I'm at the top of One Piece

I finally got to see him now.

Why is it so hard to see you?

Thinking of this, Makino glared at Messer, looking unhappy and saying, "You'd better coax me."

Mercer smiled helplessly, took an oyster and handed it to Makino: "Plans can't keep up with changes. I've been busy with my own things these past two years, which has taken up some time."

Makino looked at it, took the oyster from her hand, and asked curiously, "Can you tell me what it is?"

As he spoke, he took a small scalpel from Mercer and, at Mercer's prompting, used the scalpel to pick up an oyster and ate a bite.

He had just taken a bite when his eyes lit up. Looking at the abundant ingredients inside, he squinted and smiled:

"Not bad, Mercer. I didn't know you could make barbecue."

“Of course, I’m quite confident in barbecuing; it’s nothing special. I just learned a trade, forging,” Mercer said simply.

"You've become a blacksmith?" Makino blinked, a little surprised. "You're so young, are you an apprentice?"

Moses gave her a strange look and couldn't help but mutter a curse:

"I'm so young, who would want me as an apprentice?"

Makino paused, thought for a moment, and realized it made sense. Then she frowned and looked at Moses:

Are you lying to me again?

"When did I lie to you?"

"You still say you're not lying? You said before that you were a person, and then your grandfather, Mr. Garp, appeared."

"That's because we're not familiar with each other! Besides, I've already apologized."

"Did you?" Makino asked doubtfully. "If you had apologized, I would definitely remember. I'm sure you didn't."

"Didn't I give you a deer before I left?" Moses said. "It was both a return gift and an apology. Didn't I mention it?"

"You! Don't!"

Makino said, word by word, then laughed, "You didn't say a word, you just said 'This deer is a gift for you,' and then you left."

"Oh, I forgot. I'll make it up to you now," Mercer said with a grin.

Makino, speechless, muttered, "Is that how it is? Well, I've been waiting a long time for this apology."

After flipping the grilled fish over, Mercer glanced at Makino and said, "Eat up! Hurry up and eat, I'm still grilling it."

"Oh? Oh."

Makino ate heartily without any restraint, to which Mercer smiled.

The two chatted and laughed as they ate oysters. When the fish was grilled, Mercer took a scalpel and cut it into three pieces.

One for you, one for me, and one for it.

My luck seemed to be exceptionally good from then on, as a lobster and a flat sea fish took the bait one after the other.

There are now more and more varieties of seafood available.

“Mei, is that a sea worm?” Ya Dabao suddenly spoke, pointing with one wing to the mud and sand between two rocks ten meters away. “Well, that’s strange.”

Looking at it, it was pink and tender, like a long intestine, wriggling in the damp mud. "That's called a star worm, also known as a sea cucumber. It tastes very good, just like a sausage."

Before he could finish speaking, Ya Dabao flapped his wings and flew over, grabbing onto the bird with one claw and pulling it back to him.

When it reached Mercer, it loosened its grip and the sea cucumber flew towards him. Seeing this, Mercer immediately raised his scalpel.

The sea cucumber was pierced through. Mercer rolled his eyes at it, got up, took a few steps to the seaside, cut open the sea cucumber along its digestive tract, and washed the sand inside in the seawater.

It was washed clean, coated with oil, and placed on a wire rack to bake.

At this moment, Makino looked at Mercer with some surprise and said, "Mercer, did that crow talk just now? I've been wanting to ask you this for a while, is it your pet?"

Mercer's lips curled into a smile as he looked at Makino and said, "I thought you weren't going to ask. I saw you staring at my raven the whole time."

Makino blinked, then chuckled and said, "Beautiful things naturally attract attention. This crow is so pretty, it's normal for it to be noticed."

At this moment, Ya Da Bao cackled, first glancing at Mei Se, then his hoarse voice rang out: "Ya Ke, is not, your bird, Ya's, body and soul belong, to, Niu."

Mei, just... the eldest.

As he spoke, he looked at Makino again, his bird-like eyes scanning her up and down, making a "tsk tsk" sound from his beak, before hoarsely saying:

"Woman, I know you're beautiful, but I have a family, I have a wife and children. You and I have no chance."

Seeing Makino's dazed look, Ya Dabao mocked, "Woman, looks, pretty, but unfortunately, she's an idiot, quack quack quack~, Mei, doesn't like idiots either, quack quack quack."

Mercer's face darkened upon hearing the last sentence. He reached out and pinched Ya Da Bao's beak, saying speechlessly, "You haven't been drinking, what nonsense are you spouting? He was just praising you, is it necessary to make a personal attack?"

