Chapter 304: Chapter 5: Iceberg
Su Xiao and Rob Lucci exchanged glances for a few seconds, then both looked away.
Su Xiao surveyed his surroundings and saw a wooden hut on the open ground, where guests would register their requests for ship repairs or purchases.
A square table was set up in front of the hut, and a staff member from Galley-La Company was seated behind it.
Su Xiao approached, and the staff was busy, seemingly recording something.
"Hello, does Galley-La Company recruit employees externally?"
Su Xiao tried to maintain a smile. He rarely actively interacted with story characters, and there was a reason for this.
"Hmm?" The staff looked up at Su Xiao briefly, then resumed recording something.
The strong five points of charm were evident in the staff’s cold attitude.
"Wait a moment."
Su Xiao sighed inwardly; he indeed wasn’t good at this kind of negotiation.
After waiting for a few minutes, the staff finally finished their work, took off their glasses, and rubbed their dry eyes while looking at Su Xiao.
"Background?"
"East Sea."
"Name."
"Bai Ye."
...
The staff of Galley-La Company began to understand Su Xiao’s basic information.
"Drifted to the City of Seven Seas due to a shipwreck... I see."
The staff pulled out a stack of documents, flipped through them for a moment, and said to Su Xiao: "Dock number 3 still needs a few laborers. You can work there, 4000 Belli per day, settled at the end of each day."
The meaning was clear, allowing Su Xiao to be a laborer, and a temporary one at that.
Su Xiao pondered for a moment, his gaze inadvertently searching for Rob Lucci, but the latter had already left the construction site.
Su Xiao pulled out a metal rod from a pile of scrap; it was slightly thinner than his arm, with a high-density material, covered in dried moss, perhaps from a dismantled old ship.
Su Xiao gripped the metal rod under the surprised gaze of the staff, exerting force with both hands.
Crack, crack...
A harsh sound ensued, as the metal rod was twisted into a pretzel shape, with the staff’s mouth agape, looking as if they had seen a ghost.
Soon, the staff regained composure and dramatically changed their attitude.
"Please, have a seat."
The staff pulled a chair over, adjusting the glasses on their nose.
"How many bounty pirates can you handle, roughly?"
This is the most straightforward way to gauge strength in the Pirate World.
"Between fifty million and one hundred million."
Given Su Xiao’s current sword technique, he was undaunted by such level pirates; his technique was comparable, or slightly superior to Zoro’s.
However, if the two fought, it would certainly be Su Xiao who would win. Zoro would only use swords, whereas Su Xiao had comprehensive abilities; after all, Zoro was a swordsman with the Straw Hat Pirates, supported by companions, while Su Xiao acted alone, requiring a wide range of abilities.
Upon hearing the bounty amount Su Xiao mentioned, the staff clearly seemed skeptical.
"This... I wonder what your main fighting method is?"
The staff inquired tentatively, the previous attitude had vanished, as strong abilities could negate the drawbacks of lower charm.
Su Xiao flipped his palm, and Dragon Slash appeared at his waist, raising it slightly.
"Swordsman?"
In the Pirate World, using swords or knives was collectively referred to as swordsmen; Su Xiao didn’t explain the concept of knives to the staff, merely nodded.
"Come with me, Warner, take over for me for a while."
The staff gestured for Su Xiao to follow him, heading towards the center of the City of Seven Seas.
"I haven’t introduced myself, apologies, I’m Angus, the manager of No.1 Dock at Galley-La Company."
Angus looked no older than thirty, fair and beardless, wearing bottomless glasses and the same sweaty shirt as the workers.
"Bai Ye, what position are you interested in?" Angus began chatting with Su Xiao, probing in his words.
In the Great Route, what is most valuable? Belli? Gold? Neither; it’s talents and strong individuals, Su Xiao obviously belonged to the latter. The skill he demonstrated earlier is not easy to achieve in the first half of the Great Route; the density of the metal rod was high, used to make the edge material for ship rams.
"What position... a guard would be nice. I once served as a King’s guard for a small country in East Sea, but the country was later overrun by the Revolutionary army."
Although Su Xiao hadn’t genuinely held such a position, he had assassinated Kings before, thus being familiar with Kings in the Pirate World.
He killed a King in East Sea, without choosing to conceal his identity; the reason was simple, there were no eyewitnesses at the time, and the Klick Pirate Group was attacking the King’s castle, leading everyone to suspect that the King was killed by Clark.
An attack on the Royal Palace by pirates, with the King dead; it’s akin to mud dropping into pants—a misunderstanding either way.
Besides, even if his identity were exposed, how would it matter? Galley-La Company wasn’t the Navy; they wouldn’t scrutinize employees’ backgrounds, which was also why Su Xiao didn’t join the World Government.
Angus took Su Xiao aboard a medium-sized Bull, with Bubute Ni always following.
"Is this your dog?"
Angus curiously eyed Bubute Ni, seemingly wanting to pet Bubute Ni’s head, but seeing Bubute Ni’s bared fangs, he quickly retracted his hand.
"Yes, I’ve had it for years, a wolf-dog ’hybrid’."
Upon hearing Su Xiao’s words, Angus nodded; no wonder it was so fierce, Bubute Ni rolled its white eyes.
Aged around twenty, uses swords, named Bai Ye, with a uniquely looking dog, former King’s guard, shipwrecked at sea.
Angus compiled Su Xiao’s information, racking his brains to recall fitting bounty criminals.
After recollecting for a long time, Angus couldn’t find anyone suitable, ultimately defining Su Xiao as reasonably clean, at least not having a bounty.
This made Angus more satisfied, and he decided to introduce Su Xiao to a certain individual.
The middling Bull’s speed was very fast, and before long Su Xiao arrived near the City of Seven Seas’ central area.
No longer needing the Bull to proceed, this part of the City of Seven Seas was rare land and of course, artificially constructed.
Those residing here were the elites of the City of Seven Seas, and Su Xiao’s destination was the municipal office building.
Indeed, strong individuals garnered attention wherever they went; if Galley-La Company had truly sent Su Xiao to do hard labor, he had a way of climbing up in two days.
Displaying some strength brought risk but also obvious benefits.
The municipal building of the City of Seven Seas had a total of five floors, with clean outer walls and windows polished to complete transparency; the suited staff members reflected the City of Seven Seas’ prosperity.
Entering the municipal building, Angus directly led Su Xiao to a door of an office on the fourth floor.
Knock, knock, knock.
Angus lightly knocked on the door, prompting a male voice from inside: "Come in."
After briefly tidying his appearance, Angus opened the door, revealing a spacious and bright office, fully furnished.
A man with short blue hair and sparse stubble on his chin, dressed in a striped suit, was lying on a rocking chair, taking a nap.
Su Xiao recognized the man’s identity, the president of Galley-La Company, Iceberg.
From the anime, Iceberg appeared as a righteous character, at least in the Straw Hat Pirates’ eyes.
But is that truly the case? Certainly not.
Iceberg may have good character, but his business was definitely not clean; he openly sold ships to pirates or assisted them in repairing ships.
For a Pirate World, where over 90% is ocean, ships are the most common transportation method; such immense profit wouldn’t leave anyone indifferent.
Moreover, Iceberg was a disciple of Fishman Tom. Fishman Tom helped Pirate King Roger build ships and was subsequently semi-imprisoned by the World Government. Had it not been for Tom’s excellent shipbuilding skills, Tom would’ve died long ago.
As Fishman Tom’s direct disciple, Iceberg managed to control the City of Seven Seas, and the World Government even permitted this, raising questions worth pondering.