Chapter 124: Never Do a Losing Business

Words : 1201 Updated : Sep 25th, 2025

"If you'd been any later, I would've killed you." Roy shot King a murderous glare. Seeing the aftermath of the battlefield, corpses everywhere, King couldn't help but sweat. He had initially assumed Kuzan had no real ties to the Whitebeard Pirates. But now, here they were, standing side by side. How was this not a connection? The thought made King nervous. No, terrified. "I didn't exceed the agreed time. In fact, I arrived early," King said carefully. Roy paused. The fight had put him on edge, but now that he thought about it, King was on time. "Alright, as long as you brought the goods." Roy holstered his gun. "Is this about the seastone? What are you planning to do with it?" Kuzan asked. "That's my business. Don't worry about it." Roy turned to Wang Zhi. "Hey, Old Wang, did you get the stuff we agreed on?" "Can you stop calling me that?" Wang Zhi sighed. "If I hadn't been here, you'd be dead. You're only alive because you're useful; directly pissing people off isn't my style." Roy replied. "Tch." Wang Zhi crossed his arms. "So you dump all the dirty work on the underworld. The goods are ready, but the price is steep. They'd never sell this to you directly; had to go through back channels. Kuzan listened curiously. It was clear Roy and Wang Zhi were familiar with each other. Roy had even made some special purchases through him. "Let's go take a look," Roy said. "This way. It should still be intact," Wang Zhi led them toward a storage area. "Hold on a sec, I need to take care of something first." Roy walked up to Catarina Devon, took out a pair of seastone cuffs, locked her up, and tossed her to King. "You can fly, take her to my ship. Make sure she's guarded. Don't let her escape." King, though annoyed, did as told. He carried the one-legged Devon away. As for Shiryu lying dead nearby, Roy bent down and took the sword from his hand. Shiryu's sword was massive, and Roy had to carry it over his shoulder. It wasn't like Enma, which could change size. Oden and Zoro could both use it with ease, but its size was all over the place, hard to make sense of. Roy slung it over his shoulder, the scabbard dragging across the ground, making many sword lovers wince. They navigated through the ruins of Hachinosu. Wang Zhi led Roy to a collapsed warehouse. His men had cleared some rubble, revealing a huge pile of- "Wood?" Kuzan blinked in surprise. A literal small mountain of logs, this was what Roy had bought through the underworld? Was it really worth it? Roy's answer was simple: Absolutely. He walked over and gave it a kick to test its density, then nodded. "Not bad. Just what I wanted. So you didn't lie." "My men mentioned someone flaunting a billion berries earlier. That was you?" Wang Zhi asked. "Yep." "Makes sense. This stuff really is worth a billion." "What're you doing?" Roy noticed Wang Zhi reaching out and raised a brow. "The money?" Wang Zhi asked. "Pfft. You wish. Why would I give you money?" Roy mocked. "What the hell do you mean by that?" Wang Zhi snapped. His men tensed up, ready for trouble. "Use that thick skull of yours. If I hadn't been here, wouldn't you be dead right now?" Wang Zhi paused. True, just moments ago, he had been on the verge of death, almost taken down by a three-way attack. "So what?" "I saved your life, and the lives of your men. Isn't that worth a billion berries?" Roy said, stretching out his own hand. "Hmph. Wait here." Wang Zhi snorted and turned to leave. Kuzan thought the two were about to fall out, but a moment later, Wang Zhi returned, with his men carrying chests full of gold and jewels. "This should be about a billion. Consider it even." "Now that's more like it. Oh, and you should handle the Blackbeard Pirates' corpses. They're worth a lot to the Navy. Too much hassle for me." "You killed them publicly. The World Government won't pay me. If you'd done it quietly, maybe. But now the whole world is going to know? No way.", Wang Zhi replied. "Ugh, what a hassle. Keep Teach's corpse, I'm taking that one with me," Roy said. "Do what you want." Wang Zhi dropped the treasure and left with his men. "...What just happened?" Kuzan looked baffled. "Why did he pay you?" "Do you know Wang Zhi?" Roy asked. "Yeah." "What's his bounty?" "Two billion berries." "Exactly. His head's worth two billion. These goods cost one billion. I saved his life, so he owed me two billion. Subtract the goods, and he still owes me one billion. Simple math." "???" Kuzan's brain lagged for a moment. Technically, the logic was sound. But could you really do that? Not only had Roy gotten a billion-berry shipment for free, he'd also extorted another billion from Wang Zhi. 'Since when was money this easy?' 'Could I start doing this, too?' "Wait, that's not right. Can you really calculate it that way?" "Of course it is. If he refused, I'd just kill him and cash in his bounty, two billion. He's only alive because I let him live. So, him paying me two billion for his life, that's a good deal, right? He still owes me another billion, fair right?" Roy said. "Hold on, my head's spinning..." Kuzan sat down and started rubbing his temple. Meanwhile, King had delivered Catarina Devon to the icebreaker ship. "She's ugly. No way Roy's into her." "What if he has weird tastes?" "Maybe. That guy is a weirdo." "Whitey Bay is pregnant again. That's when men are most likely to cheat." "What do we do? Should we tell the captain that Roy has a side?" "Of course we should!" King's brain was as fried as Kuzan's. He couldn't understand how they came to these conclusions. Even Devon herself thought it was absurd, but a tiny hope stirred in her heart. 'What if...?' 'Could it be?' 'Did she have a chance?' "Psychos," King muttered, flapping his wings and flying back to the island. "You're just in time. The cash is all here. Where's the cargo?" Roy asked. "All loaded on the ship." "Good. I'll sail it back and return the ship later. Oh, and have these logs transported too." "Wait, are these... branches of the Adam Tree?" King asked, surprised. "Adam Tree?" Kuzan stopped being the philosopher and looked at the logs. No wonder they were so expensive; a billion berries made sense now. If this really was the legendary Treasure Tree Adam, then it made perfect sense to deal through underworld merchants. Handling it through regular channels would've been a nightmare. ..... If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead. [email protected]/DaoistJinzu

Chapter 124: Never Do a Losing Business

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