"Don't push it, kid!"
Man-Scar was stunned for a moment, then flew into a rage, grabbing Luffy by the collar.
"How dare you say you don't know us! How can you even say that? Do you know how much food you've stolen from us these past few days?"
"Food?"
Luffy pondered for a moment, then suddenly widened his eyes. "Uncle, are you talking about that roasted meat? Was that yours?"
"Of course it was!"
Man-Scar grew even angrier, roaring so fiercely that spit sprayed all over Luffy's face. "Do you think roasted meat just grows out of the ground?"
"But I didn't see anyone around," Luffy said, confused. "So I took it. I thought it was roasted by some wild animals in the mountains."
It sounded a bit far-fetched.
But Luffy wasn't lying.
He had seen monkeys that could fish, apes that could brew wine, bears that could knit sweaters, and leopards that could build treehouses...
The mountains of Corbo were full of extraordinary creatures, and he had witnessed it all firsthand.
Compared to that, wild animals that could roast meat didn't seem so strange. In fact, they might even be better at it than most people.
Man-Scar had seen similar things before, so he was momentarily stunned.
"So it was a misunderstanding? Then why, the next few times we found our food missing and came to question you, did you immediately start fighting without saying a word?"
"You were all carrying weapons and shouting from a distance about being the Scar Bandit Gang! It was scary, uncle!"
Luffy grimaced. "I've always had a bad impression of bandits. Even after that woman adopted me, I still felt the same way. Anyway... I just really hate bandits!"
Man-Scar's eye twitched.
Did bandits steal your family's rice or something?
Good thing it's me standing in front of you. If it were that infamous mountain bandit Higuma, he'd have twisted your little head off by now!
"Fine, untie the kid," Man-Scar sighed, waving his hand dismissively.
"Really?" Luffy's face lit up.
"But on one condition," Man-Scar snorted. "You've got a companion, right? When's he coming to rescue you?"
"He's just like you—stolen our food a few times. You two kids are pretty good at fighting, aren't you? When he gets here, the two of you are going hunting for us. You're going to make up for the meat we lost—five times... no, ten times over!"
Ten times?!
Luffy's eyes widened. That's practically a death sentence!
He and Ace had been sent into the mountains by Dadan on Garp's orders to survive the winter on their own.
Many of the beasts in the mountains were fierce and hard to hunt. Just feeding themselves was already a challenge, and now they had to come up with that much meat?
"Ten times is too much! Six times!"
"Nine times, and I'll cut you some slack because you're still young."
"Five times!"
"Eight times, and that's absolutely the lowest I'll go."
"Three times!"
"What kind of bargaining is this, you brat! At least learn some math!"
Man-Scar roared, nearly fainting from anger. He gestured to his subordinate. "This is impossible. Don't untie him yet! Wait until his partner gets here. I refuse to believe that guy's just as brainless."
"Then you'd better untie him now."
A voice suddenly drifted down from above. "I'm afraid when his partner gets here, you'll just get mad all over again."
"Who's talking?!"
Man-Scar's expression changed drastically as he drew his machete, pointing it toward the source of the voice. He looked up and saw a black-haired youth crouching on a tree branch above, gazing at him with a strange look in his eyes.
"The mountain bandit with a bounty of three million Berry, Man-Scar?"
Xiano shook the wanted poster he had taken from Skinny Monkey, his eyes darting back and forth between the poster and the man before him. "They don't look like the same person at all…"
The Man-Scar on the poster had a sinister gaze and a bulky, obese figure.
The leader standing before him was only slightly burly, and his facial features were completely different.
The only similarity was the long scar running across both their faces.
"Is this photo you?" Xiano turned the poster around and pointed at the image.
"Yes," Man-Scar nodded. "I was much fatter back then."
"That's not you!"
Xiano sneered. "I've heard of Man-Scar's reputation before entering the mountains. Murder, rape, arson—he's done all sorts of terrible things. The townsfolk fear that name like a tiger. If you were really Man-Scar, this kid here wouldn't still be alive, spouting nonsense."
"Also, your men don't look like bandits at all. Otherwise, three or four of them wouldn't have been unable to take down an eight-year-old kid."
Xiano glanced around.
The dozen or so bandits in the camp were all pale and emaciated, dressed in tattered clothes, and their weapons were in shambles.
Only two of them carried old flintlocks, while most were just holding sharpened wooden sticks.
Man-Scar fell silent for a moment, then muttered softly, "...So you've figured it out."
"But it's strange. One of your men has pretty good aim."
Xiano tossed Skinny Monkey, who had been gagged with a rag, to the ground. "If I hadn't dodged quickly, he would've shot me right between the eyes."
"Good aim?"
Man-Scar was dumbfounded. He looked at Skinny Monkey, who was lying on the ground whimpering, and yanked the rag out of his mouth. "Agin, since when did you become a sharpshooter?"
"I didn't! I didn't!"
Skinny Monkey gasped for air, finally able to speak after being gagged for so long. Tears welled up in his eyes. "I was aiming at the branch under his feet, trying to make him fall to the ground. I didn't expect it to miss by just a little…"
From under his feet to between his eyes—that's just a little?!
I'm almost six feet tall!
Xiano's forehead twitched.
Man-Scar, finally understanding the situation, hurriedly looked up and explained:
"Sir, you must have misunderstood. Agin would never shoot at your head right off the bat! He's not that kind of person, and his aim isn't that good either!"
"In fact, his shooting is a complete mess. Everyone who knows him is aware of that. Otherwise, he wouldn't have ended up following me into the mountains!"
"He used to be a reserve soldier in the royal guard. During the New Year's celebration two years ago, he was pulled up to fire the ceremonial gun. It was supposed to be aimed at the sky, but he ended up shooting the Queen in the face… After that, he was crippled and thrown into the Uncertainty Terminal."
And he's still alive?
Xiano was stunned, glancing at the pitiful-looking Skinny Monkey. He slapped his forehead in exasperation. "So… you're not actually bandits, are you? You're all just residents from the Uncertainty Terminal?"
He suddenly thought of something, his expression turning complex: "Your home was burned down?"
The Goa Kingdom had always been hailed as "the most beautiful country in the East Blue."
In reality, however, while the city appeared glamorous on the surface, behind the high walls lay a massive incineration site for garbage.
This was the Terminal of Uncertainties.
All the filth, trash, and the starving people of the lowest class were concentrated there, gradually evolving into a large slum with an unbearable environment.
And just at the end of last year, the king of the Goa Kingdom, in preparation for the inspection of the Celestial Dragons, didn't even leave this last difficult path to survival.
He set the terminal and its residents ablaze, treating the poor as "garbage" to be disposed of.
"Yes, it's gone, all gone."
Man-Scar looked desolate, his eyes filled with memories. "Many people died or were injured that night. I heard there was a group of kind-hearted people called the Revolutionary Army who took in refugees at the harbor with their large ships. But some, like us, fled south, driven by the flames into the Corbo Mountains to survive."
"On the outskirts of the mountains, I accidentally stumbled upon the burned corpse of Man-Scar. So, starting a few months ago, I began impersonating him, moving around in the mountains until now. At least this way, I could scare off many bandits, making them afraid to mess with us."
He let out a long sigh, raised his head, and said with a bitter smile:
"Sir, we don't want to live like this either. We're even afraid that if this continues, we'll slowly turn into real bandits. But what else can we do?"
(End of Chapter)