The atmosphere in the tavern was lively.
After finishing his third bone, Lucky Roux was using it as Tact's baton, leading his crew in a pirate song with a tune that seemed to float to the horizon.
Yasopp and Limejuice were arm wrestling, the table creaking under their weight, while a group of crew members gathered around to watch and cheer.
Uta sat in the corner with her guitar, her fingers gently plucking the strings, the melody as soft as the sound of waves lapping against the beach.
Kuina sat next to her, and the two girls had been chatting in hushed tones since earlier. Uta told her about the amazing sights she had seen at sea, while Kuina talked about interesting things that happened at the dojo.
Ace was dragged along by Lucky Lu to compete in eating more roasted potatoes. His little face was stuffed full, but his eyes were still fixed on the last roasted fish on the table.
Luffy, perched on one of the crew members' shoulders, waved a chicken leg as a baton, yelling encouragement to both sides of the Tact -wrestling match, though no one could tell who he was actually cheering for.
Rouge sat at the bar with Makino, keeping accounts together. The two women would occasionally glance up at the noisy children in front of them.
They exchanged a smile, their eyes filled with a helpless yet indulgent tenderness.
Roy and Shanks sat side by side at the head of the bar, neither of them really participating in the drinking contest.
Roy held a glass of rum, and the two clinked glasses, took a sip, and chatted in hushed tones about things that were barely audible to others.
"What's in your treasure chest?"
Roy took a sip of his drink, his gaze sweeping from the rim of his glass over the small, locked wooden box Shanks had placed on the bar.
"It was stolen from CP0?"
Shanks took a swig of his drink, grinned, and said, "Guess."
Roy didn't speak, but simply swirled his wine glass, a faint smile playing on his lips.
His Observation Haki had already confirmed it—the fruit that the World Government had tried so hard to hide and renamed the Gum-Gum Fruit was quietly sitting in the box.
Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Nika Form.
The legendary fruit, which hadn't Awakening for eight hundred years, now sits on this bar counter filled with the smells of alcohol and barbecue, treated like an ordinary trophy.
Fate is a fickle thing sometimes.
Just then--
"Bang--!!!"
The tavern door was kicked open violently.
The door slammed against the wall, and the wind chimes on the lintel jingled loudly.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the doorway.
A group of men swaggered in.
The leader was tall and wore a dirty fur cloak with a long samurai sword hanging at his waist.
He had an old scar that ran diagonally from his forehead to his chin, with the skin around the scar peeling back, giving his entire face a fierce and menacing look.
Behind him followed a dozen or so equally disheveled bandits, some carrying axes.
Some were carrying bottles of liquor, while others had cigarettes dangling from their lips, the smoke obscuring half their faces in a grayish-white haze.
Higuma, the bandit leader with a bounty of eight million Beli.
Roy's hand, holding the wine glass, froze in mid-air, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.
He leaned back in his chair, shifting to a more comfortable position, and the smile on his lips deepened even more than before.
They've arrived.
The scene that symbolizes the beginning of the One Piece world has finally arrived.
Higuma glanced around the tavern.
His gaze swept over each of the Red Hair Pirates ' crew members.
Seeing the tavern quiet down after he entered, Higuma's lips curled into a satisfied, cold smile.
He realized that the group of pirates were intimidated by his imposing presence.
He strode over to the bar with an air of indifference, slamming his hand heavily on it.
"Boss! Bring all the drinks up!"
Makino put down her pen, stood up, and spoke politely but with a hint of nervousness.
"Excuse me, sir, we're out of drinks."
Sold out?
Higuma tilted his head, his gaze sweeping sideways over the rows of unfinished bottles of liquor on the pirates' table.
His lips twitched, and he slammed his hand on the bar again, this time with more force, making the glasses on the bar rattle.
"That's strange—if the tavern is out of drinks, what are these pirates drinking? Is it water?"
His voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the tavern could hear him clearly.
Raki Lu put down the bone, Yasopp released his grip on the arm wrestling match, Uta's fingers paused on the strings, Kuina's hand had somehow found its way to the hilt of the wooden sword.
Shanks put down his glass, picked up an unopened bottle of liquor from the bar, stood up, walked over to Higuma, and handed him the bottle.
His movements were natural, and he even had a polite smile on his face.
I'm so sorry,
Shanks said his tone was so gentle it sounded like a genuine apology.
We've finished all the drinks, sorry.
If you don't mind, you can have this bottle of wine—it's unopened yet.
Higuma was stunned.
He looked down at the bottle of wine Shanks had handed him, then looked up at the harmless smile on Shanks' face.
His expression changed from stunned to surprised, and from surprised to disdainful.
Then he raised his hand and smashed the bottle of wine to pieces with a slap.
Glass shards flew everywhere, and golden liquor splashed out, drenching Shanks from head to toe.
Roy's finger twitched slightly the instant the bottle shattered.
An invisible Telekinesis: Barrier unfolded in front of him, and the splashed wine and glass shards, about a foot away from him, seemed to hit an invisible wall and silently slid to the ground.
He held his wine glass, crossed his legs, and looked as indifferent as if he were watching a play whose ending he already knew.
The air in the tavern seemed to freeze at that moment.
The crew members of the Red Hair Pirates all stopped what they were doing.
No one spoke, no one stood up, but that silence itself was more oppressive than any roar.
The eyes of the dozen or so crew members were all fixed on Higuma, their gazes so calm they sent chills down one's spine.
Higuma clearly felt the oppressive feeling.
His fingers twitched slightly, but his face still wore that extremely arrogant smile.
He looked down at Shanks, his voice somber.
"I'm a wanted criminal with an eight million Beli bounty. A bottle of wine?"
It's not even enough for what I drink before bed. Are you looking down on me?
Eight million Beli.
When this number came out of Higuma's mouth, the expressions on the faces of several members of the Red Hair Pirates became extremely subtle.
Yasopp lowered his head, his shoulders trembling slightly, as if he were suppressing something. Raki Lu stuffed a bone into his mouth and took a big bite.
The force it exerted didn't seem like eating meat; it was more like suppressing a laugh.
Eight million Beli.
In the New World, a bounty hunter of this price wouldn't even be qualified to serve tea and water to the Four Emperors.
Their captain, Red-Haired Shanks, has already surpassed a bounty of two billion Beli.
However, Shanks was not angry at Higuma's unreasonable behavior.
He didn't even look up at Higuma.
He simply squatted down slowly and reached out to pick up the broken pieces of the wine bottle from the ground.