The Days of Being the Richest Man in the Ninja World

[V3] - Chapter 6. Doing Business

---

Late at night.

At this moment—

The members of the Spade Pirates, who had already finished purchasing supplies and were now waiting on the ship, were all staring at the moon in the sky in surprise.

"Why has the Captain still not come back?"

"Yeah! Didn't he say he'd be back soon? Could something have happened?"

"Don't joke like that! That's our Captain. How could anything happen to him?"

"Did he maybe fall asleep somewhere again?"

As one of the crew members finished speaking—

Everyone suddenly paused, then all took a sip of their Yuto Milk Tea and helplessly shouted, "That's totally possible! Without us around, the Captain's just a scatterbrain!"

"Still, the milk tea they sell in Alabasta is pretty good!"

"Of course! I'm telling you, this milk tea is super popular in Alabasta!"

"Wait, how did we end up talking about milk tea?! What do we do now? Should we go look for the Captain?"

"Forget it! Let's look for him tomorrow~ And let's buy a few more cups before we leave!"

"Tomorrow we have to make that dumb Captain treat us to milk tea!"

"Yeah! Make him pay!"

"Hahaha~ Do you guys really think the Captain has money on him?"

…

"I... don't have money." Ace, having sobered up from his hangover, scratched his head awkwardly as he looked at the black-haired man in front of him. "Can I, uh… pay later?"

"Sorry! We don't do tabs here!" Yuto smiled as he shook his head and laid out the bill. "That'll be five million Berries. I even waived the small change! You guys really went wild last night—the shop was packed to the brim!"

To be honest—

Early in the morning, Koza had stormed over with a dark expression, saying that the guy who had dined and dashed yesterday had come back last night and drank without paying again, racking up over five million in debt. Even Yuto was shocked!

Who was it?

So bold!

Was someone trying to run another zero-cost shopping spree on his Yuto Group?!

So he decided to come check it out himself… If the bounty was high enough, maybe he'd just hand the guy over to Crocodile later and exchange him with the Marines for some cash.

But he never expected—

Well, well!

So it was this guy!

Of course... even if it was this guy, he still had to pay for what he ate!

Yuto spread the bill out in front of him and said with a cheerful smile, "So then... little Ace! When do you plan on paying?"

"Uh… hahahaha~" Hearing that he was being chased for payment, Ace laughed awkwardly, then hesitated before saying, "I don't have money right now. How about I help you with something instead?"

"I don't need help with anything!" Yuto sighed dramatically and put away the bill. "In that case... you'll just have to work honestly here for now. If you don't eat or drink for a year and a half, you should be able to pay it off!"

"…"

Ace's face froze upon hearing that.

Damn it.

Wasn't it just half a day's work yesterday? How did the debt increase overnight?

A whole year and a half?!

Just then—

He remembered what happened yesterday, and his mouth twitched slightly.

It was his fault.

But thinking about how he'd already been here for a whole day, and that his crewmates were probably waiting for him on the ship now, he couldn't afford to stay here any longer.

He immediately stood up, pulled his hat down, and said seriously, "Sorry, boss! I'll definitely pay you back later! But right now, my crewmates are waiting for me, so I have to leave!"

As he spoke and was about to leap out the window, he was surprised to see the boss quickly block his path.

This boss—

He was surprisingly fast!

Still, he didn't think too much of it. Seeing the window was blocked, he extended his arm toward the wall. His arm turned into flames and fired a jet of fire from his palm, aiming to blast a hole and escape!

"What the hell are you doing?" Koza was already furious and tried to charge at him. "As expected, pirates are no good!"

However—

He was stopped by Yuto!

Bang!

A large hole was blasted into the wall.

Just as Ace was wondering what the boss was up to, he saw him rush forward and block his path again.

"Please move!" Ace looked at Yuto in surprise, clearly confused about the man's strength, but still not stopping. "I'm a Logia user—you can't stop me at all!"

