Inside the dining hall of the huge merchant ship.
At that moment, the place was unusually busy. Every chef had been put to work, preparing food in a flurry.
Even so, they still could not keep up with the boy sitting in the center, who was devouring plate after plate of freshly prepared food like a bottomless pit, shoving it all straight into his stomach.
The pink-haired boy beside him seemed much gentler by comparison.
The surrounding crew watched the scene with curiosity and unease.
In a small room not far away, Merry said nervously, "Miss Nami, are you sure this is really all right? You heard him just now, didn't you? That guy is a pirate... Is it really okay to just let him stay on the ship like this?"
"It's fine!"
Nami narrowed her eyes slightly, looking completely confident.
"Just look at how dumb he is. He's only a little rookie pirate who just set out to sea, and he's already talking about becoming the Pirate King..."
"Then why do you want to keep them here?"
Merry could not understand.
Nami's eyes immediately turned sly. She pointed at Luffy, the boy in the straw hat, and said, "Hehehe. You saw it too, right? That straw-hat boy named Luffy is a Devil Fruit user. He may look stupid, but there's no such thing as a weak Devil Fruit user. Isn't it great to have a free bodyguard like that? We don't have to pay him. We just have to feed him..."
Merry was stunned by Nami's plan. Then he said with an awkward expression, "Miss Nami, you look rather cunning right now... If Miss Bell-mère saw you like this..."
"Don't ruin the mood with that right now. Just tell me what you think of the idea."
"Uh... It's excellent. But can it really work?"
"Relax. Leave it to me."
With that, Nami walked out confidently. Under everyone's gaze, she came before the two boys who were still eating.
Both of them looked at her, but Luffy still did not stop eating. He only stared blankly at Nami. The pink-haired boy, on the other hand, stopped and spoke very politely.
"Thank you, Miss Nami. You saved us! My name is Koby. You saved both me and Mr. Luffy. Thank you so much."
After saying that, Koby saw that Luffy was still happily eating and quickly tugged at him.
"Mr. Luffy, stop eating for a moment. You need to thank Miss Nami for saving us."
"Oh!"
With his mouth stuffed full of meat, Luffy mumbled unclearly.
"Mmph mmph mmph..."
"Mr. Luffy, you have to be polite when saying thank you!"
Koby immediately grew anxious, but fortunately, Nami did not care. Instead, she became even more convinced that Luffy was just a fool who wanted to become the Pirate King.
So her eyes lit up, and a hint of slyness entered her gaze.
"So, Luffy, Koby, you two are pirates, right...?"
Before Nami could finish, Koby spoke up from the side.
"Um, no, Miss Nami. Only Mr. Luffy is a pirate. I'm not..."
That left Nami a little confused.
"Then what are you two...?"
"Well, it's like this..."
Koby then explained that two years ago, when he had gone out to sea to fish, he had boarded the wrong ship by mistake and ended up on the Alvida Pirates' ship. He was forced to become a temporary worker on board. Then Luffy appeared, defeated Alvida, and saved him. After that, they had planned to take him to the nearest Marine base, but because they had no navigator, they ran into a storm and were shipwrecked.
"That's what happened. If it weren't for you, Miss Nami, Mr. Luffy and I would probably be dead by now."
After hearing Koby's story, everyone around them looked at Koby speechlessly, then stared in surprise at the straw-hat boy before them.
"Hey, did I hear that right?"
"This kid actually beat Alvida...?"
"That's a great pirate with a bounty of 5 million Belly..."
While Nami was surprised, she instead turned her gaze to Koby, her expression darkening.
"I see. So you want to become a Marine?"
At that moment, Koby clearly heard something wrong in Nami's tone. She seemed very much against his desire to become a Marine.
Still, he answered carefully, "Yes, Miss Nami. I want to become a Marine, fight pirates, and protect everyone. Is there something wrong with that?"
What answered him was Nami's disdainful snort beneath her lowered gaze.
"How naive. Only an idiot like you would believe in things like Marines fighting pirates."
"Huh?!"
Nami's sudden words stunned everyone.
Only Merry seemed to understand something and sighed.
Nami did not want to say more. She raised her head and said, "Hmph. You'll understand soon enough. But we didn't save you for free. Besides, whether you want to become a Marine or a pirate, you can't do anything without your own ship, right?"
Koby froze, and Luffy also stopped eating, looking at Nami curiously.
Then Nami returned to that sly expression and said, "So let's make a deal. We're a merchant ship from Syrup Village. Next, we'll be sailing around the East Blue to purchase all kinds of goods. During that time, you can stay on our ship, and we'll provide food and lodging. But in exchange, you have to accept our employment. We don't keep idle people around. Until you find your own ship and leave, how about it? Will you agree?"
"Huh!"
Koby was shocked. He had just escaped the suffering of the Alvida Pirates, and now he had fallen into another trap.
But just then, Luffy, who seemed to have finally eaten his fill, slowly rubbed his stomach and smiled innocently.
"No problem. I agree!"
That surprised Koby, and he asked in confusion, "Why, Mr. Luffy? Didn't you say you were going to the Grand Line to find ONE PIECE?"
Luffy smiled without a care.
"That's right. But before that, I need to find some strong crewmates."
Koby immediately understood what Luffy meant.
That was true. One person alone could not possibly enter the Grand Line. At the very least, he would need a navigator.
Seeing that her scheme had succeeded, Nami smiled and said, "Then it's settled!"
"Yeah, it's settled!"
Luffy smiled back.
At that moment, Nami finally let go of the worry that had been weighing on her heart.
In truth, the reason she had taken such a huge risk by letting a pirate become this ship's bodyguard was that they were about to pass through a very dangerous stretch of sea.
Since this dumb-looking straw-hat boy could defeat Alvida, then dealing with that guy should not be a problem either...