Chapter 27: A Midway Interloper—The Blade God & Sword Saint Are Hopeless with Directions!
Daytime.
After lunch.
Lister and Nami were on the deck, savoring a rare, leisurely afternoon.
A table stood under a sunshade, piled high with fruits, desserts, and drinks.
Two deck chairs flanked the table.
They sipped their drinks and nibbled fruit as the sea breeze blew—a five-star experience.
Suddenly, Red-Eyes called from the lookout.
"Captain, a small boat ahead, heading our way!"
Lister snapped his eyes open.
He walked toward the bow. "Can you see who they are?"
"I see three people in the boat, all of them armed!"
"Probably bounty hunters."
Nami had roamed the seas for years and knew the type. With Red-Eyes's description, she guessed their identity at once.
"Bounty hunters? Targeting a pirate crew without a bounty?" Lister chuckled.
"Telescope!"
Youlan, attending Lister's side, hurried over with a spyglass.
Lister raised it and looked where Red-Eyes pointed.
He quickly picked out the small boat and the three aboard it.
He also saw their faces clearly: one with seaweed-green hair, one with a headwrap and a monkeyish look, and one in gangsterish glasses.
One glance told Lister they were formidable.
"Isn't that the blade god, the sword saint, the notorious road idiot?"
"The blade god, the sword saint, and a road idiot?" Nami was taken aback.
"Are they famous?"
"You probably don't know them. But since we've run into them, why not bring them aboard?" Lister made up his mind on the spot.
With neither side changing course, the Money and the trio's skiff collided head-on.
Bang!
The skiff shattered into pieces.
"Big Bro Zoro, help!"
All three tumbled into the sea.
The directionally challenged Zoro grabbed his two companions by the collars and kicked off hard.
The wrecked skiff sank at once, and Zoro, hauling the other two, vaulted onto the Money.
Once safe, the pair became instantly aggressive.
"Damn pirates! Your helmsman sank our skiff—either give us a satisfactory explanation today, or your whole crew gets wiped out!"
"That's right! Who's the captain? Step out!"
Their first words had both sides on a hair trigger.
Pirates on the two nearby ships glared at the trio in fury.
"You idiots. Three massive ships sailing a wide-open sea—you'd have to be blind not to see us, yet you still rammed us. Pulling a scam on us? Looks like you're tired of living," Jango shouted first.
"Three nobodies daring to mess with the Money Pirates? I doubt you'll see tomorrow!" Johnson jeered right after.
The pair weren't cowed.
The Money Pirates had numbers, but they had blind faith in Zoro.
After hearing Jango and Johnson, they only got bolder. "Think lots of people and loud voices scare us? Please.
It's just a trash pirate crew with zero bounty.
Listen up—we're bounty hunters!
And this is our big brother, Roronoa Zoro!
The pirates we face carry bounties in the millions and tens of millions. A no-bounty crew like you isn't even worthy to be our opponent."
They carried a stack of bounty posters and had just confirmed the Money Pirates had none.
So they were likely greenhorns.
Their supplies were nearly gone. If they couldn't shake something loose now, they might starve at sea.
"Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro?" Many pirates paled at the name.
They had all heard it thunder through the East Blue.
Johnson and Rocky remembered: back in the Blood Hammer Pirates, Blood Hammer Henry had counted the Pirate Hunter among those he feared most.
Hearing the name now, they instinctively felt trouble.
"Heh, scared now? If you're scared, hurry and compensate us.
First, give us a boat. Then a thousand jin of food and two barrels of water. Finally, pay a hundred thousand Berries per person."
"Hmph. A mere pirate hunter dares to run wild on my Money Pirates' deck!"
"Captain, let me test this so-called pirate hunter first," Johnson said.
At first, the name did shake him.
But cooling down, he remembered their captain, Lister, was far more terrifying.
Blood Hammer Henry, Madman Andre, and even Kuro of a Hundred Plans had all been cut down almost instantly by Captain Lister.
With Lister backing them, why fear a pirate hunter?
"Fine. We're idle anyway—go have some fun. Fight well and I'll reward you handsomely," Lister said with a laugh.
As for getting Zoro aboard and winning him over, there was no rush. There would be plenty of time to play this out.
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