New Shichibukai

"Clang..."

The bag was opened, and the spoils were piled like a small mountain on the dining room floor.

"We're rich! We're rich!"

"It's such a big bag. It must weigh over a hundred pounds just by itself, right?"

"There's gold, jewelry, and coins. There shouldn't be much else..."

Penguin and the others' eyes lit up, their breathing even growing a little hurried.

It was not that they were greedy for money. Their first robbery had ended in a full haul, and they felt honored, believing they had become qualified pirates.

"Drinks are here!"

Qiangbalu carried over a large wooden tray and handed out the drinks to everyone.

"Why are we drinking milk?" Shachi complained softly.

Penguin immediately chimed in, "Yeah! I remember we bought plenty of alcohol today. There's more than enough for us."

"Milk tastes great. If you don't like it, I can help you finish it."

Bepo licked his lips and looked at Shachi and Penguin with longing in his eyes, scaring them into quickly gulping down their milk.

"The captain said you can only drink alcohol after you become adults, so he specially prepared milk for you," Qiangbalu explained.

"Since good things keep happening today, let's play a game together."

To liven up the mood, Van used his ability to divide the money on the ground into nine piles, each of which looked about the same.

"What game? Can I play too?"

"Is there a prize?"

Blue Moon and Baby-5 spoke almost at the same time, then both turned to look at Van, whom they had sandwiched between them.

"I'll give you half an hour. Each person picks a pile and counts it. Whoever has the highest total and gets it exactly right wins."

A money-counting game?

Everyone became interested and picked the piles they liked before starting to count.

"10, 50, 100, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000..."

All sorts of numbers came out of their mouths as the totals kept climbing, soon reaching the millions. But problems followed.

Some people kept thinking about the running total and forgot where they were, forcing them to go back and check.

Of course, there were clever ones too, such as Qiangbalu, Drake, Law, and Baiyan.

Rather than counting the money directly, they first sorted it by denomination before beginning.

Driven by their competitive spirits, the atmosphere grew increasingly tense, and soon someone finished counting.

"I have 11,424,650 Beli here."

It was the first time Baiyan had taken the initiative to speak, instantly stunning the others. Even Van was surprised.

That was because Baiyan was not only the fastest, but also completely accurate, without making a single mistake.

As for whether he could win, that depended on everyone else.

"I lost. I only have 10,967,680 Beli."

"I only have 11,031,970 Beli too."

Drake and Law spoke one after the other, both looking regretful.

"11,440,840 Beli. Looks like I'm in the lead for now."

Qiangbalu was brimming with excitement, but the next second, he suffered a crushing blow.

"You counted 1,000 Beli too few," Van said flatly.

"No way?"

Qiangbalu did not quite believe it. He picked out all the coins worth no more than 1,000 and started counting again.

Van did not stop him, only reminding him, "Three minutes left."

Van had divided the money himself, so he knew exactly how much was in every pile.

The moment each person chose a pile, their chances of winning had already become different. That was decided by luck.

That was why he had imposed a time limit: to test both speed and accuracy, adding new variables to the game.

"I can't finish... I really can't finish..."

Looking at the small half of the coins before him that he had not even touched, Shachi gave up outright. Penguin and Bepo followed soon after.

In fact, their piles contained the first-, third-, and fourth-highest amounts respectively. Their initial advantage had been enormous; they had simply used the wrong method to count.

That did not mean they were stupid. They just had not received a proper education, lacked experience, and were not quick-witted enough.

Blue Moon and Baby-5 were in the same situation. Though the two girls were still persisting, judging from their speed, they would not finish either.

"I really did calculate it wrong."

Qiangbalu scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed.

"Time's up. The winner is Baiyan!"

Van announced the result. After pooling all the money together, he gave everyone an allowance.

Baiyan, as the winner, received 2 million Beli all to himself, while everyone else got 1 million. That neatly distributed all the coins and most of the low-denomination bills.

"So much money... When am I ever going to spend it all?" Shachi was so moved that tears streamed down his face.

His uncle had once been a minor gang leader, yet he only made two or three million Beli a year, which was not even enough for food, drink, and entertainment.

Now, without doing anything, he had received 1 million Beli as spending money. Even if it was only handed out once a year, he would still live better than most people.

"Food and other expenses on the ship will be purchased collectively, so you can spend this money however you want. There's no need to deliberately save it."

"It's getting late. I'm going back to rest first. Qiangbalu and Drake will handle the night watch. Discuss the specific arrangements yourselves."

After giving his instructions, Van curled a finger, then led Blue Moon and the remaining money back to his room.

Qiangbalu looked at Law and the others and suggested, "The ship will still be sailing at night, so someone needs to keep watch at all times. We can split into groups of four and take turns."

Van had not given any special instructions, so Qiangbalu was not going to take everything on himself and let all the teenagers before him rest.

"Then Law, Baby-5, Bepo, and I will be one group. Shachi and the others can be in your group."

"You bought supplies this afternoon, so you can go rest first. We'll take the first half of the night."

Drake's grouping and arrangements were reasonable. Qiangbalu nodded without objection.

The night passed quickly.

The transport ship did not head for Reverse Mountain, instead changing course toward the southeastern sea.

The direction had been adjusted by Drake's group when they took over in the morning, and Qiangbalu had not known at first.

By the time he woke up and left the lounge, the ship had already traveled more than a hundred miles before he noticed they were headed the wrong way.

"Captain, weren't we going to the Grand Line?"

On a beach chair on the left side of the deck, Van was lazily basking in the sun with a newspaper covering his face.

Hearing Qiangbalu's question, he casually set the newspaper on the tea table beside him and sat up with a stretch.

"What I said at the entertainment city last night was a lie... Going to sea isn't child's play. With your current strength, going to the Grand Line would be no different from seeking death."

"Then where are we going now?" Qiangbalu asked in confusion. "If we keep going in this direction, won't we eventually reach the Red Line?"

"Have you heard of the Germa Kingdom?" Van asked in return.

"Germa?"

Qiangbalu's heart skipped a beat. Just as he was about to ask for more details, his gaze inadvertently swept over the newspaper on the tea table.

It reported news that was enough to spark worldwide discussion and even affect the balance of power on the Grand Line.

"This seems to be the fourth one..." Qiangbalu looked utterly shocked. "I never expected it to be a woman, and she even has the title of Emperor."

"Counting Crocodile, Moria, and Mihawk from before, she is indeed the fourth member of the Shichibukai. But it has nothing to do with us for now."

Van shook his head and continued, "What we need to do next is find the Germa Kingdom and reach a preliminary cooperation agreement with them."