The moment he finished yelling, the old blind man began to regret it.
He shouldn't have lost his temper—what if this guy had a fiery personality too? With the state his body was in, there was no way he could match him.
Suddenly, he heard the footsteps stop, then turn back toward him.
The man squatted down and looked down at him.
"If you were truly a beggar, of course I'd give you money," Nao's leisurely voice came. "But what if you're not… then what should I do?"
"I'm eighty-five years old. Why would I lie to you about this?" The old blind man's voice became smaller. He muttered resentfully, "I'm all alone. I can't even get a decent meal, and I have to endure this kind of treatment. The world is getting worse and worse, it's really getting worse…"
Bang!
Before he could finish, Nao suddenly grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up.
"You… what are you going to do!" The old blind man looked terrified.
"I didn't pay attention when I was just looking at you. Now I've found a lot of interesting things."
Nao smiled as he held him against the wall. With his other hand, he reached down and suddenly tore open his old outer shirt, pulling out a large, shiny gold chain from underneath.
The old man's face changed drastically.
Nao stared at him with a half-smile:
"A beggar who can't even get a decent meal has spare money to buy something like this?"
"This, this was left to me by my family. It has a special meaning to me, and I couldn't bear to sell it..."
"The people at the casino didn't search you and take it?"
The old man broke into a sweat, unable to answer.
"There are marks of earrings on your ears, and they look like they're newly pierced... Huh? You also have a skull tattoo on your chest, which is also new. How can an eighty-five-year-old be as trendy as a teenage street punk?"
Nao clicked his tongue in mock wonder. "These cloudy, whitish eyes… don't tell me they're just contact lenses? And this wrinkled, sagging skin… how'd you pull that off? Let me guess… some kind of high-tech human-skin disguise?"
As he spoke, he pulled hard on the skin of the old blind man's arm, and the old man screamed in pain.
"It hurts! It hurts, hurts, hurts, hurts! Why is your imagination so rich? What contacts, what skin suit? This is all real! Real!"
"I don't care if it's real or fake."
Nao glanced back at the alley entrance—Fujitora was there, gently brushing dirt off the beef patties and slowly eating them one bite at a time.
He sighed inwardly, turned back, and smiled at the blind old man, sending a chill down his spine.
"The kind of guy who takes advantage of people's kindness, I hate that the most..."
Thump!
…
A few minutes later.
The bruised and swollen old blind man collapsed next to a dirty sewer.
Nao dusted off his hands casually and walked out of the alley.
"Let's go to Northeast District 12."
"What kind of place is that?" Bellemere asked curiously.
"The address engraved on this guy's key. It's most likely the headquarters of this begging group."
Nao glanced at the old man lying on the ground behind him and snorted. "I barely used any strength at all, and this guy peed his pants from one punch and passed out. He's got a smaller guts than a mouse."
"I was hoping to get more information out of him, but now I'll have to go and see for myself."
Did he really pass out from fear?
The others looked at him speechlessly. No matter how much you hold back, a single punch from you would still hurt more than a full-strength punch from a strong man, wouldn't it?
...
The group left.
About an hour later, the fireworks show ended, and the Spring Queen's City finally began to return to the quietness of the night.
Nao and the others had also passed through the central city and arrived at a more remote area in the northeast.
The houses here were low and shabby.It wasn't exactly a slum, but compared to the prosperous and charming central city, the streets here were indeed much more run-down and desolate.
"We're here. District 12, building 782."
Nao looked into the depths of the alley. There was a low and old single-story house. "The address on the key says this place."
The windows of the house were covered with black curtains, so it was impossible to see what was inside. Only a row of vents near the roof at the top of the wall could be seen.
"There are a lot of people inside. It's very messy…"
Fujitora closed his eyes and sensed the auras inside. He said in a low voice, "At least a hundred people."
"Squeezing over a hundred people into such a small space must be this group's den."
Nao's Observation Haki also sensed something similar. He looked at the iron door in front of him. Just as he was about to draw his sword and break in, he suddenly heard footsteps coming from the alley entrance.
The group looked at each other and simultaneously leaped up and hid on the roofs on both sides of the street.
The next moment—
A large group of people, at least fifty or sixty, poured into the alleyway at the same time.
Among these people, there were either boys and girls who hadn't lost their childishness yet or old men and women who had one foot in the grave.
Without exception, all of them wore ragged clothes and had dirt-streaked faces.
As they swaggered along, they laughed and chatted. In the dim light of the streetlights, one could faintly see that many of the children had cigarettes in their mouths. They puffed out smoke all the way, looking relaxed and carefree.
