One Piece: Red Sword - Chapter 8

The matter of the bounty was settled quickly.

To Luo Ze’s surprise, the newly appointed Rear Admiral Luka was quite straightforward.

After briefly reviewing the total amount, Luka quickly had someone bring the money to Luo Ze.

Luo Ze didn’t use the system to absorb the money immediately.

Instead, she sat down and counted it slowly.

Luka wasn’t in a rush either. She sat nearby, smiling as she watched Luo Ze.

“Mr. Luo Ze, you really are a strong person!

The pirates you took down were all notorious in the South Sea and caused a lot of chaos.

Thanks to your help, the number of pirates in the South Sea will surely keep going down,” Luka said with a smile.

“Heh, it’s just work,” Luo Ze replied while counting the Berries.

“I personally like fighting. The thrill of battling and clashing swords excites me.

And since hunting pirates earns bounties, I became a pirate hunter.”

Luka looked at Luo Ze with admiration.

“I wonder, Mr. Luo Ze, would you be interested in joining the Marines?

Of course, I’m not saying you’d have to work under me.

With your strength, you could go far in the Marines and do great things.”

She had been observing Luo Ze since she walked in.

From her, Luka sensed the aura of a true warrior and couldn’t help but appreciate such talent.

Luo Ze was briefly surprised.

She hadn’t expected Luka to invite her to join the Marines.

But she quickly came back to herself and shook her head.

“I think I’ll pass. I prefer a free life,” she said.

It wasn’t that she looked down on the Marines or had anything against them.

It was simply her nature—she liked to live without restrictions.

“That’s a shame,” Luka said with regret.

If Luo Ze had joined the Marines, she would’ve been a great asset.

“By the way, have they caught the killer from last time?” Luo Ze suddenly asked.

Since it was related to her, she cared more about it.

“No leads at all.

But I believe I’ll catch the culprit eventually,” Luka replied seriously, the smile on her face fading.

“Good luck with that,” Luo Ze said with a grin.

“Well then, I should get going.”

Luka nodded at her, and Luo Ze left slowly, carrying the chest of Berries.

After Luo Ze walked far away, Luka muttered to herself,

“She’s got real talent. What a pity she won’t work for the government.”

As Luo Ze stepped out of the Marine base, she absorbed all the Berries in the chest.

Soon, the system voice rang out again:

Berries absorbed. Total balance: 560 million Berries.

Luo Ze opened the system’s mission panel.

A large number of words floated in front of her.

This time, the system’s mission was different from before.

It wasn’t about saving up 300 million Berries.

The new task was to kill a great pirate in the South Sea:

Two years from now, a rising Supernova — Eustass Kid.

Luo Ze had heard of Kid while in the South Sea.

Kid’s current bounty was 120 million Berries — a powerful rookie in the South.

However, Kid operated far from Luo Ze’s area.

So it wouldn’t be easy to find him.

Also, Luo Ze’s small boat had already been destroyed by the Marines.

If she wanted to go to sea again, she had no boat.

So today, aside from picking up the bounty money, she also planned to visit the old shipwright in Dog Town.

Old shipwright Yuris was well-known in the South Sea.

Although his ships were pricey, they were extremely powerful.

Most importantly, he possessed rare ship engine technology.

Very few people in the pirate world had mastered it, which made Yuris so famous.

Luo Ze didn’t know much about navigation herself.

The only reason she could sail across the vast ocean before was thanks to Yuris’s ship and her map.

So this time too, she planned to ask Yuris to build a ship for her.

Yuris lived in a more remote corner of Dog Town.

The area had few people, but it was close to the sea—quiet and convenient for work.

However, because it was so hidden, many people got lost the first time they tried to find him and had to give up.

Luo Ze had already been there before, so she had no trouble finding the place again.

After walking for a while, she arrived at Yuris’s home.

He lived in a large estate.

The place was spacious, and from the front gate, one could easily see the ocean to the south.

To the left of the estate was a vast forest full of timber.

There were no guards at the gate, so Luo Ze walked right in.

As soon as she entered, she saw three people standing in front of Yuris’s door.

Luo Ze recognized all three from bounty posters.

At one point, she had even considered hunting them.

But as her strength grew, this small fry no longer interested her.

The fat one on the left was an old pirate from the South Sea.

He used an axe and had some kind of ability, but his strength was weak, with only an 8 million Berries bounty.

Luo Ze didn’t even remember his name.

The one in the middle was also a minor figure.

Luo Ze vaguely remembered him but had forgotten his name too.

The old man on the right, though, she remembered clearly.

Not because he was strong, but because he looked kind of funny.

She had also heard he had a terrible temper, always starting fights over small things.

Many pirates jokingly called him “the Angry Octopus.”

When Luo Ze walked up to them, the three seemed to be arguing.

As soon as she arrived, they all looked at her with dangerous expressions.

“Kid, you here for a ship too?”

The fat guy on the left glanced at her casually.

Luo Ze looked at the three calmly and asked coldly,

“Where’s the old shipwright?”

Compared to these three nobodies, she cared more about where Yuris was.

“So you really came for a ship.

Get lost! Wait your turn after my ship is done,” the Angry Octopus said with disdain, glaring at her.

The guy in the middle also stared at her with clear hostility.

Since she didn’t get an answer, Luo Ze looked away from them.

She ignored their aggressive attitude and walked straight toward Yuris’s house.

“You really have a death wish, kid!”

The fat guy pulled out his big axe, glaring coldly at Luo Ze.

This newcomer didn’t seem to understand the rules at all.