Nami stepped closer and leaned down toward Luffy with a teasing smile, her warm breath brushing against him.
"Just admit it. You're actually pulling all these tricks because you want my attention, aren't you? It's nothing to be embarrassed about. You're not a little kid anymore, after all."
Of course I'm not little!
Luffy took the bait.
He was the man who would become the Pirate King!
"Don't look down on me, Nami!"
"Fine, I'll take the bet! But I'm changing my condition too." Luffy snorted.
"Go ahead."
Nami looked certain of victory.
"Besides the ten million Berries, you have to agree to one condition from me. And you won't be allowed to refuse!"
"A condition I can't refuse?"
Nami's face instantly took on a mixture of understanding and disgust, her eyes looking at him as though he were a piece of garbage.
Guys only ever had those few little thoughts in their heads.
But she couldn't even imagine how she could possibly lose this bet!
"Deal~"
Nami smiled like a blooming flower, radiating the superiority of a victor.
She elegantly stepped aside, pulled out her chair, and sat down. Folding her arms comfortably, she prepared to watch with great interest as her future slave came into existence.
"I'm screwed, I'm screwed..."
Luffy wailed internally.
The fiery passion that had rushed to his head moments ago was instantly extinguished by more than half when he looked at the densely packed medical text in front of him.
The pages were despairingly thick, and the contents were mind-numbingly boring.
Forget memorizing the whole thing in one night.
Just looking at the table of contents made his head spin.
He tried to reassure himself.
Nami sure was agreeing confidently now.
Once she lost, he'd make her cry!
He'd definitely make her draw a hundred more nautical charts.
At that moment, the life-threatening warning sounded sharply inside his head once again.
[Warning: Concentration while studying Medical Knowledge has decreased. Punishment countdown...]
There was absolutely no time left to think about anything else.
"Scurvy is caused by vitamin C deficiency and leads to bleeding gums... fatigue, dehydration, heat exhaustion, seawater is not drinkable... distillation, muscle cramps, electrolytes..."
Ugh.
He seriously felt like throwing up.
How the hell was he supposed to memorize all this in one night?!
[Through diligent study, your Medical Knowledge has increased. Experience +3.]
Time passed quickly.
So quickly that Luffy didn't even have time to care about the bet they'd just made.
He was cramming like there was an exam coming up, his eyes practically glued to the book.
At first, Nami sat beside him and watched.
Since they'd already made a bet, there was no way she'd simply let Luffy keep studying without interference.
So every now and then, she'd stretch out a bare foot and brush it against Luffy to tease him.
She was even willing to resort to what could be called seduction for the first time.
Because even if there was only a one-percent chance of losing, Nami wouldn't allow it to happen.
And yet Luffy treated her like she didn't even exist!
Nami felt rather frustrated and instinctively glanced down at her rounded chest.
Nothing wrong there.
On the paper beside Luffy, a diagram of the human body's structure was gradually taking shape. It was a little crude, but already good enough.
The whole point of studying medicine was to develop his Devil Fruit abilities.
He couldn't lose sight of one goal while pursuing another.
"It's time. Why don't you go eat first?" Nami finally couldn't resist speaking up. "Worst case, I won't count mealtime against you."
Luffy was being far too serious.
He'd practically reached the point of forgetting both food and sleep, completely unaffected by anything around him.
If he kept studying like this, maybe he really did have a chance.
"No."
Luffy shook his head.
Even though saliva was already continuously gathering in his mouth.
He wanted to eat too.
But now wasn't the time for food!
Besides, he'd made practically no progress on his bet with Nami so far.
He hadn't even gotten through ten minutes' worth of material.
What kind of bullshit was this?!
Forget Nami teasing him with her ankle.
Even if she stripped naked and sat in his lap, nothing would change.
Was he seriously going to put on a demonstration of rapid-fire skills right in front of Nami?
Just imagining it made him feel like even if he became the Pirate King someday, he'd never be able to hold his head up in front of Nami for the rest of his life.
But from Nami's perspective, that kind of willpower left her stunned.
She was even gradually starting to feel uneasy.
Could Luffy actually accomplish that impossible condition?
That would be downright inhuman.
Unless Luffy had a photographic memory.
No way!
Luffy himself was practically face-blind, the kind of person who couldn't remember people at all.
Back in Syrup Village, he'd seen someone wearing clothes similar to Zoro's and actually mistaken the guy for Zoro.
And someone like that had a photographic memory?
What kind of joke was that?
It couldn't possibly be that Luffy had been hiding his abilities all this time just for today.
That would completely shatter Nami's entire impression of him.
The speed at which Luffy turned the pages visibly began to slow.
Sometimes mental exertion was just as exhausting as physical exertion.
Luffy's eyelids were already trembling.
He hadn't had a single idle moment all day.
Rest.
Sleep.
Food.
Luffy was dreaming about all three even while awake.
But...
[Warning: Punishment countdown...]
The moment he relaxed even slightly, that shocking punishment came knocking again.