"You worthless maggots!"
"How can you still call yourselves Marines?!"
In the center of Cocoyasi Village, the Marines—including Nezumi—sat on the ground, bound together with ropes.
Most of the Marines, particularly Nezumi, had bruised and swollen faces and bodies as if they'd been beaten, and the villagers, including Genzo and Prinprin, surrounded them.
"Marimo, where did those swords at your waist come from? Two of them were broken fighting Mihawk, weren't they?"
"I borrowed them from that pinwheel guy over there."
"Ah…now I remember, Zoro."
"What are you talking about, Usopp?"
Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji stood back-to-back, facing away from the villagers off in the distance.
They were looking toward the edge of the island, where the sea stretched out before them.
"Right before I passed out from the medicine on the Going Merry, Nami said something. I couldn't hear all of it then, but I just remembered it now."
"Usopp, if it's okay with you, pass this on to Luffy later."
"When we meet next…"
"Yeah…that's when Nami said it."
"She said, 'Help me.'"
Having heard Usopp's words, they continued to gaze at the edge of the island.
There, Nami sat hugging her knees, staring out at the sea, and to her right, Luffy sat on the ground.
"I was so stupid, Luffy. I believed in that ridiculous promise for eight whole years."
"You were just a kid back then."
"Now that I think about it, I guess I knew in my head it was a lie long ago."
"But every time I thought that promise was a lie…my chest would tighten and I'd feel like I couldn't breathe."
"I didn't want to admit that there was no other way for me to save the village."
"Nami…"
"So I turned my back and ran away…and this is what happened today."
Nami spoke, her eyes sad as she gazed at the sea.
"Things never go as planned in this world. I've been feeling that more and more lately."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because of you."
"Me?"
"Why didn't you ask me for help?"
"..."
Luffy said nothing, quietly watching Nami's face as she continued to stare at the sea.
Luffy thought that with memories of his past life resurfacing, everything would fall into place more easily.
On top of that, he'd grown even stronger than the original series' protagonist, so he'd felt confident and relaxed for the first time in a while.
He figured that even if Nami didn't ask for help, he'd step in anyway. He thought that storming the Fish-Man Pirates with his crew would be over quick.
But he'd almost died facing someone as uncontrollable as a natural disaster—like being struck by lightning from a clear sky in a human form.
As he thought this, Luffy recalled the moment at the end of the Baratie when he faced Mihawk.
At that moment, Mihawk, adorned in a golden aura shaped like a dragon's head, had cut his strike at Luffy—and while Luffy managed to block it, he collapsed, blood streaming from his eyes and mouth.
Because of that, Sanji and Usopp had nearly been seriously injured in this village—if I hadn't been injured, we wouldn't have ended up being hauled here by that damned sea-stone.
Had I been more upfront from the start and asked Nami for help, I might not have rushed to use sea-stone to pull the ship after her.
In the end, I paid the price for my hubris disguised as confidence—not only my life was on the line, but I also endangered my crew's safety.
"Nami, did you think I was weaker than Arlong?"
"I'm not sure."
"I thought I'd shown you how strong I am by living together with you."
"But I've never actually fought Arlong in front of you."
"…Well, I can see why you'd think that. There's a saying that you don't know what's long or short without lining them up."
"Luffy, but more than that, I…"
Nami recalled a memory from long ago.
Back then, Luffy was leaning against the edge of the Going Merry, gazing out at the open sea, and Nami took a step toward him.
*****
"What are you doing, Luffy?"
"Just…sniffing the ocean breeze."
"I told you I hate that salty smell!"
"I'm trying to get used to it…but honestly, no matter how much I smell it, I just can't."
At his words, Nami walked up to him and, like Luffy, leaned against the edge of the ship to look out at the sea.
"Still, you're making an effort, Luffy."
"No matter the result, if you don't even try, nothing matters. Trying is what counts."
"Yeah…that's true."
"Luffy, are you sleepy?"
"The wind's just right, the waves are calm…I feel kind of drowsy."
Luffy, half-closing his eyes, draped both arms over the railing and rested his chin on them.
Then he lifted his right arm and placed his finger on the tip of Nami's hair.
"W-What are you doing, Luffy?!"
"When I look at you…I keep thinking of Dadan."
"Who's that?!"
"The one who raised me."
"Oh…"
As he spoke, Luffy continued to rub his finger through Nami's hair.
"She also had orange hair like yours…but her hair was a hundred times curlier than yours."
"What kind of…person was she?"
"She was rough and swore a lot…but sometimes she was pitiful."
"I see…"
"If I'd known I'd miss her this much…I should've said something when I left…"
As Luffy spoke, his arms sliding from the railing began to shift inward toward the deck.
"I should've called her…mom."
Thud!
With that, Luffy flopped onto the deck.
Nami sat beside the sleeping Luffy and placed his head on her lap before looking down.
"If she was that kind of person, you should've called her 'mom', Luffy."
"I wanted to call Bellemere that too…but now I can't anymore."
Back then, Nami, with Luffy's head on her lap, had gazed at the sea and spoken.
And current Nami, just like back then, looked at the sea as she spoke.
"I just didn't want you to get hurt."
"..."
Luffy didn't say a word; he simply turned his head away from Nami and back toward the sea.
As the two sat in silence, both gazing the same way, Nami slowly turned to face Luffy.
"Help me…Luffy."
She spoke to Luffy through her tears.
Hearing Nami's words, Luffy rose to his feet and placed his straw hat on her head.
He then turned toward his crew, and Nami, looking at what was on her head, spoke.
"This hat is…"
"You're hurt, so don't come with me, Nami. I'll be back."
Nami, tears still flowing, watched Luffy's back as he walked away.
As Luffy passed by his crew, three men fell in step beside him.
"Luffy."
"Yeah, Sanji?"
"About that dessert you mentioned before—can I try making it today in advance?"
"Feeling confident?"
"'Revenge' is a pretty tricky ingredient to prep, you know."
"So wouldn't it be better to practice a bit first?"
"Not confident, chef? Want me to do the prep instead?"
"Shut it, Marimo. I'd never trust a brute like you with delicate ingredients."
"I'm not confident in cooking either, Sanji, but I'll do my best to keep the plates and cutlery in order."
"That should be enough, Usopp."
Luffy looked around at his chatting crewmates and spoke.
"Yeah, this is the first time the four of us have really teamed up for something."
"It's our pirate crew's first cooperative battle, so let's do it right."
*****
"So…you came here to save Nami?"
"Yeah."
Luffy responded to Arlong.
Arlong stood before the first floor of a five-story building, its roof sculpted to resemble the head of a sawshark, just like him.
Fish-men gathered around him, including his officers, and Luffy's group stood at the main gate.
"I was curious how many idiots would come this far, so I opened the door."
"Yet only four worthless creatures showed up, hahahaha!!!"
"Hahahahaha!!!"
"Hahahahaha!"