“It was Arlong.”
Rook grinned.
Nami’s pretty brows immediately knitted together.
“That bastard wouldn’t go around advertising my abilities, would he?”
“Idiot.”
Rook sighed lightly.
“Talent can be extremely important in this world.”
“Take Fish-Men, for example. They can survive freely in the ocean, and they’re naturally sensitive to changes in currents. They can even interfere with seawater to a limited extent and accomplish things ordinary humans would find incredible.”
Rook looked calmly at the young girl before him, whose beauty was already beginning to emerge.
“Nami, Arlong noticed your talent for navigation when you were only ten years old. That’s why he went out of his way to keep you trapped under his control.”
“He may be scum, but as a Fish-Man, his judgment when it comes to the sea isn’t bad.”
Nami’s face immediately darkened.
She glared at Rook through gritted teeth.
“So if I didn’t have this talent for navigation, you wouldn’t have chosen to face those bastards with me?”
Rook was rendered speechless.
Was this some innate female talent for twisting a question into a trap?
It was basically the same as asking whether he’d save his mother or his wife first if both fell into the water.
So—
“If you didn’t have that talent, you’d probably still be back in your hometown struggling just to survive.”
“We might never even have met.”
“If you were just an ordinary person, Arlong probably wouldn’t have bothered making that agreement with you in the first place.”
“And without navigation skills, if you tried sailing out to sea alone, you might not even survive for a few days.”
Hearing such brutally straightforward logic, Nami’s mouth twitched.
“You really have a unique way of looking at things.”
“But you still didn’t answer my question.”
Rook smiled.
“Fine. Let me put it another way.”
“After leaving the Norton Pirates, I would’ve found an island and trained hard.”
“Once I felt strong enough, I’d have gone out to challenge famous fighters across the sea to gain experience and become stronger.”
“Arlong is one of the most notorious figures in the East Blue.”
“So if I eventually reached your hometown, I would’ve challenged him anyway.”
“And you, Nami, the little village girl with a blood feud against him…”
“If you saw the mighty and handsome me defeat Arlong and avenge your family, wouldn’t you naturally feel grateful?”
“Maybe even admire me?”
“And since you’re such a kind and beautiful girl, you’d probably insist on thanking me…”
“And eventually offer yourself up for free.”
At that point, Rook burst out laughing.
Nami’s face instantly turned red with anger.
Her expression transformed into a furious shark-like grimace.
“WHO WOULD OFFER THEMSELVES TO YOU, YOU SHAMELESS BASTARD?!”
“I knew it!”
“You never had good intentions toward me!”
“Men really are all perverts!”
“If a man isn’t interested in women, is he still a man?”
Rook asked back.
Nami choked on her words and angrily turned her face away.
A few seconds later—
Even she couldn’t hold it in anymore.
She burst out laughing.
Tears appeared at the corners of her eyes as she glared at Rook.
“You really are a bad person.”
Yet for some reason, the heaviness buried deep in her heart seemed to be gradually fading.
Nami looked toward the magnificent glow of sunset at the horizon.
Beautiful as it was, it also signaled the coming darkness.
Something seemed to cross her mind.
Unease returned to her orange eyes.
She sat down and hugged her knees, then looked up into Rook’s eyes.
“When I was ten…”
“When Arlong took me away, I screamed for help.”
“The people in the village grabbed weapons and tried to save me.”
“But the Fish-Men crushed them almost instantly.”
“A man who’s like a father to me nearly died right there.”
“From that moment on, I decided I wouldn’t cry anymore.”
“I wouldn’t expect anyone else to come and save me.”
“People die when they resist them.”
Nami looked at him.
“Rook…”
“You’re not going to die, right?”
Rook saw the fear buried deep in her eyes.
With a helpless expression, he placed a hand on her head and gently rubbed her hair.
“Ever heard the saying that good people die young while villains live forever?”
“I’m not exactly a good person.”
“So I’m not dying that easily.”
“Besides, I value my life.”
“I’m not going to do something I have no confidence in surviving.”
Nami relaxed slightly.
Feeling the warmth of Rook’s palm against her head brought her a strange sense of peace.
It was different from the comfort even her sister Nojiko could give her.
After a while, Nami slowly exhaled and looked up at him.
“I have to return to Cocoyasi Village in about half a month.”
“Are you planning to come with me?”
“Their base is right beside Cocoyasi Village.”
“So what I was thinking is that I could drop you off at another nearby town first.”
“Maybe Gosa Village. It’s not too far east of our village.”
“Once I’m finished, I’ll come find you.”
“Until we’re confident we can defeat them, they absolutely cannot know you exist.”
“What do you think?”
There was a faint plea in Nami’s eyes.
Rook nodded.
“That’s fine.”
“But isn’t there anywhere I can stay in your village?”
Nami pursed her lips.
“Fish-Men often wander through the village.”
“If they discover you, it could cause unnecessary problems.”
Then she glanced at Rook and hesitated before saying,
“Actually…”
“My house is outside the village, in a secluded forest to the east.”
“Only my sister Nojiko lives there.”
“If you don’t mind, you could stay at our house temporarily.”
“I usually go home at night.”
“Because of me, Arlong’s people normally don’t bother that place.”
“But if you stay there, you can’t wander around the village during the day.”
“Fine.”
Rook smiled.
Then he asked,
“Are there forests on your island?”
“Any large wild animals?”
Nami looked confused, but nodded.
“Yes.”
“Our village is in the Conomi Islands.”
