One Piece: Blue Scale Admiral

This kind of grilled meat with water tastes very similar to the sea monster meat he ate in Marineford.

But the meat is more tender.

It's as tender as jelly wrapped in a thin membrane. Although it's been baked until golden brown and crispy, the juicy meat on the iron skewers keeps jiggling and is incredibly elastic.

Take a bite, and the meat inside melts in your mouth, instantly turning into delicious juices that flow down your throat and into your stomach.

It's not the kind of greasy taste, but rather like a pot of well-cooked broth, with both the charred flavor of roasted meat and the sweet taste of fresh soup.

After eating it, Luo Xia immediately felt a warm sensation rising in his stomach, as if he were enveloped in a feeling of happiness.

For no apparent reason, I felt a surge of emotion, almost bringing tears to my eyes.

"It's so delicious!"

"Is it really that delicious?" Hibari's exaggerated expression made her mouth water, and she felt that her bulging belly could eat a little more.

Rorschach stuffed the leftover roasted meat into her mouth.

After taking a bite, the lark burst into tears.

"Wow, this is so delicious! This is amazing grilled meat! I must learn how to cook this kind of meat in the future."

Rorschach slammed the Bailey from his pocket onto the stall and yelled, "Boss, grill all your watery grilled meats! I want to have a feast!"

"Alright! Please wait a moment, sir, I'll begin serving you right away!"

Upon seeing the thick stack of large bills of baiji on the stall, the owner's face immediately lit up with a smile, and he began grilling the juicy meat with great enthusiasm.

The two sat expectantly in front of the stall, waiting for the owner to feed them.

On a distant street corner, several burly men, acting suspiciously, watched Rorschach and Lark from afar, their faces revealing greedy smiles as they looked at the large stack of Berries on the stall.

"Go tell Captain Pittman immediately that I have spotted two very attractive prey, and these two prey are carrying a large amount of money."

"I'll keep watch here. You guys hurry up and tell the captain to bring his men over. Hurry up, or someone else will beat you to it."

Two of the burly men stayed behind, while the others quickly left.

Luo Xia seemed oblivious, smiling as he accepted the grilled meat offered by the owner, sharing a few skewers with Yun Que before devouring them.

"Mmm, delicious. Boss, you said you're from Water Seven?"

Luo Xia ate his grilled meat while glancing at the busy middle-aged man.

"Yes, I am indeed from Water Seven, and I have been in Sabaody for almost three years now. Hehe, I heard that it's easy to make money here, so I took a bit of a risk and came here with a fleet of ships."

The man smiled as he answered Luo Xia's question.

"Your barbecue is so delicious, you must have made a lot of money, right? Why don't you think about going home to visit? Are you still not married, uncle?"

Rorschach joked.

"Of course I'm married," the boss said with a happy smile. "I have a beautiful and kind wife and a mischievous and adorable daughter. It's precisely because I have a family that I take the risk to come out and earn money."

"I've heard that men with money tend to go bad. Uncle, you haven't been home for three years. You haven't started a new family in Chambord, have you?"

Rorschach grabbed another handful of roasted meat and ate with great relish.

The boss glared at him. "Sir, you can't just say things like that. My character, Old Tommy's character, is known to all. I'm a good man! As for making money, if I had such generous customers like you every day, I would have made a fortune long ago and gone back to my hometown."

"Uncle, you're joking. Your barbecue is so delicious, how could you not have business?"

Rorschach was somewhat skeptical.

"Guest, you can make money on this island, but not all of it is yours. In fact, if you earn one million Berries, only two hundred thousand Berries actually end up in your pocket. And even then, you have to be constantly on guard against unscrupulous guys who might try to rob you."

The owner, who was grilling meat, seemed to have opened up to Luo Xia because of his words and began to confide in him.

"You only get 200,000 if you earn a million? That's outrageous! Where did the other 800,000 go?"

Luo Xia frowned slightly.

The boss glanced around, and seeing that no one was paying attention, he lowered his voice and complained:

"This island does not belong to any country; theoretically, it belongs to the world government."

"Therefore, there is a government tax office on the island that comes to collect taxes on time every month, taking 30% of the tax."

"There is also the naval branch responsible for security, which charges 20% of the fee."

"Finally, the person in charge of this area will take 20%. After they take the money, they will promise that we will not be harassed by those roving gangs when we set up our stalls here."

The boss shrugged. "While it does avoid harassment from most cowards, there are still many lawless gangs on the island who aren't afraid of the area manager at all. They still occasionally come to forcibly collect protection money. Sigh, business is tough, customer."

