Duel

"William, you carve the meat. You, what's your name..." Leo pointed at the tall, skinny man and asked.

He hurriedly bent at the waist and lowered his head respectfully. "My name is Wood. 'Long-armed' Wood."

Leo glanced at him. His arms were indeed long—far longer than his legs. Back in his hometown, his skinny, elongated frame might indeed have earned him the nickname "Long-armed," but on the Grand Line, especially in the latter half where members of the Longleg Tribe and Longarm Tribe appeared, that nickname would seem downright ridiculous.

Of course, with their current setup, they would be finished after two or three islands at most. They generally would not even make it to the latter half of the Grand Line.

"Wood, saw the bread," Leo ordered.

"Yes," Wood replied obediently and respectfully, picking up a small saw and beginning to saw through the bread.

That was right—saw it. The bread was all made from coarse grains, and its crust had been deliberately baked hard to preserve it. It looked blackened on the outside and had to be sawn in half before it could be eaten.

Even then, not everyone received a full loaf. Most people only got half a loaf along with a tiny bit of salted meat.

But this time, Leo was in charge of handing out the bread.

There was only one thing he intended to do: be fair.

In truth, most people in this world knew that there was no fairness in the world—no absolute fairness. Leo understood that as well.

But in a small setting, especially now with so few people, he could achieve relative fairness.

For example, when it came to food portions and rum.

The pirates formed a crooked line. The deck was not long enough, so the line even stretched to the stern, but they were all looking forward to it.

At sea, no one could hope for hot soup or hot meals. The Straw Hat Pirates were freaks among freaks. Most pirates were lucky to have meat at all; most of the time, they simply gnawed on dry bread.

After entering the Calm Belt, no one had much confidence that they would get out alive. Captain William had even imposed rationing, which meant that everyone's food and water had been cut in half. The lower-ranking pirates received even less.

Being able to eat meat and drink rum now was enough to satisfy them completely.

Leo stood atop the third table, handing out rum.

He pulled the cork from every bottle, making sure they drank it immediately instead of hiding it somewhere or having it stolen by someone else.

On a pirate ship with more than a hundred people, management was a profound art. Most pirate captains instinctively learned how to manage their crew, even stirring up conflict among them to profit from it. Some more foolish captains personally got involved, turning their crews into a mess of contradictions. Once every conflict was directed at them, they could only leave the pirate crew or be killed.

Of course, in the world of One Piece, brutal pirate captains attracted equally brutal pirates, such as East Blue Admiral Krieg's subordinates. It was a process of assimilation from top to bottom, because anyone whose values did not align with theirs would be excluded—either leaving on their own, dying in battle, or being executed by their own comrades.

In the end, only a group of like-minded people remained.

Leo knew what kind of people they were. These second-rate pirates had tasted violence, and it would be difficult to root it out of them. But discipline existed precisely to restrain violence.

When they took the rum from Leo's hands, there was neither thanks nor gratitude in their eyes. Every gaze was fixed on Rindou behind him.

Rindou was dressed boldly, with the wildness unique to female pirates. Wearing vivid red lipstick, she had a cigarette between her lips and an open jacket with nothing beneath it, as though a few more glances might reveal something that should not be seen. She wore only a short sheepskin skirt that covered her front and back, and it was hard to tell whether she wore anything underneath. Her long legs, clad in black garter stockings, constantly drew the eyes of the pirates, who had been pent up to the point of madness.

Moreover, among the Kuja Pirates, her height was unusually normal—around five foot seven, perfectly suited to most people's tastes and standards of beauty.

Though she carried a cannon, she had not made a move earlier. With a cigarette in her mouth, she looked utterly unconcerned. If the pirates had not feared the Kuja Pirates' retaliation afterward, they likely would have dragged Rindou into the cabin long ago and done unspeakable things to her.

Although Rindou knew what they were thinking, and even knew what they would do to her, she remained indifferent. She knew how cruel these pirates were to the weak, which was why the Kuja Pirates were equally cruel to pirates.

She was still considering the management method Leo had mentioned.

She decided to watch carefully and see whether Leo could truly tame this pack of trash.

If he really could...

Her gaze slowly shifted from the distant horizon and focused on the man handing out rum. Perhaps he...

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Leo suddenly stood on a table and shouted, "All right, boys, now that you're all full, does anyone want to get moving?"

"How do you want to get moving?" The well-fed pirates lounged lazily in the shade, avoiding the scorching sun. Few were willing to respond, but some bold pirates, bored enough to grow moss, jeered and asked.

"I've been training lately and need an evenly matched opponent. One of you, send out the weakest one to fight me." Leo took off his coat, revealing his well-proportioned upper body as he spoke.

He had never neglected his training, but as an Earthling, his physical qualities were simply inferior to those of the people in this world. Sometimes, the difference was obvious in the simplest things—among the Celestial Dragons' slaves, even women could easily lift a table, while men of all kinds of races could crush him with a single pinky finger.

But those were the people around the Celestial Dragons. As fighters who only appeared in the middle and later stages, they could already be considered mid-tier combatants.

Later, everyone he encountered on Amazon Lily Island had the basics of Haki and was high-level combat power. Naturally, he could not go looking to humiliate himself.

But these ordinary pirates were the best representation of pirates' average level and combat strength.

Now, he was extremely curious about just how large the gap was between himself and the "fodder" among these pirates.

After a few seconds of silence across the ship, booming laughter suddenly erupted.

"He said he wants the weakest one!"

"Hahaha... Is he really that lacking in ambition?"

"This guy knows himself pretty well!"

"Hahahaha, Todd, you go!"

"N-no, don't joke around. I'm not the weakest..."