Chương 42: The Money (Part 1)
After talking for a while away from the basement both parties calmed down a bit, ceasing any possible misunderstandings, controversial or erroneous value judgments and hostilities that might have existed between them until now
Upon hearing the reports of the kidnapped women explaining how Fred and Stephen gave their lives to save them, cured them and helped them for days without asking for anything in return the Marines had no room to suspect that the unpleasant homicidal psychopathic tendency of Fred they had recently seen wasn't reserved solely and exclusively for monsters like the Leech pirates
Now in the living room of Mayor Marlon's house, where Marlon, Fred, Stephen and the two officers were having some coffee, tea, orange juice and whatever… they chatted about the events that had transpired in this town from the moment the Leech pirates invaded to the point of view of the protagonists of this story.
And after checking all the information that they were already told by Den Den Mushi and what was not, such as the location of the mass grave of the filler Leech pirates, other things that had happened in the days after the last call or the evacuation plan… was time to talk about the most crucial issue of all...
"I suppose you want to collect the rewards...
Am I wrong?" Said Lieutenant Francis to Fred with great confidence in his prediction, since by pure instinct he was able to recognize a similar neuron to his own in Fred's brain
And he wasn't wrong…
"You aren't wrong at all...
Where's the money?" Fred answered with great seriousness, resting his elbows on the table and interlocking his fingers at the level of his mouth while looking at Lieutenant Lex, the person with whom he had discussed these matters through Den Den Mushi.
However, unfortunately for Fred and the others, the Lieutenant didn't have very good news, although he didn't have catastrophic news either "Things don't work that way Fred
We can't just get 90 million berries and ship them off to some island without even confirming that the criminal in question has been caught.
There's a protocol that we must follow"
'Great, more unnecessary bureaucracy…
Why the hell did they take so long when they didn't even come with my dear money?' Fred thought, mentally grunting as he forced his smile and tried to keep his nervous eyebrow tic from acting up
But while Fred contained his urges, Lieutenant Lex continued to explain the situation "Besides, we don't usually have as much cash deposited in any Marine base, so it will take a while until they transfer it to us… but don't worry, when we have said sum of money we will notify you.
Then you will only have to come to the base so that you can pick it up yourself, although it won't be 90 million… you have to deduct the 15% tax that partly pays for the transportation and management of the reward"
'Great...
A tax on a direct transfer from the World government by the World Government that has been collected with other taxes from that same World Government
I didn't expect anything from them and yet they manage to disappoint me' Fred thought, as he mentally killed the Gorosei and forced his smile to limits he didn't think possible in order not to complicate his future income
Some limits that were completely exceeded when Lieutenant Francis asked with a mobster like face "But before we can start this boring management...
Where's the loot from the Leech pirates that you took from the island?"
"…"
'Great... once again...
This is the game you wanna play? RIIIGGGGHHHHHTTT!!!??
Until we turn over all or most of the loot we've [recovered] from those filthy pirates, you will do everything possible to don't give me my 90… 76.5 millions? RIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTT!!!??
Once again... I didn't expect anything from them and even so they manage to disappoint me...
An intolerable disappointment...' Fred thought, right now with all the veins in his neck and face completely bulging and throbbing like crazy with anger... while his forced smile had mutated into something horrible that the world only saw in the basement of his house while he tortured the leech pirates.
Right now Fred was seriously considering about his backup plan to kill all those marines with his poisons, perfectly dispose of their bodies, and use his Pact Magic on the entire island to pretend they never reached Narhad.
POM!
However, luckily for everyone on the island, a fist on the table and an angry shout interrupted Fred's macabre plans.
"FRANCIS!" Lieutenant Lex protested upon hearing that obviously corrupt insinuation.
A protest that didn't seem to have made Lieutenant Francis back down in the slightest.
"What's wrong with me asking where the pirates' loot is?
After all, part of our duties is to recover everything that has been stolen from the population and then... give it back...
It's what every good marine and citizen would do, right Lex?" Lieutenant Francis said, distorting reality at his convenience so blatantly that absolutely no one was convinced.
