"Hahaha, you three little gluttons. Alright, eat up!"
Amon gave the go-ahead.
Instantly, the three of them attacked the food with both hands, devouring it like starving wolves.
"Mmm! So good, it smells amazing!"
"It's so fragrant. I can't believe burned rice can taste this good after being processed!"
"Mmm mmm mmm... it's too delicious!"
As they ate, they could not stop praising Amon's crispy rice crust.
That made Amon genuinely happy. As a cook, nothing felt better than seeing others eat with joy.
"Mr. Amon, you're not eating?"
Nojiko asked curiously while stuffing food into her mouth, noticing Amon sitting to the side without moving.
"I'm not hungry. Nami and I already ate on the ship earlier. You three go ahead."
As he spoke, Amon gently rubbed Nojiko's light purple hair.
Honestly, Nojiko was only about two years older than Nami, yet she was far more mature.
She really did carry herself like an older sister, sensible even from a young age.
"Whaaat, Nami! So you already ate, and you're still fighting us for food!"
Nojiko shouted, accusing her dramatically.
"You're too sneaky!"
"Careful you don't grow into a big fat pig!"
"Like I would!"
Little Nami immediately shot back, still chewing as she spoke.
"I'm growing. Eating more helps development, I'm not going to get fat!"
"Besides, I ran all the way back. My stomach got hungry again!"
Despite her age, Nami's mouth was sharp. She was way better at arguing than Nojiko.
"Hahahaha... Nami, you really are a little glutton."
Bell-mère and Nojiko could not help laughing at her righteous, shameless logic.
"Oh, right, I almost forgot."
After she was about seventy or eighty percent full, Bell-mère finally stopped eating, leaving the remaining food for her two little gluttons.
Then she turned to Amon with curiosity.
"Nami told me you want to buy our orange trees?"
"There is that plan."
Amon nodded. After Bell-mère mentioned it, he remembered the real purpose again.
He still had not sold a single Jar.
He needed to start pitching properly. He nearly forgot his actual job, which was not acceptable at all.
"Mmm mmm, Bell-mère."
Little Nami stopped eating too, lifting her head.
"Mr. Amon said he wants to trade his magical Jars for our orange trees!"
"He said if we open his Jar, the oranges in Cocoyasi Village, the ones ruined by the weather, can improve in quality!"
"And he said his amazing cooking skills came from a Jar too!"
"If Bell-mère could open cooking skills as good as Mr. Amon's, then we'd be blessed forever!"
Little Nami poured out everything Amon had "sold" her earlier, word for word.
"A magical Jar?"
"Something that can improve orange quality?"
Bell-mère gasped.
Their entire family relied on the orange grove behind the house to survive. Recently, because of the quality problem, their oranges could not be sold at all.
That forced them to live harshly, scraping by every day. The whole village depended on selling oranges for money.
If the oranges could not be sold, then a year of effort turned into nothing, and they would still have to endure another year with no harvest.
Bell-mère had been drowning in worry because of that. That was why she had slapped Nami in anger earlier.
And now...
It felt like misfortune had turned into unexpected fortune.
Nami had brought back a strange man, a true miracle.
He had not only defeated Arlong's crew and saved the entire village, he was now saying he could revive their orange grove too.
Bell-mère was so surprised she almost did not know how to react.
"Yes."
Amon nodded calmly.
He understood the Jar's wonders better than anyone.
All kinds of absurd items could be drawn from them. Something to improve orange quality should definitely exist.
As he spoke, Amon pulled out several Jars from his storage space.
"Only one hundred thousand Beli to open one."
"Since I already made an agreement with Nami to buy a batch of orange trees for the ship, the first one can be offset."
Before coming here, he had already planned it. He would just take the needed amount from the Beli he earned earlier and hand it to the system later.
"By the way, Bell-mère, are you willing to trade orange trees for one magical Jar?"
That was why they had come back here in the first place.
They had simply run into Arlong's crew and handled it on the way.
Then dinner happened, and the topic got delayed.
Now that everyone was full, Amon finally brought it up again.
After all, even he had to make a living.
"Yes, yes, of course!"
Bell-mère could not possibly refuse.
By rights, she should have given Amon the orange trees for free. After all, he saved their whole family.
But she also desperately wanted to know what could be opened from the Jar, so she did not bring up giving them away.
Because she truly wanted their orange quality to improve. If that happened, she would no longer worry about whether her family could eat.
"Alright, then it's settled."
Amon smiled.
"By the way, Nami, which one do you want?"
"We're opening a Jar?"
Nami's eyes lit up. She reluctantly put down her bowl and chopsticks, then stared at the Jars Amon had taken out.
Nojiko also watched, equally curious. It all sounded unbelievably magical.
"Mr. Amon, give me the orange-colored one!"
She had a special love for orange. She spotted an orange-colored Jar right away and immediately chose it.
"The orange one? Sure."
Amon nodded and picked out the orange Jar from the pile.
"Mr. Amon, how do I open it?"
"It's simple. Just smash it."
Amon smiled and pulled out a small wooden mallet he carried with him.
"Here. Use this, Nami."
"Like this?"
Little Nami flicked her orange hair, then lifted the mallet and swung it down hard at the Jar.
Clang!
With one loud hit, the Jar cracked open on the spot.
And in the eager, burning stares of the three mother-daughter figures...
The items inside fell out.
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