"Don't the world government officials and the navy branches that collect taxes care about this?"

Luo Xia put down the barbecue he was eating, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the street corner not far away.

A large group of burly men, who were either thugs or pirates, were surging towards them.

The leader looked a bit like the Monkey King and was holding a golden cudgel.

"Officials are only responsible for collecting taxes; they don't care about these things. As for the naval branch, well, let's not talk about it."

Old Tommy shook his head, not wanting to say anything more.

Rorschach, however, was very curious about how the naval branch stationed in Sabaody operated.

But now is clearly not a good time to ask.

Because not far away, that arrogant 'Monkey King' was already swaggering over with a large group of his underlings.

"P-...Pitman!"

Old Tommy panicked as soon as he saw the newcomer.

But before he and the monkey-like Peterman who was walking over could speak, they were still speechless.

With a single gesture of his right hand, Rorschach snatched a pirate from beside Pittman and slammed him to his feet.

He stepped on the other person's head, propped his knees with his elbows, and supported his chin with his palms.

"So, you're here to pay my bill, right?"

Chapter 110 Fertilizer

"Huh? What happened?"

Old Tommy, Pittman, and the others were all stunned for a moment, not yet able to react.

Pittman looked at the burly man being trampled under Rorschach's feet; it was the pirate subordinate who had just run to report to him.

"Hey! Gene, you idiot, why are you lying on the ground like that?"

Pittman subconsciously voiced his doubts.

But he soon realized he had asked a stupid question.

Obviously, Gene would never willingly lie down on the ground and become a stepping stone for that silver-haired youth.

Then it must be the work of this smiling silver-haired youth.

Pittman's face immediately turned ashen.

The other party's humiliation of his subordinate clearly showed that they didn't take him seriously.

"Looks like you're planning to go against me, Pittman?"

"Hiss..." Luo Xia clicked his tongue, looking at the monkey in front of him with annoyance. "You look like a monkey, but is your brain also monkey-like? You're actually accusing me first. By the way, what are you all doing here, all of you rushing over so aggressively?"

"What do you want to do? Of course, I want to capture and tie up you two top-quality goods and sell you to a luxury auction house. Hehehe, pretty boys like you and that petite and cute little girl are exactly the kind of food that rich ladies and noblemen like the most."

"Oh no, I misspoke. Compared to petite and cute girls, a top-notch young man like you is much more favored by those noble lords, hehehe."

A lewd smile involuntarily crept onto Pittman's monkey-like face.

"You've brought a whole bunch of people here in broad daylight to arrest people? There's a naval branch on this island, aren't you afraid the navy will come and wipe you out?"

Luo Xia's expression turned cold.

"navy?"

Pittman looked at his men as if he had heard a funny joke, and burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, the bigwigs in the Navy don't have time to bother with us. This month's payment has already been made in full. As long as the money is paid in full, neither the World Government officials nor the Navy will bother with these trivial matters."

"A small matter?"

Luo Xia's mood suddenly turned sour.

My mood, which had been lifted by the beautiful scenery and delicious food on Sabaody Archipelago, instantly turned gloomy.

"Guest...guest! You should leave now, don't go against Captain Pittman."

Old Tommy was sweating profusely with anxiety.

He hesitated, wanting to step out of the stall and plead with Pittman on Rorschach's behalf.

But I dare not.

He was, after all, just an ordinary merchant, and his fear and love for his family prevented him from going forward.

Suddenly, old Tommy gritted his teeth, picked up the stack of peggs from the stall, and pulled out another messy stack of peggs from his own pocket. Mustering his courage, with a stiff smile, he took two steps away from the stall and said to Pittman from a distance:

"Captain Pittman, here's some money, my take-home pay for today. You can have it all, but could you please have mercy and let these two children go? They didn't mean to offend you..."

"Shut up!"

Pittman shouted, startling old Tommy so much that he dropped all the Baileys in his hands. Tommy himself trembled, his face pale, and shrank behind the stall, no longer daring to utter a sound.

Pittman grinned maliciously, gripped the stick in his hand, and looked at Rorschach.

He was about to say something when he saw Luo Xia's cold gaze.

That gaze was as sharp as a knife, making his eyelids ache.

Pittman's ferocious expression froze, and a great sense of fear inexplicably rose in his heart.

"Skylark, close your eyes."

Luo Xia said coldly.

The lark pursed her lips and silently turned away.

"What...what do you want to do? I'm warning you, don't mess around. Our Pitman Pirates have already paid all our taxes. If you cause trouble, the Marine branch on the island won't let you go..."