…
Buggy's pirates had left. Nami was the only one still standing there in silence.
She wanted to explode, to scream, to fight back, but she knew it would never work.
Bellemere's face was grim to the point of ugliness, yet all she could do was clutch her wounded arm and step forward to comfort Nami and Nojiko.
"It's fine. Worst case… we fight him to the death…"
Bellemere gritted her teeth. Around them, villagers who had witnessed everything were burning with righteous fury, picking up sticks, rakes, whatever they could find.
"It's time to resist!!!"
Everyone had been swallowing their resentment for years, sick of how Buggy's crew ran wild in Cocoyasi Village.
Now it was clear. They were trying to drive Nami's family straight into a corner.
If they didn't push back, whose home would be next?
No one wanted to live forever under a knife of fear and uncertainty.
But at that moment, Nami pulled away from Bellemere's embrace.
Her head was lowered, her expression hidden. When she slowly lifted her face again, there was no anger, no despair, no grief on it at all.
Like it didn't matter.
With a forced smile, Nami said, "It's fine. It's just double the output. I just need to make more money."
"I can handle it…"
But Genzo's expression turned hard. He grabbed her shoulders and roared at her.
"Stop pretending, Nami! You know this is a bottomless pit!!!"
"We all have some idea what it costs to grow tangerines that meet their standards. You've already done everything you can!"
These years on the sea, stealing money with her life on the line, Nami had never really stopped being just a girl inside.
Hearing those words, the last wall in her heart collapsed.
Tears spilled out. She sank onto the ground.
Even so, she tried to stop everyone from going after Buggy's crew. She didn't want anyone getting hurt because of her.
"No more talk, Nami. We've already decided!"
"Let's go!!!"
Beside her, family and friends left one after another, weapons in hand.
Nami sat there, eyes empty.
Then, like something snapped, she seized a tangerine from the rack and hurled it to the ground, smashing it again and again with her fists.
Even after it was pulped into mush, she didn't stop.
Her knuckles split. Blood smeared into the fruit.
"Buggy! Buggy! Buggy!!!"
Her voice came out short and vicious, thick with hate, her face drowned in tears.
Behind her, a young man in a straw hat simply watched, expressionless.
Then he reached out and grabbed her wrists, stopping her frantic motion.
Nami froze when she saw Luffy.
Then she lowered her head again.
"What do you know… you don't know anything…"
"Yeah," Luffy said. "I don't."
"It has nothing to do with you. I told you to get lost!"
"Yeah," Luffy said. "You did."
He stood behind her, silent and unmoving.
This man who had been her captain was right there beside her, while her vision blurred and the world tightened around her until she had nowhere left to run.
"Luffy…"
He was the only person she could ask.
Turning back through tears, Nami looked at him and sobbed.
"Save me…"
Luffy didn't answer right away.
He walked to her side with a dark, heavy expression, then took off his straw hat and placed it on her head.
His face was serious, furious, and he drew in a breath.
"Of course I will!!!"
…
"Huh? Buggy got beaten?"
Ten thousand meters above the sea, the gale howled.
A terrifying giant bird circled in the sky, and massive clouds were shredded apart by the wind as if they were nothing.
The fully beast-transformed King of the News Coo held a tiny plank boat in its talons, its gaze steady as it soared through the heavens.
A wall of wind wrapped around its body, isolating it from the outside world as it served as a mount.
On its broad back, two figures sat drinking and chatting. The cups on the small table didn't wobble even once.
Ozz held a newspaper in one hand. Mihawk, meanwhile, quietly felt out how stable the flight was, analyzing whether the wind would affect the angle of a slash under these conditions.
Hearing Ozz speak, Mihawk came back to himself and glanced over.
"Is that really worth being surprised about?"
Traveling with Ozz again after so long, Mihawk found a faint echo of the old days. Arms folded, he stepped closer.
On the paper was a man in a straw hat laughing wildly, covered in blood.
Headline: Straw Hat Luffy Defeats Buggy.
"But Buggy shouldn't be that weak," Ozz said, rubbing his chin.
Because Buggy had joined the Roger Pirates, his "slacking off" as a kid should have been far less than in the original timeline.
Whether he had Haki or not, Ozz couldn't be sure, but his basic combat strength should have existed. So how could he lose to Luffy from two years ago?
Unless… it was because Ozz had visited Foosha Village and casually taught Luffy a few things.
Still, the protagonist was the protagonist.
Even Ozz himself, if he showed up in a movie, might somehow trip and fall into a ridiculous defeat.
Not that Ozz could imagine how anyone would beat him, of course.
"But there's no need to worry too much," Ozz said, shaking his head. "Buggy's always been lucky."
Even if he got sent flying, Ozz believed Buggy's conqueror-level luck would bring him back into the world's spotlight sooner or later.
He set the newspaper down, took a sip of fruit wine, and after thinking for a moment, lifted his eyes to Mihawk as if making idle conversation.
"So, Hawk Eyes… if the Seven Warlords get abolished one day, and I don't have anything left that needs your help… what would you do?"
"Hm…"
Mihawk adjusted the brim of his hat. Those hawk-like eyes stared into the distant sky as he truly considered it.
"I don't know. Maybe… I'd find a place no faction could ever disturb."
"Or maybe I'd keep swinging my blade for some goal."
For Mihawk, who had already reached the peak of swordsmanship, there were few targets left that could truly interest him.
He'd started traveling with Ozz for the sake of becoming the World's Greatest Swordsman. Now he had that title.
He genuinely didn't know where the road ahead led anymore.
"If you ever get bored later, or if trouble finds you," Ozz said with a grin, "I can always arrange some work for you."
"I've already done plenty for you," Mihawk shot back, giving him an annoyed glance. He'd been cleaning up Ozz's messes for years.
"Hahahaha, fair enough," Ozz laughed.
Seeing that Hawk Eyes didn't reject the idea, Ozz was pleased. Even if he didn't arrange anything, fate would still guide Mihawk to Buggy eventually, but this was a good precaution.
And then there was Crocodile.
That one had to be brought in too. He'd have to turn back, of course, but whether Crocodile would agree was another matter.
"Once she gets beaten because she can't use Haki, she'll probably behave," Ozz muttered.
Of course, if Ozz did the beating himself, it would be a bit too cruel.
So he'd leave it to a toolman.
Right, Monkey D. Luffy?
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