Rise, Rise, Rise
Everyone was uneasy, afraid.
Leo jumped onto a nearby crate and shouted, "How many years has Arlong ruled over you? Can anyone answer me?"
"Five years. Arlong has ruled here for five years," Arlong said blandly as he stood beside Leo.
He had also seen the two Marine officers draped in capes of justice, but he was a worldly man. Noticing the handcuffs on their wrists, he could tell they clearly were not with this group.
So he neither cried out nor said anything about the Marines having come to help. He merely stated the facts.
"How much money have you spent buying your lives from Arlong?"
Leo shouted.
The faces of everyone in the village darkened.
"Adults paid a hundred thousand, children paid fifty thousand, every month..." Arlong's low voice continued beside Leo. "We've paid for a full five years..."
"Hey, then you're pretty rich." Ace picked his nose beside them. Just like his grandfather, though it was a little disgusting, he casually pointed out the heart of the matter.
If adults paid a hundred thousand and children fifty thousand, then a family of three paid two hundred and fifty thousand a month. There were around a hundred people here, more or less, which meant they paid at least seven hundred thousand every month. This was not the Grand Line—this was merely a small village in the East Blue, and oranges could not be harvested every month.
Seven hundred thousand a month meant 8.4 million a year. Over five years, that was 42 million Beli. Arlong's bounty was only 20 million—enough to buy the heads of two Arlongs.
His words made the faces of everyone in Cocoyasi Village turn even uglier.
Clearly, he had struck a sore spot.
"Ah, is that so? I think I understand