A couple of week had already passed. Olbap already knew the Harley Family's answer, and it didn't surprise him at all. Everything was part of the main plan.
Who in their right mind would accept a deal where you lose in every possible way? By the time you finish selling, you've already spent more than the 10 % you keep just on expenses, and everything else ends up in my pocket.
Right now it's impossible for us to go into a full-scale war against the Harley Family, and that's exactly why he made the first move on the board. Now he would wait for Jack's move.
From the little he had heard about Jack from Silco, the man was extremely direct, which meant he would surely attack in one predictable way. Hit him hard once, and the advantage would be ours.
Putting the Harley Family aside for the moment, Olbap noticed the arrival of the person he had been waiting for… although she came with an uninvited guest.
"Anna, it was about time you showed up. Popeye, what are you doing here?" Olbap asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Eh? What's wrong, you don't want me here after all this time being friends?" Popeye answered in a fake sad voice.
"Stop pretending to be hurt. You wouldn't care the least bit what Olbap thinks. Even if he didn't want you here, you'd still show up. Popeye was keeping me company today; he says he's dying of boredom," Anna said, sitting comfortably in the chair in front of Olbap's desk.
At Anna's words, Olbap only raised an eyebrow, curious.
Popeye, who was already sitting in another chair, seemed to be in his own world, but Anna noticed the gesture and sighed.
"Olbap, don't you start either. Vanessa does it all the time, and now you too," Anna said, hand on the bridge of her nose.
"Fine, if you say so. Just let me know if he goes too far and I'll scold him for you. Changing the subject—how are Red Tide sales going? Any new changes?" Olbap asked.
Anna, hearing what Olbap said, just shook her head, took her notebook out of her pocket, and began to read.
"Red Tide sales are extremely high, especially after the first buyers gave their opinions on the black market. It's the hottest thing out there and completely sold out until we release the second batch," Anna said in a serious voice.
"That was to be expected. Remember that those who depended on the first version of Red Tide have been waiting months for the next dose, and it was going to sell like crazy. Thanks to the pirates, I was able to pay a debt I owed," Olbap replied calmly.
"A debt? To whom?" Anna asked.
"To a bird friend. Soon, when we become important enough for the world to notice us, I'll introduce you. Now—how much money did we make, and what was the final price after you negotiated in your own way?" Olbap asked.
"Well, that was easy for a beautiful woman like me. A few sweet words and I got us 20 % more than what you had negotiated. With that, we now take 65 % from the four main sellers.Like you said, we gave each seller 20 crates, and in each crate there are 100 bricks of Red Tide, and each brick is 10,000 Belies.
The final price of the total sale of the bricks was 100 million Belies without splitting anything.
Now, taking our 65 % from each seller, we keep 65 million Belies.
We receive from each seller around 16,250,000 Belies of the total that each one earned, which is 35 million for selling everything.
The seller, with his 35 %, earns 8,750,000 Belies for his service," Anna explained clearly.
"I understand. 65 million Belies. That's good. Wait one week and send another 20 crates to each seller. If they start selling too fast, we begin giving 50 crates per seller," Olbap ordered.
"Understood, Olbap. Next week I'll give them more. Anything else you need?" Anna asked.
"Yes. I want you to put everyone on alert. I feel the party is going to start sooner than normal, and I want them ready," Olbap said just as the main Den Den Mushi began to ring.
Popeye, being the closest, snapped out of his daydream bubble and handed the Den Den Mushi to Olbap.
"Yes, who is it?" Olbap asked.
"It's me, Liro. We have movement south of the island. I'm heading in to check. We lost track of an entire ship," Liro said from the other side.
"Alright. I'll send Popeye in case anything else happens. How long since the ship stopped giving signals?" Olbap asked.
"Five minutes. Someone managed to connect a Den Den Mushi for a second, but it seemed to die, and only noises were heard," Liro answered.
"Okay. Be careful, and if there are too many, let me know. My muscles are a little stressed from being in the office so much," Olbap said before hanging up.
"You heard him, Popeye. Go help if needed. Anna, tell Vanessa to be ready to treat the wounded," Olbap ordered.
Both simply nodded and left for their respective tasks.
In Olbap's eyes, a gleam of pure excitement could be seen at the thought of someone finally attacking.
With Liro
Liro could see the ship on fire and huge curtains of black smoke being carried away by the sea wind. Close enough now, Liro noticed a single figure, the only one who seemed safe from the entire sea of flames behind him.
Not wanting to risk his men without knowing the threat, he put all his strength into his legs and, with a force that didn't seem to come from Liro's build, shot forward toward the ship and landed calmly in front of the person.
"So you must be someone important, right? You have an aura far superior to the weaklings on this ship," said the voice that seemed like it could break at any moment.
Liro said nothing, only nodded and seriously observed the person appearance, because it was quite strange: an extremely long neck, equally long legs and arms, making his height around 8 feet compared to Liro who was 6.5 feet.
Noticing the height difference and his hands with razor-sharp claws, just like his equally large nose, Liro knew this was not a normal person.
"Who are you and why did you attack my people?" Liro said with his hand ready in case any movement was necessary.
"Ryx ryx ryx… I'll tell you who I am because it seems I'm not as well known as I thought. My name is Garabato, and yours?" said the now-named Garabato as he leaned forward to remove his wizard hat in an elegant manner.
"Garabato… I have no idea who you are. Answer my question or I'll have no choice," Liro said.
