The Wooden Crate at Red-Hair's Feet

"Gum-Gum Fruit? Let me see!"

Luffy lunged at the wooden crate.

Lucky Roux hooked it with his foot, and the crate slid half a meter across the floor.

Luffy missed and slammed his forehead into a table leg.

"Ow!"

"If you break it, you can't afford to pay for it."

Lucky Roux bit into his meat and planted his foot on the corner of the crate again.

Luffy climbed up while clutching his forehead.

"Will I really turn into a rubber man if I eat it?"

"You'll turn into a landlubber."

Shanks raised his glass.

"If you fall into the sea from now on, you'll only sink to the bottom."

"I couldn't swim to begin with!"

"Then you should stay even farther away from it."

Everyone laughed again.

Su Hang lowered his head and drank his soup without approaching the crate.

Lucky Roux appeared casual, but his right foot remained hooked around the crate's corner.

Whenever anyone walked past, he positioned himself between them and the crate.

Shanks sat a little farther away, yet he could clearly see every exit of the tavern.

There were no gaps in their guard.

Trying to snatch it by force would only get him killed quickly.

Makino cleared away the empty plates.

"Are you full?"

"That's enough."

Su Hang got to his feet and hoisted the two wine barrels by the door onto his shoulders.

"Where's the cellar?"

"Under the stairs in the back. Carry them one at a time, and don't aggravate your wound."

"This injury won't stop me from working."

Luffy ran over and circled the barrels once.

"You really don't have anywhere to live?"

"No."

"What about your family?"

"They aren't in this world."

Luffy scratched his head, not understanding.

Makino, however, stopped wiping her glass.

"There's still a storage room upstairs. If you don't mind it being small, you can stay there for a couple of days."

Su Hang carried the barrels into the cellar.

"I'll work to pay for my lodging."

"You don't have to keep such close accounts."

"I don't like owing people favors."

Leaning against the bar, Shanks suddenly spoke.

"You won't even say where you came from, but you've got quite the principles."

Su Hang turned back.

"I woke up on the beach and can't remember what happened before that. Is that answer enough?"

"Amnesia?"

"You can believe it or not."

"Interesting."

Shanks raised his glass, hiding half his face behind it.

"Most people with amnesia wouldn't recognize a pirate flag at a glance."

"I haven't forgotten common sense."

"What's your name?"

"Su Hang."

Shanks repeated it, as though confirming the pronunciation.

"Never heard of it."

"You will."

Lucky Roux stopped chewing and glanced at Su Hang.

Shanks, however, laughed.

"Your mouth is bigger than the waves."

"At least I wasn't beaten to death by them."

Su Hang turned around and continued moving the wine.

That was the perfect place to stop.

One more explanation could expose a flaw.

Over the next half hour, he went back and forth between the cellar and the entrance without doing anything out of the ordinary.

Whenever he turned, his gaze lightly swept over the wooden crate.

Every so often, Lucky Roux would crouch down and press his thumb over the clasp.

During the third inspection, he lifted the lock plate for a look, confirming that the hidden catch inside had not come loose.

Shanks never touched the crate.

But whenever Luffy got close, Shanks lowered his wineglass.

This fruit had just been seized from the World Government. Normally, it should have been hidden in a ship's cabin and guarded closely.

Yet now, it sat within Luffy's reach.

Like bait.

And like some kind of test.

Luffy crept over to the crate again.

"Just one look."

"That's what you said last time."

Lucky Roux pushed the crate to the other side.

"I promise I won't eat it."

"Your promises only work when it comes to meat."

"That's a lie! I keep my word about meat too!"

"Then put down the meat in your hand first."

Luffy looked down and saw the roasted meat he had somehow swiped, then turned and ran.

"This doesn't count!"

Laughter broke out.

But Su Hang saw Shanks's fingers leave the rim of his glass and relax again.

Red-Hair was waiting for Luffy to make a choice.

In the original timeline, Luffy would impulsively eat the fruit.

But now, causality had yet to close. The crate still belonged to the spoils contested between the World Government and the Red-Haired Pirates.

This was an opportunity.

And a line of death.

After carrying in the last wine barrel, Su Hang picked up a rag and began cleaning the tables near the door.

He couldn't head straight for the crate.

He especially couldn't show any interest in it.

After wiping three tables, Su Hang reached Lucky Roux's side.

"Lift your foot."

"Hm?"

"The floor's covered in grease."

Lucky Roux glanced down and shifted aside while stepping on the crate.

"New guy, you've got some nerve. You dare order a pirate around?"

"If you slip, fall, and break the crate, you're responsible."

"Me, slip?"

"Drunk people always think they're steady on their feet."

A few people around them started egging him on.

Lucky Roux grinned. He wasn't angry, though, and simply lifted the crate onto the tabletop.

Su Hang wiped the floor, then moved on to the table legs.

As he rose, his shoulder lightly bumped the table's edge.

The wineglass wobbled.

"Careful!"

Lucky Roux reached out to steady the glass.

At the same time, Su Hang pressed down on the crate to keep it from sliding off the other side.

The contact lasted only half a breath.

An icy notification appeared.

"Target confirmed."

"Zoan-type Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Nika Form."

"Current disguised name: Paramecia-type Gum-Gum Fruit."

"Causal ownership: World Government."

"Temporary holder: Red-Haired Pirates."

"Designated recipient: Monkey D. Luffy."

"Fate loop completion: twelve percent."

Su Hang released his hand.

Lucky Roux steadied the wineglass and casually pulled the crate back into his arms.

"If this thing really falls, you couldn't pay for it even if you worked for a year."

"Then you should keep a better eye on it."

Su Hang walked away with the rag, but his heartbeat was quickening.

It was confirmed.

The thing inside the crate was the Nika Fruit.

The system would not merge with it directly, nor would it retrieve it from afar.

To obtain its power, he had to personally change the fruit's ownership.

Just then, a faint sound came from outside the window.

Like a fish basket bumping against a wall.

Su Hang turned his head.

A fisherman in a straw hat crouched beneath the window, sorting through a fishing net. But his fingers never touched the knots.

A stub of charcoal was hidden in his palm, sketching the tavern's doors, windows, and the crate's location onto fish skin.

After drawing the final stroke, the man looked up.

Their gazes met through the gap in the window.

The fisherman's expression did not change. He put away the fish skin and headed for the harbor.

Shanks was still smiling, but his wineglass tilted slightly toward the window.

He had noticed too.

Su Hang tightened his grip on the rag, then loosened it.

The government's spy had followed them to Windmill Village.

Red-Hair had not captured him, which meant the fisherman was only a smaller piece of a larger target.

Both the pirates and the World Government were waiting for the other side to expose a weakness first.

Once the pursuit began, the entire village would descend into chaos.

That would be the only chance to take the crate from Red-Hair.

The system interface was stained with a glaring red light.

"Key causality collision detected."

"Interception conditions generated."

"The host must personally change the Nika Fruit's ownership and seize the target before the designated recipient completes the fate loop."

"If the mission fails, the fruit will enter the world's correction trajectory."

Outside the window, the fisherman vanished around the street corner.

Shanks set down his wineglass and lost his smile for the first time.

At the same moment, a countdown appeared before Su Hang's eyes.

Twenty-three hours, fifty-nine minutes, fifty-nine seconds.

"The first interception mission has been issued. Time limit: twenty-four hours."