And above all, he didn't convince the incorruptible lieutenant Lex, who continued with his usual opposition towards his despicable co-worker "You know perfectly well that isn't so!
According to Article 7 section 9 everything that a bounty hunter recovers from a wanted pirate is rightfully his and…"
The more the conversation between the two Marines progressed, the clearer the situation became for Fred 'I see… that's the situation…'
Lieutenant Francis was clearly a corrupt Marine, one of the many he had been able to see in One Piece starting with Morgan, the second villain Luffy faced...
The first time he heard about him was from the Den Den Mushi, when other Marines mentioned him saying that he was the one in charge of the Leech Pirates case.
The second thing Fred knew about Francis after meeting him today is that he was extremely hostile to him, probably because he screwed up the case he had spent so much time solving and probably losing a promotion for it.
And the third packet of information was given to him right now when he showed that he's greedy and corrupt. In the event that he ever managed to catch the Leech pirates, he surely intended to keep the loot for himself, maybe reporting that the pirates had already spent everything, that it had fallen into the sea or with some other cheap excuse
Getting a promotion for catching the Leech pirates was already impossible at this point, but there was still a chance to obtain their much-coveted money.
And now the main obstacles between him and that large sum of money were two children and an old man with a mutilated arm and leg whom he believed he could coerce using his position...
And of course, the last barrier, an honest fellow Marine whom he believed he could outmanoeuvre, corrupt, silence… or that at least he wouldn't lose out if Lex reported him, otherwise he wouldn't have said or done any of this
Therefore, after understanding the situation in depth, Fred tried to calm down, momentarily set aside his homicidal plans... at least those that included killing Lieutenant Lex... to formulate a new plan taking advantage of these elements in their favour while the Marines discussed 'Mmm...
I see... one of them is a corrupt marine and the other is an honest one... and both have the same rank...
Great… If I play my cards right along with my Pact Magic I think I could figure out how to keep all my money without any hassle, repercussion, brainwashing or disposal of Marine corpses.
Yes....
First of all I have to...'
"The money and everything we get from the Leech pirates will be distributed equally among the kidnapped women. In this way, they can take it to their villages themselves so they can share it with the other victims, after all what we found there was theirs from the beginning.
We will only keep the rewards and the corresponding part that they stole from our village" Stephen said suddenly, furtively interrupting the conversation between the two marines and the most surely evil machinations of Fred.
Or at least that's what Stephen intuited after seeing his homologated soul-eater demon face
"WHA…?!" Fred exclaimed in total astonishment as he looked into Sephen's eyes, hostile eyes that sent him a very clear message even without saying anything 'I will disapprove of any reply you make to me, we have to do what's right in this situation'
And at the same time Fred, with his terrifyingly expressive face about to cry and bite his lip, sent another almost telepathic message to his traitorous friend 'What the fucking hell are you saying Stephen!?
That money is ours! We have earned it! How dare you say something like that you damn generous, altruistic and kind child!?
Just counting the cash there are 33.369 million berries and if we sold everything else we would surely get an extra 30 million or even more!
THAT'S MORE THAN JOHN'S REWARD!'
"This… wait a minute kid…
No need to do it this way...
Hahaha...
As I said before distribute the stolen money among the victims is one of the duties of the Marines" Lieutenant Francis insisted again with this cheap excuse, trying to remain calm, although in reality he was just as upset on the inside as Fred.
He never expected that themselves would have the initiative to donate that money, much less that they would want to do it personally...
And that made his plan start to collapse...
'This son of a bitch is still showing his greed so openly under these circumstances?
What scum…' Fred thought, amazed at how excessively disgusting that guy is.
Only human garbage would try to steal money that legitimately belongs to some children and even more so when those children had just said that they will donate it to those most in need, to those that same human garbage used as an excuse
And he wasn't the only one who thought so, in fact everyone did, but only one dared to express it
"Bullshit!" Shouted Marlon, who until now had remained silent as Stephen and Fred negotiated
However, there was a limit to his patience, especially when they were so blatantly trying to scam and steal his good-natured son and not-so-kind nephew.
