Chapter 314: Meeting an Old Friend in a Foreign Land
The captain seemed to be in a good position and he quickly prepared a table of food to entertain the guests. Perhaps he also wanted to quickly taste the wine from the Grand Line.
Shark Chili was telling the soldiers some interesting stories about the Grand Line while skillfully urging them to drink. After Brook kept doing this for a while, he started playing music to liven up the atmosphere.
Rui Mengmeng is quick-eyed and quick-handed, and her strong ability allows her to make the most of her experience as a waiter. She can fill anyone's empty glass immediately.
The atmosphere at the banquet was very harmonious. The soldiers were drinking so happily that they didn't notice that Altria and Tom had secretly eaten most of their snacks.
Seeing these people's cheeks blushing, Zhang Da also began to ask questions like a curious baby. Whenever they said some valuable information, Ye Yan would praise them without any scruples, and then Shark Chili would continue to urge them to drink while they were happy.
After all the operations, these soldiers told everything they should and shouldn't say, from the morning and evening routine to the shift change time, and even how much stuff the transport ship brought each time and how many guards were on it.
The guardhouse has five floors in total, and each floor is not small in area, but only thirty to fifty people live on each floor, so the space is quite ample, probably because there is no need to consider land prices or labor costs here.
According to the enthusiastic team leader, they are in charge of more than 3,000 prisoners but have only 200 guards. They are divided into several shifts and take turns to be responsible for on-site supervision, guardhouse duty and night patrols.
In general, the work is very easy. Except for the new recruits who are occasionally disobedient, there are very few people causing trouble. The long labor and harsh punishment have made many people forget the option of resistance.
Even if there are troublemakers, they will become one of the few entertainments for the guards. Other forms of entertainment are nothing more than drinking, playing cards, and gambling when not on duty. When on duty, if they are in a bad mood, they can find anyone to vent their anger on. Anyway, the status of those prisoners is almost equivalent to that of slaves.
The supplies here include building materials, food, clothing, etc., which are all purchased and shipped from nearby islands on a regular basis and in fixed quantities by a department of the world government. Coincidentally, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow is the day when the transport ships will come to deliver the supplies.
When asked about the source of the labor here, the team leader said something similar to what Zhang Daye and the others knew, that they were all prisoners from all over the world and people from non-member countries.
Most of the laborers from non-member countries came from countries that were attacked by enemies or destroyed by pirates. The World Government would not go out of its way to conquer a country just for a few workers, but Zhang Da also guessed that it might be possible to secretly provide some support or incitement.
Wendy and Xia Lulu watched with admiration as their brothers and sisters worked together to extract information from each other, and tried hard to think about whether they could help.
Perona rested her elbows on the table, holding her chin with one hand, looking down on the IQ of these soldiers.
How stupid! After three glasses of wine, they blurt out everything. How many young people have even thought about when to save enough money to go back to their hometown to get married? The black-hearted boss seemed to have said that this thing is called a flag in the story, right?
By the time Zhang Da had asked all the questions he wanted to know, there was not a single bite of food left on the table and the soldiers were all extremely drunk. However, Shark Chili had a good alcohol tolerance and had been drinking with them from the beginning without any problem.
When Zhang Da also proposed to walk around, the captain was dizzy and got them something like a pass, which allowed them to move around the area without any hindrance.
These soldiers were very dedicated to their work. Even if they were drunk, they insisted on going to work and refused to go back to rest. Zhang Da also casually said hello to them and left the guardhouse.
"Let's ask the flag demon to check the situation inside the guardhouse at night." Zhang Da also said to Ye Yan, at least they have to find out where the labor list and keys are.
Ye Yan nodded. It was too easy for the flag monster to sneak in at night by mist. According to Altria's perception, there was no one who could fight here, so naturally no one could detect the flag monster sneaking in.
Rui Mengmeng asked: "What should we do next?"
Zhang Da also said, "Let's go to the construction site and study how to separate the criminals from the ordinary people. If we want to save people, we have to wait until the transport ship arrives tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."
As for where to send these people next, Zhang Da has already thought about it. He will let them go to the island of Frost Moon Village. The area there is large enough and there is more than one village called Frost Moon Village.
