Chapter 29: Night Banquet
Nighttime belongs to the pirates, so the Beasts Canteen generally stays open past midnight.
“Bang!”
“Hey! Cook! Bring me some meat, and fill up my wine gourd!”
Kaido unceremoniously pushed open the door and entered the canteen, then sat directly in the nearest empty seat.
“Please give me one of your signature dishes and a glass of juice, Chef.” La followed him in and sat to Kaido’s left.
“K-Kaido Boss, you’re here!”
The pirates who had just been drinking, boasting, and fooling around to pass the night saw the captain arrive and stood up one after another, greeting Kaido.
“Don’t mind me, keep going!” Taking the wine jug handed back by Cook, Kaido drank on his own again.
Seeing Kaido say this, the crowd no longer held back, and the noisy voices gradually grew louder.
Pirates are inherently a group of people who follow their whims.
However, at this moment, a battle team captain was egged on by the crowd to approach Kaido’s side.
“By the way, Kaido Boss, when are we going to take on John and his crew? These past few months, ships from Hachinosu Island have been hanging around our territory!”
This was the question all the pirates present wanted to ask.
“Yeah, people who don’t know better might think this is his turf!”
“Those guys are like flies—drive them off and they come back, scaring off the merchant ships from coming near here lately.”
The Beasts Pirates mostly harbored dissatisfaction toward the recent harassment by the John Pirates.
“Gulp gulp gulp gulp~ Just wait, John won’t be jumping around for much longer!”
Hearing this, the surrounding pirates gathered around Kaido and La’s table.
“Oh? Kaido Boss, do you have some news?”
“Heh! Do you know why John has been so active lately?”
Without waiting for the crowd to shake their heads, Kaido continued.
“Back when that guy Rocks died, John was the first to go back and claim Hachinosu Island and most of the treasure on it!
At that time, everyone was busy grabbing territory and building factions, so no one wanted to waste time fighting him to the death.
But my old comrades, those ambitious guys, absolutely won’t forget this fat piece of meat. John has been sending people to scout around because he sensed some guys are about to lose patience and make a move.”
“Eh? Why didn’t anyone back then fight John to the bitter end? That was Rocks’ main base and his treasure!” a pirate asked puzzledly.
“Simple—John’s strength was no joke, forcing a fight would just lead to mutual destruction and let others pick up the benefits for free. Plus, Rocks’ territory was so vast back then, no need to fixate on Hachinosu Island.”
“As for the treasure… nowhere is safer than with John. That greedy guy absolutely won’t let even a single bit of that fortune diminish.”
As ‘comrades’ who had spent a long time together on the same ship, everyone knew John’s money-grubbing nature like the back of their hand.
That treasure in someone else’s hands might be squandered away in no time, but with him… not only won’t it decrease, it might even grow with some ‘interest’~
“Th-then, should we go grab a piece when the time comes?”
Hearing Kaido’s analysis, the surrounding pirates were eager to try—that was Rocks’ treasure!
Some could already envision the beautiful scene of piles of gold coins on Hachinosu Island burying them entirely.
“Of course! I’ve already picked my target ages ago!”
After saying this, Kaido glanced at La and saw she seemed utterly uninterested, just looking past the surrounding pirates toward the serving counter.
Kaido was about to say more when he heard La say softly: “Dinner’s here.”
A few seconds later, Cook appeared at the serving window, holding a large and a small portion of grilled Sea King steaks, steadily placing them in front of the two as the pirate crowd made way.
As soon as the steaks hit the table, Kaido grabbed a piece and shoved it in his mouth, chewed twice, then downed some wine to swallow, while La looked at Cook somewhat puzzled.
Facing La’s question, Cook explained: “Miss La, this grilled steak is my specialty.”
“It’s filling and popular, and I’ve gotten good at making it. I’ll get you some knife and fork—give it a try.”
Cook had originally wanted to call her Lady La, but seeing La’s demeanor, he thought Miss suited her better.
He had originally been a chef on a noble cruise ship, captured by pirates at sea and sold to the New World, then after a series of hardships finally joined the Beasts Pirates as the canteen head chef.
Having served nobles before, he was particular about such details in address.
“Do you have chopsticks?” La wasn’t used to using cutlery.
“Uh, sorry, no one’s here uses chopsticks, so we didn’t prepare any.”
“To be honest, they rarely even use knife and fork usually.” Cook said apologetically.
“Then bring me a set of knife and fork.” La didn’t press Cook further.
Soon a set of metal knife and fork was brought over, and La awkwardly handled the utensils before her, cutting off a small piece of steak and putting it in her mouth.
“Uro-ro-ro-ro~ What’s this, not used to these things, La brat? Looking at you, you’re definitely no noble miss!”
La didn’t respond right away, instead slowly swallowing the food in her mouth before saying: “I’ve already told you before, I’m just a commoner, Captain Kaido. Besides, I don’t think a set of utensils divides nobles from commoners.”
“Because we see those noble misses sitting all proper like you, eating bit by bit with knife and fork, La… uh, Lady.”
A pirate thought for a long time and decided to address La as Lady.
After all, from Kaido’s attitude toward her earlier, it was clear he valued her greatly.
“Yeah, yeah, those misses eat like they’re doing embroidery, dawdling away~ Ah! I didn’t mean you, Lady La.” Another pirate chimed in.
“The sage said: One does not tire of fine food, nor of slicing meat finely. Eating slowly is good for the body.
And in the end, so-called nobles just sustain their wealthy lives by plundering commoners’ wealth, then flaunt their supposed ‘nobility’ with boring bloodline claims.
They are no different from pirates in essence—there’s no such thing as one being nobler than the other.”
“Uro-ro-ro-ro-ro~ Well said! Those high-and-mighty scum are no different from us, just thieves all the same!”
“That’s what some sage said too?” Kaido seemed to really like what La said.
“That’s what another sage said.”
“That sage is right! Those nobles are no different from scum like me!”
As if some emotion had been ignited, some pirates began venting their dissatisfaction and resentment loudly.
“Fuck those World Nobles, they’re just a bunch of stupid pigs!” A slave who had luckily escaped from God Valley back then suddenly cried out.
“Right, those bullshit Celestial Dragons are just a bunch of penned-in mongrels!” Other pirates got fired up too, shouting one after another.
“And that bullshit ‘Celestial Gold’! Without that crap, I’d still be back home in the North Sea with my wife and kid!”
“I’ll turn those nobles into slaves one day too.”
It must be said that quite a few pirates were forced to go to sea and become pirates because they were exploited by royalty and nobles to the point they couldn’t survive.
These people, whether out of jealousy or hatred, all harbored deep dissatisfaction and malice toward those in power under the current World Government system.
……
More and more people vented their emotions, voices growing louder, but Kaido showed no sign of stopping it—in fact, he seemed somewhat pleased.
Finally, some nearby townsfolk were woken by the noise.
“What the hell, who’s yelling?”
“These guys not sleeping in the middle of the night, what the fuck are they doing?!”
“Wah~ Wah…”
“Damn! The kid I just got to sleep.”
……
La felt a bit helpless—truth be told, she hadn’t expected these pirates to harbor such huge resentment toward so-called nobles.
Though she had no interest in this world’s backward system or the conflicts between classes, the surrounding clamor made it impossible for her to continue eating.
So she picked up her plate and went straight to the kitchen, closing the door behind her to block out the noise.
And so, amid the noisy commotion, the night quietly came to an end.