"What do you mean by [bullshit]!?" Lieutenant Francis protested, trying to feign ignorance and appear dignified despite being so obvious that he's corrupt scum.
This exchange of opinions again generated a heated discussion, a discussion that Fred took advantage of to put his ideas in order again as he rested his elbows on the table and brought his hands together at the level of his mouth to partially cover his disturbing smile "All things considered... in these circumstances… Stephen's proposal isn't so... bad... at least... not... entirely...
I will lose a lot of my precious money, something that hurts my soul... but I will gain a very good reputation in return if those girls spread this news, something that will favour me in the future... even if it hurts me in the present...
Besides, I can't contradict Stephen now or I'll look like the bad guy... and this is better than giving a single berrie to that guy or to the government
I could make him keep his word with the Pact Magic, but it's better not to expose this card to the Navy yet'
And while Fred mentally calculated how more or less get benefited from this situation… the discussion degenerated to an untenable point... and in many ways incomprehensible point…
"OH YES!? WELL, THEN YOUR MOTHER SMELLS LIKE ASS!"
"AND YOURS WAS A RAIN-SOFTENED PIECE OF WOOD!"
"WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN!?"
"It's an insult sir..."
"WHAT!?
DO YOU WANT TO BE ARRESTED FOR DISRESPECTING THE AUTHORITIES!!??"
To the point where Lieutenant Lex had to intervene again, even thinking of using violence if necessary despite the possible trouble it could cause him in the future "Lieutenant Francis, you are…"
"There's nothing to discuss Lieutenant Francis, as my friend Stephen said, we will distribute everything we have recovered to its rightful owners, as any good person would.
We will only keep what was stolen from us, the rewards...
AND THE BOAT!
The ship is also ours, after all it wasn't stolen from the villagers, we don't have to give it back to them then..." Fred said interrupting the absurd conversation with great difficulty. Almost every word that came out of his mouth ached in his soul and at the same time that he avoided all eye contact with Stephen, who was glaring at him due to his last demand.
And he wasn't the only one glaring at him, though for the opposite reason Stephen was.
"Grrjh...
And as I said before... THE MARINES can take care of that work PERFECTLY...
And much better than two ten-year-olds with no experience in this field." Lieutenant Francis said, forcing his smile to try hiding without much success the veins in his head that were bursting with suppressed anger and frustration at not being able to strangle Fred right now
"Thank you, but there's no need to bother the Marines in these minor matters
It's a very large and important organization that's surely too busy with many other tasks that no one else can perform, like catching dangerous pirates who're ravaging entire villages...
However, even if two children like us cannot carry out such a difficult task as you do, we can do this perfectly without help.
It's simply giving money through add, subtract, multiply and divide to people who're physically here… I don't think someone needs a specific postgraduate degree in this subject to be able to do it.
In addition, the fewer intermediaries there are, the easier everything becomes and there's less chance of… losing money in the process.
Don't you think Lieutenant Francis?" Fred answered, with a tone of voice so exaggeratedly sarcastic, mocking, unpleasant, and inquisitive that even offended those outside this conversation...
But what worried Stephen and Marlon the most was Fred's face.
It was… totally normal… too normal considering what he had just said and how he had just said it.
'Scary… scary…'
It was like an eerie calm before a turbulent storm that would claim countless victims...
However, the main victim named Francis didn't know the limits of Fred's twisted personality… and even if he knew it, his growing anger would prevent him from reacting appropriately in that situation, just like now "YOUUUU...
Are you making fun of the Marines!? OF MEEE!?
ARE YOU ACCUSING ME OF…"
"I don't understand why you're insisting so much when we have already said that we want to act like good citizens...
Is there some ulterior motive behind this insistence?
I don't want to believe it, but...
