One Piece: Scourge of the Seas

Early Morning.

Maude opened his eyes, weariness etched across his face.

Last night, he had stayed up late organizing information, losing track of time until the early hours of the morning.

Despite his exhaustion, he had only managed to sleep for less than two hours before waking up.

Fortunately, yesterday's hunt had been productive—otherwise, his body wouldn't have been able to endure this strain.

Now that he was awake, there was no hope of falling back to sleep.

Throwing off the thin blanket, Maude got out of bed. He wondered what sort of work Sol would assign him today.

Either way, he had already resigned himself to playing the role of a laborer to settle down here as quickly as possible.

Rubbing his cheeks, he opened the door and stepped out.

The hallway was silent enough to hear a pin drop. His footsteps made faint creaking noises on the wooden floor, which echoed conspicuously in the stillness.

At the far end of the corridor, sunlight filtered through the cracks in a boarded-up window, casting speckled beams onto the floor.

Glancing briefly at the other closed doors along the hallway, Maude didn't linger and made his way toward the staircase.

Descending to the first floor, he noticed that the hallway to the right led to the shop front, while the one on the left connected to the living room and kitchen.

It was still early, so the shop door hadn't been opened yet.

However, Sunny was already awake, sitting at the dining table eating breakfast.

After quickly washing up, Maude headed to the kitchen-dining area.

He was starving.

Yesterday, he could barely hold out, but today was different. Perhaps it was his body's recovery that amplified his hunger.

Sunny glanced up at Maude, who looked like he was about to faint from hunger, and wordlessly pushed a glass of milk toward the seat across from her, motioning for him to sit down.

Maude didn't hesitate. He pulled out the chair and sat.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a set of dishes with a few scraps left on them at another seat. It seemed Sol had already eaten earlier.

Maude picked up the wooden cup and took a sip of milk. His brow furrowed slightly—it had the distinctive gamey tang of raw milk.

Suppressing his discomfort, he downed the milk in one go and grabbed a slice of meat. A few bites later, he felt like he had come back to life.

For such a shabby-looking establishment, the food was surprisingly good.

But what Maude appreciated most was the laid-back atmosphere Sol and Sunny exuded, which was far from what he expected of pirates.

In fact, Sol was, in a sense, his lifesaver.

After wolfing down several more pieces of meat, Maude finally slowed down and looked at Sunny, who was almost done eating.

Recalling the note from yesterday with its warnings about staying indoors during the day and night, a thought crossed his mind.

"Sunny, what kind of place is Mad Hat Town?"

"Why don't you go out and see for yourself?"

"???"

Maude was baffled.

The warnings on the note from yesterday were still fresh in his mind.

Looking at Sunny's expressionless face, Maude couldn't help but think she was deliberately messing with him to get back at him for brushing her off yesterday.

Clatter—

Before he could think further, Sunny pushed her chair back.

"After you finish eating, clean up and tidy the shop. You have half an hour."

Leaving those words behind, she headed upstairs without looking back.

Maude shook his head and cleared the rest of his breakfast before getting to work.

If his job was just cleaning, this "laborer" role seemed way too easy.

After cleaning the dining table, Maude grabbed the cleaning supplies and headed to the shop front.

While dusting the shelves, he paid special attention to the items displayed.

Sunny's note had clearly warned against touching any of the weapons for sale.

Touching was forbidden, but looking wasn't.

The shop had three shelves in total. The first displayed various swords, the second held flintlock guns of different lengths, and the third was a mix of swords and firearms.

If his memory served him right, Sol had cleaned the bloodstained longsword that Watt had wielded yesterday before placing it back on the third shelf.

Looking at the overwhelming number of items on that particular shelf, Maude couldn't help recalling Sol's adept movements from yesterday. A thought crossed his mind:

A shelf for second-hand goods?

As for the source of these goods—there was no need to guess.

Strictly speaking, though, weapons like swords didn't really lose their utility unless they were seriously damaged, so it hardly mattered whether they were second-hand.

Shifting his gaze from the third shelf, Maude examined the one holding the dozen or so flintlock guns.

Though few in number, their sparse arrangement made the shelf seem rather empty.

Maude studied the guns closely.

In both Earth and the Hunter World, guns had always overshadowed cold weapons.

Compared to swords and similar weapons, Maude was far more familiar with firearms.

Back in the Hunter World, even when his abilities had grown to the point where he no longer needed a gun, he still carried a pistol as a backup.

He couldn't claim to be a sharpshooter, but his accuracy was solid.

However, he knew well that in the One Piece world, cold weapons like swords held far more prominence than firearms.

Many of the top fighters who had reached extraordinary levels of strength favored cold weapons over guns.

That said, it wasn't because guns lacked potential. The problem was that very few individuals in this world could fully exploit the range advantage of firearms.

"Is Kid's prized gun among these?"

Maude suddenly thought of Kid, who had visited the shop yesterday.

If that so-called "prized gun" was enough to make Kid so obsessed, it must have been of exceptional quality.

Leaning in, Maude scrutinized the limited selection of guns. Unfortunately, with his knowledge of modern firearms, he couldn't make sense of these flintlocks' quality.

He couldn't even identify Kid's prized gun, let alone distinguish the good ones from the rest.

"I need to get my hands on one of these soon."

Though flintlocks were less powerful than modern guns, Maude saw their value.

Eyeing the guns on the shelf with longing, Maude's thoughts wandered.

In the early stages of his hunting plans, what he lacked most was a simple yet effective killing tool like a gun.

Suppressing the urge to swipe one of the second-hand flintlocks from the third shelf, Maude finished cleaning the shelves with practiced efficiency.

After tossing the cleaning supplies back into the storage room, he checked the time—exactly half an hour had passed.

Sunny came downstairs right on cue, heading to the shop front.

Maude quickly noticed that she seemed to be in a good mood.

What he didn't know was that Sunny's mood had improved because she wouldn't have to do any more dirty or tiring chores for the foreseeable future.

If Maude managed to stay alive, this arrangement could last indefinitely.

As Maude watched, Sunny pulled a measuring stick from the counter and began meticulously adjusting the items on the shelves.

The sight made Maude's scalp tingle.

What the hell?

At first, he thought she was inspecting the shelves to see if he had touched anything.

But as he watched her adjust each item ever so slightly after measuring, he realized she was simply a perfectionist.

Choosing not to disturb her, Maude patiently waited on the sidelines.

An hour later, Sunny finally finished and began the day's business.

"Where's Sol?"

Noticing that Sol still hadn't come downstairs, Maude asked curiously.

Sunny glanced at him and replied expressionlessly, "He went to Pleasure District for morning training. He'll be back before lunch."

"Oh, morning training, huh?"

Maude nodded, impressed. It made sense that Sol, despite his age, could maintain such formidable strength.

Wait a second.

Something didn't add up.

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