Chapter 19

"Don't forget, you still owe me 100,000 Berries!" Nami grinned wickedly. "With interest compounded, it's now 5,000,000 Berries!"

"Wh-what?" Zoro raged. "How can you compound interest like that?"

"If you help me take them out today, our debt is wiped clean!" Nami declared boldly.

What could Zoro do?

Money bent his back; he could only grumble and curse as he drew his blade and walked toward Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine.

Mr. 5 was clearly not the type to sit and wait for death. He immediately dug hard at his nose and pried out a huge glob of booger, thinking that once he'd cleaned his nose thoroughly there'd be no problem, and then was about to flick that glob of booger out......

"Boom—"

Mr. 5's nose exploded. Clearly his booger hadn't been fully cleaned out.

He'd blown his own head off on the spot.

Although as an Explosive Human he was immune to explosions, the shockwave inside his nasal cavity gave him a concussion, and he plopped down on his backside in a daze.

And Miss Valentine, who likewise had no real ability, was cut down by Zoro in two simple slashes.

This gave Vivi a strange look on her face.

The high-ranking agents who'd been chasing her just moments ago were taken out this easily?

Her worldview was crumbling a little.

"Whoosh— whoosh—"

The sound of flapping wings came; the otter-riding-vulture duo spotted earlier reappeared, flapping their wings as they flew off into the distance.

"It's the Unlucky Duo! They're intelligence officers from the Broker Society, don't let them escape!" Vivi hurriedly said.

But they'd already flown so far; it seemed no one present had a way to deal with them.

Nami could only cast a pitiful gaze toward Sima Di.

Help us out, please!

"1,000,000,000 Berries—you're not planning to hog it all, are you?" Sima Di said. "By heads, one hundred million each; the extra two hundred million, we each take one hundred million. How about it?"

"Impossible!" Nami said, furious. "I was the one who landed this commission!"

"But we're the ones doing the fighting, and besides Zoro, no one owes you money." Sima Di shrugged.

Nami wasn't his woman, so of course they had to settle accounts fairly.

Nami was absolutely furious!

But the subsequent escort work really did depend on Sima Di and the others.

So she compromised: "Out of the 1,000,000,000 Berries, I'll give you 150,000,000. The rest is none of your business!"

Clearly,

she was planning to skim off everyone else's share.

But Sima Di didn't care about that.

Looking at the Unlucky Duo about to vanish over the horizon, he first stacked some BUFFs on himself.

【Far Sight!】

【Lock-On!】

【Tracking!】

After stacking the BUFFs,

two beams of ghostly blue light shot from Sima Di's eyes. No matter how the vulture swayed left and right, under the cheat of Lock-On + Tracking, its head was still struck directly.

The vulture and the otter instantly petrified into statues, plummeting straight down into the sea and vanishing without a trace.

"Petrifying Beam!"

This was a reward he'd gotten when he signed in at the Red Line earlier; he hadn't expected it to be so handy.

???????????????

One whole day! The numbers haven't moved!!!

Is no one reading anymore?

Then......

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17. Robin Appears! Snatched On the Spot! Ultimate Move Activated!

"So cool!"

"He can shoot lasers!"

"I want to learn it too!!!"

Looking at Luffy who'd popped out from god knows where, Sima Di found it amusing too.

"Weren't you just calling me ungrateful?" Sima Di retorted.

That left Luffy completely speechless.

"Uncle Kureha said they seem to be some kind of bounty hunter organization...... I wronged you, sorry!"

Watching Luffy bow at a perfect ninety degrees to apologize, Sima Di sighed helplessly.

Stubborn when convinced, takes his lumps when wrong.

At least Luffy's attitude was beyond reproach.

"This is my ability; you can't learn it." Sima Di explained casually.

This left Luffy quite disappointed.

He muttered: "Not fair! Why can you have my Gum-Gum Fruit ability, but I can't shoot lasers from my eyes?"

Why indeed?

Because I've got cheats!

However......

"By the way, who told you your Devil Fruit was the Paramecia-type Gum-Gum Fruit?" Lord Sima asked curiously.

"Huh? Of course it was Shanks."

Shanks, you say?

Strange......

This Fruit was snatched by Shanks from CP9 — he couldn't possibly not know that this Devil Fruit is a Mythical Zoan type, could he?

If he didn't know,

he wouldn't have risked offending the World Government to snatch it from CP9.

Shaking his head,

Lord Sima didn't bother to specifically remind Luffy about the Devil Fruit matter. After all, only an awakened Zoan-type Devil Fruit offered a significant boost, and at Luffy's current level, he was still a long way off.

One must know......

Zoan-type Devil Fruits are the only one of the three types where a failed "awakening" carries side effects.

"Sir, aren't you coming out yet?" Crocus suddenly spoke, looking toward a certain shadowy corner.

This made everyone turn their gazes toward the sound.

"Old man, you couldn't have seen wrong, could you?" Zoro said bluntly.

The next second,

the crisp sound of a heel striking the floor came over. Then a long, pale leg stepped out from the darkness, followed by the reveal of a pear-shaped figure, and finally that sculpted, mature-beauty face.

It was none other than Nico....

In other words......

"Miss Allsunday!" Vivi blurted out. "Vice President of Baroque Works! Why are you here? Are you here to hunt me down too?"

"Don't say it like that." Robin said languidly. "It's because I let you tail me that you learned of Baroque Works' existence."

Hearing this,

it was Robin who had given Alabasta a chance to save itself.

"The one who told Mr. 0 that his cover was blown — that was you too, wasn't it!" Vivi said bluntly.

"Of course." Robin admitted openly.

Well then!

The good guy and the bad guy — you've played both roles.