save that question until there's no water left in my lungs."

"Sit down."

Makino pressed a dry cloth to his hair, then pulled Luffy's hands beneath the lamp.

"Whose injuries should I treat first?"

"Luffy's."

"You had water in your lungs."

"There's sand in his palms. If it stays too long, they'll fester."

Luffy pulled his hands back.

"It doesn't hurt."

"Who was it that yelled his hands were about to fall off while pulling the rope?"

"I didn't say my hands were falling off. I said the rope was slipping!"

Makino washed the wounds with clean water.

"Bear with it. The sand has to be picked out."

"Su Hang, tell us how we're evacuating first."

Su Hang took out the cipher Benns had left behind and spread it across the undamaged table.

"The Clearance Ship won't just fire cannons. Once Shanks holds them up at sea, they'll send small boats to land."

Dadan pointed west of the village.

"They can come ashore at the harbor."

"The harbor is closest to the Red-Hair Pirates. They won't come from there."

"Then where else can they come from?"

"South Beach and the eastern reef cove."

Makino wrapped strips of cloth around Luffy's hand.

"South Beach is where you nearly drowned."

"The slope is gentle enough for small boats, and the eastern reef cove can hide people. Both lead into the village."

"Where do the villagers retreat to?"

"Into the forest. Avoid the main road to North Cliff and take the Hunting Trail behind the well."

Dadan picked up the cipher and examined it.

"There aren't any village roads drawn on this."

"Benns drew doors, windows, and streets on fish skin. He stayed in the village for three days. There's no way he only prepared one artillery route."

Makino put away the medicine bottles.

"I'll notify the village chief."

"Tell each household to bring only water and enough food for two days. Don't go back for furniture, and don't try to defend the tavern."

"What about you?"

"Cooking."

The three of them looked at Su Hang at once.

Luffy was the first to ask.

"Now?"

"I promised you."

"They're still firing outside."

"Red-Hair is holding off the cannons. Once you finish moving everyone, you'll need strength to head into the mountains."

Dadan threw an apron at him.

"The pot's in the back kitchen. If there's any less meat, I'll flip the table."

One corner of the back kitchen wall had been blown away, but the stove was still usable. The iron pot was full of wood chips.

Su Hang rinsed the bottom of the pot clean, poured in the stored rice, then cut the entire slab of cured meat into small pieces.

Luffy leaned against the doorway.

"You can cook?"

"It'll be edible."

"Makino cooks better."

"Then don't eat it."

"I can taste-test it first."

"Your hand was just bandaged. Don't touch the pot."

Dadan leaned against the broken wall.

"Did you really learn your lesson?"

"Learn what?"

"Running into the sea alone, tying the rope to a rotten wooden stake, and not letting anyone follow you."

Su Hang added two pieces of firewood to the stove.

"From now on, any high-risk rule test needs two independent safeguards."

Luffy held up his bandaged hand.

"What does that mean?"

"One rope tied to two anchor points, someone on shore who can drag me back, and a boat prepared as well."

"Isn't that three safeguards?"

"The boat is an escape tool."

Dadan tapped the pot lid.

"You're still missing one."

"What?"

"Someone to keep an eye on you, so you don't go thinking you've prepared everything again."

Su Hang poured the chopped meat into the pot.

"Fine. Teammate supervision counts as one too."

Luffy laughed.

"So someone has to watch you whenever you go into the sea from now on."

"I won't voluntarily go into the sea again."

"A rubber man afraid of bathing."

"Cheats might change your fate, but seawater can still teach you a lesson. I admit it this time."

Makino returned from the front hall with several tide charts in her arms.

"The villagers are already heading for the Hunting Trail. The elderly and children left first, while those who can carry weapons are staying behind."

Su Hang took the tide charts and looked only at South Beach and the eastern reef cove.

"Low tide is half an hour earlier than I calculated."

"You calculated the tides?"

"I checked the watermarks on the reefs before going into the sea. I calculated wrong."

"There was a problem with the rope too."

"The hemp rope from the warehouse had been soaked in seawater. You couldn't tell from the outside, but it had already become brittle inside."

Luffy sat by the stove and sniffed.