The most important thing is that the island does not seem to be under the jurisdiction of the World Government, or the jurisdiction is very weak. Even Dragon once took the people rescued by the Revolutionary Army from the Goa Kingdom to go there for supplies.
At that time, those who are willing to go home can find a way to go home, and those who are unwilling to go back can also build another village. With Koshiro's character and strength, he should be able to help these people settle down, and there is no need to worry about them causing trouble.
Of course, we have to find a way to cover up these people's whereabouts and not let the pursuers find them easily. The most important thing is not to harm Koshiro's family just because of a whim, so we have to be cautious.
The construction site is some distance away from here, so Zhang Da also took out a magic weapon - Tom's classic car.
Because the seats were not big enough, Tom built a cart bed on the spot and connected it to the back so that everyone could get on.
"Are you sure this thing won't fall apart?" Ye Yan looked at the old car that looked older than his grandfather, his eyes full of doubt. It would be better to call a Chaos Beast or a Shark Giant to get around than to ride this thing.
"Let's give it a try first. I've never taken it out since I drew it. Anyway, I won't die from the fall. Get in the car!" Zhang Da also excitedly sat in the driving seat and squeezed the old-fashioned horn, making a 'beep' sound.
Others got into the truck with curious looks on their faces. They might have seen cars before, but they had definitely never seen such a classic style.
Zhang Da also held the steering wheel with both hands and shouted happily: "Old driver, start the car!"
Then he was dumbfounded. How did the car start?
Finally it was Tom who took over and successfully started the old car.
I don’t know whether Tom had forgotten the sad past or the incident had not happened yet, but when he saw the car, he didn’t feel sad at all. Instead, he happily acted as the driver.
Ta-da! Snap! Bang! Crunch! Crunch!...
This is the sound made by the car when it is "driving normally". Every time the sound is made, the car body will undergo an exaggerated deformation. Tom's body will bounce up and down with the driver's seat, but he is driving very happily.
The strange thing is that the people sitting in the back truck didn't feel any bumps at all. They saw the old car in front of them almost had its wheels flying off, but the truck in the back was not hurt at all, and the driving speed was not slow at all.
Xia Lulu raised her hands to cover her ears and complained, "It's so noisy, is this car going to explode suddenly?"
Wendy fanned her nose with her hands. "And there's a bad smell."
Perona asked dissatisfiedly: "Why do you have to use this means of transportation? I just saw that the body of the car and the four wheels were separated! It feels so dangerous."
Brooke asked curiously, "Yohohoho~ Is this the same tool as the Sea Train? It feels like the noise is even louder than the Sea Train."
Altria didn't think anything of it, and even wanted to try opening it herself.
"I just think this car is fun. I'll get a better car to take you next time." Zhang Daye also has a sports car in his hand, which is the one driven by Tom's nemesis, the black cat Butch. It is a super-long red sports car that can crush classic cars into small pancakes. He plans to take it out for a ride next time.
It took Tom nearly an hour to drive before they arrived near the construction site.
The scene here was completely different from that in the guardhouse just now. Countless laborers were shouting slogans while dragging huge stones with ropes. Everyone was wearing the same style of prison uniform with their own number written on it.
In addition to the scaffolding, there are also several tower cranes fixed near the bridge head under construction.
Zhang Da also rubbed his eyes to make sure he was not seeing things, it was a tower crane.
Every few meters there would be a guard holding a long whip urging people on, and anyone who moved slowly would be whipped immediately.
Everyone felt a little reluctant when watching this scene, but they refrained from taking action immediately because Zhang Da had specifically warned them against it.
As they approached the construction site, the thudding sounds caught the attention of the guards.
"What are you doing?" The guard was only concerned about the identities of Zhang Daye and the others, and did not show any surprise about the old car.
Zhang Daye quickly got out of the car and took out various certificates to explain his background.
"Tour group?" The man looked at the certificate issued by his own people and his attitude became better. He wondered, "What's so good about this kind of hellhole? It's nothing more than working, and when you die, your name will be crossed out and thrown into the sea... Do you want me to lend you a whip to play with? Anyway, some of the old guys won't live for a few more days."