“There are more than twenty villages and towns scattered across the archipelago, and they’re all under Arlong’s control now.”
“The island Cocoyasi Village is on is fairly large.”
“Beyond the mountains behind the village is a deep forest with all kinds of wild animals.”
“Why are you asking?”
“Training.”
Rook answered naturally.
“During the day, I’ll go deep into the mountains and fight wild animals.”
“I’ll come back at night and bring some meat for you and Nojiko too.”
Nami’s mouth opened slightly.
Rook smiled and patted her head.
“Where exactly are we right now?”
“How long will it take to get back to Cocoyasi?”
Rook himself had only a vague understanding of their current location.
“You asked the right person.”
Nami’s lips curved upward confidently.
“We’re currently in the Barbata Sea.”
“If we follow this route, we should pass the Goa Kingdom in about two days.”
“After that, we’ll pass through the waters near Marine 153rd Branch.”
“From there, it’ll take roughly another ten days to reach Cocoyasi Village.”
As Nami spoke fluently about their route, the corner of Rook’s eye twitched.
He tilted his head and looked at her.
“You really know how to travel.”
“You sailed this far all by yourself?”
“Weren’t you scared at all?”
Nami paused.
A few seconds later, she answered helplessly,
“I finished charting the waters around the Conomi Islands a long time ago.”
“If I wanted to keep producing maps for them, I had no choice but to travel farther away.”
“But I’m not stupid either.”
“I never sailed toward the more dangerous waters near Reverse Mountain.”
“I only went to places that weren’t too dangerous.”
“Barbarian Island wasn’t dangerous?”
Rook asked.
“That place is literally lawless.”
Nami turned her face away.
She muttered quietly,
“It was a little dangerous…”
“But you can make money quickly there.”
Flick!
Rook snapped a finger against her smooth forehead.
A red mark immediately appeared.
“Ouch!”
Nami covered her forehead and glared at him.
“Why did you hit me?!”
“My freedom.”
Rook smiled.
“All right, stop being angry.”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to become stronger?”
“I’ll start by teaching you a breathing method that can help regulate your physical condition.”
“After that, I’ll teach you some basic exercises that train the entire body.”
“Really?”
“What did you think I meant?”
“It’s not completely dark yet.” This chapter is updated first at g.com.
“We might as well start your foundation training now.”
Nami’s eyes lit up.
For the first time, she had begun to feel genuine confidence in the future.
She immediately sat upright and entered a focused learning state.
Rook’s Proficient in Hand-to-Hand Combat was more than enough to teach a complete beginner like Nami.
He didn’t begin by immediately teaching her fighting stances.
Instead, he first introduced the fundamental principles and slowly demonstrated different forms of basic combat movement.
Footwork.
Punches.
Kicks.
Throws.
Grappling.
Rook demonstrated each in sequence.
After watching him perform two slow, smooth sequences that were almost aesthetically pleasing, Nami stared at him excitedly.
“Are you going to teach me those fighting techniques now?”
“You’re thinking too far ahead.”
Rook shook his head.
“I need to understand your physical condition first.”
“We’ll start with basic conditioning exercises.”
He had her begin with ordinary push-ups.
Rook’s sharp eyes carefully observed her coordination and how each part of her body moved.
Nami adapted quickly.
She wasn’t merely intelligent.
She was light, flexible, and agile.
Years of stealing had also given her excellent observational ability.
A short while later—
Rook realized that ordinary conditioning exercises posed almost no difficulty for her.
“Good.”
“I’ve got a rough understanding of your physical condition.”
“But push-ups alone don’t tell me enough.”
“Since ordinary exercises aren’t difficult for you…”
“Let’s raise the difficulty.”
“Starting now, forget normal push-ups.”
“We’re going to do something more interesting.”
Rook paused.
Then Rook smiled.
“Come on.”
“Follow me.”
And so—
Rook began increasing the difficulty.
Tuck push-ups.
Walking planks.
One-arm handstand push-ups.
Handstand tiger-pounce push-ups.
Planche push-ups.
Then came human flags.
Pistol squats.
Spider crawls.
L-sit leg raises.
Dragon flags.
Various difficult movements were combined together, allowing almost every muscle group in the body to be trained.
At first, Nami was easily imitating his movements.
But gradually—
Sweat began pouring down her body.
Her breathing became increasingly ragged.
She was exhausted.
Yet not once did she complain.
In terms of sheer resilience, she already surpassed the overwhelming majority of people her age.
Misfortune had surrounded her life.
But it had also forged a will far stronger than ordinary people’s.
Seeing this, Rook smiled faintly.
Then he stopped his own exercises.
“Now I’ll teach you that special breathing method.”
“It’ll help you regulate your body.”
Rook taught carefully.
He even lightly touched several areas of her body to point out places where normal discomfort could occur while practicing the breathing technique.
One taught with complete focus.
The other learned with equal seriousness.
Rook had to admit—
Teaching an intelligent student was genuinely satisfying.
As night fell, the exhausted Nami instructed Rook to lower the sails and drop anchor.
Then they began preparing to rest.
…
Time passed quickly during training.
The two continued sailing while practicing aboard the boat.
Whenever Nami became too tired to continue exercising, she would take out paper and drawing tools and begin surveying and recording the ocean currents along their route.
In the blink of an eye—
Two days passed.
After sailing past the Goa Kingdom, the pair entered the waters near Marine 153rd Branch.
Far across the seemingly endless sea—
Two islands appeared in the distance, separated by only a short stretch of water.