As he said this—

Not wanting to hurt anyone, he prepared to turn into his elemental form and escape.

"???"

But his body was blocked completely—he couldn't transform!

Seastone?!

Just as the thought crossed his mind—

"Ahh! So hot!" The boss who had blocked him suddenly let go, exaggerating in mock pain. "It's so scary!"

"…"

Ace didn't know why, but something felt… off.

But sensing that his body was back to normal, he didn't linger. He activated his powers again—and this time, he went all out. "Fire Fist!"

A wall of blazing flames erupted around him, creating a huge fire barrier to isolate everyone.

At the same time, the building instantly lit up with crackling sounds as flames rapidly spread across it!

Then—

Seeing the boss cut off from him, Ace gave a guilty look and was just about to bolt when—

Suddenly—

That figure appeared in front of him again, unfazed by the flames, once more blocking his way!

"?!"

At that moment—

Ace finally realized… the guy in front of him was definitely not an ordinary person!

His eyes turned serious.

If he wanted to leave, he had to take this boss down first.

"Divine Fire: Shiranui!"

Two flames appeared in his hands, and he charged straight at Yuto.

Boom!

Another part of the house exploded.

But the boss in front of him was still completely unharmed.

This man was a terrifying powerhouse!

At this moment—

Ace seemed to have completely forgotten about escaping and stared intently at the formidable opponent before him.

"Firefly Light!"

"Fire Fist!"

"Cross Fire!"

The moves kept escalating in power!

"Flame Commandment: Fire Pillar!"

Before he realized it, the entire area had become a burning ruin, engulfed in intense flames!

However—

The boss before him still hadn't taken a single scratch!

"Who exactly are you?" Ace seemed to finally understand something, took a deep breath, and looked seriously at Yuto. "Were you sent by the Marines to arrest me? Or… another pirate?"

"Pirate?! What pirates! Yuto Group is doing legitimate business!" Yuto glanced at the surroundings, nodded slightly as if things were just about right, then looked at Ace and sighed in disappointment. "You kids… instead of learning good things, you go off and become pirates! And now…" He pointed at Ace, clearly angry. "You even smashed my house! Just look around you! Look around! You owe money and won't pay, and then you go smashing people's property! You pirates are too despicable!"

"…"

Ace froze, looked at the fleeing civilians around him, and quickly withdrew his flames, speaking with shame, "I… I didn't mean to!"

"Pay up! Pay up! You must pay for the damages!"

"…How much?"

"Well… at least 100 million, right? This is a huge house!" Yuto stroked his chin and looked at Koza beside him, asking, "What do you think, Koza~?"

"Boss isn't wrong!" Koza seemed to understand what was going on, pushed up his glasses, and nodded. "Yeah, at least 100 million!"

"So total comes to 105 million!"

"I… can I pay later?"

"Of course~ Absolutely not!"

As soon as he finished speaking—

Yuto suddenly rushed up to Ace, placed both hands on his stomach as if doing something, then watched Ace step back in confusion and calmly said with a smile, "You can leave once you've paid it all off!"

"Then sorry! I have to leave now!" Ace widened the distance, stretched out his hand again, "Fire—"

However—

Before he could finish.

His whole body suddenly froze.

Looking down at his hands, "Where's my ability?!"

Why is it gone?!

"All right! Time to work honestly!" Yuto looked around at the ruins, satisfied, then waved his hand for Koza to take him away. "When the debt is paid off, you can leave!"

Then—

He leaned in close to Koza and whispered, "Start arranging for renovations and reopening the shop here."

With that—

"…"

Koza gave the boss a strange look.

No wonder he had insisted on bringing Ace here to Rainbase—it was all part of the plan!

Still, he nodded. "Got it."

With that, he led the still-bewildered Ace toward the factory.

No wonder this morning the boss mentioned that the 'Hero' of Alabasta—Crocodile—had also been captured, and asked him to arrange people to take over Rainbase's businesses.

Now—

He was starting to understand just how the boss had built such a huge business empire!