The Pirate Who Refused Red-Hair's Invitation

"Huh? There's really a kid who can crush bullets? Are you making this up?"

"No! Every word I said is true!" Genzo said gravely. "I heard the Royal Guard couldn't find the kid, so they took the owner of the inn where he was staying. They said the kid had to come to the Castle, or they'd kill the innkeeper."

"My God, is that true? That poor innkeeper... Wait, what does the kid look like?"

"Let me think." Genzo paused. "Right! He looks only a few years old. He has two swords at his waist and a Wine Gourd."

"Uh, hold on. Are you sure that's the kid the Royal Guard is looking for?"

Genzo looked baffled. "I'm sure. Why?"

Everyone in the tavern turned to look at Lin Mo, who was drinking at the bar.

One of them swallowed, pointed at Lin Mo, and asked, "The kid you mean... isn't him, is it?"

Genzo looked over and froze. Then he cried, "Huh? Yes, that's him! How... how did he get here?"

"Well, looks like you're about to be famous," Luo said with a faint smile.

Lin Mo calmly drained the second glass, which was still half full.

The entire tavern fell silent.

Everyone watched him.

Lin Mo reached into his pocket.

Everyone drew a sharp breath.

Then Lin Mo pulled out another handful of Beli and handed his empty Wine Gourd to the Tavern Owner. "Fill it with the wine I just had," he said evenly.

The Tavern Owner paused, then hurriedly took the money and the gourd.

Luo couldn't help chuckling.

The tavern immediately erupted in doubt.

"Is that really the kid? Genzo, are you sure you're remembering right?"

"He doesn't look like anything special. He can certainly hold his liquor, though."

"You must have it wrong. If he really is the kid, he wouldn't have come all the way from Kokowitt Town through the snowstorm just for a drink, would he?"

But that was exactly why Lin Mo had come.

Luo was probably the only person there who knew it.

The Tavern Owner filled Lin Mo's Wine Gourd.

Lin Mo hung it at his waist, hopped down from the barstool, and headed for the door.

Luo followed as soon as he saw Lin Mo leave.

The other patrons watched Lin Mo go, their expressions mixed.

After leaving the tavern, Lin Mo didn't linger in Town. He headed straight for Wapol's Castle.

"So you really are going to save the innkeeper?" Luo asked as he walked beside him.

Lin Mo ignored him.

"I thought you'd leave him to his fate," Luo went on. "You look distant and never want to talk, but you're much kinder than those people who only know how to talk big."

Lin Mo: "..."

Lin Mo was speechless.

Had this guy gotten the wrong idea?

True, he could have ignored the innkeeper's capture.

But he had paid a deposit when he checked in. If the innkeeper died, who would refund it?

It was only a few dozen Beli, but that was enough to buy several bottles of wine.

Besides, during the two months Lin Mo had stayed there, the innkeeper had often reminded him to be careful when he went out alone. Once the man learned he liked to drink, he had even given Lin Mo some of his homemade wine now and then.

All in all, the innkeeper was a decent man.

Lin Mo knew right from wrong.

After the care the innkeeper had shown him over those two months, Lin Mo wasn't going to stand by and let him die.

He was simply repaying a kindness. What was so gentle about that?

Wapol's Castle stood atop a drum-shaped mountain.

Only a few designated cable routes led up it.

As it happened, some Royal Guard soldiers were preparing to send Supplies up the mountain when they spotted two children approaching.

One soldier shouted at Lin Mo and Luo, "This isn't a place for brats like you! Go home!"

Lin Mo and Luo didn't turn back.

Soon, they reached the cable car.

The soldier was about to scold them again.

But the man beside him tugged his arm and pointed nervously at the swords and Wine Gourd on Lin Mo's waist. "I think he's the kid His Majesty Wapol is looking for."

"What?" The soldier took another look at Lin Mo, and his face went rigid. "Huh? I think you're right..."

"You don't have to think," Luo said with a grin. "He's the one you're looking for."

The two soldiers took an involuntary half step back.

Lin Mo couldn't be bothered arguing with them. He walked straight into the cable car.

Luo followed close behind.

The two soldiers exchanged a glance, then immediately started the cable car and signaled their comrades on the mountain.

When Lin Mo and Luo reached the summit, a group of fully armed soldiers was waiting for them.

At their head stood a sturdy, square-faced man in a thick green coat.

His name was Dalton.

He was the Guard Captain of the Drum Kingdom and a user of the Zoan-type Ox-Ox Fruit, which let him transform into a bull-man.

As Lin Mo remembered him, Dalton was kind, honest, and dependable.

Dalton had long disapproved of Wapol's tyranny. Later, certain events had driven him to stand up against Wapol, but he had been defeated and imprisoned. Only after Wapol sailed away had the villagers freed him.

