"Hello," a bold, arrogant voice rang out. "So, pirates, is it… so this is what you're like…"
A tall, tanned man with a small beard and black hair styled in a samurai bun entered the bar. He wore a white shirt, black trousers, black boots, a long burgundy cloak, and a thick gold chain around his neck. On his right hip, in green scabbard, hung a boarding sword with a gilded guard and green-wrapped hilt. Behind the stranger, several more arrogant faces loomed, but judging by the noise coming from the street, there were many more newcomers. Anyone who used Observation Haki could immediately tell there were sixteen of them, including the leader.
"You look like idiots," the stranger declared after examining the pirates at the tables. "Well, let's get acquainted."
None of the men blinked at the insult. It wasn't that the stranger's words weren't true. During the drinking game on Luffy's money, the crew didn't forget to play cards or argue over various trivial matters. Most importantly, the games and arguments weren't for money - although they were sometimes, but rarely - but for various humiliations. Lose? Then stick chopsticks up your nose and keep them there until you win them back. Drink beer through your nose, hang noodles on your ears, put a bottle on your head, and if it falls, do something even more disgraceful… After several hours of drinking, most of Shanks' crew indeed looked like a bunch of drunken clowns, rather than fearsome pirates.
"I'm Higuma, the leader of the mountain bandits!" he proclaimed proudly as he approached the bar counter.
Following their leader, five more of his subordinates entered the bar. They wore loose white shirts with long wide sleeves, black trousers, light boots, and white turbans on their heads, with arrogant smirks matching their leader's. If there was any doubt about Higuma's identity, his subordinates were the perfect business card for their boss.
"Welcome!" Makino greeted them with a warm smile.
From her demeanor, it was clear that the uninvited guests made no impression on her whatsoever. At least, no more than any other regular visitors. It was as if the broken door was a non-issue.
"Don't worry, we didn't come to rob you," Higuma addressed Makino with a voice full of superiority. He clearly saw himself as some kind of king, and an incredibly strong one at that. The idiot didn't even notice the girl's reaction to their arrival, or rather the complete lack of it. "We just need ten barrels of beer and we'll leave."
"I'm sorry, but we're out of beer," Makino replied with her usual warm smile, giving a slight bow as she apologized.
The pirates sitting in the bar widened their eyes in surprise, with some even having their mouths agape. Shanks even choked on his beer. They all knew that the stock of alcohol Makino had would easily be enough to get another dozen full pirate crews drunk. The amount of beer she had could intoxicate up to two hundred people.
"Hmm? Really?" Higuma rubbed his chin thoughtfully, surveying the bar. "And all these pirates seem to have mugs… or are they drinking water?" Even while mocking, the bandit leader remained as arrogant and self-satisfied as ever, speaking with a lazy nonchalance.
"I'm sorry," Makino bowed slightly again, "They're just finishing off our last beer."
Shanks, though quite drunk by now, wasn't so intoxicated as not to understand Makino's clear desire to get rid of the mountain bandits. The 'Red-Haired' pirate captain decided to play along:
"It turned out unfortunate," he looked up at the towering Higuma. "We drank everything clean here… If you want, you can take the last unopened bottle," he offered the mentioned bottle to the man with a disarming smile. "It's not beer, but the wine here is very good, you'll definitely like it."
Shanks' attire - white loose shirt, black trousers rolled up to his knees, and black sandals - was quite similar to Higuma's subordinates' clothing. Except for his usual, very worn straw hat, which made Shanks look more like a harmless farmer than a legendary pirate. And his simple expression, combined with his friendly smile, only enhanced that effect.
"Do you think one bottle will be enough for me?" Higuma's arrogance reached new heights.
With a punch, Higuma shattered the bottle in Shanks' hand, showering him with shards and wine from head to toe.
"Why did you do that?" Shanks asked, distressed. "If you had taken even a sip, you'd immediately know how good the drink is," he added, inspecting the bottle shards on his lap.
"Fool, do you even understand who you're talking to?" Higuma's arrogance surged to a new level. "One bottle is nowhere near enough! Sit still and shut up."
