One Piece: Lord of the Weather Chapter 9: the countdown

In the morning, Pablo went out and headed directly toward the man who had told him about ship prices.

He found him in the sa place, sitting in front of his house. After greeting him, he asked:

"Another question."

The man looked at him.

"Speak."

"The comrcial ships that pass by here, when do they co?"

The man thought for a mont.

"About once a month. The last one passed twenty days ago."

"So the next one is in about ten days."

"Yes, if it's not delayed."

Pablo nodded and walked away.

---

Ten days.

He walked slowly, calculating.

Not this ship, of course. Sixty thousand cannot be gathered in ten days.

But he needs to know the rhythm. One ship per month ans three ships in three months.

Three months is the maximum he can tolerate.

After that, Roger's execution will happen, the age of pirates will begin, and the seas will beco more dangerous for soone like him traveling alone with no protection.

The window is narrowing.

---

He arrived at Savia's house and knocked on the door.

She opened with her usual face.

She looked at the charcoal in his hands and gestured for him to enter.

He placed the amount in front of her and waited until she examined it.

"Good as usual."

She took out the six hundred Beli and handed them to him.

Pablo took them, then paused.

"I have a proposal."

She looked at him.

"In three months, I want to leave Verona."

She fell silent.

"And I want to sell you the thod of making charcoal before I leave."

She continued looking at him with eyes that revealed nothing.

"Why do you want to leave?"

"Several reasons."

"You are fourteen."

"I know."

She looked at him for a long ti in her way, as if appraising goods whose price she was still calculating.

"To where?"

"Naraka. Its factories need workers."

She let out a light breath.

"The sea is not a place for a child alone. Pirates, storms, greedy rchants."

"I know the risks."

"You don't know them enough."

He didn't reply.

She was silent for a few seconds as well, then said:

"How much do you want for the thod?"

"Four thousand Beli."

She thought.

Four thousand for knowledge that would free her from depending on him forever. A reasonable deal by a rchant's logic.

"Alright."

Then she added:

"When you are ready to leave, tell . I will send soone to learn the thod from you before you go."

Pablo nodded.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank ." She said it coldly. "Just don't die at sea."

She closed the door.

---

Pablo went out and counted what he had.

Approximately two thousand one hundred Beli with the new six hundred.

He needs sixty thousand.

The gap is still enormous.

He calculated quietly.

Six hundred weekly from Savia: seven thousand two hundred in three months.

The price of what he will sell Savia for the thod: four thousand.

The total is eleven thousand in the best case.

About fifty thousand remains.

Fifty thousand cannot be gathered through honest work in Verona.

The only path is clear.

Theft, but different from before.

Not a ring here and a bag there, but systematically and calculatedly, with acceptance of greater risks.

---

For the rest of the day, Pablo wandered the village with completely different eyes.

He wasn't looking for work.

He was studying.

He noticed the houses and their owners, who left in the morning and who stayed, where valuable things were placed, and where the windows and doors were.

At the end of his wandering, he stopped in front of a house at the edge of the village.

The house of a fisherman who left every morning before dawn and did not return until afternoon.

He had seen him do this for three consecutive days without knowing that anyone was watching.

His wife left an hour after him to take his fish to the market.

Between his departure and hers, there was a short period when the house was almost empty.

Almost.

They had a small child, no older than five, who sotis played in front of the door.

That was the only problem.

But it was a problem that could be managed.

---

After two days of observation, Pablo confird everything.

On the morning of the third day, he stood at a distance and waited.

He saw the fisherman leave in the darkness as usual.

An hour later, his wife left carrying the fish.

The small child was not in front of the door today.

Probably asleep.

Pablo waited five extra minutes.

No movent.

He approached the back door slowly. It was closed, but the lock was simple.

He turned his hand and pushed gently.

It opened.

He entered and closed it behind him with the sa quietness.

The main room was very simple, but in the corner there was a familiar-looking wooden box.

He opened it carefully.

Clothes and old papers, and at the bottom, a cloth bag.

He grabbed it.

At that mont, he heard a sound.

Small footsteps on the wooden floor.

The child.

Pablo stopped completely and did not breathe.

The little girl appeared from the hallway with half-open eyes, her hair tousled from sleep.

She looked at him.

He looked at her.

Two seconds of complete silence.

Then she rubbed her eyes and turned back toward her room without saying a word.

She hadn't woken up enough to understand what she saw.

Pablo waited until he heard the sound of her small body lying down again.

Then he left through the sa back door with the sa quietness.

---

He moved away from the house and opened the bag in a side alley.

Two thousand three hundred Beli.

More than he expected for a simple fisherman's house.

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

---

He returned to his room and gathered everything he owned in front of him.

Approximately four thousand four hundred Beli.

He looked at the number.

Still very far from sixty thousand.

But he had moved.

Three months and ten days separate him from the next ship that will take him away from Verona.

And the path is clear now.

Work keeps him alive, and theft brings him closer to his goal.

He closed his eyes.

The countdown has begun.