Ochoku's face darkened, and he squeezed out a sentence through his teeth. "You really are an irritating bastard."
Whitebeard ignored him and turned toward the inside of the ship.
Ochoku stood there quietly and watched Whitebeard leave. There was nothing he could do. He could not beat him, so he could only swallow the loss.
Time always passed in the blink of an eye.
In the turn of a moment, another two days went by.
The other members of the Rocks Pirates still had not arrived at this rendezvous point.
The sea was empty and quiet. By the time Ron woke up, it was already past ten in the morning.
Sunlight slanted in through the porthole, drawing a bright trapezoid across the wooden floor.
Ron yawned and sat up. When he went out, he saw a note Annika had left outside his bedroom door.
[Ron-sama, I went out to buy food. I'll be back soon. The hostage did not run away.]
After reading it, Ron casually tucked it into his pocket. That part about "the hostage did not run away" was completely unnecessary.
If he did not trust Annika, he would not have given her freedom to move around in the first place.
After washing up, Ron went to the ship's hall and immediately saw Stussy curled up on the sofa reading the newspaper.
"Yo, you're awake?" Stussy did not even lift her head. She turned a page with a lazy voice. "Newgate said to find him at the tavern in town for drinks once you woke up."
"You're not going?" Ron asked casually.
Only then did Stussy lift her eyelids and glance at him. Then she quickly lowered them again and said blandly, "A thief came back. I don't dare leave my back to him."
Naturally, she was talking about Ochoku. Right now, Stussy only hoped that Rocks and those bastards would come back sooner. That way, she would not have to worry about that "thief" doing something behind her back.
"Oh." Ron nodded lightly and did not say anything more as he walked out.
He honestly could not understand these money-grubbers. They had already become pirates, so what did they need treasure for?
If they wanted something, could they not just rob it directly? What kind of proper pirate gave up on something they wanted because they did not have enough money?
"Hey, Ron." Stussy's voice followed from behind. "Bring some back for me too."
"Got it."
The distance from the coast to town was not far. Walking normally, it took about thirty minutes.
Ron was in no rush. His pace was neither fast nor slow. But when he reached a slightly winding stretch of road, he stopped.
It was not because he was tired. His Malice Perception had sensed the scent of danger.
That warning was soon confirmed.
"Ron. We finally found you."
A light voice drifted over from diagonally ahead.
Ron turned sideways and looked in the direction of the voice. Three familiar figures appeared in his eyes.
"Roger? Rayleigh? Gaban?" Ron looked slightly surprised. "What a coincidence."
But very quickly, the expressions on the faces of the three Roger Pirates told him this was not a chance encounter.
Roger pushed his straw hat upward. On that usually bold and cheerful face, there was no trace of a smile now.
"Something you need?" Ron spoke first.
Roger did not answer immediately. He stared at Ron for two seconds before slowly speaking. "Why? You clearly agreed to Shakky's conditions. Why did you ignore them? You could have chosen not to save them, but why drag them into the water?"
When Ron saw the three of them looking as if someone in their family had died, he already knew nothing good was coming. Now... it had been confirmed. But he had not expected Roger and the others to come because of Shakky.
Thinking carefully, though, it made sense. In the original story, the entire Roger Pirates had basically been wrapped around Shakky's finger.
For "love," for so-called "righteousness," coming to demand justice from him... was normal.
However... wait.
Ron felt something was off. He had acted together with Kaido, Whitebeard, and Stussy, yet they had come to find only him? Or was he simply unlucky enough to run into them by coincidence?
"Them?" Ron's tone remained calm. "Are you referring to those slaves captured by the World Government?"
"Judging from the way you came to condemn me... they all failed to survive, didn't they?"
Ron felt a little regretful inside. You should have said so earlier. If you had said all those slaves were Shakky's people, he would have taken them onto the auxiliary ship along with Annika.
Then he could have demanded a huge payment from Shakky. Kidnapping one person was kidnapping. Kidnapping a whole group was still kidnapping.
Roger had been watching Ron's expression the entire time. He wanted to see a hint of guilt, a trace of unease, even an excuse. Anything would have been fine.
But there was nothing.
Ron wore only indifference. That kind of "this has nothing to do with me" indifference made people want to punch him in the face.
Roger's anger finally surged up like a flood breaking through a dam. "Ron, you bastard. Does 'faith' and 'duty' mean nothing in your eyes?"
Ron did not refute him right away, because he felt there was no point arguing with Roger about this.
From Roger's perspective, if you did not save everyone, you were wrong.
From Ron's perspective, Shakky had only asked him to "provide certain help under special circumstances." Ron felt he had already done that.
He had rescued Annika.
And because he had acted independently, the Kuja Pirates had contributed nothing. Asking for double the reward was perfectly reasonable.
"The sea calls me the 'Demon Butcher.' They all say I, Ron, am a demon who doesn't take life seriously. Didn't you know that already? Heh... Is there really any need to be this angry?"
Roger lowered his gaze. The turbulent emotions in his eyes finally sank. His hand slowly moved to the hilt of his sword and tightened around it.
"Hah..." Roger exhaled. "In that case..."
Roger was disappointed.
If Ron's attitude had been even a little better, if he had said, "I didn't mean to," Roger might have let him off.
Even if it were a lie, at least it would have meant this person still cared about something.
But no.
Ron did not care.
He did not care about the people who died. He did not care about "faith" or "duty."
"I'm incredibly glad I turned down your request to join my ship back then," Roger said in a low voice.
"After saying so much," Ron replied, his voice still calm, even carrying a hint of amusement, "I thought you came here to reason with me."
"Recognize reality, bastard," Gaban suddenly cut in with a cold laugh, his hand also moving to the weapon at his waist. "We're pirates. Whether we talk reason or not depends on our mood."