I Don't Know What You're Talking About

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The Sharp-Horn Pirates were wiped out overnight.

The culprit returned safely to Nightfall.

Tatamu changed back into his uniform and became a quiet bartender again.

After asking Tatamu's opinion, Corvin dropped into a chair without ceremony.

If Tatamu, the owner, did not mind the bloodstains, Corvin certainly would not pretend to be polite.

"Got a cigarette?"

Tonight's haul had been good enough that Corvin suddenly wanted a post-job smoke.

Tatamu nodded, then took cigarettes and a lighter from a drawer, as if that drawer could produce anything.

Corvin glanced at it before accepting the cigarette, lighting it, and taking a pull.

This body was not addicted to tobacco. Smoking now might put him on a road that was hard to leave.

Corvin did not care.

People lived once. They might as well do what they liked.

He smoked at an easy pace.

Tatamu mixed a drink for him.

As for Wolf Rat, he went upstairs the moment they returned to the bar to treat his wounds.

Half an hour later, Wolf Rat came downstairs with his injuries bandaged, sat beside Corvin, and asked Tatamu for a drink.

"With Kazt dead, the Sharp-Horn Pirates are finished."

"Yeah. That means you don't have to live in fear anymore, Wolf Rat."

Corvin set down his glass and lit another cigarette.

Wolf Rat turned his head and looked at him.

After a long moment, he understood the implication and burst out laughing, only for the sound to pull at his wounds and stop dead. Then he said against his own conscience, "Usopp, I really owe you for stepping in like that. I don't even know how to thank you."

"Don't say it. It's all in the drink."

"Cheers."

Wolf Rat hurriedly raised his glass and clinked it against Corvin's.

They sat for another ten minutes or so before Corvin drained his glass and stood, ready to go.

"Leaving?"

Tatamu asked.

Wolf Rat also stood and looked at Corvin.

Corvin nodded. "Yeah. See you tomorrow."

Then, under Wolf Rat's and Tatamu's gazes, he pushed the door open and left the bar.

Back at Sol's weapons shop, Corvin went straight to the bathroom.

Bailey, still tied up beside the hallway, heard the movement and lifted his head slightly.

When he saw Corvin, he hurriedly buried his face and curled into a ball, pretending to be asleep.

Corvin walked past Bailey, entered the bathroom, washed up briefly, then went upstairs to his room.

Before returning to the shop, he had casually thrown his bloodstained outer clothes into an alley in the residential district.

After hiding Dark Crow properly beneath the bedsheet, Corvin lay down and closed his eyes.

Before long, he fell into a deep sleep.

The next day.

Corvin woke and instinctively reached beside him.

His hand found nothing.

"Where's my sword?"

Corvin froze. Then he sat up and hurriedly lifted the bedsheet.

Nothing.

"Where did it go?"

Dark Crow had vanished out of thin air. Corvin got a bad feeling.

He quickly checked under the bed.

Still no Dark Crow.

'Don't tell me...'

Thinking of one possibility, Corvin covered his forehead and knew things were bad.

He opened the door and stepped into the hall, cautiously glancing at Sol's tightly shut door. Then he lightened his steps and went downstairs.

He still held one lucky hope: maybe Sunny had taken Dark Crow.

Crossing the hallway, Corvin soon reached the kitchen door.

What waited for him was Sol sitting expressionlessly on a chair, holding the black-and-red long sword in one hand.

Sunny, wearing an apron, was preparing breakfast.

Bailey, still bound up tightly, lay under the table with his head tucked down, radiating quiet delight at someone else's misfortune.

"Morning."

Corvin greeted them calmly, then looked at Dark Crow in Sol's hand and said without showing anything, "Sol, when did you buy another named blade?"

"Heh."

Sol let out a dry laugh.

Corvin laughed along with him, then said seriously, "It looks pretty understated. Another Skillful Grade blade?"

"Heh."

Sol laughed again, too lazy to play along. He went straight to the point.

"Not bad, brat. Quietly got yourself a sword, did you? And you've already blooded it. Impressive."

Corvin fell silent.

Knowing there was no hiding it, he gave an awkward smile. Afraid that one wrong word would put him in the firing line, he wisely shut his mouth.

When Corvin refused to answer, Sol drew Dark Crow and casually tossed the scabbard aside. His smile did not reach his eyes.

"What? Since when do you know how to use a blade? Show me a few moves."

Corvin remained silent.

"If you can make it look decent, I'll let this go. If you can't, then for the next few months, if you sneak out again, I'll break your legs."

"You mean that?"

Corvin looked carefully at Sol, who was already visibly angry.

If he could not go out, what was the point?

He had finally raised physique to one star, and he still planned to keep the momentum going by claiming Aibe's returns next.

"Hm?"

Sol had not expected Corvin to accept. He glanced at Sunny without making it obvious, then threw Dark Crow at Corvin's feet.

"Relax. Go ask anywhere on this street. Everyone knows Sol keeps his word."

"You said it."

Corvin picked up Dark Crow and gripped it tightly.

At the sight of his standard sword grip, Sol's brow twitched. He glanced at Sunny again, just as subtly.

Sunny stopped what she was doing and walked over to Sol's side.

She had seen Corvin swing a sword yesterday. He had looked like a total beginner.

But now, something seemed different.

She watched Corvin grip Dark Crow, puzzled.

Knowing Sunny had sold him out, Corvin shot her a sharp look.

Sunny pretended not to see it.

Corvin turned back to Sol and said solemnly, "Then I'll start?"

This decided whether he could go into town and claim returns. He would not be careless.

Sol nodded.

Corvin took a deep breath, retreated to a more open area, and raised the blade horizontally before him.

After receiving Gabton's returns last night, the sword no longer felt foreign in his hand. Instead, his palm was filled with a steady, grounded confidence.

Corvin's focus sharpened, as if he truly were a swordsman who had taken his first real step.

Swish.

His arm suddenly drove forward. He cut three times in rapid succession, weaving a brief, vanishing pattern of intersecting slashes.

Watching the three cuts, Sol instinctively looked at Sunny.

'You set me up?'

The dry flesh on Sol's face twitched.

Sunny quietly turned around, walked back to the counter, and continued preparing breakfast.

From Sol's reaction, Corvin knew he had succeeded.

He coughed a few times, pretending to clear his throat and draw Sol's attention back. Then he said seriously, "You said you'd keep your word."

"What word? I don't know what you're talking about."

Sol looked genuinely confused.

Corvin froze.

At the counter, Sunny nearly cut her finger while chopping vegetables.

Under the table, Bailey let out a faint sigh and suddenly missed the free forest.

Thinking about it now, the streams there had been so clean.

And so, under Sol's shameless denial, Corvin was grounded.

That same day, news of the Sharp-Horn Pirates being wiped out overnight spread through tavern after tavern, becoming the hottest topic in town.

"Usopp wiped out the whole Sharp-Horn Pirates by himself?"

"I heard he killed Kazt with one slash!"

The story grew more exaggerated with every telling.

The cause was the pack of scavenger pirates from the night before.

At first, most of the boasting came from them.

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