A purple-haired girl who looked to be only five or six years old casually threw away an empty can of beer. She kicked it and watched the empty can fly more than a dozen meters away. She put her hands on her hips proudly and laughed heartily.
This strange scene made everyone on the roofs on both sides look at each other with weird expressions.
Nao's eyes flickered, a thoughtful expression crossing his face.
Thinking of the little Messi and the old blind man he had just beaten up, he seemed to have guessed something.
Soon, this group of people came to the iron door.
The old man at the front took out a key and opened the door.
The others followed suit and entered.
In less than a minute, the alley that had been crowded with people became empty again.
Nao gave the others a look. They quietly moved along the roof and came to a position near the vents. They looked through the small holes and into the house.
The interior was brightly lit. In the corner of the wall, a staircase led downward—clearly to a basement. The ground floor itself was bare, not a single piece of furniture, just four empty walls.
On the floor, a hundred-odd people were sitting or lying lazily. They were listening to a handsome, blue-haired young man with a clipboard standing in the middle of the steps, giving a speech.
And without exception, all of these people were either old or young.
"Why are you only getting back now? Hurry up, stop dawdling—you're the last group."
Seeing the iron door being pushed open, the blue-haired young man put down his clipboard and scolded them angrily.
After these latecomers found a free spot and sat down, he looked around. He frowned and muttered with some dissatisfaction:
"That guy Drake still hasn't come back. This has happened several times. He's just too greedy. When he gets back, I'm definitely going to scold him... Forget it. Let's not worry about him for now. Let's continue our meeting."
Drake?
The people on the roof exchanged glances. They guessed that this was the name of the old blind man.
"First of all, when you were working today, was your acting okay? Did anyone suspect you or follow you?" The blue-haired young man looked around at everyone.
"No, Captain Seven!"
A large chorus of old and young voices responded from below.
"Very good. It was another successful day."
The blue-haired young man nodded in satisfaction. While writing something on the clipboard, he asked, "How about the income? Has it increased a lot compared to a while ago?"
"Captain, I earned 8,000 Berries today! That's three times more than last week!"
"Captain Seven, I made 10,000 Berries!"
"Hehe, I got 15,000!"
This time, the responses were not so uniform, but the voices were much louder and more excited.
"Excellent!"
The blue-haired young man was thrilled. He sped up his writing and recording:
"It seems that the fireworks festivals in the past few days have attracted a lot of tourists. From now on, as the fame of the Spring Queen's City grows, our income will continue to increase steadily!"
"Alright, next up is exchange time."
The blue-haired young man temporarily put the clipboard under his arm. He clapped his hands and said with a smile, "Same old rules. Line up, put all of today's earnings in the box next to me, and then take seventy percent in Queen Coins."
"Yes, Captain Seven!"
"What are Queen Coins?" Bellmère lowered her voice and asked Gion next to her curiously.
"They're the currency of the Spring Queen's City. Because they're only metal coins, they're not affected by bank policies, so they're easier to use in the city than the World Government's Berries. But at the same time, they're limited to this island."
Gion watched the people quickly line up and mused, "This guy wants his subordinates to exchange their Berries for Queen Coins, probably because, first, he gets a 30% commission, and second, it restricts their movements so they don't think about leaving once they have a lot of money... Hmm?"
Her voice suddenly stopped, her expression filled with surprise. Bellemere turned back in confusion, then, seeing what was happening inside the house, her eyes went wide in shock.
At this moment, after the old people and children in the line happily took the Queen Coins from the blue-haired young man, their bodies began to change rapidly before they had even taken a few steps.
The children began to grow rapidly, their bodies became more muscular, and their faces gradually became more mature.
And the wrinkles on the old men and women's skin were smoothed out, their missing teeth grew back, and even their originally cloudy eyes became clear again...
In just a few seconds—
All the people who had been in contact with the blue-haired young man's hand had turned into young men and women in their twenties or thirties, looking refreshed and vibrant. There was no sign of their former frail and pitiful appearance.
This magical scene made everyone on the roof stare in shock.
"Just as I thought..."
Nao, however, was unsurprised, murmuring to himself:
"The Glutton-Glutton Fruit of the Glutton Jewelry Bonney, which can freely change a person's age..."
"So, these guys use this leader named Seven to turn into old men and women or children to gain sympathy and beg all over the city."
