Journey to One Piece

71. Bartolomeo

♫Oh, angel sent from up above

You know you make my world light up

When I was down, when I was hurt

You came to lift me up♫

Ken was humming the famous song from Coldplay as he walked the streets of Logue Town. The town was lively to say the least. The shops, the people and the jovial nature all around didn't even have any ounce of indication that one of the greatest pirates of their era had been executed here.

There were so many things still in mystery about Roger and Ken was determined to bring the truth out. Uncover all the mysteries that were there in this world and if possible uproot the tyranny that was prevalent here.

He was having all these thoughts when he heard someone talking loudly

"Give us the protection money or else you would know what will happen to you."

"I have already paid the money for the month. I don't have any more money to pay."

"That was just for the boss, you need to pay the money for us, who protects the people here."

"Please.. I have a family to support. Please understand that we really don't have much."

From the conversation it was very clear that these 'gangsters' were trying to take the hard earned money from the shops around. Normally, Ken wouldn't care seeing the 'gangsters' but one face among them made Ken feel like he had seen before somewhere. He just couldn't remember where.

The gangster had long blonde wavy long hair which he tied by a blue band which ran across his forehead. He had tattoos all over his hands and looked like a typical delinquent.

"Mister, can you give me some apples." Ken didn't want to barge in right in the middle but he wanted to see how these people would react if he interacted with the shopkeeper without minding them. The gangsters and the shopkeeper were taken aback seeing this random tall dude coming up and asking to buy fruits the shopkeeper was selling.

Didn't he see the people around? Didn't he see who these gangsters were? Even the surrounding people who had almost turned a blind eye to the situation were surprised by the boldness of this young man.

"Uh.. Sure.. One apple is 10 bellies." The shopkeeper didn't know what to do and could only speak like a good shopkeeper who had opened the shop.

"10 bellies per apple. Too costly.. " Before Ken could bargain, a hand was placed on his shoulder. It was the delinquent who had been harassing the shopkeeper.

"Dude, didn't you see we were having a heart to heart talk with the person here. Why don't you come later?"

Ken slowly lifted his head and looked at the person.

"Who is Bartolomeo to you?"

"Bartolomeo, how dare you take our boss's name by your filthy mouth." The person was incensed that someone so casually took his boss's name and proceeded to punch this person in the face.

Ken didn't even bother to stop this guy and just let the knuckles hit his face. The others around had almost closed their eyes as they thought another person would be taught a lesson. The shopkeeper gave a low scream thinking that Ken was done for.

But the next moment, it was the guy who punched and gave out a scream. The scream came with a sound of bones breaking. The delinquent had broken some of bones when he hit Ken. He fell down on his knees and held his hand while gasping for breath. He couldn't understand what just happened. A simple punch to this person's face had broken his hand's bones.

Who the hell was this guy?

"I asked you about Bartolomeo and you punched me. Gotta say, you are the stupidest person I have seen in my life."

"Shut up. Guys get him." the delinquent shouted and the other gangsters who had their eyes wide open about what just happened came to earth after the blue band guy shouted. These gangsters didn't back down just because one of them was injured. They wanted to take revenge.

And so all of them jumped at Ken together. Ken was impressed by this. These people were definitely Bartolomeo's future crew members and they were loyal. They didn't back down even if Ken seemed to be more powerful.

Ken was impressed so he held himself when he brought these gangsters down. He punched, kicked, elbowed the gangsters and took them down with only one move on each one of them. The spectators had their mouths fall on the floor seeing.

These gangsters had never been treated like this before. And this came from a single person who looked so young. He was a hero!

"What is your name?"

"Gambia." His voice was shaking when he replied. He thought this was a random guy but didn't expect him to be a hidden master. This guy brought his friends down like it was nothing.

"Pick them up and go. Tell Bartolomeo to come here." Ken said. Gambia gritted his teeth. This person definitely knew his boss otherwise he wouldn't have targeted them but he didn't know who he was.

He could only take his friends and leave to find his boss. His boss was powerful and only he could take revenge for them.

Ken didn't care about the thoughts and just looked at the people around who in fear almost vacated the place. Bartolomeo was notorious here and they didn't want anything to do with him or the gang members known as Barto's Club.

"Naa Mister.. Please lower the price."

The shopkeeper didn't do what this person wanted but he didn't dare to be rude.

"I can sell this for only 5 bellies less. I really need money to help my daughter." the shopkeeper said. He was in fear but he couldn't go on lowering the price. His family needed him and his daughter was sick. Ken could feel the sadness in his voice and he was sure that the shopkeeper wasn't lying.

Without thinking much he took out some stacks of money and gave it to the shopkeeper.

"Here, take the money and tend to your family. Close the shop. It might get messy around here now."