"Is the meat rice ready?"

"Wait a little longer."

"Don't use food to dodge the question."

Su Hang covered the pot.

"A backup boat, double lifelines, teammate supervision. From now on, I won't conduct high-risk tests if even one of those is missing."

Dadan grabbed the wooden ladle.

"Now that sounds like something a human would say."

The lid came off, and the scent of meat drifted through the broken wall.

Luffy hugged a bowl and squatted beside the stove. The moment he scooped out his first spoonful, Su Hang snatched it away.

"Dadan first."

"I saved you too!"

"You have hands. Serve yourself."

"My hands are hurt."

"Didn't look that way when you were grabbing for the ladle."

Makino took the bowl and placed it before Dadan first.

"Su Hang, you should eat too."

"My lungs still hurt. I can't eat much."

Luffy stuffed his mouth full of meat rice.

"You almost became the first rubber man to drown himself."

"There must have been someone stupider than me in history."

"But I've never seen one."

"Then you learned something new today."

The cannon fire in the distance stopped for a while, but the Red-Haired Pirates' flag still blocked the Clearance Ship.

Dadan stood after finishing half a bowl.

"I'll guard the back of the Hunting Trail. Luffy goes with Makino."

"I'll stay and help Su Hang."

"He can barely walk. What can you do by staying?"

"I can carry him."

Su Hang packed the remaining meat rice into a wooden bucket.

"I don't need to be carried. Go evacuate with Makino, and bring this bucket of food to the village children while you're at it."

"Then where are you going?"

"South Beach. I'm checking whether there are landing boats."

"You just drowned there!"

"I'm not going into the water this time. I'm only looking along the shore."

Makino grabbed Su Hang's wrist.

"You promised to have a teammate supervising you."

"That's why Dadan is coming with me."

Dadan set down her bowl.

"When did I agree to that?"

"Do you want someone who just nearly drowned to go to the shore alone?"

"Don't use yourself to threaten me."

Luffy picked up the bucket of meat rice.

"I'll come back after delivering the food."

"Go straight into the mountains with the villagers."

"I know the way."

"Higuma hasn't been caught yet. Don't go alone."

"He ran off long ago."

Su Hang looked toward the tavern's back door.

After Higuma used Lia to block the blade and fled into the northern village lane, Benns led everyone up North Cliff. There had been no definite news that the bandit had ever left Foosha Village.

"Makino, take Luffy down the front street. Don't go past the warehouse."

"Higuma will come back?"

"The tavern is unattended. The bandit won't pass up the money and food."

Dadan hefted her short blade.

"I'll search for him."

"Don't split up. Get the villagers evacuated first."

Cannon fire rang out again, and dust from the window frame fell into an empty bowl.

Makino took Luffy out of the tavern and hurried along the front street toward the well.

They had just passed two wooden houses when a lasso dropped from a rooftop, cinching around Luffy's arms and dragging him into the nearby storehouse.

A wooden barrel crashed down, scattering meat and rice across the floor.

Makino spun around to pursue him, but a short blade flew out from behind the storehouse door and sank into the boards at her feet.

Higuma jumped out through the back window, Luffy tucked under his left arm, a blade pressed against the boy's shoulder.

"Don't come any closer!"

"Let him go!"

"Red-Hair's people ruined my reputation, and that outsider wrecked my business. I've got to get something back!"

Luffy twisted his body.

"Didn't Shanks punch you away?"

"Shut up!"

"Even if you take me, you still can't beat him."

"I'm not fighting him."

Higuma dragged Luffy into an alley and retreated toward South Beach.

Makino did not chase after him into blade range. She only picked up the fallen straw hat, then turned and rushed back to the tavern.

Su Hang had just stepped out of the back kitchen when he saw the straw hat in her hand.

"Where's Luffy?"

"Higuma took him. He went toward South Beach."

Dadan drew her short blade.

"I'll kill that bastard."

An empty wine bottle rolled in from the street corner, its body tied with a bloodstained strip of cloth.

Su Hang picked up the cloth strip and saw a crooked line of writing on it.

"Tell Red-Hair that if he wants this brat alive, he comes to the beach alone."