Shia next to him frowned slightly. "They're a bunch of complete scammers... Two hundred people, all of them young and strong, and they're so professional about it. I wonder if the real beggars in the city still have a way to make a living after being squeezed out by them."
"It's very difficult."
Fujitora shook his head. After a moment of silence, he sighed softly, "It is a blessing to be unable to see. There are too many filthy and despicable people like this in the world."
At the same time.
Inside the house, everyone had pretty much finished exchanging their coins. The blue-haired young man had also used his Devil Fruit ability to restore their original appearances.
They gathered in groups of three or five, smiling as they weighed the silver coins in their hands. They chattered and discussed where to go to have a fun night.
"Alright, everyone, quiet down a bit!"
On the staircase, the blue-haired young man stretched out his hand and pressed it down. The place immediately became quiet. It was clear that this "Captain Seven" had a very high reputation in the hearts of these professional beggars.
"Just as we've calculated, you've probably all felt it yourself—since we've become more professional with our costumes, scripts, acting training, etc., all of your income has been steadily increasing."
The blue-haired young man named Seven looked around at everyone and said seriously, "The average person now earns at least 6,000 Berries a day, which is 200,000 a month, and more than 3 million a year!"
"And with more than 200 of us, we can get more than 600 million Berries a year from the tourists who come to the Spring Queen's City!"
He spread his arms and laughed proudly, "This proves how correct my decision was!"
"Captain is wise!"
"Long live the Captain!"
The shouts of flattery and cheers echoed up. Seven coughed lightly, cleared his throat, and declared loudly:
"Alright, everyone. Before you leave and start enjoying your day, let's say our slogans together, as is the custom. What's our slogan?"
"Work two hours a day, anyone who works overtime is an idiot!"
"And what's our motto?"
"Act as a beggar on the streets at night, and act as a big shot in the bars during the day!"
"Who are the idiots who wander around the sea all day, looting and killing, and end up not making much money?"
"Pirates!"
"Who are the fools who have a ton of rules and regulations, work themselves to death following orders, and don't even make much money?!"
"Marines!"
"And who are the freest people in the whole world, with no worries, no hardships?"
"It's us!!!"
The place was filled with cheers. People were whistling and clapping.
"Very good."
The blue-haired young man showed a mouth full of white, neat teeth and chuckled, "If you understand, then applaud. In the days to come, I hope we can all continue to work together. Our future is bright. Now, dismissed!"
…
The people in the house dispersed and went down into the basement one by one to shower and change their clothes.
When they came out, they had all turned into well-dressed and respectable citizens. They hooked their arms around each other's shoulders, exchanged cigars, and laughed as they prepared to go out and enjoy their nightlife after work.
Meanwhile, on the dark and silent rooftop—
The people were in a daze. Their expressions were still a little dumbfounded and stunned.
Nao was also speechless. Who would have thought that the Devil Fruit that caused the Marine so much trouble in the hands of the Glutton, Jewelry Bonney, could also shine in this kind of field?
Also, he was probably witnessing a pyramid scheme seminar on success for the first time in decades, right?
This Captain Seven, in a sense, was a truly amazing talent. It was just a shame he was missing a white turtleneck sweater. He didn't have that vibe...
Creak.
The sound of the iron door opening pulled Nao back to reality.
He looked at the young men and women who were coming out one after another. He rubbed his chin and thought that it would be a bit boring to just go down and take them all down.
Wait a minute!
He suddenly hit his left palm with his right fist, as if he had remembered something. His eyes lit up.
With a thought, he pulled up his still-upgrading system panel, focusing on the only usable slot: his inventory.
And there, an item he had purchased long ago back in the West Blue now gleamed with a golden aura in his eyes, shining with extraordinary promise:
[Bowl of Chongba]
[Type: Permanent Item]
[Description: A crudely-made bowl with a chip along the rim. Looks utterly ordinary.]
[When you squat by the side of the road with this bowl and beg, all passersby who are humanoids will feel a sense of pity and will subconsciously throw all the coins in their pockets into the bowl.]
[Note: This is only effective for all forms of metal currency. Checks and banknotes are not affected.]
["Actually, I usually call it the 'Treasure Bowl!'"]
…
Doraemon, I choose you!
Nao quietly took the broken bowl out of his pocket dimension. He turned his head, glanced at Fujitora, and asked in a low voice.
"Brother Issho, there's a saying in my hometown in the East Blue called 'give them a taste of their own medicine.' Do you want to make these guys experience what it feels like to have their money taken by a beggar?"
"Huh?"
Fujitora stood there with his wooden cane, looking up at him blankly.