After hearing Ida's report, Xenosnake fell into deep thought. The information on Yeyin was conflicting. Sometimes he ignored pirates, sometimes he recruited them, and sometimes he captured them. But the strangest thing was his peculiar habit of cleaning up trash.
"No problem, just ignore him. As long as he doesn't cause trouble, let him be. And if he does, we're not afraid," Xenosnake said, taking his wine glass and returning to his seat, leaving Yeyin alone.
Tina and the others, however, felt a bit awkward remaining on the ship. Since Yeyin hadn't given the order to fight, they dared not initiate a battle. Only Issho seemed eager to charge forward; after all, the other side were slave traders—the very type of people he detested the most. But his strong sense of discipline held him back. As Yeyin's subordinate, he wouldn't act against his will.
They had a fleet of seven pirate ships, three of which held slaves they'd captured.
After more than five hours, Yeyin finally finished cleaning all the trash from the ship.
"Alright, everything's clean. Need an escort?" Yeyin asked, approaching Xenosnake.
"Huh? An escort?" Xenosnake laughed loudly. "Here's a million beri for you. Just escort us to Dockel Beach."
Realizing what Yeyin meant, Xenosnake assumed he was looking for a payoff. This small amount was nothing to him.
"Uh, I don't need your beri. Just allow me to come by anytime to clean up the trash," Yeyin replied calmly, declining the money.
"Haha… alright, come anytime," Xenosnake said, not bothering with Yeyin anymore. To him, Yeyin was an unusual Marine but posed no real threat.
With Xenosnake's permission, Yeyin returned to the warship and ordered an escort mission.
"Commander Yeyin…" Issho began, but Yeyin interrupted him.
"Mr. Issho, I know what you want to say. But wait until I've completed the escort mission, then I'll explain," Yeyin responded.
Issho, hearing this, held his silence, though he no longer felt like gambling with Yeyin. Instead, he sat alone on the deck, lost in thought.
Three days later.
Xenosnake now looked utterly exhausted, his hand trembling as he held his wine glass. Watching Yeyin forcing his crew to throw out more trash, he realized he'd made a grave mistake. This guy was obsessed with cleaning to a pathological level!
Once a day was understandable, but Yeyin was now doing it five times a day! Even Xenosnake was starting to feel a bit unhinged.
"Captain, we've run out of things to throw away, and our food is almost gone," Ida said, looking distressed.
"How much longer until we reach Dockel Beach?" Xenosnake, now entirely drained, only wanted to reach their destination quickly!
(End of Chapter)