One Piece: Lord of the Weather Chapter 6: week

On the morning of the seventh day, Pablo woke up and counted what he had.

Fifty Beli.

Today was Savia's day.

He got up, took the charcoal he had arranged days ago, and headed toward her house.

---

She opened the door after he knocked.

She looked at the amount in his hands and nodded.

"More than last week."

"Yes."

She took a piece and examined it with her fingers, turning it slowly.

"The quality is consistent."

"I told you it wouldn't change."

She put her hand in her pocket and took out the coins.

"Three hundred and fifty as agreed."

He didn't extend his hand.

She looked at him.

"What?"

"I want to change the agreent."

She narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Speak."

"You sold all of the first batch."

She neither denied nor confird, only looked at him with calculating eyes.

"What do you want?"

"I will double the amount every week. Seven hundred Beli."

She was silent for a few seconds.

Pablo didn't speak. He let the silence work.

She was calculating in her head, he knew that. More charcoal ans more sales, and the quality is consistent as she saw.

"Five hundred and fifty."

"Six hundred and fifty."

"Six hundred."

Pablo looked at her for a second.

Six hundred Beli weekly, almost double what he used to get.

"Six hundred."

She returned the coins to her pocket and took out six hundred Beli instead of three hundred and fifty.

She handed them to him without additional comnt.

Pablo took them.

"Next week you will find the amount ready."

"I expect that."

She closed the door.

---

Pablo went out and counted the coins as he walked.

Six hundred and fifty Beli: the six hundred from Savia and the fifty he had with him.

For the first ti since he arrived, he felt sothing like simple stability.

But he knows this is not enough.

He was walking toward his house when he heard a voice calling him.

"Pablo!"

He turned.

It was the elderly woman for whom he had filled water on his first day. She was standing in front of her house, gesturing to him.

He approached her.

"I heard you are always looking for work."

"Yes."

She pointed toward the northern side of the village.

"There is a man there who wants to replace his roof. I heard him talking to his neighbor yesterday, complaining that he can't find anyone to help him. The big wooden house near the edge of the village."

Pablo nodded.

"Thank you."

She shook her head and returned to her house.

---

He found the house easily.

It was larger than most houses in Verona. Its wood was old, and its roof looked worn out from afar.

He knocked on the door.

A man in his fifties opened it, tall, with scattered gray hair and tired eyes.

He looked at Pablo indifferently.

"What do you want?"

"I heard you need help with the roof."

The man examined him from head to toe.

"You're small."

"But I work."

The man paused for a mont, then opened the door wider.

"The work needs at least two days. Removing the old planks and moving them, then installing the new ones. Three hundred Beli for both jobs."

Three hundred Beli for two full days of work. Not much, but Pablo did not co only for the three hundred.

"Alright."

---

Day One

He started the work at dawn.

Removing the old planks was harder than it looked. The old wood had stuck together from years of humidity and heat.

The man worked beside him at first, explaining what he wanted and guiding him.

After hours, he left him and went about his own affairs, trusting that the work would be done.

Pablo worked silently, removing one plank after another and throwing them aside.

In the middle of the day, a woman ca out of the house, in her forties, with a kind face and an apron spotted with flour.

She looked at him working under the sun.

"Co."

He followed her quietly.

She led him to the kitchen and placed a plate of bread and so simple soup in front of him.

"Eat."

He didn't object.

He sat and ate quietly.

The soup was warm and much better than his usual daily food.

The woman looked at him as he ate.

"You are the pirate's son."

"Yes."

She didn't add anything, just took the plate when he finished and returned to her work.

Pablo continued his day until sunset.

At the end of the first day, all the old planks were removed and stacked aside.

The man inspected the work and nodded.

"Tomorrow we install the new ones. Co early."

---

Day Two

Pablo ca with the first light.

The new planks had been placed beside the house since yesterday. The man had brought them from sowhere.

He started work imdiately.

Installing the new planks was faster than removing them. One by one, he fixed them with nails that the man gave him.

In the middle of the day, the man asked Pablo to co down and bring him more nails from inside the house.

"In the side room on the right, a small box on the shelf."

Pablo entered the house.

The side room was open.

He found the box and took the nails.

But when he turned, he noticed sothing on the table by the door.

A small cloth bag tied with a simple string.

He stopped for a second.

No sounds inside the house. The woman had not been heard for a while, and the man was on the roof.

He reached out and grabbed the bag.

Heavy.

At that mont, he heard footsteps on the external wooden ladder.

The man was coming down.

He hid the bag under his shirt in one motion and continued walking toward the door with the sa quiet steps.

He ca out of the room with only the nails in his hand.

He t the man at the entrance.

"You found them?"

"Yes."

He handed him the nails and climbed back up behind him.

---

They finished the work shortly before sunset.

The man stood and gazed at his new roof with satisfied eyes.

"Good work."

He took out three hundred Beli and handed them to Pablo.

He took them and left.

---

He walked far enough from the house, then stopped in a quiet side alley.

He took out the bag and opened it.

He counted the coins slowly.

One thousand one hundred and fifty Beli.

More than he expected.

He closed the bag, hid it, and continued walking.

---

He returned to his room and emptied everything he had in front of him.

Six hundred from Savia, three hundred from the job, one thousand one hundred and fifty from the bag, and the fifty he had with him.

Two thousand one hundred Beli.

He looked at the number.

For the first ti since he arrived, he felt sothing like real satisfaction.

Not because the number is large, but because he sees clear progress.

He took what he needed for food and necessities, and hid the rest under the wooden plank.

---

He lay down and looked at the ceiling.

The situation improved, but he knows this is just the beginning.

Six hundred Beli weekly from Savia is a steady base.

Fishing covers his food and saves him money.

And when opportunities co, he takes them.

But Verona is still Verona.

A small, remote island with a very low ceiling.

The real money that would truly change his situation will not be found here.

But he is closer now than he was a week ago.

One step at a ti.

After a full week in this world, he did not die, did not starve, did not break.

A thirty-seven-year-old man in a fourteen-year-old's body, with no friends, no family, no clear plan, on an island no one knows, in a world ruled by the strong.

Yet he slept every night with a full stomach and a roof over his head.

He did not adapt because the world was easy, but because he had no other choice.

And that is enough for now.