The Situation on Gless Island

"Aaaaaah!"

"It hurts!"

"I'm hurt! I'm hurt!"

As Xie Wen sheathed his blade, screams erupted behind him. The men in black suits lay scattered across the ground, clutching their wounds.

What Xie Wen had just done was actually very simple: walk over, draw his blade, slash them, sheath it... and then show off a little.

He had simply moved too fast for the Gang to react. Of course, that also had something to do with the lack of any skilled fighters among them.

"Let's go." Ignoring the Gang members he had cut down, Xie Wen beckoned to the two cats he had briefly set aside, then hoisted them back onto his shoulders and headed toward the inn.

"You're amazing, Big Brother Xie Wen, meow!" Klee Meow cheered him on as enthusiastically as ever.

Even Sanji Meow offered a rare compliment. "Not bad. Have you mastered Uncle Bax's swordsmanship, meow?"

"I've still got a long way to go." Xie Wen shook his head.

The sword technique he had just used was actually Brook's Hanauta Sancho: Yahazu Giri from the manga.

The technique had originally been called "Requiem BANDOROU." Brook had renamed it "Hanauta Sancho" to suit his own swordsmanship style, meaning that only after he had leisurely taken three steps while humming would his enemies realize they had been struck. It was an incredibly powerful Iai sword technique.

But very few swordsmen could pull it off to that extent. Even Bax, who had taught Xie Wen the move, could not do it.

Xie Wen clearly had not reached that level either. His execution fell far short, especially considering that his opponents had been nothing more than a bunch of weak goons.

Still, Xie Wen had no intention of recreating Brook's technique exactly. Given the differences between a Nodachi and a rapier, achieving the "Hanauta Sancho" effect would undoubtedly be even harder for him.

What he had meant by "a long way to go" was that he was still far from fully incorporating this sword technique into his own moves.

"Damn!" After walking some distance, Xie Wen suddenly slapped his thigh. He had been so busy showing off that he had forgotten to "loot the bodies"!

Wouldn't going back now to search those Gang members make him look a little pathetic?

Xie Wen hesitated, but ultimately could not bring himself to swallow his pride. Still unwilling to give up, he asked Sanji Meow, "Did any of them follow us?"

Because of Cody and Bax's instructions, he had held back when slashing them. The Gang members had only suffered superficial wounds that would not hinder their movement much.

"No, meow." Sanji Meow pricked up his ears and listened carefully for a moment before answering with absolute certainty.

Those Gang members might have been weak, but they were not stupid. Knowing they had run into someone they could not handle, they naturally would not come looking for trouble with Xie Wen again.

What a shame!

Xie Wen clicked his tongue and could only continue heading back.

When he returned to the bustling streets with the cats on his shoulders, quite a few people gave him astonished looks. They clearly had not expected him to come away from an encounter with the Capone Family unscathed.

But they quickly averted their eyes. Regardless of how Xie Wen had managed it, or whether the Capone Family would keep harassing him, this was already far beyond anything they could get involved in.

Once they returned to the inn, Xie Wen gave Cody a detailed account of what had happened during their outing.

"The Capone Family?" Cody stroked the little mustache above his lip, looking thoughtful. "I figured they were the ones you were most likely to run into."

Of the three major crime families on Gless Island, Simment was a relatively old-fashioned gang whose overall approach focused on maintaining stability. The Buono Family, which had invited Cody here, was determined to pursue ties with the World Government and turn the Gless Kingdom into an affiliated nation, so it also tended to follow the rules. Only the Capone Family was a gang in the purest sense: as long as there was profit to be made, there was nothing it would not do. Its boss, Capone Bege, was especially ruthless and unpredictable.

Cody's assessment of Capone Bege and his men was that they were no different from pirates.

Xie Wen wholeheartedly agreed with that assessment. After all, Bege really would become a pirate in the future, and even join the "Worst Generation" alongside the protagonist, Luffy.

"Will this cause a lot of trouble, then?" Bax asked worriedly.

"No. If it's only the Capone Family making a move, I'm actually less worried. Besides, they even offered to pay to 'buy' Klee and Sanji." Cody explained, "That means they probably aren't plotting against us merchants. And since the Capone Family struck first, we can simply have the Buono Family, which invited us here, step in and mediate."

Just as Xie Wen had expected, cooperation between gangs was as flimsy as toilet paper. Rather than saying the three families jointly controlled the country, it would be more accurate to say they kept one another in check to prevent any one family from growing too powerful.

Still, just as the Joker could make fools of Gotham's gangs, people who acted without restraint often had an easier time winning. According to the manga's backstory, Capone Bege would eventually become one of the five major underworld powers in the West Blue.

It was also precisely because he acted with so little restraint that his enemies banded together to hunt him down, forcing him to take his followers out to sea.

Xie Wen had only recalled that detail thanks to Cody mentioning Capone Bege's name, which had brought back many of his memories about him.

Although the Capone Family would eventually become one of the five strongest gangs in the West Blue, Xie Wen was not particularly worried. Bege was still several years away from reaching that point. Besides, judging by the fact that the Capone Family had offered to pay, it still cared quite a bit about the attitudes of its two allies, the Buono and Shimento Families.

Even if things really did come to a fight, Xie Wen was not afraid in the slightest.

Having awakened his Armament Haki, Xie Wen was already unlikely to lose to the future "Supernova Bege" in terms of strength. On top of that, they had Klee Meow, who was even stronger than Xie Wen, and whose abilities were a perfect counter to Capone Bege...

Capone Bege, who had eaten the Castle-Castle Fruit, had two main abilities: storing troops inside his body and transforming into a sturdy Castle Man. But numbers meant absolutely nothing against Klee Meow, a Flame-Flame Fruit user and explosives maniac. And his full-sized castle form, "Big Boss," would be little tougher than a chocolate wafer against the superheated Jumpy Dumpties enhanced by her powers.

Over the next few days, Xie Wen ate and slept as usual. During the day, he continued wandering around the city with the two Palicoes, even making several more trips to deserted spots. This time, however, no foolish Gang members came to "buy the cats," leaving Xie Wen, who had hoped to earn a little extra cash, somewhat disappointed.

Meanwhile, Cody did not even ask the Buono Family to intervene, because the Capone Family never came to the inn to trouble them. It looked as though they had already backed down.

Although that did not seem much like Capone Bege's style, Cody did not think a moderately well-known merchant like himself warranted special attention from the Capone Family. He merely told Xie Wen and the others to be a little careful at the trade fair, lest the Capone Family deliberately manufacture an incident to pick a fight.

"But there's no need to worry too much. People from both Buono and Simment will be there, and the Capone Family also has to consider how the other participants would react. Even if they really do want to cause trouble, they won't be able to go too far."

The day of the trade fair soon arrived. Cody gave Xie Wen and the others one final reminder, then left the other guards with the caravan as a precaution. Only then did he take his strongest companions-Bax, Xie Wen, and the two cats-to the venue.