THE MARINES WANT TO SEIZE ALL OR PART OF THE MONEY THAT WE WERE GOING TO GIVE DIRECTLY TO THESE POOR WOMEN SO THAT THEY AND THEIR FAMILIES CAN REMAKE THEIR LIVES AFTER THIS TRAGEDY!!!!????" Fred yelled with absolutely all his might so that everyone in the small village could hear his overacted but still convincing voice that scared even the seagulls and that even generated an echo despite the lack of mountainous terrain
But quite the opposite happened with the people of the village, who surrounded Marlon's house with great concern, either for the safety of their heroes that were most likely being coerced by the Marines or for their future money that maybe they wanted to steal… and as usually happens when many women gather in a small space, they began to whisper
"What? Is that true?"
"Does the navy do that kind of thing?"
"Yes...
I've heard those things are more normal than you'd think"
"How can they be so bad after what has happened to us?"
Those feminine whispers drilled deeper and deeper into the brain of Lieutenant Francis, who felt that the situation had gotten completely out of control.
"YOU! LOWER YOUR VOICE!" Lieutenant Francis yelled, pounding the table to intimidate Fred and make him shut up
But Fred wasn't afraid, quite the opposite...
'I have hunted you…' Seeing the desperation became more evident in his eyes Fred couldn't help but smile macabrely, making everyone in that room feel chills... at the same time that he screamed trying to suppress the cruel laugh that his body wanted to expel "WHY SHOULD I LOWER MY VOICE!? I JUST WANT TO KNOW IF THAT'S TRUE!?
ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE THE MONEY AND POSSESSIONS THAT WERE STOLEN FROM THESE POOR PEOPLE AND WON'T LET US PERSONALLY RETURN THEM!?
YES OR NO!
WE ALL NEED TO KNOW!
RIIIIIIIIGGGGGHHHTTTTTTTT!!!???"
And these increasingly loud and explicit shouts drew more and more people, even the Marines, who had put aside their duties to gather around Marlon's house like the townspeople... and of course they also whispered to feel included
"Lieutenant Francis plans to do something like that? To these poor people?
"I had heard rumours that he was corrupt, but…"
"I don't know anything, I swear... we're friends, but not really friends"
"Should we report it to the Captain?"
An amalgamation of whispers increasingly louder, unbearable and even painful for Lieutenant Francis to listen to.
He already knew that he didn't have a single possibility to take a single berrie from the loot that he believed was rightfully his… or at least a part of it, since to save some face he would have had to give a small fraction to those women
However, from the moment the pink-haired boy opened his mouth, that whole plan practically vanished... and when the red-haired boy with his viperine tongue exposed his intentions without implicitly accusing him of anything loudly, turning everyone's opinion against him, he knew that he had suffered a total failure impossible to remedy.
'SHTI! SHIT! FUCKING SHIT'
Maybe if Lieutenant Lex hadn't pulled every string possible to be here today as a mediator things would have been completely different for him...
He could have better steered the conversation, could have coerced them more openly without anyone being able to help them, could have accused them of some ambiguous crime and then controlled the masses to prevent them from spreading rumours abroad by being the only authority figure on the island
And even he might…
But... it was useless to think about that hypothetical scenario, it could no longer be fulfilled, it was evident that he had been defeated...
He knew that in these cases he had to step back, change his attitude, apologize, say that all this had been a misunderstanding, come up with some new kind of excuse to save some little face and create a favourable story to explain to the public, to his subordinates and superiors even though it sounded unbelievable...
If he didn't do all of this right away he could be in trouble, no matter how untouchable he thought he was in and out of the West Blue Marines
However...
Seeing the disgusting, mocking, proud and satisfied demon smile of that child who made him look ridiculous in the eyes of the world, screwed up one of the best business of his life, had put him in this situation that would surely cause immediate and future repercussions in his professional career...
And was still making fun of him despite that...
"HIA! HIA! HIA!
Sorry, I just remembered a joke, it has nothing to do with what's happening."
It just made him lose his temper...
"Damn...
DAMN DEMON CHILD!"
And with that yell full with fury, he moved his hand towards his sword with the obvious intention of swinging towards Fred.
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You'll be able to see 8 chapters in advance in my Pa-treon
pa-treon.com/user?u=83938371
Edited By: The_Bored_Immortal
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