After two hours of sailing, Nami and Roy finally reached a beach area to the right of Cocoyasi Village.
“Roy, if we walk straight in that direction for about fifteen hundred meters, we’ll be able to see my hometown, Cocoyasi Village!”
Nami pointed to the direction on her right and spoke to Roy.
“Mm, all right.”
Roy nodded, then began his check-in.
This beach could also be considered part of Cocoyasi Village’s territory.
Now that he had arrived here, it counted as officially reaching Cocoyasi Village, so he could check in with the System.
[Check-in successful!]
You still need to check in for fourteen more days before you can complete the Cocoyasi Village check-in mission.
The System’s voice rang out after Roy successfully checked in.
“The village up ahead is my hometown, Cocoyasi Village!”
Nami pointed at the village a few hundred meters away and said to Roy, “After we enter the village and reach my house, I’ll have Nojiko make you something delicious!”
“Mm.”
Hearing Nami invite him to her home as a guest, Roy did not say much.
He merely nodded.
“Don’t be so cold.
Nojiko’s cooking is really good!”
“Oh.
I’ll look forward to it.”
Just as the two of them walked toward the village, a group of fish-men suddenly appeared on a fork in the road not far away.
“Not good!
It’s those fish-men from the Arlong Pirates!”
When Nami saw the fish-men from the Arlong Pirates at the fork in the road, she was immediately startled.
She had clearly gone out of her way to take a detour, yet they still ran into fish-men.
Was her luck really that bad?
She instinctively wanted to pull Roy into the bushes beside the road to hide.
This was Nami’s instinctive reaction.
But just as Nami grabbed Roy’s hand, before she had time to hide in the bushes, the fish-men at the fork in the road called out to her.
“I was wondering who it was.
Isn’t this our nautical chart surveyor, Nami?” Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“Since we just happened to run into you, hand over the protection money.”
The reason these fish-men had come to Cocoyasi Village this time was to collect protection money.
The adults in the village had to pay one hundred thousand berries to buy their lives, while children had to pay fifty thousand.
If anyone dared not pay, these fish-men would directly kill the people who could not hand over the money.
The Arlong Pirates ruled dozens of villages through this exact method of violence.
These fish-men did not treat humans as people at all.
In their eyes, humans were nothing more than slaves.
“Human brat, hand over your life-buying money.”
A catfish-like fish-man walked directly in front of Roy, stretched out his hand, and spoke to him with some contempt.
In the eyes of fish-men, Roy’s human face looked no different from other humans.
This fish-man did not realize that Roy was an outsider.
And clearly, the catfish fish-man greatly enjoyed the feeling of collecting money and oppressing humans.
In his heart, humans were an inferior race meant for his amusement.
The arrogance on his face said everything.
However, Roy had never had any dealings with these fish-men before.
For them to come up and demand money from him for no reason, it would be strange if he actually paid.
He glanced indifferently at the catfish fish-man and spoke in a calm tone.
“I think you’d be better off getting far away from me.
My money isn’t that easy to collect.”
After hearing Roy’s answer, Nami’s expression could not help becoming tense.
In Nami’s view, if they could avoid a conflict with these vicious fish-men, then it would be best not to start one.
Although she knew Roy was very strong, the Arlong Pirates had already left a deep psychological shadow on her.
“Brat, if you’ve got the guts, say that again.”
After hearing what Roy said, the catfish fish-man froze for a moment.
He had not expected a human to dare speak to him like that.
Then he continued, furious, “Lowly human!
If you dare not pay today, I’ll chop you up and feed you to the dogs!”
Roy frowned, and a trace of killing intent appeared in his eyes.
“Big Brother Catfish Nine, I’ll pay this one hundred thousand berries for him!”
At that moment, Nami hurriedly revealed a smile.
From her words, it could be heard that she knew this fish-man. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Or rather, she knew every fish-man.
After all, there were not that many fish-men in the Arlong Pirates.
Although paying one hundred thousand berries on Roy’s behalf made Nami feel heartache…
When she saw the chest of treasure on the grass beside the road.
That heartache immediately lessened quite a bit.
However, just as Nami was preparing to pay, Roy grabbed her hand.
“There’s no need to give these guys money.”
Roy shook his head.
Clearly, he did not intend to let Nami pay.
If this group of people did not know how to cherish their lives, then he would simply kill them!
“They’re just a group of stinking fish and rotten shrimp.”
Roy glanced at the fish-men.
“And they’re too ugly.”
“I was actually looking forward to seeing a new kind of animal.”
A new… animal?
Too ugly?!
The catfish fish-man heard Roy’s words, which he had made no effort to lower, and his anger instantly surged.
He could not understand where this human brat had gotten the courage to speak to him like that.
But he knew that he was extremely furious right now!
Lowly humans were nothing more than an inferior race!
Yet this human dared to offend his superior!
He was simply courting death!
The catfish fish-man revealed a ferocious expression and gnashed his teeth.
“Human brat, you’re seeking death!!!”
He immediately pulled out the longsword at his waist.
Then he slashed down straight at Roy’s head.
His face was extremely savage.
It was as if he would not stop until he had chopped off Roy’s head.
“Die!!!”