Bege's "Bounty"

"Gah!"

In his Castle Man form, Capone Bege suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, staring in disbelief at the Nodachi in Xie Wen's hand, buried deep in his body.

His castle-wall-like shell had offered no protection whatsoever. Not only had Xie Wen pierced it, but a huge section had blasted open as though struck by a cannonball.

"Oh? You're still alive?"

Xie Wen pulled out his blade, flicked off the blood, and raised an eyebrow.

He hadn't used Armament Haki in that strike, but he certainly hadn't held back either. He had aimed straight for Bege's chest.

Perhaps the Castle Man form had thrown off his aim, or perhaps Bege had used his fruit powers to treat his injuries. Either way, Bege had barely survived.

Xie Wen had intended to finish Bege off, then stab around in his corpse with the Carving Knife to see whether he could dig out a Castle-Castle Fruit. In the end, however, he didn't...

Because Uncle Cody stepped forward to stop him.

"Stop, Xie Wen." Uncle Cody looked at Xie Wen and the two cats in astonishment as he urged, "The other two families in Gures have already been wiped out. If the Capone Family goes under too, the situation here will get very messy."

Xie Wen frowned. Honestly, he didn't quite buy that explanation...

Cody had been a Marine, after all, and a well-loved one at that. Xie Wen didn't believe his tendency to be a "nice guy" would extend to a gang boss like Capone Bege.

Still, Uncle Cody had looked after him quite a bit, and he seemed to have some mysterious hidden identity. There was probably another reason he had stopped Xie Wen...

"Well, since you put it that way, Uncle..."

Giving up on the finishing blow, Xie Wen sheathed his sword. Then he spoke calmly to Capone Bege, who had returned to his normal form but was covered in blood. "Still, shouldn't Boss Bege compensate me?"

"Cough, cough..." After coughing up another couple of mouthfuls of blood, Capone Bege clutched his wound, which was finally less horrific now that he had returned to normal, and promptly conceded. "You win. Tell me what you want."

In this brief span of time, the Capone Family had suffered far greater losses than when they had just taken out the other two families. Even he had nearly lost his life. What choice did he have but to back down?

"Hmm..." Satisfied with Bege's willingness to see reason, Xie Wen nodded. After a moment's thought, he said, "My cats and I want to head out to sea, but we still need a ship. Also, I need a Famous Sword that suits my hand."

The odds of getting a Devil Fruit by stabbing Bege's corpse were low. He was better off trading for a Famous Sword and securing a summoning voucher fragment. Looked at that way, sparing Bege actually seemed like the better deal.

"No problem. It's just a ship. I'll have someone take you to the harbor shortly. Whichever ship catches your eye, you can sail it away! As for the Famous Sword, I'll have one delivered as soon as possible. Three days at the latest." Bege agreed without hesitation.

For the Capone Family, a ship was nothing. Even if Xie Wen picked the largest one, he wouldn't feel any sting. In this ocean-dominated world, ordinary ships weren't expensive to build.

Famous Swords weren't actually that expensive either, especially since Xie Wen hadn't specified a particular grade.

So Bege had no intention of bargaining over those things. He was more worried about what outrageous demands Xie Wen might make next.

Capone Bege stared fixedly at Xie Wen, his eyes dark and vicious.

Xie Wen calmly returned his gaze, his eyes clear and... innocent.

"..."

"..."

"...What else?" After they had stared at one another for quite a while, Bege, who had been waiting for Xie Wen to state his next demand, finally couldn't help speaking first.

He had no choice. His injuries still needed treatment.

"...What else what?" Xie Wen looked utterly innocent.

"..."

"..."

"So you only wanted a ship and a sword?!" Bege nearly spat out another mouthful of blood.

I got beaten half to death by this brat over something that trivial?!

"Oh, right!" Reminded of something, Xie Wen suddenly smacked his fist into his palm in realization. "You guys are rich! Then let's add... fifty million Beli."

"Pfft!" This time, Capone Bege really did cough up blood. He even wanted to slap himself a couple of times... Why did I have to open my big mouth?

In the end, however, he agreed with a dark expression. "Understood. Once the sword arrives, I'll have someone bring it and the money to you."

With that, Bege and his men fled the hall, bedraggled but swift, afraid Xie Wen would say something else to send his blood pressure soaring.

"Tch... Did I ask for too little?" Seeing Capone Bege agree without hesitation and immediately make himself scarce, Xie Wen tapped his forehead in frustration.

He had initially wanted to ask for three hundred or five hundred million, but he had worried that pushing too hard would make Bege choose to let the whole deal fall apart. In the end, he had only asked for fifty million Beli to test the waters. He hadn't expected Bege to agree without even frowning...

All right, he had frowned, but that was probably from the pain, not the compensation.

