Chapter 46: You Call This Extortion
On a large, cake-shaped ship.
Su Xiao sat on the gunwale. The reason he mentioned Portgas D. Ace to Red-Hair was simply to buy an "insurance policy." All contractors knew Ace's situation, but most dared not reveal this information to plot characters. The risk was too high, and without a certain status, plot characters wouldn't believe it anyway.
Su Xiao just happened to meet these conditions. The mere fact that he had taken down Cracker had greatly boosted his reputation among pirates. Coupled with his former identity as a World Government researcher, the information he provided—even if Red-Hair didn't fully believe it—would at least not be ignored.
The Red Force quickly sailed away. After the large ship traveled over a hundred meters, a small boat was lowered. Red-Hair jumped onto it. Ben Beckman seemed to want to go with him but was stopped by Red-Hair.
From the rapidly departing Red Force, it was clear that Red-Hair cherished that ship. If the Red Force sank, perhaps Red-Hair would sink along with it.
"Kid, you've got quite the nerve."
Big Mom sat on the deck, her gaze casually drifting toward the small boat on the sea.
"There's something called old ties. Forget it, you probably can't understand that."
Su Xiao chuckled. Did Red-Hair stay just because of the situation in the New World? No. He wanted to know about Portgas D. Ace's circumstances.
Portgas D. Ace was a crew member of Whitebeard. Red-Hair couldn't go rescue him—that was the rule among pirates. But Ace was the biological son of Gol D. Roger, and as a former crewmate of Roger, Red-Hair naturally cared about Ace's situation.
Moreover, Red-Hair and Ace had a decent personal relationship, unrelated to who Ace's father was. Adding another distant connection, Red-Hair valued Ace's news so highly.
According to the original plot, after Whitebeard fell at the Summit War, Red-Hair immediately appeared. Braving the pressure from the other two Emperors and the Marines, he demanded Ace's body from the battlefield. If Red-Hair hadn't shown up, Ace would definitely have had his head cut off and displayed. With the World Government's ruthlessness, they would absolutely do such a thing, and even Marine Hero Garp couldn't stop it.
Unable to rescue Ace, Red-Hair at least ensured Ace died with dignity.
"Old ties? You?"
Big Mom burst out laughing. Su Xiao had just pulled out a bomb on Red-Hair's ship, and now he was talking about old ties with Red-Hair. This struck Big Mom as ridiculous. However, she failed to grasp Su Xiao's meaning.
"There's no need for too much nonsense in a transaction. You can't kill me at sea. I'll give you a chance to try."
Su Xiao actually put away the Apollo, re-storing it. This item mainly served as a deterrent, and it had already fulfilled its mission.
Su Xiao had been sitting on the gunwale all along, ready to jump into the sea at any moment. If the situation turned dire, he would instantly activate Demon Hunting Hour, directly penetrating space into the water. With Charlotte Linlin and Katakuri both being landlubbers, if they dared to jump in, Su Xiao would dare to cut them down underwater.
"You've got guts."
Big Mom definitely didn't expect Su Xiao to put away the Apollo. She sat motionless on the deck, seemingly prepared to negotiate with Su Xiao.
"The market price for Zoan-type Devil Fruits is between 200 million and 500 million Berries. The value of Paramecia types is unstable. The Biscuit-Biscuit Fruit is worth at most 900 million Berries."
Katakuri spoke. His emotions had calmed. With Katakuri's intelligence, he naturally understood the importance of the Biscuit-Biscuit Fruit to the Big Mom Pirates.
Su Xiao's body slowly leaned back. From the look of it, he was clearly about to jump into the sea.
"Wait."
Katakuri's arm instinctively turned into mochi. Su Xiao hooked his foot on the wooden railing of the gunwale and sat upright.
"I don't see your sincerity. Selling this to the Marines doesn't seem like a bad idea either."
"..."
"..."
Big Mom and Katakuri's expressions turned ugly. If the Biscuit-Biscuit Fruit really fell into the hands of the Marines, the Big Mom Pirates would have to consider a large-scale renovation of their territory. The loss would be unimaginable. Totto Land was larger than some big countries. Rebuilding over 90% of its structures would drain the Big Mom Pirates' treasure vault.
"What do you want? Just say it directly."
Big Mom was clearly getting impatient. Having this leverage in someone else's hands pushed her to the brink of eruption.
"Katakuri, you handle this bastard."
Big Mom stood up and walked toward the cabin, entering it moments later.
"Name your price."
Katakuri took a deep breath, barely suppressing the urge to fight Su Xiao to the death.
"Ten Great Grade swords, three Paramecia-type Devil Fruits, at least five pieces of precious jewelry that have existed for over 500 years, and twenty of these."
As Su Xiao spoke, he took out a Soul Crystal (Large).
Hearing Su Xiao's demands, Katakuri recalled the time his mother demanded compensation from Doflamingo. This... was outright robbery.
"You—"
"Impossible!!"
A roar came from the cabin. It was Big Mom. The shrew had clearly heard Su Xiao's price.
"Don't stop me! I'll kill that brat right now!"
"Mom, calm down!"
After a commotion, the cabin fell silent.
"You should have heard that. It's impossible."
Katakuri forced down his anger and spoke. However, Su Xiao had risked his life to negotiate with the Big Mom Pirates. If the benefits weren't enough, how could he hand over the Biscuit-Biscuit Fruit?
Negotiations began. After half an hour of haggling, both sides finally settled on a final price. During that time, Big Mom rushed out of the cabin once, clearly meaning to fight Su Xiao head-on despite the Apollo.
Big Mom's rationality had been mostly drained during the earlier negotiations. She was now extremely irritable. Big Mom's current status wasn't due to her exceptional intellect but her immense strength. As a child, she could single-handedly destroy an entire giant city.
The final price was: Su Xiao hands over the Biscuit-Biscuit Fruit, and the Big Mom Pirates provide five Great Grade swords + at least two pieces of precious jewelry that have existed for over 500 years + Soul Crystal (Large) × 12.
This result was clearly unacceptable to Big Mom, but compared to a large-scale renovation of Totto Land, this loss was within the Big Mom Pirates' tolerance.
The reason Su Xiao demanded at least two pieces of precious jewelry that had existed for over 500 years was that such items had a certain chance of being authenticated as equipment. Katakuri promised to bring out all the accessories in the Big Mom Pirates' inventory and let Su Xiao choose freely. Whether he would actually do so remained unknown.
Given Su Xiao's relationship with the Big Mom Pirates, the transaction would definitely be face-to-face. So after the deal was settled, the Big Mom Pirates sailed off to retrieve the famous swords and other items from their home base.
On the small boat where Red-Hair was, Su Xiao sat opposite him.
"The World Government has decided to publicly execute Fire Fist Ace. This is very accurate intelligence. The execution time is at least half a month from now—this is less accurate intelligence. Before the public execution, the Marines will summon the Seven Warlords. This is also accurate intelligence."
Su Xiao directly provided Red-Hair with three pieces of information. Red-Hair didn't press further. Although their contact had been brief, he could already tell what kind of person Su Xiao was. Forget pressing; even under torture, he wouldn't get information out of Su Xiao.