Starting with two Kamui, they raised the flag of rebellion in One Piece.

Li Mingyuan's tone was calm, yet it left no room for refusal.

Even if the sailor was unwilling, he could only obediently follow Li Mingyuan's instructions.

that's it.

Li Mingyuan and the sailor temporarily ended their conversation and began preparing the rescue boat they would be traveling together on.

Although the first mate, who was watching nearby, was still reluctant, he hadn't caught the thief after all, and Li Mingyuan had even saved their lives from the fishmen. He had no right to interfere in how to deal with the thief, so after much hesitation, he could only helplessly let Li Mingyuan decide to let the thief "buy his freedom".

As for Li Mingyuan...

After getting the sailor to catch up, he first opened the bag the sailor had given him and checked the approximate amount inside. After retrieving his lost peso, he took out a portion of the remaining money to hand over to the first mate.

Now that it has been determined that the thief and the captain have no connection, Li Mingyuan wants to fulfill his initial promise and return the stolen money. Although this money is unlikely to cover the losses from the shipwreck, it is none of his business.

However, at this moment, there was an unexpected incident. Just as Li Mingyuan was about to pay, the sailor, who had been standing by indifferently, suddenly changed his expression and rushed towards Li Mingyuan to stop him from taking money out of his pocket.

"My original savings were in there! The cargo I stole from this ship alone doesn't even amount to that many Berries!!"

The sailor shouted anxiously.

He was afraid that Li Mingyuan would also hand over the amount he was "apologizing" for, which would make Li Mingyuan think that he was not sincere and cause the redemption and life-saving efforts to fail.

After the sailor hurriedly stopped Li Mingyuan, he carefully stuffed the money back into his pocket, then took out a bundle of bundled peso bills from his pocket and began to count them one by one before finally handing them over to the first mate.

"Here, this is the amount I stole. It's not even a few million Berries. The stack of cash the guard held out earlier was almost ten million Berries. He just handed it to you, and you actually dared to take it? Don't you even know how much your goods are worth?"

The sailor scoffed, "As expected, rotten people are rotten people; you can tell from anywhere."

Immediately afterward, with the first mate looking somewhat embarrassed, the sailor turned his head and gestured to the crew members beside him, indicating that everyone present should look to the side.

Those were fish-men scattered all over the ground, some unconscious, some dead.

"Look, First Mate, isn't that the merman corpse you painstakingly carried up from below? It's a shame it couldn't be used as a pleading gift to beg for mercy."

"Our ship is probably too full. When you leave, remember to take those two Arlong Pirates officers with you. They're worth much more than all the cargo you have on board."

The sailor directed the crew to add two more fishmen to the already cramped boat.

It was only then, through the sailors' explanation, that Li Mingyuan learned that the officers of the Arlong Pirates also had bounties.

Fishman Chuu, bounty 550 million Berries; Fishman Croobi, bounty 900 million Berries.

The two people he defeated together were worth 1450 million Berries, almost the same as the amount of money he had on hand.

Li Mingyuan really didn't know much about this.

After all, in the original work, he didn't recall any plot involving the Straw Hat crew receiving a bounty, and Hachi, one of the three executives of the Arlong Pirates, didn't seem to be a wanted criminal when he reappeared later. So he had a preconceived notion that only Arlong had a bounty in the Arlong Pirates.

Unexpectedly, this thief, before even paying the ransom, had already brought in a large sum of extra income for himself.

Is it really necessary to fight for survival and gain favor?

At this moment, Li Mingyuan's gaze towards the sailors unconsciously carried a hint of satisfaction.

Seeing this, the sailor rubbed the tip of his nose with his finger and chuckled.

"Alright, since there's nothing else, we can retreat now."

After a while, seeing the seawater that was almost submerged on the deck, and looking at the several small boats that were ready, Li Mingyuan led the sailors onto the small boats and rowed to a slightly farther place.

On the other side, the crew, who were still rushing to salvage the cargo, had to unload some extra cargo from the small boat because they had to move two more fishmen. The first mate looked at the cargo with a pained expression, but since the fishmen were Li Mingyuan's spoils of war and were indeed quite valuable, he dared not object and could only silently tell the sailors to do as they were told.

Only after several small boats were completely filled to the brim, and it was confirmed that they would sink if any more were packed in, did the first mate reluctantly mobilize the sailors to leave. Including the first mate himself, all the crew members either jumped into the water and attached themselves to the small boats that were fully loaded with cargo, or simply drifted away with the current, letting the buoyancy of the seawater carry them away naturally.

Some time passed after almost all the people on board had left the cargo ship.

Because the shipwreck would create some eddies, bystanders dared not approach and could only watch the scene from a distance.

Li Mingyuan sat on the small boat, looking back with the sailors.

The cargo ship sank completely into the sea right before everyone's eyes.

In the end, it sank.

Seeing this, Li Mingyuan couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion.

His first time on a ship in this world, and before he even reached the shore, the ship sank.

I have a feeling that this is a bad omen.

Could this be an implication that he might also crash in the future?

He shook his head, banishing the terrible idea from his mind.

Li Mingyuan turned around and looked at the sailors in front of him again. Now only the two of them were left alone. The other small boats were too far away to hear the normal conversations of the crew members around them.

Of course, this is only to be expected.

Unlike him, who was so relaxed on the ship, the other crew members at sea were either struggling to swim towards the shore or trying to control the small cargo boats. There were hardly any seats on the ship, and only the injured or unconscious crew members were eligible to squeeze into a small boat. Therefore, most of the sailors were so focused on swimming that they didn't pay any attention to anything else.

Noticing Li Mingyuan's gaze, the sailors also turned their attention away from the sunken cargo ship and looked back at the man in front of them.

"Finally, we're alone together."

"You've been staring at my face out of the corner of your eye ever since I left, it's really bothering me."

Li Mingyuan suddenly said, "There's no need to pretend to be looking around at the scenery anymore. Just ask whatever you want to ask."

Upon hearing this, the sailor blinked in surprise, then rubbed his hands together sheepishly.

"Generally speaking, I think normal people shouldn't notice other people's glances out of the corner of their eye... But since you noticed, I have nothing to hide. Actually, I've been very curious about this for a while now."