There was no helping it. Before transmigrating, the largest sum of money Xie Wen had ever handled was the down payment on a home. And he had only really gotten acquainted with this world's prices over the last few days. He still wasn't used to the wild prices of the One Piece world, so even if he wanted to ask for a huge sum, he had no sense of how much that should be.

To use a somewhat imperfect analogy, it was like a peasant imagining the emperor carrying a golden shoulder pole. Xie Wen's spending habits limited his ability to make outrageous demands.

But Xie Wen soon cast his frustration aside. He had gotten the ship and sword he needed most, and he could always find ways to earn money later. After all, his cheat wasn't some pay-to-win system. Beli was merely one indirect means of obtaining summoning vouchers, so it wasn't that important.

Most importantly...

"You're amazing, Big Brother Xie Wen, meow!" Klee Meow leaped onto his shoulder, hugged his head, and started licking him.

"So we're getting our own ship, meow?" Even Sanji Meow excitedly climbed onto Xie Wen's other shoulder, gently patting his cheek with a little paw as he asked.

In the face of cats, Beli and Famous Swords could all take a back seat!

Cody and Bax approached then as well. Although they already had some idea of Xie Wen's strength, the fight had still startled them both.

"I never imagined you were this strong, Xie Wen." Bax felt somewhat deflated, as though all his years of sword training had been wasted.

After looking Xie Wen over in astonishment, Cody finally spoke. "Would you be interested in joining the Marines? I could recommend you for further training at Marine Headquarters."

"No, I still need to find their people. The Marines aren't a good fit for me." Xie Wen declined again with the same excuse.

"If you joined the Marines, you could use official intelligence channels to help search for them. Wouldn't that be easier than looking on your own?" Cody persisted. "And once you graduate from the training camp, you could choose to join a special unit with more freedom."

If the Palicoes really had been scattered across the One Piece world, Cody's suggestion would have been the best solution. The problem was... Xie Wen had actually summoned those cats, so using Marine intelligence would serve no purpose.

As for joining a special unit with more freedom... no matter how much freedom it offered, he would still have to follow orders from above. Even SWORD, which had the greatest autonomy, was no exception.

So Xie Wen shook his head, pointed at the two cats on his shoulders, and declined again. "No, thanks. Neither I nor they enjoy being bound by other people's rules."

"That's right, meow! Klee loves adventures most, meow! ...And bombs!"

"You didn't need to add that last part..." Xie Wen pinched her little cheek helplessly.

"Adventures?" Cody's gaze sharpened. "Are you planning to become pirates too?"

"Klee doesn't want to be a bad guy, meow!" Before Xie Wen could explain, the little Ragdoll on his shoulder indignantly protested, "Klee only blows up bad guys, meow!"

Xie Wen shrugged. "I have no interest in being a pirate. If I really wanted to become one, I wouldn't have agreed to work as your bodyguard. I'd have just robbed you."

That argument was quite persuasive. More persuasive still was the fact that Cody knew how much Xie Wen doted on Klee Meow. He relaxed a little and stopped trying to convince him, though he still asked out of curiosity, "Then what do you plan to do in the future? Fifty million Beli sounds like a lot, but it won't actually last that long, especially if you're traveling all over looking for people."

Xie Wen had actually considered that question. Although he intended to form a Research Commission, there were no Gathering Hub quests here for him to earn money from, so naturally he would have to find other ways to make a living.

Fortunately, there were plenty of ways to earn money in the One Piece world. If he couldn't be a monster hunter, he could always be a bounty hunter.

"Besides bounty hunting, we could hunt sea beasts and Sea Kings, trade between islands, or open a floating restaurant. Those are all good options. I could even write little stories for newspapers. Klee really likes listening to my stories."

"That's right, meow! Big Brother Xie Wen's stories are really fun! And Big Brother Sanji's cooking is super delicious!" Klee Meow enthusiastically cheered him on as always, then added, "Klee can also blast fish and sell them, meow!"

Uh... Let's skip that last one...

Xie Wen turned to glance at the excited Klee Meow, but ultimately kept his mouth shut rather than dampen the little Ragdoll's enthusiasm.

There was originally another scene where Gotti came to the rescue, but you said the pacing was too slow, so I cut it...

I've already started revising the stockpiled chapters, but these next few are too close to publication for major changes. This is the best I can do.

Sparing Bege was planned from the beginning. Some readers might think it's overly softhearted, but the protagonist hasn't gone through any bitter suffering or deep grudges. Someone from a peaceful era wouldn't change that quickly.

Besides, if I killed Bege off, having to revise later plotlines would be the lesser problem. Some of the foreshadowing earlier on, which I can no longer change, would go to waste.

Speaking of making things up, Oda is every bit as good as fanfic writers. He can come up with a move like "Imagined Future" for the Age-Age Fruit, while the Time-Time Fruit can only send people forward through time.