Chapter 486

After hearing what Boke had to say, beads of sweat the size of beans seeped from the Right Minister's forehead, and his legs began to tremble—he was clearly terrified!

"I understand, Lord Boke! We will certainly do it as quickly as possible!" the Right Minister said to Boke, gritting his teeth.

Boke nodded in satisfaction.

He was always happy to do this job of collecting desserts; sensible officials would always send him some extra ones.

At this moment, Luffy and his two companions, carrying their treasures, arrived on the scene.

"Ahahaha! What a coincidence, Right Minister, you're here too! Huh? These two guys look so strange; are they new guests at the Dragon Palace?"

From quite a distance away, Luffy had seen the Right Minister standing outside the gate.

Moreover, his face was ashen, and he was constantly wiping away the cold sweat streaming down his forehead, as if he were under some immense pressure!

This made Luffy feel puzzled.

"Lord Luffy, come in, please come in!" When the Right Minister saw the three of them, he immediately let out a sigh of relief.

For some reason, seeing Luffy made his fear of the Soul Hall feel a little less overwhelming.

The surrounding citizens also shouted enthusiastically upon seeing the trio.

"Lord Luffy! How was the banquet?"

"Wow! So cool! Lord Luffy!"

Hearing the enthusiastic calls of the citizens, Luffy and his friends responded politely, wearing warm smiles on their faces.

"Thank you all for your generous hospitality; your food was truly delicious! Especially those sweets—I just couldn't get enough of them!"

"Hehehe, as long as you liked them, Lord Luffy!"

The surrounding citizens called out to Luffy enthusiastically once more.

But then, they realized something was wrong.

The Soul Hall envoy had just arrived, and their Right Minister had claimed there were no more sweets.

Yet now, it was being said that they had used sweets to entertain Luffy's group—this was quite awkward.

Luffy's group walked forward, looking at the scene before them with blank expressions, thinking to themselves: "What is going on here?"

"Who are you guys? You look a bit familiar," Boke stared at Luffy in confusion.

Then, he took out a thick stack of wanted posters to check.

"Hmm... Straw Hat Luffy? You're Straw Hat Luffy? That's impossible!" Boke shouted in surprise, pointing at Luffy.

"You know me?" Luffy asked curiously.

Boke was speechless: "Of course I know you, Straw Hat Luffy! Two years ago, you caused quite a scene in the Forbidden City of the Dragon Dynasty!"

"Huh? Luffy, is this guy a fan of yours?" Sanji asked curiously.

"I am not! I am Boke of the Soul Hall! I'm here to collect the desserts. You ate them all, so you have to compensate me!" Boke pointed angrily at Luffy and his group.

"Pfft! I'm not paying. Those desserts are already in our stomachs. If you want to eat, go buy some somewhere else!" Luffy said dismissively.

"What did you say?" Boke roared in anger.

"Hmph! I said I'm not paying! What are you going to do about it?" Luffy said with contempt.

Boke raised his fist in anger, intending to teach this ignorant brat a lesson, but was stopped by Zhu Zhu Erdan.

"Wait, Boke! It's not time for violence yet! Luffy? Heh, how about we resolve this in a more peaceful way?"

"The Hall Master's Tea Party is still a week away. As long as you can hand over the cakes tomorrow, we can let bygones be bygones!"

Zhu Zhu Erdan took the teacup from his head, took a sip, and maintained his gentlemanly demeanor.

Luffy looked at Zhu Zhu Erdan, thinking: This guy is so tall; do people from the Soul Hall all grow up so strangely?

Seeing that Luffy didn't speak, Zhu Zhu Erdan continued to persuade him: "The East Sea Dragon Palace is a place under the protection of our Soul Hall, you know? Some petty thieves who plan to do evil here run away the moment they hear the name of our Soul Hall!"

"Oh? Then your Soul Hall Master Xia Xia Xia Lingling really is a good person!"

Luffy remained as dense as ever, completely failing to notice the gloom on Zhu Zhu Erdan's face.

Zhu Zhu Erdan nearly spat out the water in his mouth and quickly swallowed it: "What does this have to do with being a good person! This is a contract established between our Soul Hall and the East Sea Dragon Palace! The East Sea Dragon Palace hands over ten tons of food to us every month in exchange for the protection of our Soul Hall!"

【Hahaha, sometimes Luffy's dense nature really can make people die of anger!】

【Isn't this Soul Hall too overbearing? Ten tons of desserts? How much grain must that consume?】

【No wonder there are so many poor people here in the East Sea Dragon Palace. Does this mean Hody's rebellion is actually indirectly related to the Soul Hall?】

【The key is that the Soul Hall didn't even protect the Dragon Palace! The previous Hody riot was solved by the Straw Hat Hall!】

At this moment, Luffy finally heard clearly what Zhu Zhu Erdan was talking about.