Indeed, Shanks wasn't particularly imposing in stature or muscle mass, so next to the nearly two-meter-tall Higuma, he looked like a weakling. And his simple expression didn't help either. The bandit leader had a cross-shaped scar above his right eye that added to his brutish appearance. Shanks had three scars - starting from the middle of his forehead, running through his left eye, and ending on his cheek - but due to his simple expression, they looked more like scratches from an overly aggressive cat rather than the result of a serious battle. And they were far from intimidating.
"And now the great wine is wasted, and the floor is covered," Shanks responded, as if he hadn't heard the bandit leader's words at all.
"Look here," Higuma said, pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket. "My head is worth eight million berries!" The wanted poster, which turned out to be Higuma's bounty poster, was held up in front of Shanks' face. "No one else has a price like that. I've killed fifty-six people. Fifty-six losers just like you. So sit quietly and don't interfere, got it?"
Higuma's subordinates immediately started making a few jabs and comments about the pirates in the bar. The general sentiment was about how cool the bandits were compared to the pathetic pirates. It was typical weakling bravado. As they say, the entourage makes the king. And right now, the entourage perfectly matched its 'king' - a collection of overconfident idiots. Fortunately for Higuma and his lackeys, the 'Red-Haired' pirates saw them as a bunch of amusing clowns who hadn't crossed the line yet. After all, why kill them over a broken bottle and excessive bragging? And so what if Shanks' clothes got stained with wine? It would be easy for him to change. Unfortunately for Higuma and his cronies, the bar wasn't filled only with pirates and Makino. None of the present people noticed that when Higuma declared, "My head is worth eight million berries," two otherworldly flames flickered in the depths of Luffy's 'dead' eyes. It was as if his soul had returned from the afterlife at that very moment.
"Sorry, Makino-chan," Shanks, ignoring Higuma's words, got up from his chair, squatted, and began picking up the shards of the broken bottle. "Do you have a cloth? I should wipe the floor."
"Don't worry, Captain, I'll take care of it," Makino's warm smile showed no sign of fading.
Higuma finally reacted to the complete disregard of the captain. Drawing his sword, the bandit leader swept several mugs and plates off the bar counter with a single sharp motion, sending them flying straight at Shanks and the 'corpse' of Luffy.
"Since you like cleaning, here's some more work for you," the idiot smirked, sheathing his sword. And if that wasn't enough, he realized that the boy sitting at the bar had been ignoring him completely since Higuma's arrival. Even though he was splattered with beer, wine, and covered in shards from broken mugs and plates, the boy continued to ignore him. Naturally, with Higuma's inflated ego, he couldn't tolerate such disrespect. "Hey, kid, are you seriously… DAMN IT!!!"
The reaction of the mountain bandits to the sight of the 'dead' Luffy was strikingly similar to that of the pirates just moments before. The pirates themselves had held their breath when they realized that Higuma had foolishly managed to get caught up in the madness of little Luffy. For once, they were able to be mere observers rather than direct participants.
"Is he dead?" one of Higuma's subordinates asked with pained curiosity, not addressing anyone in particular.
In front of the unnaturally looking 'corpse' of Luffy, the mountain bandits, along with their leader, suddenly lost all their pretentious arrogance.
"Don't worry, Luffy is just being punished," Makino's friendly smile seemed glued to her face, as nothing that was happening could make her stop smiling.
However, more than the calm demeanor of the girl, the bandits were concerned with what kind of monstrous punishment could turn an ordinary child into something that strongly resembled a mummified corpse. The boy clearly seemed to have died of terror, given the horrifying grimace frozen on his face. Just a glance at those dead eyes or the gaping mouth caused a shiver of fear among the bandits... And then the boy began to slowly turn his head, scaring the bandits even more. The creaking of dry skin, the loud crunching and popping of neck joints - Luffy resembled a slowly reviving mummy. The 'dead' eyes, gradually igniting with what looked like real fire, stared directly at the noticeably stunned bandits. Then, from the gaping mouth came a prolonged, raspy moan:
"Hi-gu-ma..."
Before the mountain bandits could completely soil themselves from fear, Luffy began to rapidly come back to life. A vein throbbed in his neck, his chest began to rise and fall, causing his deathly pale face to return to its natural color. Finally, the monstrously gaping mouth closed, and his eyes 'flamed' with fire.