Mountain Bandits Burst In, Government Spy Draws His Gun

"Where's the liquor? Woman, bring out everything you've got!"

Higuma kicked the wooden door open.

The door slammed into the wall as seven mountain bandits surged into the tavern, shortswords and muskets aimed at the bar.

Shanks remained in his seat, raising his half-full cup.

"You're late. We're closed for the day."

Higuma drew the long blade at his waist and kicked over a barrel blocking his path.

"My bounty's eight million Beli. Do I need to pick a day just to drink a few barrels of your booze?"

"Eight million? That is quite a lot."

"Now you're scared?"

"Enough to buy quite a bit of meat."

Lucky Roux gnawed on a piece of meat, one foot planted on the iron chain.

His body blocked the western window.

Higuma raised his blade and pointed it at the wooden chest.

"Leave the liquor, leave the money, leave the chest too, then get the hell back to your ship."

Shanks touched his empty cup.

"You can't have the chest."

"A lousy wooden box is worth more than your lives?"

"What's inside isn't suitable for you."

"Once I take it, I'll decide whether it suits me or not!"

His blade chopped into the table's corner, sending wood chips into the cup.

Shanks remained seated.

Su Hang stood beside the kitchen door, peering toward the back entrance through a gap in the bar.

The door bolt was sliding upward.

Once.

Twice.

Benns had arrived.

Higuma grabbed Shanks by the collar and poured the half cup of liquor over his red hair.

"That's all the guts pirates have? Too scared to even fart?"

Luffy charged down from the stairs.

"Let go of Shanks!"

Su Hang threw out an arm to stop him.

"Did you send the kids away?"

"They're all home! Let me through!"

"If you go over there now, you'll only get cut."

"He's bullying Shanks!"

"Shanks hasn't said a word. He doesn't need you standing up for him."

Higuma turned and spotted Luffy, grinning to reveal yellowed teeth.

"So there's a little brat too. Come bow to me, and I'll reward you with a sip of liquor."

"I'm not drinking your liquor!"

"Then get the hell out of here!"

Luffy tried to rush forward again.

Su Hang hooked a wooden stool by the stairs with his foot, blocking the way.

Shanks wiped the liquor from his face.

"Higuma, the kid doesn't know any better. Don't hold it against him."

"You telling me what to do?"

"I just want to finish this cup."

"The cup's already empty. Go drink piss!"

Higuma punched the cup over.

Several mountain bandits burst into laughter.

The back door opened a crack half a palm wide.

Benns slipped into the kitchen along the doorframe, his gun barrel aimed over the wooden barrels at the iron chain's clasp.

Su Hang took the oil lamp off the stove.

Luffy tugged at the hem of his clothes.

"What are you taking the lamp for?"

"When the smoke starts, crouch down and don't move."

"You're going to set a fire?"

"I'm not going to burn down Makino's tavern."

"Then what are you doing?"

"Showing the people trying to steal the chest the way."

Su Hang smashed the glass cover with the lamp base.

Lamp oil spilled into the iron ash basin beside the stove, and flames crawled half a foot up its rim.

A damp cloth came down over it, but the fire was not completely extinguished.

Black smoke reeking of oil slipped out of the kitchen.

"Fire!"

One of the mountain bandits turned and shouted.

Higuma slapped his blade onto the tabletop.

"What are you panicking for? Go check the back!"

Two mountain bandits went around the bar.

The smoke obscured the back door, as well as half of Benns's body.

Shanks set down his cup.

"Roux, guard the window."

"I've been guarding it."

"Yasopp, watch the kid."

"Does the one by the door count as a kid?"

"He's eighteen. Not really."

Hearing that, Su Hang kicked the ash basin into the stove.

The damp cloth continued covering the lamp oil.

The fire would not spread, but the smoke grew thicker and thicker.

Higuma covered his mouth and nose.

"Red-Hair, are you trying to burn the chest?"

"This wasn't my doing."

"Quit playing dumb. Cut the chain for me!"

A mountain bandit swung his blade at a table leg. Lucky Roux flicked his foot, and the blade scraped past the chain before burying itself in the floor.

"Your sword isn't good enough."

"Fat pig, you're courting death!"

The bandit drew his blade and struck again.

Lucky Roux dragged the wooden chest behind a chair.

