You Once Called Me a Friend

"It's you who've gone too far!" Saint Jalmack's Son shot back at Xia Luqianqian without yielding an inch. "You gave my slaves away on a whim and used them as entertainment without involving me at all. How is that not your fault? I like these three, so what? Touching them means going against me, Saint Jalmack's Son! Even you—you can't do that!"

"You're going to be the death of me!" Xia Luqianqian shouted from her chair, though she did nothing but sit there and yell.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out. In the corner, Saint Charlos fired at Hancock. But a blur flashed past, and Miming appeared in front of Hancock, catching the bullet in his hand. A trickle of blood ran from his palm, but it stopped soon after.

Miming stared coldly at Charlos. "Looks like you've forgotten what it feels like to be hit with a spiked club, huh? Saint Charlos?"

Charlos smashed his flintlock onto the floor and shouted, "Miming! You're not my friend anymore! Shalria, we're leaving! Miming likes slaves. He's disgusting!"

"Be my guest." Miming snorted. "When have you ever considered me a friend?"

Shalria bit her lip and clenched her fists until her nails dug into her flesh. Then she gritted her teeth and asked, "Brother Miming, tell me the truth. Do you like me or not? Just say you do, and I'll marry you!"

The surroundings fell silent. Shalria was usually so arrogant, yet she had made her feelings clear in front of everyone, risking complete humiliation. She truly did like Saint Jalmack's Son.

"Since you asked so sincerely, I'll be magnanimous and tell you—no, I don't." In front of everyone, Miming mercilessly shattered Shalria's maidenly heart. Instead, he took Hancock's hand. "That's right, Shalria. In my eyes, you're not even worth one of her little fingers!"

Shalria burst into tears and fled, wailing as she forced her way through the crowd. She, Shalria, had been told she was inferior even to a slave girl. What a disgrace!

One of the CP0 agents reminded them, "But Lord Rosward is still petrified."

Saint Charlos lowered his head and walked off, moving surprisingly quickly. "He won't die just because he's petrified. I'll go play with his slaves for a few days first and enjoy being head of the family."

A single thought rang out unanimously in the hearts of every CP0 agent: What a beast!

As Saint Charlos passed the petrified Charmak, his eyes lit up. "Right. I'll go look around Saint Charmak's house first and comfort some of his wives for him."

Even the CP0 agents lying on the ground nearly jumped to their feet. A beast among beasts!

Xia Luqianqian shouted, "Miming! This is compensation for you beating Charlos and Shalria last time! Shalria didn't even get angry when you injured her. What more do you want? Hurry up and kill those slaves, then persuade Charlos and Shalria to come back!"

"Let's forget about that kind of apology." Miming had already learned most of what had happened from Cairns, who had come to report it. "Besides, I don't want to be friends with them anyway."

Xia Luqianqian shouted furiously, "Hurry up and undo the petrification of your father and Uncle Rosward!"

"If I undo the petrification just like that, where will that leave my dignity?" Miming gave a sinister laugh. Then he turned toward the surrounding Celestial Dragons and shouted, "Listen up, all of you! I am Saint Jalmack's Son! I won't allow anyone to ignore my existence or treat my words as empty air! I said no one was allowed to touch my things. If you cross my bottom line, this is what happens!"

As he spoke, he walked over to Saint Ni's stone statue and reached out to snap off Saint Ni's beard.

The surrounding Celestial Dragons sucked in a sharp breath. He's this ruthless even to his own father? What a beast!

Xia Luqianqian was already dumbfounded. Was this really her precious son?

"Get back home, all of you! The show's over!" Saint Jalmack's Son laughed loudly. "Once I receive your gifts of apology and my mood improves, I'll naturally undo their petrification. Otherwise, they can stay here as statues! Hahahaha! If I'm ever in a bad mood, I'll snap off an ear or kick a leg apart. Hahaha!"

The Celestial Dragons looked at one another, and an uproar broke out. Was he trying to extort them?

"That's outrageous!" one of the Celestial Dragons shouted. "We came here to have fun! Something like this happened, and you still expect us to apologize with gifts?"

Miming said, "Saint Charlos might not stop after visiting Saint Charmak's house. Once he's done there, who knows whose house he'll visit next?"

The Celestial Dragons' faces immediately darkened, and the next moment, they all turned around and went home.

Before long, the matter reached the Gorosei.

"The boy still hasn't undone the petrification of Saint Ni and Saint Rosward?" the Gorosei asked about the details of what had happened. They could not help smiling. It was hardly a major incident.

"Since you went and held a banquet, using Saint Jalmack's Son's slaves without his permission, it's only natural that he got angry. He's currently training to become one of the Gorosei. If a fire suddenly broke out behind him and someone touched the things he cared about, wouldn't anyone get angry?"

"If anything, it would be worrying if he didn't get angry," another member of the Gorosei said. "For all this time, every family has taken Saint Jalmack's Son far too lightly."

"Is he taking this opportunity to establish his authority?" The scarred Gorosei nodded. "He was very decisive."

"How about this? Let each family—one person per family—compensate him with one hundred million Berries. And go tell that boy Miming that this is how it will be."

And so, the matter was decisively settled under the Gorosei's complete indifference. Rather than taking charge, they had blatantly protected Saint Jalmack's Son.

Only then did the Celestial Dragons realize that Saint Jalmack's Son had already attained the extremely important position of being the Gorosei's successor. It could even be said that before long, his standing in the Holy Land would be second only to that of the Gorosei.

Even so, many Celestial Dragons still could not accept it.

Saint Ni and Saint Rosward in particular flew into a rage, while Miming waited a full three days before undoing their petrification.

In truth, being petrified was a miserable experience. Their minds were frozen, yet the fear they had felt before being petrified remained with them. What enraged them even more was that the slaves who had humiliated them were still alive.

Saint Jalmack's Son seemed to be deliberately using the existence of these slaves to remind everyone that he was no longer the timid boy he had once been.

By the time their anger subsided, the families had more or less begun to split apart.

And that was exactly what Miming wanted.

To be honest, every time Miming saw Saint Ni and Xia Luqianqian, he felt disgusted. They were no longer the parents he had known in his previous life. Deep down, they simply were not. Only by splitting the families apart could he minimize his contact with them and carry out his plans.

Before leaving, there was one person he had to meet.

In the pitch-black prison, while Saint Ni was still petrified, Miming brought Hancock to the fish-man Fisher Tiger.