Blood Over a Gun

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The blue mask with its rows of holes was what let Corvin identify Killer.

Since Kid was also in Mad Hatter Town, there was almost no room for doubt.

'What is he doing here? Buying a gun for Kid? But that gun... wasn't it the flintlock pistol Yasopp bought yesterday?'

Corvin observed Killer without making it obvious, guessing at why he had come to the shop.

The moment a customer entered, Sunny put the auction catalog down and composed herself. When she lowered her head and raised it again, her face was already expressionless.

For a shop like theirs, there was no need for salesmanship or smiles.

Buy if you wanted. Leave if you did not.

A brutally simple business principle.

Killer walked in. Seeing that the difficult old man Kid had mentioned was not in the shop, he looked slightly surprised, but did not care much.

He was here to buy something. It did not matter who handled the sale, as long as someone was there.

He strode to the counter, took out four stacks of Berries, and went straight to the point.

"Four million. For Kinu's sidearm."

"Kinu's sidearm is priced at three-point-eight million."

"Don't care. Do what you want with the extra two hundred thousand."

"Oh. But the gun has already been sold."

Killer paused.

If it had been sold, why had she wasted time correcting the price instead of saying that first?

He suddenly understood why Kid had gotten angry at this shop.

Since going to sea, when had they ever dealt with a merchant like this?

Then again, if the gun had been sold, that was not necessarily bad.

They could simply take it from the buyer.

If they wanted something, they stole it. If someone annoyed them, they killed them. That was how they operated.

The four million Berries on the counter had been taken the night before.

Once that thought settled, Killer asked, "Who bought it?"

Sunny had spent years in this town. Of course she could see why he wanted to know.

He wanted to find the buyer and carry out the kind of robbery pirates considered perfectly natural.

On any other day, Sunny would never reveal a customer's information. That was the bottom line for a seller.

This time was different.

The buyer was Yasopp of the Red Hair Pirates.

She looked at Killer and said calmly, "It was sold yesterday afternoon. The man who bought it was named Yasopp."

Killer picked up the money and turned to leave, as if saying another word would waste his life.

The name Yasopp sounded vaguely familiar, but he did not think too hard about it.

If the gun had been bought yesterday afternoon, then this Yasopp was very likely still in Mad Hatter Town.

After leaving the weapons shop, Killer headed straight for the tavern where Kid was staying.

The next steps were obvious.

Find the buyer. Take the gun. Then there would be no reason to stay in town any longer.

Corvin walked to the door and leaned halfway outside, watching Killer's retreating back with pity.

Then he remembered Shanks and the others had already gone, and he regretted missing the spectacle.

Otherwise, he really would have liked to see Kid's crew try to rob Yasopp of Kinu's sidearm.

Corvin pulled the door mostly shut and turned back toward the counter. He had meant to tell Sunny she was terrible, but saw her already buried in the auction catalog again.

Given her habit of reading a single newspaper from front to back for three or four hours, who knew how long that little auction booklet could occupy her?

Corvin was interested in the auction as well, so he quietly stood behind Sunny and skimmed the list of items.

'A named blade, one of the fifty Skillful Grade swords? By the time I learn to use a sword, who knows how long it'll be?'

'A fish-man slave... Starting bid: one million Berries.'

The catalog reduced a person to another line item among weapons and curios. Corvin's thoughts remained coldly practical. If he ever gained access to a fish-man target, he could test whether the Hunter's Ledger worked on them.

'A fragrant skunk? Description: an unprecedented mutant skunk that gives off a pleasant scent? What kind of thing is that? They can auction this too? And it counts as a rare beast?'

'Most of the lots are weapons. Swords are one thing, but they even have flintlocks.'

'Makes sense. Most potential buyers are pirates, so demand for weapons would naturally be higher. Unlike noble auctions, where the main goods are usually slaves.'

'After seeing the whole list, only the Devil Fruit and the Skillful Grade blade really count as headline items.'

'The latter definitely isn't worth as much as a Devil Fruit, but it's still the kind of thing you might never get another chance to buy.'

Standing behind Sunny, Corvin looked through item after item, each with a different starting price, and got a much clearer sense of how strange auctions in this world could be.

Compared with auctions in the Hunter world, which were dominated by antiques and rare collectibles, auctions in the pirate world were much more interesting.

That strange assortment of items made him want to buy something far too easily.

After he had seen most of the catalog, Corvin quietly left the counter and returned to a corner of the shop to continue training.

The gains from this kind of exercise were slow, but they were better than nothing.

'It's already past lunchtime, and Sol still isn't back.'

Corvin checked the time.

Maybe Sol had been so furious at Shanks yesterday that he was feeling especially young today.

He did need to vent, after all.

Somehow, Corvin felt he had found the answer.

Inside a noisy tavern, Kid waited until Killer returned empty-handed.

"They wouldn't sell it to you either?"

Kid's eyes were cold. The anger rising in him had turned into a destructive impulse ready to burst at any moment.

This gun had almost worn out his patience.

Killer shook his head. "It wasn't that they refused to sell. Someone named Yasopp bought it."

"Oh?" Kid's interest returned at once, and he smiled coldly. "When?"

He could not afford to provoke Sol, whose strength Corvin could not gauge. But the man who bought the gun?

That was another matter.

"Yesterday afternoon."

"Find him."

Kid rose and walked toward the door.

Killer dropped money for the drinks and followed.

Mad Hatter Town did not strictly forbid pirates from killing each other, but there was one open rule everyone had to obey.

Do not interfere with a merchant's legitimate business.

In simple terms, if you bought something in a shop, you paid what you owed.

Skip out on the bill, and you were dead.

The two of them left the tavern one after the other and stepped onto the street.

Mad Hatter Town had its own back channels.

To find Yasopp in town as quickly as possible, they would have to use those back channels and find people who sold that kind of information.

As they walked quickly down the street, Killer suddenly said, "I feel like... I've heard the name Yasopp somewhere."

"Then think harder."

Kid glanced at him.

But after Killer said it, Kid felt the same thing.

Yasopp.

The two of them stopped at almost the same time.

Kid still wore the same hostile, murderous expression, but some of the menace drained from him.

Killer's mask made his reaction harder to read.

After a long moment, Killer asked blankly, "What now?"

"We leave."

Kid spoke through clenched teeth.

He loved collecting weapons, but not every weapon was worth having.

Kinu's sidearm was different. It was supposed to be part of the short blade and short gun he meant to carry into battle.

It was meant for use, not for display. That was why he had been so stubborn about it, even staying in Mad Hatter Town far longer than planned.

But if he could not get it, there was no reason to stay.

Just then, a man walked toward Kid while reading an auction catalog with his head lowered.

He was about to bump into him.

Kid did not move.

Thud.

The man had walked into Kid on his own, yet he was the one forced two steps back. The auction catalog slipped from his hands and fell to the ground.

"You blind piece of..."

His temper flared.

Before he could finish, Kid punched him with all the frustration he had been holding back.

The man flew more than a dozen meters and hit the ground, his survival uncertain.

"Trash like that thinks he can go to sea?"

Kid spat on the ground.

Then his eyes fell on the auction catalog.

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