A gunshot rang out from the kitchen.

The bullet tore through the smoke and snapped the copper ring connecting the chain to the table leg.

The chest slid two feet across the floor.

"Who fired that shot?"

Higuma spun around and swung his blade. Benns leaned half his body out from behind the bar, his second shot aimed at the chest's lock.

"World Government business! Everyone stand back!"

"Government men?"

Higuma recognized the copper clasp, and the flesh on his face twitched twice.

"You said the chest was mine!"

"I said the liquor and money were yours."

"You used me as bait?"

"An eight-million bounty head isn't worth even a scrap of this fruit's skin."

"Kill him!"

Two mountain bandits turned their guns toward Benns.

Benns ducked behind the bar.

Bullets punched through the liquor barrels, and alcohol streamed across the wooden floor.

Shanks shifted his body aside, avoiding the flying wood chips.

"The World Government really is on our trail."

Benns shouted from behind the bar.

"Red-Hair, hand over the chest, and you can still leave with your crew!"

"If I hand it over, will you let the villagers go?"

"They've never seen the fruit. The Government won't make things difficult for them."

"You've been mapping the doors and windows in this village for three days. That doesn't make your words very convincing."

Benns did not answer.

His gun barrel emerged from between the liquor barrels, and the third shot struck the chest's lock.

The copper plate sprang up.

Luffy saw the chest break free from the chain and shoved aside the stool in his way.

"That belongs to Shanks!"

"Come back!"

Su Hang reached for Luffy's collar.

Luffy ducked beneath his arm and lunged from the edge of the long table toward the chest.

Benns raised his gun and turned it toward him.

"You troublesome brat, get out of the way!"

He pulled the trigger.

Su Hang lifted the long table with both hands, and the heavy tabletop crashed down sideways.

The bullet pierced the tabletop, flew out through its edge, and embedded itself in the eastern wall.

Luffy was knocked down by a table leg, his straw hat rolling beside the chest.

"My hat!"

"Stay down!"

"The chest is over there too!"

Su Hang stepped on the overturned table's support leg and vaulted over the tabletop.

He kicked the bottom of the chest.

The chest slid past Luffy's fingers and slammed into the dead corner between the eastern liquor cabinet and the wall.

Just as Lucky Roux was about to move, three mountain bandits lunged at him together.

"Fat pig, the chest is ours!"

"You really know how to pick your targets."

Lucky Roux grabbed an entire chair and swept it sideways.

The wooden legs struck the bandits in the chest, driving all three of them back toward the entrance.

Higuma swung his blade at Shanks's neck.

"Everybody stop! Whoever moves, I'll kill Red-Hair!"

Shanks raised a hand and caught the back of the blade between two fingers.

"This blade is too dull."

Higuma used both hands, but the blade would not press down another inch.

"Y-you, just now..."

"I just want to finish this cup."

"That chest already smashed the liquor cabinet!"

Luffy shouted from the floor.

Shanks looked toward the eastern side.

The wooden chest was wedged behind the liquor cabinet, its raised copper lock dangling from half a length of iron chain.

Benns vaulted over the bar.

"Move!"

Su Hang pressed a hand on Luffy's shoulder and dragged him back behind the long table.

"Don't stop me!"

"There's a gun over there."

"He's trying to take the box!"

"Shanks will handle it."

"But the box has already fallen into the corner!"

"If you go over now, you'll only block bullets for Benns."

Smoke gathered toward the ceiling.

In the eastern blind spot, only one brass corner of the wooden box remained exposed.

Benns edged forward along the barrels, his gun trained on the box lid the entire time.

Luffy gritted his teeth, braced a hand against the floor, and prepared to go around beneath the table.

When Su Hang saw this, he let go of the hand holding him down.

"You're not stopping me?"

"If you want the box, go from the right."

"Why?"

"The left is under Benns's gun."

Luffy did not ask further. Keeping close to the right side of the long table, he crawled toward the liquor cabinet.

Su Hang stepped on the liquor that had spilled across the floor and shoved an overturned barrel toward the east.

The barrel came to a stop in front of the wooden box, forming a sloping curved surface.

The Den Den Mushi in Benns's arms suddenly opened its mouth.

A hoarse shout rang through the entire tavern.

"Benns, the fruit must be sent out of Windmill Village tonight!"