Microcosm

New chapter is live.

Settle in, take your time, and let's see what waits in the dark 🖤

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As one part of Mad Hatter Town, the residential district covered less than half the area of the other streets.

In terms of activity, the difference was even greater.

The residential district existed for pirates and people from the underworld who were willing to stay long term.

But most who lived there were aging pirates like Sol who had withdrawn from the sea, or pirates crippled in battle who still had some retirement money left.

These people had already lost the means to look toward the future. All they had left was a way to keep dragging out their lives.

Under that influence, the whole residential district felt closer to dead than quiet.

Walking through any alley, one was always surrounded by a dead-rat stink.

Corpses on the road were nothing unusual.

After all, not every pirate discarded by the era could live like Sol.

Not every one of them had money to burn.

Not every one of them could open a shop in a place where failure was guaranteed.

Not every one of them could go to the pleasure district and taverns every day for enjoyment.

Not every one of them could spend a fortune on a named blade he would never use.

By comparison, what they could do was much simpler: spend whatever money remained.

Maybe they would buy a bottle of liquor, sit in a tavern, and listen to young pirates brag with energy, using the noise to remember their own past before licking the final drop from the cup.

Maybe they would go to the gaudy pleasure district and use money to buy the familiar, excited looks they once knew, even if those looks were false things built from coins.

Until the last Berry was gone.

Then they would wait to die.

Or struggle one more time.

They were all pirates, so why was the final treatment so different?

Corvin knew the answer.

Power.

The power to decide for oneself.

If one wanted to live better and more freely, one needed the strength to bend the will of others.

Especially in a world like this.

Otherwise, one could easily end up like the blind pirates standing in front of him.

Corvin lifted his gaze and looked at the pirates blocking the alley ahead. Several were missing arms or legs, and all held rusted, chipped blades.

His gaze passed over their bodies, hollowed out by liquor and women, and over their dead, malicious eyes.

Corvin silently drew his dagger.

After a few more alleys, he should be out of the residential district.

Even while being stopped for robbery, Corvin was thinking about how many meters remained before he reached the next street.

Then, before he moved, he heard their conversation.

"The belly... is mine."

"I-I only want below the knees."

"Fine. Then the rest is mine."

It was rare to meet such a young and soft-looking boy in the residential district.

The few pirates, already at the end of their rope, were so excited that their voices trembled slightly.

It was only a dagger. How threatening could it be?

If they had not traded their flintlocks for liquor long ago, one shot would have made this much easier.

Their futures, already compressed to the edge of death, clutched at their minds like cold darkness.

Nothing mattered anymore.

As long as they could feel a full stomach one more time.

As long as they could taste liquor sliding over their tongues and down their throats one more time.

Unable to wait any longer, they settled ownership and raised their blades at Corvin.

For an instant, they seemed to see a future rekindled.

Even one more day would be enough.

That was what they imagined.

Then the prey in front of them abruptly vanished.

Their thoughts had not caught up before a long-forgotten chill passed through their bodies.

Had they been cut?

They collapsed one after another, blood pouring from their wounds.

They had overestimated themselves and underestimated Corvin.

When they realized their hope had shattered and death was closing in, they began to wail.

Corvin stepped past the three pirates without slowing at all.

Because he did not want blood splashing onto him, he had deliberately avoided areas like the carotid artery, where the bleeding would be dramatic.

That meant that, before the blood loss reached the necessary point, these three pirates, who were not worth wasting ink on, would crawl toward death drop by drop.

Ignoring the desperate cries behind him, Corvin turned a corner and continued forward.

This insignificant episode was only a microcosm of a microcosm of the world of One Piece.

Even within those small pieces of the world, there were still lights strong enough to pierce the darkness.

But under the influence of the Great Pirate Era, people were more willing to look directly at the darkness that could not be avoided.

Before truly embracing this world, Corvin knew what he had to do.

Before he could stand tall, he first had to stand firm.

Becoming stronger as soon as possible was what Corvin was working toward now.

After passing through several crooked alleys, Corvin finally left the residential district and stepped onto a broad street under clear sunlight.

The stink and lifeless air that had drifted around him finally dispersed beneath the bright sun.

On the street, armed pirates moved back and forth. Voices surged everywhere, making the place seem lively at a glance.

After the auction ended, most pirates drawn to Mad Hatter Town were in no hurry to leave.

Rest and indulgence were often more important than going back to sea.

Besides, after such a major event, they could imagine Marine warships patrolling the surrounding waters.

Mad Hatter Town was an area the Marines could not currently interfere with, but there was nothing stopping them from casting a net outside and hauling in smaller fish.

Experienced pirates did their best to avoid that kind of potential risk.

Corvin entered the flow of people and quietly observed the pirates passing him.

Most were powerful-looking men. There were female pirates too, but they were rare, and each of them was built like a bear walking on two legs.

Compared with them, the waitresses in taverns were practically angels.

"Straight to a tavern, then."

Corvin planned to return to the weapons shop before evening. His time was limited, so he had no room to wander.

At night, he could move across rooftops and avoid the problem of not knowing where things were.

During the day, walking normally through the streets, finding the tavern he had gone to the night before would actually be a little difficult.

But he had no intention of returning to that same tavern.

In Mad Hatter Town, taverns were everywhere. Every district had them, differing only in size.

Corvin walked along the street, moving through the crowd.

Whenever he saw a tavern, he slowed slightly.

If it was too small, he did not enter.

If it was large but had few customers, he did not enter either.

He kept choosing as he walked.

Without realizing it, he covered one or two kilometers before finally finding a large tavern with heavy traffic.

Battleaxe Tavern.

Corvin looked up at the sign, where two bloodstained axes crossed around a wine bottle, then pushed open the door and walked in.

About half an hour after Corvin entered Battleaxe Tavern, Wolf Rat, carefully dressed and groomed, arrived at the door.

Wolf Rat looked at the tavern entrance, then pulled out a small mirror.

Looking at his own dazzlingly handsome face in the reflection, he murmured in satisfaction, "Worth spending more than an hour in the bath."

Then he tried to squeeze out a friendly, approachable smile.

With a face this handsome and a smile this kind, making a friend should be nothing.

Wolf Rat nodded in satisfaction, put away the mirror, and pushed the tavern door open. He completely failed to notice the strange looks several nearby pirates gave him.

"What a creepy guy."

One pirate gave the most honest evaluation of Wolf Rat's smile.

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