"Little Suika, could you share a little more of your liquor with me? Just a sip, one sip!"
"What do you mean, Little Suika?! Call her Suika-sama! Have mercy, Suika-sama! Give me a sip!"
"Me too! Me too!"
"I'm done for... Ever since I tasted Suika-sama's liquor, I haven't been able to stomach anything else..."
"If the boss can't get Little Suika to join our crew, should we switch over to Xie Wen's side?"
"...That's a great idea!"
Just as Xie Wen had expected, Suika Meow had single-handedly drunk the entire Red Hair Pirates under the table, Shanks included. What he hadn't expected was that, when they woke up the next day, at least a third of the crew would be fawning over Suika Meow, all for a single sip of Ibuki Sake.
"Xie Wen, I think what you said yesterday made a lot of sense..."
Ignoring his crewmates clamoring to jump ship, Shanks found Xie Wen and slung his sole arm around his shoulders.
"What?"
Caught off guard, Xie Wen looked utterly baffled. He had said so much yesterday that he had no idea which part Shanks meant.
"Ahem, about teaching you Divine Departure and Observation Haki Killer..." Deliberately avoiding Xie Wen's eyes, Shanks said sheepishly, "They were Captain Roger's trump cards, after all, so... shouldn't you sweeten the payment a little?"
"...You want Ibuki Sake, right?"
Xie Wen stared speechlessly at Shanks for a while, until he looked embarrassed and didn't know what to do with himself. Only then did Xie Wen roll his eyes and ask with certainty.
"Yes, yes, yes!" Shanks nodded rapidly, pointing at the Red Hair Pirates making a racket nearby as he offered a self-righteous explanation-or cover story. "It's not that I want to drink it myself! Just look at them. If I