Chapter 277: Ten Billion Debt

Chapter 277: Chapter 277: Ten Billion Debt

Kuzan’s face changed instantly. He certainly remembered that fruit with the unforgettable taste, and the strange, icy power that surged through his body after consuming it. Could it be...

"That fruit, which granted you this... ability you have now," Charlotte Linlin leaned forward, bringing with her an immense sense of oppression, "was actually the spoils of war from our Heavenly Punishment Pirates’ cleanup of pirates. According to the rules of the sea, whoever wins the fight, the spoils belong to them. Therefore, that fruit originally should have belonged to me."

She extended her index finger and waved it in front of Kuzan: "Devil Fruits, especially this kind that looks so powerful, a Logia type that can manipulate frost... do you know how much it’s worth on the black market?"

Kuzan shook his head blankly. As an orphan from the slums, his knowledge of Devil Fruits was limited to the most superficial legends; how could he possibly know its specific value?

Charlotte Linlin showed an "as I expected" smile, then stated an astronomical figure: "One hundred million... no, ten billion Berries."

"One... ten billion?!" Kuzan exclaimed, his eyes widened into perfect circles, and his face instantly turned as pale as paper.

Ten billion Berries?! Even if they sold him—no, even if they sold the entire Gray Bream Town—it wouldn’t even cover the fraction of that amount! He would absolutely never be able to pay it back in this life, the next, or the one after that!

Watching Kuzan look so scared that his soul seemed to have left his body, the smile in Charlotte Linlin’s eyes deepened.

Off to the side, Ripley and Gerd could no longer hold it in, covering their mouths to giggle softly while exchanging knowing glances.

Ripley lowered her voice to whisper to Gerd: "Look, Linlin’s nasty habit of ’playing’ with children has surfaced again."

Gerd also nodded with a chuckle, whispering: "Indeed. After all, now that Kuri has started growing up, Linlin hasn’t played with a child in over a year. This brat named Kuzan just happened to walk right into the line of fire."

The two’s whispers naturally did not escape Charlotte Linlin’s ears. The curve of her lips deepened, but she pretended not to hear them and continued to pressure the stunned Kuzan:

"Our Pirate Crew isn’t running a charity orphanage, my ’dear’ son. You ate spoils worth ten billion Berries; tell me, how should you repay this ’debt’?"

Kuzan barely managed to regain a shred of reason from the shock of the massive figure and hurriedly retorted:

"That... that fruit wasn’t yours! It belonged to the mayor of Gray Bream Town! It was bought with money raised by the people in town! It was... it was stolen by pirates!"

He tried to use the concepts of "original owner" and "illegal seizure" to deny the other party’s "ownership."

Upon hearing this, Charlotte Linlin was not angry at all; instead, she laughed softly as if she had heard an amusing joke.

She stood up, walked over to Kuzan, and looked down at him. Her voice was calm but carried the most fundamental and naked law of the pirate world:

"Little Kuzan, it seems you still haven’t grasped the rules of this world."

She bent down slightly, her purple eyes staring into Kuzan’s terrified ones at close range, and said word by word:

"Whoever snatches it, it belongs to them."

"The pirates snatched it from the mayor, so it belonged to the pirates. And I, in turn, snatched it from the pirates..."

She straightened up, spread her hands in a gesture of "it goes without saying," and smiled calmly,

"Then naturally, it belongs to me."

"Why?" She asked and answered herself, her tone light,

"Because my fists are bigger, and my strength is greater~ Is that reason enough? Just like you right now—without strength, you can only submit."

Kuzan opened his mouth, but found he couldn’t say a single word.

The other party’s words were simple, crude, and even unreasonable, yet they perfectly shattered his feeble struggle on the levels of law and morality.

In this chaotic corner of the South Blue, in a pirate world where strength reigned supreme, what the other party said... seemed to be the only "truth."

The massive debt of ten billion was like an invisible shackle, heavier than the metal rings on his wrists and ankles, and it was locked firmly around his neck.

"Just talking isn’t enough," Charlotte Linlin’s tone became serious,

"Words are proof of nothing. We pirates... uh, we businesspeople, value the spirit of contract the most. Gerd, bring paper and a pen, oh, and an ink pad."

"contract?" Kuzan watched Gerd’s movements blankly. He had an extremely ominous premonition.

Charlotte Linlin took the paper and pen, thought for a moment, and began to write fluently on the parchment. Her handwriting was unexpectedly not rough at all; instead, it carried a sharp, aesthetic beauty.

After finishing, she turned the parchment towards Kuzan and tapped it with her fingertip.

"Come, take a look. If there’s no problem, just press your handprint on it. That way, even if you run to the ends of the earth, it’s only right and proper that a debt must be repaid." She said with a smile, but her purple eyes flashed with a playful light.

Kuzan took the parchment with trembling hands and saw written in clear handwriting:

Debt contract

Debtor: Kuzan "Son"

Creditor: Charlotte Linlin "Father"

Reason: The debtor, without the creditor’s permission, unauthorizedly consumed a valuable item belonging to the creditor, valued at ten billion Berries.

Terms:

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