As soon as he reached Luffy and the others, he greeted them warmly. "Welcome, honored guests from afar!"
"I'm the mayor of Whiskey Peak, and my name... cough, cough!"
"Ma, ma, ma!"
"Is Igaram!"
"Old man, your hair's so curly!" Luffy said excitedly, pointing at his hair.
"Haha... never mind those little details. Whiskey Peak is a town built on hospitality!"
"We believe in giving our guests a warm welcome, so would you allow us to throw you a party?"
"Of course!" Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji said happily in unison.
Nami looked at the three of them, speechless. They dared to agree to a party without even knowing what was going on?
She kept feeling that something had to be wrong here, but she wasn't worried. With Xia Chen around, they could handle whatever happened. That was how much she trusted Xia Chen!
In that case...
They might as well see what this bunch was up to~
That night, in a tavern in Whiskey Peak.
"This food... is so... good! I... want more!" Luffy said indistinctly as he stuffed food into his mouth.
"When I fought that whale, I knocked it flat with one punch..."
"Gasp~" A group of people listening to Usopp supplied appropriately shocked gasps.
"Beautiful ladies, hehe..." Meanwhile, Sanji lay against several beautiful women, happily nuzzling them.
Elsewhere, Zoro, Nami, and Xia Chen sat drinking together.
The mayor looked at Nami. "Miss, we're planning a drinking contest. How about it? Would you like to join? These wines are all delicious!"
"Well... I'll pass. I don't really like drinking!" Nami waved her hand.
"The winner gets a prize of 100,000 Beli!"
"Please, you absolutely must let me join!"
With that, Nami turned to Xia Chen and Zoro. "Hey, you two should join too!"
"Sure!" Xia Chen nodded.
If he didn't join, these people wouldn't feel at ease later.
But it was also because their wine really did taste pretty good. It seemed he could stash a hundred million tiny drops in his System Space later.
Some time later~
On his eighth glass, Xia Chen was the first to pretend he couldn't take any more and slump onto the table.
It wasn't for any other reason. Mostly, he was feeling a little full from drinking!
Then, on his twelfth glass, Zoro also pretended he couldn't hold out anymore and collapsed.
Only Nami remained, sweeping away the competition. It seemed that even when putting on an act, Nami was determined to get that 100,000 Beli!
Finally, when Nami outdrank the last woman, who looked like a nun, she won the contest!
At the same time, she too "couldn't hold out any longer" and collapsed onto the table.
Seeing that everyone had gone down, the people in the tavern slowly quieted down. Then they walked out one after another.
The instant they left, Xia Chen and the other two opened their eyes at the same time.
Zoro looked at the three of them, then at the three lying on the floor over there, and couldn't help snorting.
"Tch~ Three idiots!"
Xia Chen and Nami both nodded in agreement. They really were three idiots!
"What do you think... they're trying to do?" Nami asked.
"We'll know if we go out and look!" Xia Chen said with a smile.
"All right! Let's split into two groups. You go check what's happening outside, and I'll look for the treasure here!"
With that, Nami headed toward the surrounding rooms.
Xia Chen looked at Zoro. "You go check things out. I'll prepare a present for them!"
"A present? What do you mean?" Zoro was a little puzzled.
"You'll find out in a bit!"
Meanwhile, two people stood together outside the tavern.
The nun slowly took off her black robe, revealing an incredibly muscular, bronze-skinned body. She asked the mayor, "We already don't have enough food for ourselves. Why throw them a feast?"
The mayor slowly took a wanted poster from his sleeve. The face pictured on it was none other than Luffy's.
"This kid in the straw hat has a bounty of twenty-five million. If we take him alive, our profits will go up thirty percent. That'll be enough for us to live on for a while!"
"He's worth twenty-five million?" the nun, Miss Sunday, said in astonishment.
She really hadn't expected that skinny, harmless-looking fellow to have a bounty of twenty-five million.
"But... I keep having a bad feeling!" the mayor, Mr. 8, said worriedly.
"First, one of them looks like someone with an outrageously high bounty!"
As he spoke, Mr. 8 pulled another wanted poster from his pocket. Indeed, this one was Xia Chen's.
"Take a look yourself. Notice anything?"
Miss Sunday stared at it for a while before saying, "You mean the most handsome one in that group?"
"Yes! Apart from how they're dressed, their faces are practically identical! That's why I'm a little worried!"
Miss Sunday nodded thoughtfully too.
"True. It really doesn't make much sense for two people to have such a handsome face!"
Mr. 8: Your standards of analysis sure are unique...
Then Mr. 8 continued, "Still, there's very little chance he's this person. This is a great pirate with a bounty of three hundred million. How could we just happen to run into him?"
"The other problem is that we still haven't heard anything from Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday. I don't know whether they've run into trouble!"
Mr. 8 said this calmly on the surface, but inwardly, he was deeply worried. After all, he knew Miss Wednesday's true identity.
She was their hope of saving the Alabasta Kingdom!
"Forget it. Let's leave that aside for now and deal with those pirates inside first."
"You might not get that chance!"
An indifferent voice came from the rooftop above, instantly darkening their expressions. They instinctively looked up.
Zoro was sitting on the roof, pointing a drawn sword at Mr. 8 and his group.
"You... weren't you drunk?" Mr. 8 cried in shock.
"What kind of idiot would come to a town that welcomes pirates like this and let his guard down completely?"
"You know, there really are idiots like that. The other three on our ship, for example!"
Another voice came from behind them, drawing their attention.
At some point, Xia Chen had brought over a chair from somewhere and sat down behind them, leisurely drinking coffee. In front of him were two bound people: none other than Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday.
Not only were their hands and feet tied, but their mouths were also stuffed with cloth. They could only frantically signal to Mr. 8 and the others with their eyes. Unfortunately, he couldn't understand them!
A little ahead of them, a circular scratch on the ground enclosed all three of them...