Chapter 1449: A small kerfuffle

"Ning? NING!!" Tony shouted over the rowdy noise of the bar, trying to catch Ning's attention.

"What?" Ning asked, looking a little unfocused. "Sorry, did you say something?"

"Yes," Tony said. "What's up? If you are still tired, we can go back to the hotel."

"Oh, no. I was just paying attention elsewhere. Something dangerous had come up and I had to be ready to act at once if I was needed to," he said.

"What? What danger?" Tony asked.

"Nothing you should concern yourself with. It's all fine," Ning said, glad that the two youngsters had run away safely on their own. He hadn't expected Tim to do what he had done, but maybe he had been underestimating the man.

He was the same person who got himself onboard a treasure-hunting ship after all.

"I was asking, why did we come to this place in the first place," Tony said. "There has to be a reason. Surely you didn't bring us here for no reason."

"Yes, I brought you all here for no reason," Ning said with a smile. "Well, no reason would be a lie. I brought the other two here so they could experience the city. You could have stayed on the submarine if you wanted to."

"I wonder if I should have," Tony said with a small sigh as he took a swig of the expensive liquor in front of him.

"So you have absolutely no plan for the next 2 days?" Tony asked.

"Nope, none," Ning said. "But I expect something to pop up to help me from my boredom. It always does."

"Is that so?" Tony asked.

An older woman with a large body walked by their table with a plate full of empty glasses. "Do you young lads need a refill?" she asked.

"No, thank you," Tony said.

"I can use a refill," Ning said. "Alright, coming right up," the woman said and walked away.

"You're drinking too much, I'll say. Aren't you worried about being too drunk in this place?" Tony asked.

"I wish," Ning said. "The last time I got drunk was... wow, it was all the way back when I had first arrived in the Glacien continent, back in Astoria."

"What? Where is that?" Tony asked.

"You wouldn't know," Ning said. "Let's just say it's been ages since I got drunk in any fashion."

"You don't get drunk very often or you just need a lot?" Tony asked.

"My body's metabolism is just that high," Ning said.

The woman came by and refilled his drink and Tony accepted his refill as well.

"You boys might want to drink quickly or move your seats when you can. This whole area will be taken over by Redfist's men soon enough," she said as she walked away.

"Oh, let's move," Tony said.

"No, we'll stay here," Ning said. "Maybe we'll find some entertainment after all. Who knows?" It was completely dark on the outside when a bunch of men walked into the bar. They were all rowdy and crass, and wore some sort of red ribbon either around their arms or around their forehead, signifying that they were members of the Redfist Pirates. People started standing up and moving away. Tony saw that and looked at Ning. "We should really move," he said in a whisper.

Ning shook his head. "If you are scared, you can move. I will stay behind."

Tony hesitated for a moment, looking around, and saw the Redfist pirates coming right their way. He thought for a moment as to everything he had seen in the past 24 hours and sighed. He decided to stay at the table with Ning.

The pirates started sitting throughout the open bar, while a bunch of them arrived next to Ning.

"Move," a short guy with gelled-up hair and a metal ring in his eyebrow said said and sat on the free chair, while the others walked around. A few more sat on the other 2 free chairs, with 2 remaining standing, waiting for Ning and Tony to leave, only for them to have to continue standing up.

"Did you not hear me?" the man with the metal ring spoke up.

"I did," Ning said, taking another sip from his glass. "There are other tables to sit in the bar. You can go there."

"This is where we sit," the man said, pulling out his pistol, and pointing it toward Ning. "You have two seconds."

"Go ahead, shoot me," Ning said.

"Alright, die." The man pulled the trigger, only for the trigger to not work. He tried forcing it, but the trigger wouldn't budge at all. As he tried to figure out what was happening, he felt the gun wrestle in his hands.

He tried to keep a hold of it but found it hard to keep holding it. The gun slowly turned in his hand.

"What's happening? What are you doing?" the man cried while trying to keep the gun from pointing toward him.

He did his best, but the gun still slowly turned. "Is this you? Bastard, are you doing this to me?" the man asked while using both hands to keep the gun from turning.

"Someone, kill him already," he shouted, and the men beside him came out of their stunned expression and pointed their guns toward Ning.

Tony lowered his head to dodge, but Ning did nothing. The guns simply crunched on their own, the metal shrinking like dried fruit.

Everyone immediately moved backward, and the single gun that was still fine snapped straight toward the man who held it. He stood up and moved backward as well.

"Man, don't—"

The gunshot.

Blood sprayed everywhere at once as the man fell to the ground. Tony's eyes widened in shock and horror as he couldn't believe Ning just shot a man in the head.

The man cried out in pain. 'He's not dead?' Tony thought.

Ning looked at the man on the ground with a large gash on his forehead where the bullet had torn off his metal ring.

"You still wanna fight? Or will you move somewhere else?"