Then, after Luffy and the others passed through the Drum Kingdom and helped him defeat Wapol for good, the people had rallied around Dalton and made him King of the Sakura Kingdom, as Drum Island was renamed.

For now, though, Dalton was still a puppet under Wapol's control. No matter how strongly he objected inwardly, he still carried out Wapol's orders.

Seeing two children step out of the cable car, Dalton frowned and turned to his men. "Are you sure you haven't made a mistake? Can these two children really threaten the kingdom?"

Don't Rush—You're Next ### "Captain, the intelligence is correct! The kid with two swords has the power to threaten the kingdom!"

One of Dalton's men stood at attention and answered respectfully.

"And the boy in the hat?" Dalton asked, pointing at Luo.

His men all shook their heads. None of them knew where Luo had come from.

Dalton fell silent for a moment.

He didn't want to arrest Lin Mo or Luo.

After all, he hadn't seen Lin Mo's abilities himself. He couldn't be sure the boy could really crush a bullet.

Wapol had only recently become King of the Drum Kingdom, yet he had already issued numerous unfair decrees that left its people bitterly resentful.

If anyone or anything posed even the slightest disadvantage to Wapol, he would order it eliminated at once.

Even if this child had no intention of destroying Drum Island or opposing him, Wapol would still order the child driven out or killed.

"You two should leave. Get off Drum Island right now, and I promise the innkeeper will be safe." Dalton couldn't bring himself to attack two children.

Luo looked straight at Lin Mo.

Lin Mo walked forward without a word.

The surrounding soldiers immediately raised their rifles and aimed at him.

Lin Mo ignored them and walked past Dalton.

Luo smiled and followed Lin Mo toward the Castle nearby.

Dalton stood frozen as Lin Mo passed. He turned toward the Castle and watched the two boys' backs.

His men followed about two meters to either side of Lin Mo and Luo, their guns raised.

Then Lin Mo reached the Castle gates.

Someone pushed the gates open from inside.

A fat, ugly man with dark purple hair, a huge mouth, and a cylindrical tin plate attached to his chin appeared at the gates. He wore a white hooded cape made of armor plate and tin and sat atop Robson, a fat, rather dim-looking shaggy hippopotamus. Soldiers crowded around him.

This was Wapol, the tyrannical King who currently ruled Drum Island.

Nicknamed "Tin-Plate," Wapol was a user of the Paramecia-type Munch-Munch Fruit.

His power let him eat anything. Whatever he swallowed could become part of his body or be combined into something new.

He could even eat himself. When he spat himself back out, he would be thinner.

The Munch-Munch Fruit was actually powerful. With proper development, its abilities could be formidable.

Unfortunately, even the strongest fruit was wasted on a useless user.

"Hm? Why are there two brats?" Wapol looked down his nose at Lin Mo and Luo from Robson's back. Too lazy to work out which one threatened him, he said, "Ahahaha! Doesn't matter who it is. Now that you're here, neither of you is leaving."

Wapol suddenly clapped his hands.

His men dragged out the innkeeper, whose hands were tied behind his back.

"Brat, if you don't want this man to die, stand right there and don't move," Wapol said viciously. "Men, kill those two brats! Ahahaha! Once they're dead, no one in this country will be able to defy me! Ahahaha!"

When the innkeeper saw that Lin Mo had really come, he cried anxiously, "Kid, run! Forget about me! You're too young to die here!"

Lin Mo stared at Wapol without expression.

Wapol's soldiers immediately surrounded Lin Mo and Luo.

Dozens of guns were aimed at them.

The corner of Luo's mouth lifted. He raised a hand and cast ROOM, enclosing everyone around them.

"Stay out of it. I can handle these guys." The moment Luo finished speaking, he vanished.

Wapol's soldiers' eyes widened.

"Huh? Where did he go? Where's the kid in the hat?"

"How did he just disappear?"

As they stared in shock, Luo appeared behind several of them. With a sweep of his blade and a single Shambles, he swiftly severed their arms and legs.

"Aaah! My hands! My legs..."

"It's over! I'm going to die! I'm going to die—huh? I'm still alive?"

"My God, he's a monster! That kid's a monster! Run!"

Those who hadn't been cut apart scattered and fled.

But they were still inside Luo's ROOM, and none of them could match his speed.

Before the fleeing soldiers could escape it, Luo caught them. Every Royal Guard soldier inside his ROOM was cut into pieces that fell across the ground, yet all of them remained alive.

"Huh?" Wapol's eyes bulged. "What kind of power is that? How can it be so strong?"

"Hmph." Luo gave a soft laugh. "Don't worry. You're the next one I'm cutting apart."

Luo expanded his ROOM to include Wapol.

In a flash, he appeared before him.

Wapol's face twisted in terror. Before he could run, Luo cut him into countless pieces.