Ya Da Bao shook his head, and seeing that he couldn't break free, he stopped struggling. He just glared at Makino, as if he had something to say. Seeing this, Mercer said:

"I can let you go, but you are not allowed to make any more personal attacks."

Ya Dabao nodded.

As soon as Messer let go, Ya Da Bao spoke up: "I already noticed you before. I saw from the sky that you went to all the places that Messer had been. I thought it was a coincidence and didn't pay attention."

Listen to what you just said.

But now, Crow has discovered that you've been searching for Plum all along, haven't you?

Listening to Ya Da Bao's analysis, Messer smiled and looked at Makino, "You went to look for me just now?"

Makino blushed, feeling somewhat ashamed. She hadn't expected to be exposed by a crow, and even more so, she hadn't expected that this crow could actually talk.

It was even said to my face.

Makino felt a slight panic, but only a slight one. She quickly smiled at Mercer and readily admitted:

“That’s right, I did go to see you before, after all, you’re so interesting, and I don’t have any peers in the village.”

Either they're older than me, so it's no fun hanging out together, or they're younger than me, which is rather childish. After comparing them all, you're still the most interesting one. Although you're younger than me, you're not childish at all.

So I was thinking, now that Mr. Garp is back, will you come along with him?

Unexpectedly, Mr. Garp has returned several times in the past two years, but you haven't come even once.

I also asked Mr. Karp, and he said he didn't know what I was doing either.

So I've decided that every time Mr. Karp comes, I'll ask him, I want to see if he keeps his word. How many times exactly do you mean 'next time'?

As she spoke, Makino glared resentfully at Messer, then continued to complain:

"I never expected that when you came, I couldn't find you for ages. How can you run away so fast? Can't you just stay in one place and fish?"

Mercer blinked, looking at Makino who was spewing out complaints like beans, and gave her a pitying look:

"You've really had a tough time here, not even having a single person your age to talk to. How pitiful. At least I have Doctor Doriel, a panda, and a family of crows."

Upon hearing Mercer's words, Makino's eyes widened in surprise, then filled with the same pity as her as she looked at Mercer and sighed.

"So you're even more pitiful than me. At least I have a whole village of people I can talk to, but you only have an old lady, a bear, and some birds."

Mercer's expression turned speechless. "Grandma?"

Makino nodded. "Mr. Karp once said, 'That guy Mercer lives in the mountains with a reclusive old woman.'"

Upon hearing this, Mercer felt a pang of pain in his teeth, but he had no choice but to explain to avoid any serious misunderstandings.

After a while.

Makino gave a dry laugh.

A look of surprise flashed in his eyes; he hadn't expected that Mercer's "old woman" would be that kind of person.

Although physically older, his physical and mental age are like that of a young person.

There's also a cook who ate a Devil Fruit and a panda miner.

A family of talking crows.

Everything was completely different from what Mr. Karp had said; Moses' life was absolutely hilarious.

Sure enough, Mr. Garp is too unreliable; he even slanders others casually.

Makino couldn't help but puff out her cheeks and take a big bite of the grilled fish. "Sorry."

Mercer was somewhat surprised and asked, puzzled, "What are you apologizing for?"

"After all, I was talking about your old doctor wife."

"So what? Some people in our area call her a witch, or an old hag."

"The people there are really wicked."

"It's alright. It's just that Doctor Doriel charges a bit too much for her treatments. Besides, anyone who dares to insult her gets beaten up by her."

"beat?"

"Yeah, beat them up, the kind of beating that knocks the wall down with one kick."

"Merser, you're joking again, right? How could a person possibly kick down a wall? Hahaha."

After chuckling twice, Makino saw that Mercer was completely calm, and she had no choice but to calm down as well.

He rubbed his head in frustration, sighed, and looked at Mercer: "Hey Mercer, have you ever thought about why there's such a big difference between people?"

"I can't even break a wooden stake as thick as a fist, but some people can smash down a stone wall with a single punch."

Once, I saw it with my own eyes; it was terrifying. I even thought that wall was dangerously unstable.

"Why is there such a huge difference between people? It's almost like they are two different species."

"I'm really lucky to have lived this long and healthy."

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Chapter 37 Simple Cultivation!

Moses nodded in agreement:

You're right.

"But I didn't expect you to be such a literary and artistic girl, actually thinking about the differences between people all the time. Not bad, not bad."