Pirates

"Li Ziming, one fried rice and a beer over here!" a villager at one table shouted.

"Coming." Li Ziming first poured him a beer, then headed into the kitchen to make the fried rice.

"You can't manage all this by yourself. Why not find a few more people to help?" some villagers suggested to Li Ziming.

"I did look." Li Ziming came out carrying the fried rice and smiled. "But most people are busy with things at home right now. It isn't the busy season either, so it's just me here."

"That's true. If it weren't for the one at home... haha." Seeming to realize he had misspoken, the villager laughed it off.

Li Ziming smiled faintly. He had little interest in prying into other people's affairs. He refilled the man's cup. "This one's on me."

"Ha, thanks." The villager looked at Li Ziming kindly.

"Bad news! Bad news! Pirates are here!" The sudden shout made Li Ziming pause. "Pirates?"

"Hurry and get ready! Be careful!" The villager did not even finish the beer in his cup before getting up and rushing outside.

"Get ready?" Li Ziming put away the drinkware. "How was I supposed to prepare for something like this?"

A vicious-looking man stood on the dock. A scar ran from the corner of his left eye to the corner of his mouth, and he brandished a blade viciously through the air. "Listen up! I'm Scar Bill, a great pirate with a bounty of fifty thousand! You lot, bring all the valuables on this island to me right now!"

"Yo-ho!" Bill's underlings raised their own blades and waved them around to bolster their momentum.

"Lord Pirate, our village is very poor. We do not have many valuables." Asher stepped tremblingly out of the crowd.

"You're the village chief?" Bill narrowed his eyes at Asher, then suddenly brought his blade down.

"Chief!" The villagers clenched their fists tightly.

"Don't get worked up!" Asher endured the pain in his chest. "Lord Pirate, this old man's life is worthless. Take it if you want, but please, do not harm this old man's villagers."

"Haha, you old thing are kind of interesting." Bill laughed arrogantly. "Since you know what's good for you, I won't slaughter everyone. Hurry up and prepare money for me! Oh, right, is there a decent tavern around here? I want to have a good drink with my men!"

The villagers instinctively looked toward Li Ziming.

"So it's you, kid?" Bill walked over to Li Ziming.

Li Ziming nodded. "If you mean a bar, I do run one. I just don't know whether the drinks there will suit your taste."

"That's fine." Bill laughed loudly and pressed his blade against Li Ziming's neck. "If we aren't satisfied, I'll kill you!"

"Ziming!" Asher shouted anxiously.

Li Ziming gestured behind his back, signaling him not to worry. "Don't worry, Chief. I'm quite confident in my drinks."

"Interesting kid. Then let's see what your liquor is really like." Bill waved a hand. "Move out, boys! We're going drinking!"

"Yo!" Bill's subordinates cheered.

Li Ziming then led Bill and his men toward his bar.

After all the pirates had left, someone finally stepped forward.

"Chief, are you all right?" a villager asked timidly.

"You people... how could you do that to Ziming?" Asher said angrily.

"This has nothing to do with us. Besides, Li Ziming wasn't originally from our village. Maybe he was the one who brought those pirates here," someone muttered resentfully.

"You... you people!" Asher clutched his wound, looking furious. But seeing that all the villagers were like this, he could only sigh helplessly. "But Ziming, that child... that child... sigh..."

"Kid, bring out the booze and food already! If you're even a little late, you can forget about keeping your head!" Bill slammed his blade straight into the table.

"Yes, yes..." Li Ziming first served them beer, then began working in the kitchen.

"Tch, this beer tastes pretty good. When we leave, take all the alcohol in this bar with us!" Bill said smugly.

"No problem, Boss!" Bill's underlings answered in unison.

"But this is so boring. Hey, you, go into the village and bring back a few girls. Let's have some fun together!" Bill laughed wildly.

Several underlings' eyes lit up at once. This was a fine assignment. If they found pretty ones, could they take a little advantage? And if the girls' families refused, could they make some extra profit? Quite a few of them rushed to take the job.

Bill clearly understood what his underlings were thinking. But as the boss, he took the biggest share; letting his men get a little profit was only proper. So not only did he fail to stop those scrambling for the task, he sent out everyone who wanted to go. There were not many of them, only five or six.

"Lord Pirate..." Asher was wrapped in bandages, with several villagers following behind him and carrying box after box in their hands.

"These are all the possessions of our village." Asher coughed twice, clearly looking unwell.

"Mm, put them down." Bill spoke indifferently, seeming to have no intention of leaving.

"Um, Lord Pirate, do you have any other demands?" Asher looked at him, wishing desperately that he would leave at once.

"What, do I need to report everything I do to you?" Bill glared viciously at Asher.

"No, no." Asher hurriedly forced a smile and did not dare say another word.

"Boss, we've brought the women!" An underling grinned proudly, accompanied by women's cries and screams.

"Sir, didn't you say you wouldn't harm the other villagers as long as we handed over our money?" Asher was so agitated that he even grabbed Bill's arm.

Splurt! Bill cut Asher down with one slash and sneered. "Idiot. You actually believed a pirate's words? Are you some underage brat?"

"Damn it!" Alto suddenly appeared at the entrance, scraps of rope still hanging from his body. He had apparently broken free from his bindings and rushed out.

"You damned pirates!" Alto raised his blade and swung furiously at Bill.

"Oh, interesting." Bill smiled, his grin incomparably savage. "None of you move. Let me teach this brat how to behave!"

"No!" Though he had already fallen to the ground, the village chief's eyes were splitting with rage.

Splurt! Bill slashed Alto across the body. Scarlet blood splattered over him, making Bill look even more savage.

Alto fell to the ground and looked unwillingly toward Li Ziming, as though asking why he would not act. He clearly possessed the power of a Devil Fruit, so why would he not act? Alto's eyes gradually filled with disappointment in Li Ziming.

Li Ziming sighed. To be honest, even when the villagers had pushed him out, he had not felt much. After all, it was not only the villagers who had never considered him family; in his heart, Li Ziming had never truly integrated himself into this village, or even into this world. Yet faced with Alto's disappointed gaze now, he could not bear it.

"What's wrong, kid? Want a slash too?" Bill waved his blade in front of Li Ziming, seeming to consider where he should cut first.

"Truly foolish..." Li Ziming snapped his fingers, and every pirate clutched his stomach and collapsed, vomiting blood.

"It would have been better if you had simply taken the treasure and left. At least then you would not have lost your lives over this. Why insist on doing unnecessary things? Let your lives serve as the price of a lesson. Thank you for your patronage." As Li Ziming finished speaking, explosions erupted in every pirate's stomach, and the stench of blood instantly filled the entire space.

"Sigh, this is going to take a long time to clean up." Li Ziming said helplessly.

"What happened?" At last, a villager who could no longer suppress his curiosity came inside. Seeing the corpses scattered across the floor, he immediately screamed.

"All right, the pirates are all dead. The chief and Alto are injured, so help deal with them..." Li Ziming said helplessly.

The villager took a step back, then looked at Li Ziming in terror. The look in his eyes afterward turned into hatred.

After glaring fiercely at Li Ziming, the villager hurried outside to find several people to carry Asher and Alto away. After that, no one paid any attention to Li Ziming's establishment.

Li Ziming could only shrug. "Looks like the distance between me and the villagers has grown even wider..."