Kapitel 67: Chapter 67: Alabasta: The Judgy Young Shopkeeper
After making a ten-day deal with his crew, Shanks headed into the town of Narohara, braving the scorching heat as he searched high and low for Takumi. But despite all his efforts, he couldn't find any sign of him.
As he passed by the hat vendor's stall, the vendor, just like before, called out to him, "Hey there, sir! You don't look like a local—probably from another island, right? If you're planning to stick around, you might want to buy a hat to keep from getting heatstroke. It can be a real pain if you get sick in a place like this."
Shanks glanced at the vendor and, without missing a beat, walked up to the stall, excitement evident on his face. He started gesturing as he spoke, "I'm looking for someone. Have you seen a kid about this tall? He's not from around here either. Let's see… Oh yeah, he's got this permanent scowl on his face like the whole world owes him money. That's the guy—seen him?"
The vendor, seeing how eager Shanks was, couldn't help but sweat a little. But the description matched the kid who had bought a hat from him earlier.
"Well, uh… I did see someone like that, but I can't quite remember where he went," the vendor said, stroking his chin with one hand while rubbing his fingers together with the other. "Maybe I'll remember in a bit, or maybe not."
"So you have seen him!" Shanks asked excitedly.
"Yeah, I've seen him… So, you know… you get what I mean," the vendor said with a sly smile.
Shanks nodded, laughing, "Hahaha, I get it, I get it. No worries. Take your time. I've got time to wait for you to remember where that kid went."
The vendor was speechless.
Is this guy an idiot?
"How could you not get what I'm saying?" the vendor muttered, getting frustrated. Was this guy playing dumb on purpose?
"Do you really get what I'm saying?" the vendor asked, exasperated.
Shanks scratched his head, confused. "Didn't you just say you might remember where he went in a bit?"
The vendor raised his hand and rubbed his fingers together right in front of Shanks' face, trying to spell it out. When Shanks didn't react, he kept rubbing.
"Hey, what's wrong with your hand?" Shanks asked, concerned. "Is it itchy?"
"Pff…" The vendor nearly spat out blood in frustration. He couldn't take it anymore and shouted, "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?! How can you not get it after I've made it so obvious? What's your deal?!"
Shanks just looked at him innocently, scratching his head again. "No need to get so worked up, boss. Getting angry isn't good for you, especially in this heat. Oh, are you thirsty? I've got some wine—want a sip?"
As he spoke, Shanks actually handed over his wine flask.
The vendor nearly knocked the flask out of Shanks' hand in frustration. "You idiot! I'm not itchy, I'm not hot, and I'm not thirsty! I just want you to buy a hat! Are you gonna buy one or not? If not, get lost and stop bothering me!"
"Whoa, no need to be so mad, boss. You could've just said you wanted me to buy a hat," Shanks replied, rubbing his chin as he looked over the hats on display. He picked up a straw hat, grinning, "Alright, I'll take this one. How much?"
The vendor's eye twitched in annoyance. "Five Beli…"
"Not bad, pretty cheap." Shanks put the straw hat on and tossed five Beli to the vendor.
The vendor pocketed the money and then pointed in the direction of Alubarna, the capital. "The kid you're looking for went that way. You'd better get yourself a camel if you want to catch up to him. Walking won't do it."
"Hey, your memory's not so bad after all," Shanks grinned. "Thanks, boss."
With that, he sprinted off in the direction the vendor had pointed.
The vendor sighed as he watched Shanks run off without a camel. "What a weirdo…"
Not long after Shanks left, a group of people suddenly appeared and surrounded the vendor's stall.
"Hey there, boss. Looks like business is good," said Benn Beckman, carrying a long rifle on his shoulder, as he grinned at the vendor.
Lucky Roo, munching on a large piece of meat with one hand and holding a gun with the other, pointed the barrel at the vendor's head. "My gun's been thirsty for blood for a while now. What do you say, boss—your blood for sale?"
"Hey, hey, Roo, put the gun down. Let me have a go," Yasopp said, raising his own gun and theatrically wiping the barrel in front of the terrified vendor. Then, with a smirk, he pulled the trigger.
There was a loud click.
The vendor's legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground.
Yasopp holstered his gun, feigning disappointment. "Whoops, I forgot to load it."
"Bwahaha…"
"Yasopp, you idiot! How do you forget to load your gun?"
The rest of the Red-Haired Pirates laughed uproariously.
The vendor, however, was trembling in fear. "I—I'm sorry, sirs. I don't know what I did wrong, but please, don't hurt me."
"You didn't do anything wrong," Benn Beckman said, picking out a few hats and tossing them to the crew members behind him. He then placed a bag of Beli in front of the vendor, smiling. "That red-haired idiot isn't someone you can just mess with. Don't judge people by their looks, young boss."
With that, Benn and the rest of the crew started walking away.
"Beckman, are we really just going to let the boss go off on his own?"
"Yeah, he's out there all by himself. Even though he's strong, it still makes me worry."
"Sigh, even though he's a grown man, he still acts like a kid sometimes. What a handful."
"Maybe we should send a couple of guys to secretly follow him. I'm really worried someone might just kidnap him…"
"Don't worry, Shanks knows what he's doing," Benn said with a smirk. "We'll just wait on the ship for him to come back."
Meanwhile, Takumi had no idea that Shanks had also arrived in Alabasta. He continued riding his camel leisurely through the vast desert.
Before long, a large sand bubble suddenly erupted from the ground in front of him.
Out of the bubble emerged a massive purple lizard, its jaws wide open, ready to snap up Takumi and his camel in one bite.
Takumi looked at the lizard calmly. He wasn't fazed—after all, during his time at sea, he had taken down sea monsters many times larger than this lizard. To him, this creature was no threat at all.
But his camel, being just an ordinary animal, was terrified. As the lizard approached, the camel panicked and bolted, carrying Takumi off in the wrong direction, away from the path to Alubarna, and into an unknown part of the desert.
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