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Although Hook seemed to hold the advantage because he had two high-value hostages in his hands, in truth, the initiative still rested firmly with Sato.
The reason was simple—Hook did not know Sato at all. Aside from the single communication number in front of him, he knew nothing about Sato. And Sato was always cautious; how could he possibly leave Hook a number that he and Tyler regularly used?
The number Sato left on the slip of paper was just one of the many communication numbers he had confiscated from enemies. If Hook wanted to use that number to pull anything, it would be nothing but futile effort.
Furthermore, there was an even more important point—Sato already knew Hook's plan to steal the Pokémon egg. He understood perfectly: the only reason a vicious Class-A fugitive like Hook didn't simply kill the hostages and flee, and instead chose to negotiate, was to ensure the success of his plan to steal the egg.
He had learned from the fat man that there were only three of them total. To pull off the theft, Hook had come up with an extremely detailed plan.
And in that plan, the bucktooth man and the fat man played crucial roles. Without the two of them, the plan Hook designed would almost certainly fail.
"Hehe, go ahead and try touching them. If you cripple them or kill them, I'll hand your two subordinates directly over to the League. Then your whole purpose for coming to this forest is probably going to be ruined."
"And you'd still be running for your life. Solace and Booker definitely won't let you off for crippling or killing their sons. You might as well wash your neck and wait to die."
"Don't think I don't know who you people are. You're all Pokémon hunters wanted by the League. Handing the two of them over to the League doesn't put me at any loss."
"Oh, and do you even know who I am? You don't even know my name, yet you dare threaten me. You really are an idiot."
After clearly understanding the advantages and disadvantages between them, Sato let a cold smile appear on his face as he spoke mockingly to Hook through the communicator.
Hearing Sato's words, the arrogant laughter coming from Hook's end abruptly stopped. It was replaced by heavy, furious breathing.
At that moment, Hook had been completely enraged by Sato. Normally, he was the one calling others idiots. Now he was the one being called an idiot—and worse, the insults were perfectly justified. It infuriated him to the extreme.
Moments later, the communicator transmitted cries of pain—naturally from the two hostages. But though Hook was furious, he still controlled his strength and did not strike any fatal or critical areas.
"Kid, you've got guts. Don't make me wait too long. Otherwise… fine, we can just go down together. The League has been after me for years—like I'm afraid of them."
After a short while, Hook suppressed his rage, gripping the communicator tightly with his wide, calloused hand as he growled at Sato.
"That's better. As long as you talk properly, we can definitely reach a win-win result."
Seeing Hook step back, Sato felt a surge of satisfaction and immediately shifted from his previously aggressive stance, smiling as he replied.
About a minute later, he hung up, a pleased expression on his face. Then he shared part of the information regarding the bucktooth man, the fat man, and the missing personnel with Phil and the others.
Phil and the others were stunned. Sato had silently completed the mission without them even realizing it. Of course, as beneficiaries of the situation, they had no objections to the next steps Sato suggested.
In truth, Sato had never planned to personally exchange the bucktooth man and the fat man for the hostages. Their mission was only to investigate the whereabouts of the missing personnel. As for rescuing them, that was not their responsibility.
Whether it was Carl or Micha, both were scum deserving death, with extremely rotten personalities.
Sato was certain that even if he rescued them, the two would still behave arrogantly toward him because of his current lack of strength—perhaps even repay kindness with betrayal.
For such trash and troublemakers, Sato had zero desire to rescue them. If anything, he wished the two spoiled rich brats would just die early.
However, for the sake of the mission, he still decided to hand both over to the League. While receiving the bounty reward, he also conveniently shifted the burden of rescuing them onto the League.
As for Flannery and Roxanne, Sato didn't think too much about them. He had already repaid their earlier assistance. He wasn't their babysitter—where they wanted to go was none of his business.
Night had completely fallen, and the rain continued. Sato and the others leaned against the fire inside a tree hollow, rotating shifts as they endured the long forest night.
Around midnight, the rain finally stopped, and hungry nocturnal creatures began emerging to hunt.
As a result, during the latter half of the night, the tree hollow where Sato and the others rested received plenty of "special attention" from the forest creatures. They barely got any sleep—while the bucktooth man and the fat man slept like babies.
Early the next morning, Sato and the group escorted the two back to Slateport City. Everything went smoothly. Soon after handing them over, Sato received a generous bounty—a full 2 million PokeDollars.
What surprised him even more was that he also received an additional 2,000 League Contribution Points, bringing his total up to 4,800.
"So capturing wanted criminals earns both bounty and contribution points… What a miscalculation on my part. I really need to pay more attention to other ways to earn contribution points."
"If that's the case, becoming a bounty hunter in the future might not be a bad idea. Dangerous, yes, but discreet—and a fast way to build reputation."
Receiving his rewards from the League staff, Sato couldn't help but consider the idea of becoming a bounty hunter.
No matter the time or place, criminals always existed. The world never lacked people who defied the law—these individuals were the roots and catalysts of chaos.
Even though the League was currently the most powerful organization in the Pokémon world and most areas under its control were peaceful, criminals still existed.
Worse, these criminals were often extremely strong trainers. Normal trainers couldn't do anything about them and were even at risk of losing their lives. Even the League's special enforcement units often struggled to apprehend them.
Thus, to gather the strength of the public, the bounty system came into existence.
And with it, the ancient profession of the bounty hunter once again began serving the League.
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There was some mistake in chapter 743. Its corrected and fixed.