"Ahahaha..."
"Look, look! I caught one! What a huge fish!"
"It's going to taste amazing grilled!"
They were still on the deck at the bow. Nami was sunbathing in a sexy outfit, but the veins that kept popping on her forehead made it obvious she was barely holding back her anger.
Not far from her, up on the mast at the bow, Luffy held a fishing rod with an excited look on his face, yelling nonstop.
At last, Nami couldn't take it anymore.
"Quiet down!"
"Bonk, bonk..."
They had only known each other for a few days, but this idiot's overly familiar, airheaded nature had already made Nami stop treating him like a stranger. She gave Luffy two solid punches right on the head.
"I'm sorry..."
Luffy obediently crouched on the deck and apologized.
Beside him, Koby swallowed nervously at Nami's devilish expression.
"Miss Nami is so scary..."
"Hm!?"
One look from Nami was enough to shut Koby up.
But in the end, Luffy and Koby still won.
Too angry to keep up her ladylike act, Nami clutched her head and gave in.
"Fine... fine... go ahead and play. I'm going inside to rest."
With that, Nami dragged herself back into the cabin.
She was seriously starting to regret letting those two on board.
Outside, with Nami gone, Luffy started going wild again.
Koby wanted to say something, but knowing Luffy's personality, all he could do was watch him fool around.
Fortunately, Merry had heard the commotion outside and came over to the two of them.
Koby quickly greeted him politely.
"Mr. Merry!"
Merry smiled gently. By now, he fully agreed with what Nami had said. This Straw Hat Luffy, who claimed he wanted to become the pirate king, was just a completely childish guy. Because of that, Merry was not worried at all. If anything, he admired him as he said, "Don't take it to heart. Miss Nami may have a sharp tongue, but she's softhearted. Deep down, she's a very gentle girl."
Luffy did not seem to care at all. Koby, however, seemed to think of something and asked curiously, "Um, Mr. Merry, Miss Nami doesn't seem to like the Marines very much."
The question caught Merry off guard. After thinking for a moment, he looked at the boy before him, who dreamed of becoming a Marine, and said, "That has to do with Miss Nami's past. Did you know? Miss Nami's mother was actually a Marine. She was transferred from the Marine Headquarters in the Grand Line to the East Blue!"
"Huh?!"
Koby was shocked.
"Strictly speaking, under Bell-mère's upbringing, Miss Nami should have become a Marine herself. But some of the things she saw had the opposite effect on Bell-mère's teachings. Especially after Bell-mère retired from the Marines. A Marine Captain nicknamed Nezumi came to the area around Miss Nami's Orange Town, and that man did every evil thing imaginable. Even Bell-mère couldn't do anything about him. On top of that, after Miss Nami became a navigator, she saw plenty of Marines abusing their power all over the East Blue, so..."
"What?!"
Koby could hardly believe it.
In his mind, the Marines had always represented justice.
But he also knew Mr. Merry would not lie to him about something like this.
Seeing his reaction, Merry smiled faintly.
"As you travel with our ship from now on, you'll see many things you never saw before. Wherever there's profit involved, plenty of rats will crawl out once they catch the scent..."
Just then, a cheer rang out beside them.
"Hey, I caught another one!"
The two looked over and saw Luffy happily yanking a large blue fish out of the sea.
It was as if Luffy had not paid attention to a single word of their conversation from beginning to end.
Seeing that, Merry looked at the pure-hearted boy. After a brief moment of surprise, he smiled.
"Leave that fish to me. I'll ask the ship's cook to prepare it."
"Really? Thank you!"
Luffy's eyes sparkled with gratitude.
Koby looked utterly helpless.
At that moment, Merry suddenly thought of something and said, "Mr. Luffy, you're looking for strong companions, aren't you?"
"Mm... mm..."
Luffy nodded.
Merry continued, "Then you're in luck. On the island we're about to stop at, there's a very powerful man. He's a swordsman who's become famous over the past few years, and his name is Roronoa Zoro!"
"Awesome!"
Luffy's eyes lit up at once.
"Don't celebrate too soon, Mr. Luffy. First, that swordsman is a pirate hunter, and you're a pirate. Second, there's also a Marine base where he is. The man in charge there is quite well-known throughout the East Blue. He's Captain Morgan, the Marine Captain who captured the great pirate Hundred Plans Kuro."
Luffy did not care about the Marines at all. Instead, he seemed even more excited about the pirate hunter.
"Oh, then let's go!"
But as the merchant ship gradually approached those waters, Koby could clearly feel everyone growing tense.
A day later, when a warship blocked their path, he finally understood why.
...
"Miss Nami, who is that guy?"
Inside the cabin, Koby looked through the window at the arrogant blond playboy in a suit boarding the deck under the protection of the Marines, then asked Nami and Merry curiously.
Nami's expression was ugly, her face filled with disgust.
Merry answered instead.
"That's the son of Captain Morgan. His name is Helmeppo, and he's a spoiled playboy."
"Is he boarding the ship for an inspection?"
Koby was a little nervous. After all, Luffy was a pirate.
Merry shook his head and sighed.
"No."
Before Merry could finish, Koby understood.
Outside, he saw a crew member bring out a chest of treasure and place it in front of the playboy.
The playboy named Helmeppo's eyes lit up immediately. Satisfied, he had the Marines behind him take it, then swaggered off the ship.
Seeing that, Merry let out a sigh of relief.
"We can dock now. But you and Mr. Luffy should still..."
Merry realized something was wrong before he could finish speaking, because there seemed to be one person missing from their side.
"Eh... where did Mr. Luffy go..."
Before anyone could react, a cheer came from outside.
"Ahaha..."
Then they saw Luffy's figure fly across the sky.
Koby panicked at once.
"Wait, Mr. Luffy!"
Koby hurried after him, leaving Nami and Merry looking at each other.
"Um, should we go take a look, Miss Nami...?"
"Forget it... I don't want to see that disgusting guy. I'd rather use the time to get some beauty sleep..."
With that, Nami turned around and went back to sleep, leaving Merry staring blankly at the island gradually appearing outside.