“Dio Brando?
Good name.
I think we’re quite fated to meet on the sea.
Why don’t we go inside, have a drink, and chat?”
Aiden Jason waved at Roy, signaling for him to follow him into the cabin.
He appeared extremely enthusiastic.
Roy frowned.
“I only came aboard to trade for supplies.”
Roy clearly had no intention of drinking.
He had already noticed that something was wrong with these people.
He still possessed this much caution.
In a place like East Blue, his strength was indeed powerful, but that did not mean he was invincible.
What if they poisoned the wine or something?
He had to guard against that.
“That’s fine too.
I’ll take you to the warehouse.
Take whatever you need, then pay for everything together afterward!”
Aiden Jason did not object.
This had no effect on his plan.
As long as he lured this fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boy into the cabin, his subordinates would follow the rope down from the ship to the boy’s small wooden boat and start searching through everything on it.
Once they had looted everything…
Whether they killed this so-called traveler or sold him as a slave would depend entirely on Great Captain Jason’s mood.
After Aiden Jason led Roy into the warehouse inside the cabin.
Looking at the supplies piled throughout the warehouse, Roy pointed at the flour nearby and said, “I want this large sack of flour.”
“And those boxes of apples.
Give me one box as well…”
“And this, this…”
Aiden Jason probed, “All right, you can take all of these, but you’ll have to pay us according to the market price.
How much money do you have on you?
Is it enough?”
“Since I said I wanted these supplies, of course I have the money to pay you.”
Roy nodded, then took out a stack of money from his waist and handed it to Aiden Jason.
This was what he had “borrowed” from a few pirates in Loguetown.
Of course, this kind of “borrowing” definitely did not need to be repaid.
“Good, straightforward.
I like people like you!”
“Brother Dio, since you dare sail the sea alone, you should have decent strength, right?
My brother Wade told me just now that he wants to spar with you!”
“Are you willing to spar with my brother?
Don’t worry, it’s just a friendly exchange!”
Aiden Jason continued testing him.
Being a pirate also came with risks.
By probing Roy’s strength, Aiden Jason could further reduce the risk of robbing him.
This was the reason he had been able to live this long.
No matter who one encountered on the sea, one had to maintain a certain level of vigilance.
It was precisely this cautious mindset that had allowed Aiden Jason to survive for so long.
He had no interest in a match he was certain to win, nor was he interested in competing against someone so much weaker than himself.
He only wanted to exchange for supplies, then leave this ship and continue heading toward Cocoyasi Village.
However, Roy’s refusal looked completely different in the eyes of others.
“This guy called Dio Brando is definitely afraid.
He’s afraid that sparring will expose how weak he really is!”
Aiden Jason could analyze from his expression that the fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boy before him was “pretending to be calm.”
In that case, he should have no concerns about making a move, right?
No.
He still had to be cautious.
After all, someone who dared to drift alone across the sea always felt like he was not that simple.
“Wade, take this little brother to the dining room for a look and see if there’s anything else he needs.
I’ll go out and have a smoke first!”
Aiden Jason spoke to one of the pirates beside him, who was pretending to be a sailor.
Although he had made a certain guess, he still planned to have Wade deliberately create a small conflict with this young man called Dio Brando, then test his true strength.
As for his excuse of going out to the deck for a smoke, he was actually going to check whether his other subordinates had found anything good on Roy’s boat.
After Aiden Jason found an excuse to leave the cabin, a dirty-faced little pirate watched everything unfold.
After seeing Roy, this unfamiliar face, the “little pirate” felt his expression shift frowning.
From the conversation just now, this “little pirate” could tell that this person called Dio Brando had just been tricked onto the pirate ship.
If nothing unexpected happened, then this guy was probably Aiden Jason’s prey for today, right?
“Should I warn him?”
“If I don’t warn him and tell him to find a chance to escape, then he’ll definitely be killed in the end!
After all, this isn’t a merchant ship at all, but a pirate ship.”
This dirty-faced little pirate was actually Cat Burglar Nami in disguise.
She had disguised herself like this and infiltrated this pirate ship pretending to be a merchant ship in order to steal the pirate crew’s treasure.
However, what Nami had not expected was that something like this would happen halfway through.
After struggling internally for a short while, Nami finally made a decision—
She would warn this boy, who was only a few years older than her, as long as she could do so without exposing herself.
“Huh?
What’s this?”
Nami suddenly cried out in surprise, attracting Roy’s attention.
She bent down and picked up a wallet, then said to Roy, “Sir, your wallet fell on the ground.
Here you go!”
“A wallet?”
Roy shook his head and continued, “My wallet didn’t fall.
It should belong to one of you.”
Hearing Roy’s answer, Nami felt his expression shift freezing.
Was this guy a blockhead?
Couldn’t he tell that she was hinting at him?
If she had known he would answer like this, she should have stolen his wallet first!
Nami had originally wanted to hand Roy this wallet, which contained a note saying “This is a pirate ship,” so he would discover it and find a chance to slip away.
But who could have expected that the young man before her would have no interest in an unfamiliar wallet at all?
Damn it!
He had wasted the goodwill of the great Nami.
“Is that so?
Haha, looks like I made a mistake.
This should be the wallet of someone on our ship.
I’ll ask my companions one by one later and see who dropped it.”
Nami revealed an awkward yet polite smile, then used a thief’s technique to remove the note from the wallet.
“Little Robbie, hand the wallet over to me.
The corridor still hasn’t been mopped.
Hurry up and go mop the corridor!”
Wade warned Nami, who was using the alias Robbie, with his eyes.
Robbie was a child their pirate crew had robbed from a village that very morning.
Their captain, Aiden Jason, planned to have this little Robbie do odd jobs on the ship and serve them.
“I’m sorry, Mr.
Wade.
I’ll go clean and mop the floor right away!”
Nami, whose face was dirty as she disguised herself as Robbie, heard Wade’s warning and pretended to be afraid.
She picked up the mop nearby and prepared to go mop the floor.
…
…
On the deck!
Captain Aiden Jason heard from his subordinates that they had found nothing good on that brat Dio Brando’s small boat.
After working for nothing, they had only obtained a small amount of food and clothes.
His anger immediately surged.
He felt as if he had spent half the day acting for nothing.
He brought his subordinates and rushed into the cabin.
“Boss, this brat doesn’t seem to have any strength.
He’s just a pretty boy!”
Inside the cabin, Wade said to Captain Aiden Jason, who had just rushed in.
“A pretty boy?
Damn it, I thought he was a fat sheep, but he turned out to be a pauper!”
“In that case, take him down and sell him as a slave.
He’s quite handsome, so those noble ladies should like a pet like him!”
After hearing Wade’s words, Aiden Jason directly revealed his vicious true nature.
He was already too lazy to keep pretending.
“Brat, put down that bottle of honey.
That’s something from my ship.
You dare touch it?”
Aiden Jason said fiercely to Roy.
“Crap.
These pirates don’t plan to keep acting like merchants anymore!”
In the corridor by the door, Nami heard Aiden Jason’s angry shout, and her expression felt his expression shift changing.
She knew these pirates were about to make a move against their “prey.”
Roy toyed with the jar of honey in his hand and said indifferently, “So you finally don’t plan to keep acting anymore?”
Since these people dared to make a move against him…
He would just kill them.