Qiangbalu

Several pirate lackeys had been left behind on the pirate ship. Van could not be bothered to question them and simply killed them.

Upon entering the town, he unexpectedly found that the situation was not as bad as he had imagined.

A burly man over seven meters tall was fighting the pirates with a huge iron shovel. Several people had already been smashed bloody and unconscious, lying motionless on the ground.

However, he had nothing but brute strength and could not withstand gunfire. He was wounded as well.

With a build like that, could he have blood from some special race? And he looks familiar, like I've seen him somewhere before...

Van racked his brain over the original plot, and after a moment, he finally remembered the burly man before him.

He was the slave Law had rescued at the Sabaody Archipelago, the one who later joined the Heart Pirates.

"Captain, someone's here. He doesn't look like he's from the island."

"What are you afraid of? Kill this guy first. The treasure here is all ours. Anyone who dares to take it gets killed too."

Some pirates noticed Van and warned their captain, but he did not take it seriously.

ROOM!

Van spread out an Operation Room and took control of the battlefield. The bodies of both sides were cut apart, turning them all into "cripples."

"Captain, your body... No, why am I split apart too?"

"Y-you bastard, who are you? What did you do to me?"

"I remember now. He's Van, the one the Underworld calls the Ghost Surgeon."

"The Donquixote Family is offering 200 million Beli, and the Marines are offering 80 million. Too bad they both want him alive, so we can't collect both bounties."

"Two hundred million is already enough. As long as we capture him..."

By the end of the discussion, these pirates were actually thinking about the bounty, having completely forgotten their own predicament.

Van frowned and raised a hand, pulling over the pirate who had mentioned the Ghost Surgeon.

"Who came up with that title?"

"I only heard it from other people. I don't know anything." The pirate's face was filled with terror. "I surrender! Don't kill me!"

Not killing those who surrendered was an unspoken rule that most pirates followed. Unfortunately, Van was an outsider and had no intention of observing it.

He treated the burly man's wounds, reassembled his body, and then dispelled the Operation Room.

All the pirates remained in pieces. Some tried to crawl away, but the burly man quickly stopped them.

Only he dared to stand up and block them. The other residents still looked terrified, shrinking back and not daring to approach.

Because the pirates had exposed Van's identity, they saw him as an even more terrifying figure than ordinary pirates.

"I'm here to buy things. Deal with the pirates yourselves."

Van could not be bothered to argue and headed toward the center of town.

Besides daily necessities, he also wanted to buy a few suitable sets of women's clothing. He did not know whether this place had any.

"Qiangbalu, what should we do now?"

An old man walked up to the burly man and pointed at Van's departing figure. "That man didn't seem hostile just now," he said quietly.

"Letting them go could invite retaliation." Qiangbalu's face turned cold. "It would be best to kill them."

"Uh... we'll do as you say." The old man sighed. "It's a pity none of them have bounties. Otherwise, we could hand them over to the Marines and use the reward money to make up for the town's losses."

Qiangbalu felt that the old man was being a little greedy. Helplessly, he said, "Only a few things were damaged. It's already fortunate that no one died. Hurry and gather people to bury these guys in the back hills."

Hearing that, the old man instantly grew nervous and hurriedly asked, "What are you going to do?"

"If that man hadn't helped, these pirates would not have spared the town so easily. We can't neglect our benefactor, can we?"

With that, Qiangbalu ignored the old man and quickly chased after Van.

Before long, he stopped outside a women's clothing store and silently watched Van haggle with the shopkeeper inside.

Most goods on this island were made by the residents themselves. Imported products were rare, and expensive luxury goods were almost nonexistent.

He truly could not understand why a major figure famous throughout the North Blue like Van would bicker with an ordinary person over a few thousand Beli.

Why? Because he was poor, of course!

The money Van had on him had been taken from Swallow Island. During the several raids afterward, he had left in too much of a hurry to search for loot.

Now, his money was almost gone. He had to increase income and cut expenses.

"Lord Van... thank you for your help. My name is Qiangbalu, and I'm sort of the town's sheriff."

Qiangbalu stopped Van as he emerged from the women's clothing store carrying bags, introducing himself somewhat nervously.

"Do you need something?" Van raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't come here just to buy these things, did you?" Qiangbalu added. "If you need anything else, please tell us. We'll do everything we can to provide it."

Van stared at him for a while, then suddenly smiled. "I need enough supplies for ten people to sail for a month. Can you manage that?"

"No problem!" Qiangbalu thumped his chest in assurance. "I'll personally deliver it to your ship in half an hour!"

Van nodded. "Tell me how much it costs, and I'll pay you later."

"No, no!" Qiangbalu hurriedly waved his hands. "These things are nothing compared to your kindness. We absolutely cannot accept money!"

"That would be too embarrassing." Van's smile widened.

"It's only right. I'll go prepare them now. You can wait on your ship."

Qiangbalu left after saying that, giving Van no chance to refuse.

"Such an honest fellow. Why did he become a pirate later on?"

Van shook his head and returned to the transport ship, still puzzled.

"Sir, there wasn't anything valuable on the pirate ships. We only found a little over 800,000 Beli, along with enough food to last us two days."

After hearing the miners' report, Van pondered for a moment and asked, "Do you think these two pirate ships could be sold to the islanders?"

He understood how poor ordinary pirates were. The most valuable thing their entire crew usually possessed was the pirate ship itself.

Though the two ships before them looked battered, they were still serviceable pirate ships. Selling them for a few million would not be a problem.

"In a small place like this, probably not many people can produce that much Beli at once."

"Even if they can afford it, no one would spend so much money buying pirate ships."

"Not necessarily! They could resell them to ship merchants. As long as there's profit to be made, I'm sure someone would be willing..."

Van had gotten the answer he wanted. He raised a hand to quiet everyone and ordered, "Go onto the island and find someone to negotiate with. I'll give you half of the final sale price as a reward."

He would not take these people out of the North Blue, so before they parted ways, he intended to give them severance pay as thanks for everything they had done along the way.

"Thank you, sir! We'll definitely sell the ships!"

The miners did not refuse. After thanking him in unison, they immediately went ashore.

Not long afterward, Qiangbalu returned, carrying an enormous bundle on his shoulder and accompanied by them.

The old man from earlier was there too, followed by several residents carrying fresh fruits and vegetables.

"We were worried that these supplies would not be enough to repay your help, so everyone decided to offer five million Beli for those two pirate ships. What do you think, sir?"

Qiangbalu brought the goods aboard, named the price first, then looked around to inspect the situation on the ship.

"Fine!"

Van agreed readily, but he never expected Qiangbalu to drop to one knee the very next second.

"I want to follow you, sir, and venture out to sea. I beg you to accept!"