Chapter 122: Gathering Wishes (part 3)
“What?! Fifty million Belly?!”
“Why don’t you go rob someone?!”
Early morning, the sunrise just appearing.
Fulaihai’er led the group of pirates from last night to Shipwright Tang Li’s door, wanting the other party to hurry up and assemble the ship for them.
Tang Li, still a bit bleary-eyed, perked up immediately upon hearing the urgent business order and directly jacked up the price five times over!
“This is the price anyway. If you’re not happy, go find someone else~”
Tang Li leaned against the doorframe, picking at his ear, completely fearless.
There were plenty of people in Magellan Town who could repair ships, but he was the only one who was a proper professional shipwright.
Those others could handle minor repairs on ordinary days, but assembling a ship from scratch was way beyond their level.
Plus, with Fulaihai’er demanding it be done in one day, he was the only one on the entire island who could pull it off.
For this kind of monopoly business, Tang Li, who loved money more than life, naturally had to gouge them hard!
“You!”
A hot-tempered pirate was about to resort to force right away, but Tang Li quickly retreated into the house and slammed the door, threatening.
“Hey hey hey~”
“If you dare lay a hand on me, it won’t just be fifty million Belly anymore~”
“Touch me once and it’ll double right away!”
“You think you can beat me to death?!”
“Hah! You think your grandpa Tang Li was scared into existence?! Come try it if you dare!”
……
“This guy…”
“Alright, let’s head back to the tavern first. Everyone, let’s think of a method together.”
Fulaihai’er stopped the others who still wanted to fight, knowing full well Tang Li’s personality—he was all about money over life.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have offended so many people and ended up hiding on a lawless small island like this.
……
“Is that so… That’s what that guy said.”
The tavern boss, wiping a beer mug, listened to the pirates’ back-and-forth, interspersed with curses about Tang Li’s mother, and got the general idea.
“It wasn’t going to be that smooth after all…”
“Here’s the plan: You all go to the bay and get prepared. Leave Tang Li to me.”
“Senior, can you handle it alone?”
“Of course. Don’t worry, just wait there for me.”
……
Once the crowd dispersed, the tavern boss hung up the “Closed Today” sign, then grabbed a rag and bucket.
He began wiping every shelf in the liquor cabinets, every tabletop, every stool—from inside to out, meticulously…
He wiped very slowly, very carefully, as if bidding farewell to an old friend of many years.
The soaked rag passed over the bar top’s dense, deep and shallow scratches; over the tabletops’ ingrained wine stains and smoke marks.
Looking at these new and old traces, he seemed to travel through time, hearing that rowdy bunch’s noisy voices.
Finally, when he straightened up again, everything was spotless.
Sunlight streamed through the windows into the room, reflecting off the undried water droplets, making the entire tavern gleam as if sparkling.
Setting down the mop in his hand, he gave one last look at the tavern he’d managed for over a decade and the coin on the beam, then the man turned, limping toward the door.
“Huh? Boss, are you heading out now?”
“Not doing business today?”
A familiar childish voice suddenly rang out from outside the door, nearly colliding full-on with the shopkeeper at the entrance.
“Hm?”
“It’s you, brat~”
“Got something today, no business.”
“Oh.”
“That’s too bad.”
“I was gonna come for a one-finger challenge~”
Aoxi tilted her head to the side, peering past the tavern boss into the shop, seeing it was indeed empty, and feeling greatly disappointed.
Just as Aoxi turned to try her luck at a smaller tavern, the boss called out to her.
“Hey, brat.”
“Have you really made up your mind to go to the Sky Island?”
“Hm?”
Aoxi stopped, turning back with a puzzled question:
“Of course! Haven’t I been asking you all how to get there these past few days?”
“Even if it means betting your life?”
The tavern boss asked again.
“Huh?”
“It’s just a trip to the Sky Island. What does it have to do with betting your life?”
Aoxi tilted her head, curious why he was asking this.
“The Sky Island is at least several thousand, even tens of thousands of meters above sea level. One mistake or bad luck, and you’re plummeting back to sea surface, smashed to pieces.”
“Ah? Ten thousand meters again?”
“Yeah, falling from that height…”
“That’s not that high, is it? We flew over that ten-thousand-meter whatever continent coming here from the New World.”
“And you can’t die from that height anyway…”
“…”
How to put it—the tavern boss had wanted to make one final confirmation of her determination, then entrust her with a man’s dream…
But she didn’t seem to take it seriously at all.
Can’t die from ten thousand meters? Are all New World pirates this tough?
“A-anyway, if you want to know how to get to the Sky Island, bring your companions and meet at the port on the west side of the island tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll tell you the method there.”
“Hm↓hmmm↑”
“Boss~ Why the sudden change of heart?”
“And why not tell me now—gotta wait till tomorrow morning?”
Aoxi narrowed her eyes at the man, her golden eyes scrutinizing his soul.
“Sky Island isn’t something you can just go to on a whim. It needs some prior preparation.”
“What preparation?”
“Don’t worry about that. We’ll get it ready for you. Just remember to be at the port tomorrow morning.”
With that, the boss locked the door and prepared to leave.
Watching his back, Aoxi—having ‘seen’ he wasn’t lying—didn’t bother asking pointless things like “Are you messing with me?”
She looked at the man’s back and asked formally:
“Why the sudden decision to help us?”
He just waved a hand without turning back.
“It’s not us helping you. It’s you helping us.”
“Brat from the New World, can you go see the sights above the High Heavens for us folks stuck on the ground?”
His voice grew quieter with the last words, as if not really saying them to Aoxi, and he left without waiting for a reply.
『A soul filled with determination, this guy really is…』
Aoxi smiled at the corner of her mouth, shouting loudly to the tavern boss and others already far away:
“Don’t worry! I’ll definitely make it to the Sky Island!”
“This is a promise from me, Lady Osiris, to you and all of you!”
『So the brat’s name is Osiris…』
Ignoring the looks from passersby who heard “Sky Island” and stared like he was an idiot, the tavern boss limped forward with a faint smile.
He walked as if on a starlit path no one had trod before, the mocking words from roadside onlookers now no more than weeds, unable to stir any emotional fluctuation in him.
……
“Tang Li.”
“Hm? It’s you?”
Tang Li was chomping on a moldy piece of bread, headed to the casino for some serious gambling.
Seeing someone blocking his doorway again, he irritably tried to shoo them off.
“What are you doing here?”
“Go go go! Don’t block my way!”
“I’ve got a hot date with the casino to get rich!”
“You can get rich today without going to the casino.”
“Here, build us a ship.”
With that, the tavern boss handed over a key.
