Chapter 45

Chapter 45 - Did You Mention the Million Berry Deposit Before?

The other side remained silent for a moment before responding, "Two hours from now, I will be at the east coast of 50GR for the exchange."

Peterman saw Adrian nod and replied, "No problem."

Click, the call ended.

Peterman said, "That's the voice from before. Look..."

"Very well, we have enough time. Let's take you to the Marine base." Adrian waved his hand, "Tom, tie them up."

These people were no longer useful. The plan for the meetup involved Adrian disguising himself as Peterman, so Tom would create a mask that looked like Peterman's face.

The wooden mask Tom made for himself a few days ago was well-done, so creating one wouldn't be an issue, right?

"Can you all walk on your own? If not, I'll think of something else." Adrian looked at their severe injuries and considered using their bodies to create some large bubbles to transport them or have Tom make a cart.

However, to them, these words sounded like a threat. "Think of something else?" What could they possibly do with these burdens? Those who couldn't walk would die regardless.

Miraculously, each of them found strength from somewhere and stood up one by one. Even the one who had been stabbed in the knee managed to crawl to his feet, tearing off his clothes to bandage his wound. Then, they obediently extended their hands for Tom to tie them together with a rope.

Adrian hopped onto his Bubble Car, sitting on the edge of the cargo bed, keeping an eye on them to prevent any escape attempts.

Tom led the group with the rope in his hand, and one by one, the ten traffickers followed him. Tom seemed to enjoy this job, marching with proper steps and even swinging his arms, looking quite pleased.

Adhering to their principle of not causing a big commotion, they chose to move along the outskirts of the town.

On the way, Adrian suddenly remembered something important, "By the way, did you mention receiving a one million berry deposit before? Where did you put it? Since you won't need your savings for now, how about letting me hold onto them for you?"

The group of traffickers looked at him strangely. Why did he make robbery sound so natural? Were they the bad guys, or was he?

A drop of cold sweat appeared on Peterman's forehead. He nervously explained, "We don't have it anymore."

"What? You spent one million berries and all your savings in three days? Are you kidding me?" Adrian found it hard to believe. They hadn't even spent that much on their food expenses for now, right?

"It's true." Peterman explained, "You might not understand our industry. Every day, we might lose our lives, so when we have money, we spend it as quickly as possible. We don't have any savings left, and yesterday we were even extorted. Now, we really can't even come up with a single coin."

"You were extorted?" Adrian seemed to grasp something.

"Yes, yesterday we went to a bar in 13GR called the 'Shakky's rip off bar.' We thought it was a shady place and that we might be able to take advantage of it, but then..." Peterman's voice grew more and more aggrieved. The other nine people were also on the verge of tears. They were a group of traffickers, yet they had been extorted. Who would believe such a thing if they said it?

Adrian nodded, "I see. Well, then there's nothing to be done."

Peterman continued, "You can believe me."

Three seconds later:

"You actually believe me!?" *10

The ten traffickers were amazed, their eyes almost popping out. They couldn't believe that he would believe such an absurd story!

"Is there a problem?" Adrian didn't feel pleased either. He felt like his business had been taken away from him, but he couldn't just barge into their place because of this.

"No problem." The ten unlucky individuals shook their heads together. It was better that he believed them. They just wanted to enter prison quietly.

A large group of people entered 66GR in an orderly manner. Later, they encountered a patrolling Marine squad.

After explaining the situation, the squad captain sent two soldiers to lead them, intending to prevent any disturbance.

"Sorry to trouble you again, Lieutenant Kuro." Adrian greeted familiarly. This Marine lieutenant had left a deep impression on him with his casual attitude.

Lieutenant Kuro gave Adrian a once-over and then carefully examined Tom before suddenly realizing, "Oh, it's you, the little guy who captured Swort Sword. What's going on? Are you planning to become a bounty hunter?"

Adrian denied, "No, I'm not. Some human traffickers approached me."

"Human traffickers..." Lieutenant Kuro's tone was complicated. He personally detested human trafficking and the slave trade, but the Marines, under the influence of the World Government, often turned a blind eye to such matters.

For example, when patrolling, if they recognized pirates, they would immediately arrest them. However, if they recognized human traffickers, as long as they weren't caught in the act, they would usually ignore them.

The World Nobles needed them to provide slaves, and decades ago, the World Government had even cooperated with a human trafficker, purchasing suitable children from them to train them as elite agents.

Even the Marines had cooperated with them under the World Government's orders, staging a scene to stop and execute members of the Giant Warrior Pirates. This allowed them to deceive the Giants and build a relationship of friendship. After that, Giants gradually joined the Marines.

This human trafficker was Mother Carmel, Big Mom's adoptive mother and one of the most powerful human traffickers.

In any case, these factors led to the status quo where human traffickers were mostly left alone unless they went too far. It also resulted in their bounties generally not being too high.

This seemed to be the case with Peterman's seemingly professional group. Their bounties were even lower than those of Sword's Swort , who was a rather ineffective bandit and murderer.

Lieutenant Kuro wasn't in a position to influence the World Government's decisions. He didn't want to bother with these matters either. He simply waved his hand, having his assistant confirm the identities of the criminals and prepare to exchange their bounties.

"A total of three people have bounties: 2 million for one, 800,000 for another, and 600,000 for the third. Plus, there are eight intact weapons, which total to 200,000 Berries. In total, it's 3.6 million Berries."

Originally, there should have been ten weapons, but Adrian broke a sword, and Tom broke a bow, leaving only eight intact ones.

Adrian nodded to confirm the amount and received the money before leaving. He had a total of 3.6 million Berries in 10,000-Berry bills bundled up and placed in a bag. He didn't even need a box.

Just like last time, Lieutenant Kuro half-heartedly invited them to join the Marines, feeling that this was probably the standard procedure for exchanging bounties.

Adrian used the same excuse as last time to decline. Neither side was particularly sincere.

The assistant was baffled by their strange compatibility. If this young man joined the Marines, they might have another figure similar to Lieutenant Kuro.

This time, receiving the money wasn't as nerve-wracking as last time. Adrian confidently had Tom hold onto him while sitting on the Bubble Car. If anyone dared to rob him, they could try. If they dared to touch Artoria's meal money, she would definitely give them a hard time.

"Now, let's prepare to meet the seller. We'll go back and change our clothes first. After dealing with him, we can go shopping!" Adrian grinned happily. "Oh, right, we can also pay back the debt to Old Bob."