Luffy frowned and asked Zhu Zhu Erdan: "So, your Soul Hall wants ten tons of desserts from the Dragon Palace? What happens if they can't give them to you?"

"What happens? Naturally, you will suffer the destruction of our Soul Hall! Violating a contract is not a joking matter, you know."

The corners of Zhu Zhu Erdan's mouth curled up, revealing a cruel smile.

"What did you say? Destruction? What kind of joke are you making? You're going to destroy a country just because they didn't hand over desserts? Do you have any sense of chivalry as martial artists?"

Luffy pointed at Zhu Zhu Erdan in shock, his face full of anger.

"Heh! Chivalry? So-called chivalry is just the thinking of the weak. The strong only ever need to follow the rules of the strong!

What do you think this martial world is? A game of house? The martial world is filled with deceit, profit-seeking, and bloody slaughter.

Survival of the fittest is the eternal law of the martial world!"

Zhu Zhu Erdan said indifferently, as if he were stating something perfectly normal.

He didn't care about human life at all; perhaps he was already accustomed to such scenes.

Looking at Zhu Zhu Erdan's cold expression, a flame rose within Luffy's heart.

The Right Minister hurriedly came out to explain: "Lord Zhu Zhu Erdan! Even if the time is delayed until tomorrow, it won't be enough. Our factories were all destroyed by Hody. We simply cannot gather that amount of desserts."

"That is your excuse? Tomorrow! We will wait for you until tomorrow. If you can't hand them over, then wait for the destruction of the Soul Hall!"

Luffy clenched his fists and said through gritted teeth: "No, I absolutely do not agree!"

At this time, at the Soul Hall headquarters.

Soul Hall Master Xia Xia Xia Lingling sat in a chair, constantly eating desserts.

Her weight of over three hundred pounds made her look like a mountain, and dressed in a pink dress, she exuded a powerful and fierce aura.

She lifted the dessert plate in her hand, stuffed the last piece into her mouth, and then licked her lips, revealing a look of intoxication.

"I'm really looking forward to the Tea Party in seven days; I'll be able to eat countless desserts again," Xia Xia Xia Lingling said excitedly.

At this moment, a masked man walked in through the door.

He appeared somewhat tiny in front of the massive Xia Xia Xia Lingling.

"Hall Master, as you instructed, that country has already been burned down!"

The masked man knelt respectfully on the ground.

"Good! This mission was completed well. It's just a pity that I won't be able to drink their country's osmanthus wine anymore, but people who don't follow contracts are the most annoying!

They clearly promised they could give it, but when the day came, they didn't send it over."

Xia Xia Xia Lingling said with some disappointment.

The masked man kept his head low, not daring to speak.

"Forget it! Anyway, there are still the desserts sent by the Dragon Palace. Those desserts from the Dragon Palace are the most delicious; it's hard to imagine that such ugly fish-men could make such delicious things!"

【Pfft! You old hag, even if the fish-men look a bit strange, they are still better looking than you!】

【Xia Xia Xia Lingling is truly worthy of being someone from a demonic sect. A whole country was just destroyed by the Soul Hall like that?】

【The Soul Hall is indeed full of evil! That's how many lives, and yet for her, it's just a pity she can't eat the osmanthus wine anymore!】

【Looking forward to Luffy fighting her. The Four Absolutes Xia Xia Xia Lingling? I want to see just how powerful she really is.】

【Agree with the person above! Looking forward to Luffy vs. Xia Xia Xia Lingling!】

Hearing this, the masked man let out a sigh of relief. It was great that he hadn't encountered the Hall Master in a temper.

Otherwise, his little life would likely have been forfeit.

"By the way, the Dragon Palace's desserts will be sent on time, right?" Xia Xia Xia Lingling asked, and an invisible pressure began to envelop the masked man.

The masked man swallowed hard.

He had just received news that there were some problems with the Dragon Palace's desserts.

It was likely they wouldn't be delivered on time.

The masked man said with difficulty: "Sorry... new notice came from the Dragon Palace side, I'm afraid..."

After hearing this, Xia Xia Xia Lingling immediately exploded: "Bastard! Do those fish-men want to die? Help me up, I want to send a message to the Dragon Palace! I'm going to teach them a lesson myself!"

The masked man did not dare to delay and quickly helped Xia Xia Xia Lingling's meat-mountain-like body up.