"Um… y-you…"
In a room on the top floor of the villa—
The captain of the Saw Blade Pirates, who had ranked in the East Blue's top three for two years in a row—feared by everyone in this small pirate-ruled town save the Navy and a few national armies—
Now stared in disbelief at the boy before him.
El calmly flicked the blood from his blade, then slid the sword back into its sheath.
The Saw Blade captain tried to speak, but couldn't even form a full sentence.
He collapsed onto the floor, and his breath slowly faded away.
Beside him, two women in revealing clothes lay unconscious, completely unaware that their "king" had just died.
Because he'd taken over the territory of a non–World Government country, the Navy hadn't wanted to commit the forces needed to deal with him.
Having gotten used to playing king on this occupied island, the captain's bounty had climbed into the tens of millions solely thanks to his growing number of subordinates.
His own combat strength, dulled by indulgence and luxury, had long started to decline.
In El's eyes, he was no different from the small fries outside.
With a single slash, El killed a "big pirate" worth 14.5 million Belly.
The first battle of his bounty hunter debut ended almost too easily—
And with it, a legend quietly began.
By the time Carina and Nami rushed up, El had already finished reading the dead captain's memories.
"You two go outside for a moment. The next part's a bit bloody."
El picked up a piece of cloth from the room and said this calmly to the girls.
"O-okay…"
Carina and Nami both stiffened.
They glanced at the corpse on the floor, seemed to realize what El was planning, went a little pale… and hurried out of the room.
"…Come in."
After a short while, El's voice called them back in.
When they reentered, they saw that the captain's body was now covered with a thick quilt.
In El's hands was a round object wrapped in black cloth.
"Urgh…"
Realizing what El was carrying, both girls went green in the face and couldn't help but start retching on the spot.
By contrast, El—who had already decapitated countless beasts over the last three years—felt almost nothing.
"Get used to it. You'll be seeing a lot more scenes like this in the future."
El didn't try to comfort them. Instead, he turned toward another door.
"Come on. Let's pack up their treasure and get out of here."
"Treasure?!"
The moment they heard that word, both girls had their attention forcibly dragged away from the thing in El's hands.
They looked at each other, forced themselves not to look directly at the wrapped "round object," and quickly followed.
After El and the two girls emptied the safes and hidden compartments in the captain's room, they finished packing all the Belly and jewelry into a large backpack they'd found there.
El slung the heavy backpack onto his shoulders and picked Nami and Carina up again, one in each arm.
As for the captain's head—needed as proof of the bounty—that was carried by Carina, who had the stronger nerves and had volunteered to help.
With that, El jumped out of a rear window of the villa, their figures vanishing as he dashed toward the shore where their sailboat waited.
"Treasure… So much treasure… We're rich!"
Back on their little cabin sailboat, they immediately set off, leaving the island shrinking behind them.
Once the island disappeared from view, Nami and Carina couldn't hold it in any longer.
They dragged the backpack into the small cabin hall and upended it.
With a heavy thud, its contents poured out.
The narrow room instantly filled with a miniature hill of gold and jewels.
Nestled among the glittering jewelry were neat stacks of banknotes, each with a face value of 10,000 Belly.
Compared to these notes, the gold and silver pieces that dazzled the eyes weren't actually as valuable.
With just a quick glance, El estimated the stacks of banknotes alone to total at least 10 million Belly.
The gold and jewelry together might also come to around 10 million Belly.
Put together—
Their haul for this one operation was staggering.
And next to this shining pile…
Sat a human head worth 14.5 million Belly in bounty.
In other words—their first hunt had earned them around 30 million Belly.
"Whoa…"
"A-are we dreaming?"
Carina and Nami did their own rough counting soon after.
Nami gulped, unable to form proper words.
Even Carina, normally so composed, wondered for a moment if she'd miscalculated.
"As expected of a big pirate who's been on the rankings for years," El murmured, shaking his head. "I can't imagine how many people's wealth—and how many people's dreams—he stole to pile up this much."
Thanks to his heart-reading ability, he'd already seen the simple math the girls had run in their heads.
"Nii-san, you're amazing!"
His quiet comment snapped the two girls out of their daze.
Unable to contain their excitement, they both lunged at El.
One on the left, one on the right, they wrapped their arms around him, cheering at the top of their voices.
Nami, too excited to hold back, even boldly leaned in and gave El's baby-fat cheek a quick, hard peck.
No wonder Nami was so worked up.
Because—
Thirty million. At least thirty million Belly.
In her entire life, Nami had never seen so much money.
After making her deal with Arlong, she'd always felt that 100 million Belly was an impossibly huge, distant number.
But now…
All of a sudden, 100 million Belly didn't seem so unreachable.
In just their first mission, they had earned at least 30 million Belly. Even if El just gave them a "sip of soup," she and Carina would each take away millions.
There had barely been any danger at all.
All they'd done was sail the ship and follow El's lead.
Ten missions per year at this pace…Even with only a fraction of the total each time, she could realistically gather 100 million Belly within ten years.
If Nii-san decided to be more generous…She might not even need that long.
But more important to Nami than her own share was the reality of El's strength.
He had infiltrated the base of a six-hundred-man pirate crew like he owned the place.
Before anyone noticed, the captain was dead and the entire pirate group's backbone was cut.
In Nami's eyes, El's strength towered like a mountain.
If she could get Nii-san's help, then maybe…
She wouldn't need to collect 100 million Belly at all to save the village.
But just as that thought flickered through her mind, a familiar image flashed behind her eyes—
Her adoptive mother, dying in front of her, killed by Arlong.
In an instant, Nami crushed the thought of asking El for help.
If she couldn't avenge that death with her own hands…
Then no amount of money or borrowed power would erase the wound in her heart.