"Don't push it, kid!"
Scar was first taken aback, then instantly enraged, grabbing Luffy by the collar.
"You dare claim you don't know us! How could you say that, do you even realize how much food you've taken from us these days!"
"Food?"
Luffy racked his brain, suddenly widening his eyes, "Uncle, you mean those roasted meats? Those were your things?"
"What else do you think?"
Scar became angrier, roaring with spittle spraying all over Luffy's face, "Do you think roasted meat grows out of the ground by itself?"
"But I didn't see anyone nearby?" Luffy looked confused, "So I just picked it up, thinking some beasts in the mountain had roasted it."
Those words sounded a little outrageous.
But Luffy was actually not lying.
Saw gorillas that could fish, monkeys that could brew, bears that could knit sweaters, leopards that built treehouses...
The Korbo Mountain Range is full of wild beasts with remarkable talents; he'd seen them all firsthand.
In comparison, beasts that could roast meat seemed normal, maybe even better at it than most people.
Having seen similar scenes, Scar was momentarily stunned:
"So, it was a misunderstanding? Then why, when we confronted you about missing food, did you immediately start fighting without a word?"
"You were all carrying weapons, shouting from afar that you were part of the Scar Mountain Bandits, it's terrifying, uncle!"
Luffy said bitterly, "I don't have a good impression of bandits, even after being taken in by that woman, and anyway... Anyway, I really hate people who become bandits!"
Scar's eyelid twitched.
Did bandits eat your rice?
Luckily you're facing me, if it were that notorious mountain bandit Siger, he'd have twisted your head off for that remark, you brat!
"Enough, untie the kid."
Scar sighed, waving his hand in disinterest.
"Really?" Luffy rejoiced.
"But there's a condition."
Scar snorted coldly, "You have a companion, right? When is he coming to rescue you?"
"He also stole our food several times, you two are quite the fighters, aren't you? Once he arrives, you both go hunting together and bring back five times... no, ten times the meat we lost!"
Ten times?!
Luffy's eyes widened, isn't this deadly?!
He and Ace were sent to the mountain by Dadan as per Garp's request, to train and survive this winter on their own.
The beasts in the mountain are fierce, hard to hunt, it's difficult enough to feed themselves, now they have to cough up this much meat?
"Ten times is too much! Six times!"
"Nine times, just cutting you a break because you're young."
"Five times!"
"Eight times, can't go lower than that."
"Three times!"
"Who's bargaining like this! You little punk! You should at least learn some math!"
Scar shouted, almost fainting from anger, signaling his men to stop, "This is impossible to communicate, don't untie him for now! Wait for his companion, I don't believe that guy is as brainless."
"You better untie him now."
Suddenly, a faint voice came from above, "I'm afraid when his partner arrives, you'll die of anger again."
"Who's speaking!"
Scar's face changed drastically, drawing a machete towards the source of the voice—only to see a black-haired boy squatting in the tree above, eyeing him strangely.
"The mountain bandit with a three million Belly bounty, Scar?"
Shano shook the warrant fished off Skinny Monkey, comparing back and forth, "No way, they totally look like two different people..."
The Scar on the warrant had sinister eyes, covered in fat.
Whereas the leader in front was only somewhat burly, with completely different features.
The only similarity was the long knife scar on their faces.
"Is this photo of you?"
Shano flipped the warrant around, pointing at the picture.
"It's me." Scar nodded, "I used to be fat back then."
"That's not you!"
Shano sneered, "I heard Scar's name before entering the mountain, doing all sorts of heinous acts, those townsfolk feared that name like a tiger, if you were really Scar, would this brat still be alive and kicking, spouting nonsense here?"
"Also, your subordinates sure don't look like bandits, if not, they wouldn't need three or four people to take down an eight-year-old kid."
Shano glanced around.
The dozen or so bandits in camp were all sallow, ragged, holding nothing but shabby weapons.
Only two carried old flintlock guns, most just wielded sharpened sticks.
Scar was silent for a moment, murmuring softly, "... Have they seen through us."
"But oddly enough, you have a subordinate here whose shooting is pretty accurate."
Shano tossed aside Skinny Monkey, who was bound and gagged, "If I hadn't dodged swiftly, he would've shot through my eyebrow directly."
"Accurate shooter?"
Scar was dumbfounded, looking at the whimpering Skinny Monkey on the ground, pulling out the cloth from his mouth, confused, "Ah Yin, since when did you become a sharpshooter?"
"I didn't, I didn't!"
Skinny Monkey gasped for air, finally able to speak, tears almost streaming down, "I aimed for the branch under his feet to make him fall, who knew, who knew it would miss like that..."
From his feet to his eyebrows, that's just a little bit off?!
I'm nearly six feet tall, dammit!
Black lines appeared on Shano's forehead.
Scar understood the gist, hurriedly explaining:
"Sir, you must be mistaken, Ah Yin wouldn't shoot at your head straight away! He's not that kind of person, and his shooting sure isn't that precise!"
"Honestly, his shooting's lousy, everyone we know knows this, or else he wouldn't have ended up with me in the mountains!"
"He used to be a Royal City Guard reserve, during last year's New Year celebration, he was temporarily recruited to fire a salute gun, was supposed to shoot skywards, ended up blasting the Queen's face... and was crippled and sent to the Terminal of Uncertainty."
And he survived till now?
Shano listened with astonishment, glanced at the aggrieved look on Skinny Monkey's face, and helplessly slapped his forehead, "So... you're not really bandits, you're all residents from the Terminal of Uncertainty?"
Suddenly, an idea struck him, and his expression became somewhat complicated, "Your homes were burned down?"
The Goa Kingdom is always lauded as the "most beautiful kingdom in the East Sea."
But in reality, only the city was superficially glamorous, hidden behind high walls, there was secretly a massive waste incineration station.
Also known as the Terminal of Uncertainty.
All the filth, garbage, and starving citizens were concentrated there, gradually evolving into an enormous impoverished slum.
And just last year-end, the King of the Goa Kingdom, to prepare for a Heavenly Celestial Dragon inspection, denied even this last harsh way of living.
Setting the terminal and its residents ablaze, treating the poor as "garbage," clearing them out altogether.
"Yes, gone, all gone."
Scar's expression was desolate, his eyes recalling, "That night, many died or were injured, I heard some kind souls from a group called the Revolutionary Army took in refugees at the dock on a large ship, but some like us fled south, driven by the fire, into the Korbo Mountain Range to survive."
"On the mountain outskirts, I accidentally found Scar's burnt corpse, so from a few months back, I started impersonating him to operate in this mountain, to at least scare off many bandits, so they wouldn't dare trouble us."
He sighed deeply, lifting his head, bitterly smiling:
"Sir, we don't want this either, we're even scared we might slowly become real bandits, but, ah, what choice do we have?"