Chapter 9: Asking for a Weapon
'Shanks, the Red-Haired...'
'One of the Four Emperors who rule over the New World.'
Maud racked his brain but couldn't understand why such an important man would come to such a shabby place.
Because of that, he couldn't answer Shanks right away.
Shanks, already used to reactions like Maud's, didn't mind and went to Sunny at the counter, raising a hand to greet her.
"Hey, Sunny. Long time no see."
"L-Long time no see."
"Why did you cut your hair?"
"It's just, um, Saul told me my hair was too long and that it wasted a lot of water to wash, so I cut it."
Sunny lowered her gaze, her heart beating faster. She made up an excuse.
[At that moment, Saul, who was walking leisurely down the street with takeout leftovers, sneezed loudly. He wiped his nose, thought for a moment, and suddenly had a bad feeling, so he quickened his pace.]
In the shop, Shanks smiled helplessly. "Saul is as... frugal as ever."
"Um, what brings you here this time...?"
Sunny took the opportunity to change the subject and ask for the reason for Shanks' visit.
"The usual. I've come to buy some wine from my hometown."
Shanks laughed heartily, walked past Maud, and headed to the counter.
Maud took a moment to react and looked at Shanks' back.
'I was a bit rude.'
Fortunately, Shanks' character was different from the other Emperors...
Yasopp, the curly-haired man, discreetly looked at Maud, and then he and Lucky Roux, who was eating a chicken leg, followed Shanks.
Maud watched them silently, calmed himself, and closed the door, then stepped aside, watching Shanks and Sunny as they chatted.
From the conversation, Shanks seemed to be a regular customer of the shop.
What frustrated Maud the most was that Shanks came to the shop to buy wine, not weapons.
'By the way, does the shop sell wine?'
Maud suddenly remembered the basement entrance.
'Could it be that the cellar is there?'
Behind the counter, Sunny, who was different from normal, seemed a little nervous.
However, when she learned that Shanks had come for wine, she remembered Saul's firm and distressed orders and held her ground as a member of Saul's gun shop.
She looked up and met Shanks' eyes. With a serious expression, she said: "After you took all the wine last time, Saul gave the order that I should sell it to anyone, except you."
"What?"
Shanks was surprised. He turned his head to look at Lucky Roo and asked, confused: "Didn't we pay last time?"
"Yes, we paid. But... when we took the shipment, we also took two barrels that the boss had set aside on purpose."
"..."
Shanks was silent for a moment, then sighed: "So that's what happened."
After sighing, he approached Sunny, changed the subject, and asked in a low voice: "Is Saul home?"
Sunny, being honest, replied: "No."
"Then it'll be easier."
Shanks had a serious expression.
"You...!"
Sunny's eyes widened.
Before Sunny could think of a response, Lucky Roux, who had already understood Shanks, left the money for the wine on the counter and headed to the stairs with familiarity.
Seeing Lucky Roux head to the cellar, Sunny wanted to get out from behind the counter to stop him.
Plop!
At that moment, a slight sound was heard on the counter.
Sunny looked in the direction of the sound. It was Yasopp, who in a break from the conversation, had taken a musket and a short-barreled flintlock pistol from the shelf and placed them on the counter.
"Sunny, how much are these two guns?"
Yasopp leaned forward, his hands resting on the counter.
The timing was inopportune, but his expression was not a joke. He really planned to buy the guns.
Sunny looked at Lucky Roux's back, then at the two guns on the counter. She sighed through gritted teeth, and as if she were about to faint, she gave the price: "The musket, 1,200,000 berries, and the short-barreled pistol, 3,800,000 berries."
At that moment, Lucky Roux was no longer in sight. He had probably already gone down to the cellar.
"Whoosh!"
Hearing the price Sunny gave, Yasopp whistled. He didn't object to the price, which seemed unreasonable, and took out the money without hesitation.
Shanks looked at the musket on Yasopp's back and asked him: "Are you sure? Maybe Saul can fix it."
Yasopp pursed his lips and said: "Boss, do you want to wait in the shop for Mr. Saul to come back?"
"Haha."
Shanks laughed carefree: "No problem. We can take the wine and then come back."
"..."
Yasopp was speechless for a moment. He shook his head and said: "Forget it, let it stay here. As my old partner, it has already given all it had."
Saying that, he took the musket off his back and put it on the counter.
This weapon was his oldest partner, the one he had carried with him since his village. In the end, it couldn't resist the passage of time.
Even though he consciously cared for it with his "Armament Haki," he was only trying to fix something that was already broken.
After all, he was a sniper, specialized in "Observation Haki," not "Armament Haki."
Besides, it wasn't until a few years after he set sail that he learned to use "Armament Haki." By then, it was already too late to use it on his beloved weapon.
Over time, his old partner had become a backup weapon.
Now, with the aging becoming more and more serious, it was even difficult for it to be a backup weapon.
Yasopp had already realized this during his regular checkups.
Having no choice, he had to make the final decision: to change weapons.
Sunny looked at the old musket that Yasopp had put on the counter and said calmly: "I'm sorry, but in this shop we don't accept second-hand weapons, especially if they are broken!"
In the end, she emphasized the word "broken."
"It's not broken, it's just old."
Realizing Sunny's bias, Yasopp felt a little helpless.
"We don't accept old ones either!"
"..."
"Haha."
It was Shanks' cheerful laugh.
Yasopp shook his head and said: "Don't sell it. Tell Mr. Saul that I left it for him."
"Can't you just throw it away? Anyway, it no longer works well."
"I can't do that!"
Yasopp had a serious expression and said: "Leave it for Mr. Saul. Maybe one day, if he feels inspired, he could change the 'heart' of my old friend to another weapon. That way, it could at least continue on in another form."
"Actually, you have another option."
The person who spoke was Maud, who had been watching from the side the entire time.
Hearing Maud's words, everyone looked at him.
Under their gazes, Maud, who had already calmed down, did not feel intimidated. His tone was solemn and serious.
"Give it to me. I will carry it with me a little longer."