By the time Merry finished speaking, everyone understood just how serious this matter was. They also seemed to understand why Nami hated the Marines so much.
Sanji had known about it for a long time.
Five years ago, when Nami was only thirteen and first traveled around the East Blue aboard a Kaya family merchant ship, she had visited the sea restaurant.
That was when the two of them met.
Later, as Nami's talent for navigation showed itself and her name spread through the East Blue, more and more people invited her to become their navigator. Because of that, Sanji saw her more often, and the two gradually came to know each other better.
"So what do you want me to do now?"
At that moment, Sanji asked the most important question.
Merry did not beat around the bush.
"If possible, I hope you can use your connection with Miss Reiju to help us ask about the Marines, Mr. Sanji. It would be best if Miss Bell-mère and Miss Nami are safe. But if the situation is serious..."
Sanji put out the cigarette in his hand. After thinking for a moment, he nodded.
"I understand. Wait here."
With that, Sanji stood up and took a box from a drawer in the nearby cabinet.
When he opened it, a Den Den Mushi was sitting inside.
As he pressed the call button, a clear ringing sound rang out.
"Ring-ring, ring-ring..."
Under everyone's tense, expectant gazes, it did not take long for an extremely alluring voice to come through the Den Den Mushi.
"How rare, my little Sanji. To think you would actually remember your big sister..."
Sanji's expression froze at once. As if he found it hard to bring himself to speak, he gritted his teeth and said, "There's something I need your help with. It's about a friend of mine... She was taken by the Marines..."
"Oh, you mean that little girl named Nami...?"
The voice from the Den Den Mushi sounded almost as if it had known in advance, startling everyone present.
Sanji's expression changed slightly.
"Have you been spying on me?!"
"How heartbreaking, little Sanji. So in your heart, your big sister is that awful a person?"
"!"
Only then did Sanji realize he had been rather rude, and he apologized.
"I'm sorry!"
"That's more like it. That's my adorable little Sanji."
Perhaps sensing Sanji's slightly stiff expression through the Den Den Mushi, the voice on the other end stopped teasing him.
"All right, enough joking. The reason I know is because someone on your side already came to us asking for information..."
Before everyone could even process those words, another girl's voice rang out from the Den Den Mushi.
"Zoro, are you ready to keep our promise?!"
Everyone was startled at once, and all their eyes turned to Zoro, who had been the quietest among them. But to their surprise, aside from a slight change in his expression and his hand tightening around his sword, Zoro said nothing.
On the other end of the Den Den Mushi, the girl seemed to sense the mood on their side and did not speak again.
Instead, Sanji's sister continued.
"All right, let's not waste time. I still have matters to deal with here. As for your little friend, things aren't looking good. Since that girl's adoptive mother is no longer a Marine, the East Blue side seems to be planning to handle them in secret as pirates. She knows too many of those Marines' secrets."
Everyone's faces changed with shock at those words.
"Someone will contact you with the details. If necessary, he can also take you into the Marine base. But whether you can actually rescue your friend will depend on you..."
...
New World, somewhere at sea.
On a warship flying the divine bird totem flag of the Rainbow Country, two valiant young women stood at the bow.
As the Den Den Mushi communication ended, Reiju, now a twenty-two-year-old woman dressed in a pink battle suit and radiating confidence and charm like a butterfly, looked at the girl beside her. The girl had blue hair, a sharp aura around her, and Wado Ichimonji, one of the 21 Great Grade Blades, at her waist. Reiju licked her lips and asked, "Kuina, it looks like you and that man Zoro have a story. But why won't he even talk to you?"
The girl named Kuina did not deny it. She raised the Wado Ichimonji in her hand and said with nostalgia in her eyes, "This is the promise Zoro and I made."
Kuina's expression seemed to drift back to ten years ago.
Back then, she had only been ten years old, yet she was already a swordswoman whose skill surpassed that of adults.
Even so, she still was not satisfied. She was especially unwilling to accept the fact that she was a woman.
Because her father had once told her that a woman could never become the World's Greatest Swordsman.
At first, she had still held on to a sliver of hope, believing her father might be wrong.
But when she felt Zoro, the boy who had made that promise with her, growing stronger and stronger through constant battles while her own progress slowed...
Her pain deepened.
So one night, beneath the bright moon, she cried alone by the sea.
It was then that a man appeared on the ocean and displayed a peerless sword technique that seemed to split the sea itself.
After her unbelievable shock faded, she chased after him and asked him one question.
"Can a woman really never become the World's Greatest Swordsman?"
And that man answered.
"I don't know about that. But if you lose the will to pursue strength just because of a woman's body, that would be far too laughable. On this sea, there are plenty of women who stand at the peak of the world's strongest..."
In that moment, Kuina understood that this man was the hope reborn from her despair.
So she begged the man to take her away, out to the open sea.
The man agreed.
That night, without even telling her father, she only went to find the boy she cared about most, the boy with whom she had promised to become the World's Greatest Swordsman: Zoro. She told him everything and made a new promise.
"The next time we meet, we'll decide which of us is the true World's Greatest Swordsman!"
After that promise, Kuina followed the man out to sea.
And so, while she saw the vast ocean, she also saw countless powerful people, including many women.
Only then did she realize that what her father had said, that a woman could never become the World's Greatest Swordsman, was completely wrong.
From that moment on, under the guidance of that man and her other teachers, she began steadily advancing toward her goal of becoming the World's Greatest Swordsman, all the way to the present...
"Are you preparing to enter the Grand Line and challenge me, Zoro? But right now, you're still far too inexperienced."
Thinking of that, Kuina looked at Reiju beside her and said gently, "There's no need to waste time. Leave the rest to me, Reiju. I'll end this battle as quickly as possible..."
"Mm, then I'll leave it to you!"
As her words fell, they looked out across the sea.
Dozens of nautical miles away, five pirate ships had gathered together and were charging straight toward them...
***
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