Garabato only smiled from ear to ear, creating a rather macabre image, put his hat back on, and with unexpected speed moved, not giving Liro enough time to fully draw his cutlass before being hit hard in the chest and sent crashing into the cabin.
Inside the cabin, Liro slowly stood up, now fully drawing his cutlass, and quickly lunged at Garabato, who blocked with his claws and with his long legs tried to make Liro fall. Liro simply jumped, completely avoiding the blow, and countered with a kick that was completely blocked.
Both pulled back, each measuring the other's strength, and without saying anything, both moved at their maximum capabilities. Liro this time didn't underestimate him; he took him seriously, making his cuts fast and accurate to vital points.
But to Liro's no surprise, Garabato kept up the pace, blocking with his claws, making both weapons clash where Garabato's claws seemed like metal when they hit the sword and sparks of fire flew.
The clash between the cutlass and the claws echoed over the burning ship, creating a metallic echo that reverberated among the creaking wood.
Liro gritted his teeth. Each of Garabato's fingers was like a tempered blade.
His claws are made of… metal? No. Something stronger. My cutlass feels useless.
Garabato let out a raspy little laugh while moving his arms in an irregular, almost disjointed way.
"Ryx ryx ryx… I like how you move! You don't break as easily as the others I killed a few minutes ago."
Before Liro could answer, Garabato stretched his neck in an unnatural way, bringing his face dangerously close. His eyes shone with twisted excitement and his highly sharp nose, like a knife, went straight for Liro's eyes.
CLANK!
Liro managed to interpose the blade just in time, but he was still pushed back.
"What the hell are you…?" Liro growled as he regained his stance."Garabato,"
Garabato answered with a laugh like breaking glass. "That's my style. A lot of people say things about my body and everything, but it's a blessing for fighting, and my favorite thing is torturing, making it so much useful that is my passion" Garabato said, showing his teeth with the adrenaline of battle.
Without warning, Garabato bent his knees backward, as if they were fully jointed the wrong way, and shot forward like a living spear. Liro barely managed to move when the monster's long leg sliced the air where his head had been.
"Tch… too fast" Liro reacted, dodging.
Garabato bounced off the mast wood, his fingers digging in like spikes. Using it as a spring, he dropped from above spinning like a human drill toward Liro, who crossed his sword in defense, blocking the powerful kick.
BOOOM!
The impact sank him into the deck, breaking the first planks and sending splinters in all directions.
"Come on, little leader," Garabato sang, moving his long arms with theatrical grace. "Move. Give me the fun I'm looking for. At first I thought you'd be as fun as they promised me, but you're disappointing me what a waste of time." Garabato said this toward the cloud of smoke and debris from the burning ship.
Taking advantage of the smoke cloud, Liro rolled to the side and drew his emergency flintlock. He wasn't a proud swordsman; he preferred his cutlass, but he was a pirate and wouldn't play fair with anyone. He fired a quick burst, aiming at Garabato's legs and arms to reduce his mobility.
Garabato simply twisted his body grotesquely; his legs crossed over his head, using his claws to block the bullets like a metallic shield.
"Nice plan. You might have caught me off guard if I hadn't fought so much that even swordsmen with great honor… I never underestimate them in case they have something hidden," Garabato said.
But to the distracted Garabato's surprise, where Liro was supposed to be there was only a wooden plank, and the smoke had covered it so he didn't see Liro move and manage to pierce his personal guard.
The sharp cutlass went through the left side of his stomach, making the surprised Garabato spit blood from his mouth and look at Liro in shock at his move.
"You talk too much. You should pay more attention to the battle," Liro said, pulling out his cutlass and not before giving him a direct kick to the wound, sending him toward the edge of the ship.
Not waiting to see if he was alive or dead, Liro quickly lunged back, this time aiming for his head; there he would make sure to kill him completely. But the wounded Garabato moved with slightly slower speed due to his injury, but enough to dodge and avoid being killed.
Liro continued his attack, chasing Garabato, who seemed unwilling to fight anymore and began running across the ship while dodging cuts that, if they hit, would leave his body in pieces.
This went on until finally, when he stopped running, Liro noticed something surprising: the wound seemed to close on its own while Garabato ran.
"Are you surprised? Ryx ryx ryx… I'll tell you something. I've only been playing with you this whole time, but now I'm bored of you," Garabato said, wiping the blood from his mouth.
"That's what someone with too much pride says. You won't leave here alive, Garabato. I'll kill you and take you to my boss," Liro said.
"Your boss, huh? Wouldn't happen to be called Rabocse Olbap, right? That's who I came looking for. He has something I need," Garabato said.
"Yes, he's my boss, but you'll have to kill me to get to him," Liro said, launching himself into attack again.
"i see then you let me with no choice and need to hurry up and enjoy my time with this Rabocse Olbap" said Garabato
Garabato managed to surprise Liro once more by jumping off the ship into the sea, and then his strange body began to change.
From his long arms emerged gigantic white wings. His pale white skin changed to a similar color but now looked like scales. His feet transformed into sharp talons that could pierce the ship they were on, and his nose along with his face changed, now having a beak full of sharp teeth.
"What the hell is that… a dinosaur?" Liro said, completely surprised.
If it was already hard to hit Garabato before, now as a dinosaur it would be impossible.
All of this led to a realization that Olbap had once mentioned to him.
"Devil Fruit user"
end of the chapter.