Delia never minded treating others to a meal; in fact, she was quite enthusiastic about it. The only problem was that she was someone who lived paycheck to paycheck. If she ever had any savings, then it just wouldn’t be her.
To reward her for finding the plate and significantly improving her quality of life, she was given an exclusive welfare card. However, this didn’t change her usual habits.
Although her quality of life improved, she still didn’t feel much joy from it. To this day, she remains the most indebted person on Onigashima, living an unusual life of paying off debts at the beginning of the month and borrowing money again by the middle of the month.
Delia can often be seen treating people to meals on Onigashima and in Wano Country. But while she’s the one treating, it’s never clear whose money she’s actually using.
Though she always pays back what she borrows, whenever she asks for money, she receives a unique “greeting” from her comrades. [TN: Don’t know what greeting author is talking about here. Maybe f**k you?]
“Borrowing money to treat others? How do you even come up with these things? You’ve ranked up this time; why not just use your prize money?”
“Ahem… well… I promised Boss King I’d use the prize money to pay him back, so that part’s as good as gone.”
“And besides, this is totally normal for me. Let me see who I should borrow from next…”
As she spoke, Delia pulled out her ledger. Not only did it record her debt history, but she had even numbered a few people. After all, borrowing from the same person repeatedly wasn’t ideal, so Delia made sure to rotate them.
“Oh, Babanuki, it’s about your turn. Lend me some of your stash, will you? I think Kojiro just opened a new tavern. I’ll treat you all when we go back.”
“Forget it. You really need to change this habit. I’ll treat you all this time instead. I’ve also been meaning to introduce you to my daughter.”
Mandrell, standing nearby, took over the conversation. He had a completely different set of values from Delia and had always tried to persuade her to save some money for emergencies.
“No way. That would take the fun out of it. If you’re feeling generous, just consider it a loan, Mandrell. Next month, I’ll apply for an outside assignment and make some money off the Marines.”
It sounded absurd, a pirate talking about making money off the Marines, but it was very much a reality. The Marines didn’t care much about how a wanted criminal got caught.
She could find a pirate she didn’t like, send them to a middleman, and have them delivered to a Marine Branch. The reward money would roll in soon after. Ordinary pirates could only get about 80% of the bounty through a middleman, but the Beasts Pirates had their own channels.
They could pocket as much as 95% of the reward. Naturally, the Marines and the World Government knew what was going on behind the scenes, but they ignored it. To them, pirates fighting among themselves was a good thing.
Even if pirates used their bounties as a badge of honor, they didn’t mind. They might even intentionally raise the bounty of a pirate crew’s second-in-command to spark internal conflict.
“You…”
Mandrell felt like he couldn’t keep up with the younger generation’s mindset. Their values completely baffled him.
“Alright, Boss Mandrell, you’re not around Onigashima much, but this is just how Delia is. If she ever did save up money, that would be out of the ordinary.”
Amalee, Delia’s frenemy and best friend, as well as her biggest creditor, knew her all too well. If it weren’t for her considerable combat skills, Delia might’ve been sold off long ago.
It didn’t matter who paid the bill this time; Delia would count it as her own debt anyway. Compared to those who never paid back their debts, her integrity was already pretty commendable.
“Exactly! You have a daughter now. No need for you to be treating us.”
“Speaking of which, there shouldn’t be many matches left, right?”
“Yeah, Scotch and Holed’em are still not done. Once they’re done, the changes in rankings will pretty much be settled.”
“Scotch has really held out for a long time.”
“Well, Pay-tan is still young. Give him a few more years, and it’ll be a different story.”
……….
In the arena, an unconventional aerial battle was ongoing. Scotch, having been modified into a cyborg, now floated in the air like a UFO. Through continued efforts, he successfully evolved into a Magnezone by utilizing the magnetic field environment created by Arceus.
His appearance didn’t change much after the transformation, except for the addition of a peculiar antenna on his head. This antenna allowed him to receive special electromagnetic waves, and sometimes, like a tapping device, he could intercept parts of Den Den Mushi’s voice signals.
In the arena, Scotch could even use abilities akin to cheating because he could intercept the signals of Rotom, which was broadcasting the battle, giving him a unique god-like perspective of the fight.
However, his challenger was Page One, and while other factors were manageable, Scotch’s ability was completely countered by Page One’s Garchomp. Even his strongest attack, Zap Cannon, had no effect on Page One.
Due to being a cyborg, Scotch’s Haki and martial arts were the weakest among the top-ranked Numbers. With his electric powers restrained, the only thing he could rely on was the weaponry installed in his modified body.
Dada-dada-dada!
Boom!
Archaeology is the foremost productive force of technology. The library in Ohara contained countless records of ancient technologies. While Queen doesn’t have Vegapunk’s ability to store all the knowledge from the library in his mind, he still managed to find some information on human body modification technologies.
Scotch’s weaponry had gone through several upgrades, from the original triple-barrel gun to the current Gatling gun, and even a small laser cannon. Combined with his ability, Scotch had become a powerful aerial fortress.
But now, this fortress was up against a heavily armored jet fighter immune to electricity.
Their battle was long and tedious. To summarize, Scotch was using his long-range firepower to suppress Page One, keeping him at a distance.
Garchomp could fly, but the ground was his true battlefield. Off the ground, his performance was much worse, and while in the air, moves like Earthquake or Dig were unusable.
Though Dragon-Type moves were also powerful, Page One was still young. As a Zoan-type physical freaks, his stamina couldn’t compare to that of adults, and his combat experience was also lacking. This allowed Scotch to corner him with his firepower.
However, Scotch’s ammunition was limited. After a few empty clicks, his weapon suddenly fell silent. Normally, Scotch was stationed on one of the outer islands of the Beasts Pirates’ territory, where he had his own personal ammunition depot and never had to worry about running out of bullets.
But his extravagant habits backfired in the arena. After evading for a while, Page One eventually caught up with him and ended the fight with a Fire Fang, breaking the record of the youngest single-digit Numbers.
Page One surpassed Setsuna’s previous record, becoming the youngest single-digit Numbers at the age of 13.
You can read ahead upto 75 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.
Become a Patron!