"No, we're just taking a look." Zhang Da also made up an excuse, "I heard that this is a seven hundred year old project, and many vicious criminals have been tamed by you, so I'm a little curious."
"Hahaha, that's true. No matter how vicious the criminal is, he will be obedient here!" The guard seemed very proud of this. "See that guy, No. 9527, he's a murderer from the Grand Line. And that big guy, he originally had a bounty of 8 million!"
"Hiss~" Zhang Da also took a breath of cold air.
The guard thought he was frightened . In fact, Zhang Da was indeed a little surprised. He didn't expect that the prisoners from the Grand Line would be sent here specially, nor did he expect to meet an acquaintance by such a coincidence.
That's right, the one who offered the 8 million bounty was none other than 'Machete' Sword, who helped Zhang Daye and Tom obtain the initial capital for their business in this world.
Is this considered meeting an old friend in a foreign land?
After not seeing this big brother for more than half a year, Zhang Da looked much more haggard. For a moment, he even felt a little emotional. At that time, he could only rely on Tom to beat him. Now, Zhang Da said that he was being modest when he said he could beat ten of them.
As for the one with a reward of 500,000, he could be considered an acquaintance. Zhang Da also remembered that his name should be Hyde. He was the first bounty criminal recognized by Shark Chili after he used the sleep learning function for the first time and relied on the recognition function.
He couldn't remember how much the bounty was, but he was still a person who contributed to his plan to save money at the time.
If these two are here, does it mean that other pirates captured by him may also appear here?
Zhang Da also calculated that he had captured few well-known pirates from Shampoo to the East China Sea, but there were about three to four hundred unknown bounty criminals and pirate minions. Could it be that one tenth of these three thousand laborers were familiar faces?
"Are there any devil fruit users here?" Zhang Daya asked casually as he hadn't seen the familiar red nose yet.
"A person with special abilities? How is that possible?" The guard was much more knowledgeable than the average East China Sea person. He said, "People with special abilities will be sent to the Deep Sea Prison. If you want to see it, I'm afraid you won't have the chance."
Zhang Da also continued to ask: "What kind of prisoners would be sent here? An 8 million bounty is already very high in the East China Sea, right? Aren't you worried that they will cause trouble?"
"As for the bounty on the criminal, the maximum will not exceed 10 million Baileys. Don't worry about him causing trouble. Just give him a rice ball a day as long as he doesn't starve to death. Even if he causes trouble, it doesn't matter."
After answering the question seriously, the guard did not forget to brag about himself: "There was once a prisoner with a bounty of more than 9 million Baileys who refused to obey the rules. I kicked him down with one kick and gave him a good beating."
"This sir is so strong. He only needs one move to kill a pirate with a bounty of nearly 10 million. He is absolutely my idol!" Ye Yan might have been too engrossed in persuading him to drink just now, so he just praised him.
"Haha, you're really good at talking." The guard was so happy that he almost lost his mind. He casually threw the whip in his hand to Ye Yan, "Okay, go wherever you want to visit. If you see any laborer you don't like, just whip him. If you dare to resist, come to me and I'll hang him up for you to beat!"
"Thank you, idol! Please give me an autograph!"
"Over there, don't be lazy!" The guard was about to continue to supervise and yelled, but when he heard Ye Yan's words, he immediately turned around and smiled brightly in a second, "No problem! Where is the signature?"
"Just the cuffs, so that I can see the words of my idol anytime." Ye Yan's expression was so sincere that the word "admiration" was almost written on his face.
…
After getting away from the guards, Zhang Da also complained: "Why are you so exaggerated? Did you secretly learn hypnosis?"
Ye Yan had a smile on his face, showing that he had successfully acted like a fan: "It's just basic acting. It's also part of performance art. It's easy to pretend to be a fanatical fan."
Before anyone could say anything, Shark Chili said, "Boss Tatsuya, there are indeed quite a few familiar faces here."
After walking around the construction site, he saw more than a dozen small bounty criminals that had been caught before. They probably recognized Shark Chili, but they didn't dare to distract themselves and say anything.
Zhang Da nodded as well. He recognized a few of them. “Should we say these people are pitiful or do they deserve it? ”
