Following the voice, the townspeople turned around one after another, but what they saw was a strange woman.
"Who are you?" Butel turned his body and asked sternly.
Everyone in the town he had etched in his mind, but toward this woman, he had not the slightest impression.
Considering she might be someone from the Buggy Pirates, he immediately became alert.
The woman had short orange-yellow hair, well-proportioned facial features, looked quite cute, but the faint smile on the corners of her mouth added a bit of cunning to her.
"I'm Nami, I landed on this island not long ago."
Because she came on a small boat, the people here hadn't noticed her at all.
She walked toward Jotaro, blinked her cute eyes and said, "I heard you're looking for a navigator?"
"That's right, the person you mentioned is who?"
While Nami was sizing up Jotaro, Jotaro was also sizing her up.
He saw her pat her raised chest and said confidently, "It's me!"
Seeing this, Jotaro said indifferently, "How are you going to prove you possess extensive knowledge? I won't invite a liar on board."
Nami smiled with confidence in her grasp, pointed to a wooden boat by the beach, with two oars fixed on both sides.
The boat wasn't far, and following the direction she pointed, not only Jotaro but even the surrounding townspeople also saw it.
The townspeople hadn't understood her meaning yet, Jotaro had already nodded and said, "Alright, name your price."
Nami's charming eyes turned slightly, in her heart she looked at Jotaro a bit more highly.
This pirate has quite an eye.
She stretched out her slender finger like a green onion stalk.
"Ten million Berries!"
"What! Ten million Berries!"
As soon as the words fell, the surrounding townspeople screamed.
This was money that ordinary families couldn't even earn in a lifetime.
If navigators made this much, then probably no one would still be cooped up on this little island.
"That's right, ten million Berries." Nami lightly flicked her hair and repeated once, showing she wasn't joking.
Jotaro didn't yet have much concept of this world's currency value.
But through the reactions of the surrounding townspeople, he understood that Nami's asking price was too high, so he quoted a price so low even he found it absurd.
He also stretched out one finger.
"One hundred thousand Berries!"
"What! One hundred thousand Berries!"
This time it was Nami who screamed.
She looked sideways at Jotaro, didn't expect the other party to be so stingy.
Even a casual theft at sea for her earned more than this.
As expected, pirates are pirates, only plundering wealth from innocent people, and wanting them to spit out plundered wealth was simply harder than ascending to the heavens.
While cursing inwardly, Nami's expression also became somewhat downcast, secretly determined to steal everything from this pirate in front of her, not even leaving him his underwear.
"No way, that's too little!" Nami waved her hand.
Jotaro deeply agreed.
After all, even he himself felt the number he said was low, Nami's dissatisfaction was entirely reasonable, but this was exactly the effect he wanted.
"This is your apprentice period salary. If you can truly do the job well and satisfy me, I can give you one million Berries, even higher pay."
Jotaro began to paint a big picture.
An expert proficient in meteorology and oceanic knowledge was rare and exactly the talent he currently needed the most.
Nami was able to navigate such a vast sea with a thin little boat, Jotaro had already seen that she was an experienced navigation expert, at least possessing experience he couldn't compare to.
But he wouldn't easily trust others, much less casually let a stranger board the ship together.
This wasn't just being irresponsible for his own safety, but also for the safety of his companions.
He still needed to carefully examine what kind of person Nami was, so he didn't want to offer a high salary right from the beginning.
"Mm... alright then, let's go with your idea."
Nami showed difficulty on her face, pondered for a little while, then finally nodded in agreement.
She had absolutely no intention of being Jotaro's navigator.
She would never work with a group of pirates.
Even if Jotaro claimed he wasn't a pirate, she clearly knew, the other party was lying.
On the wanted poster it showed, his bounty was as high as five million Berries.
Not long ago, while heading toward this island, she specifically bought a newspaper from a News Coo.
Jotaro's portrait and misdeeds were published in it.
Her current goal wasn't Jotaro, however, she just happened to run into him on this island, so she took it to heart.
"I heard you also seem to need a map?"
"That's right, I want a complete and accurate world map." Jotaro answered truthfully.
Nami widened her eyes and looked at him like he was an idiot.
"Do you have any common sense? A world map? Where could there be such a thing. But my dream is to draw a map of the entire world."
Saying this, a trace of faint sorrow flashed in her eyes.
"No world map? That's too strange." Jotaro asked with interest, "Can you tell me the reason?"
"Very simple." The mayor Butel, who hadn't spoken, interrupted and said, "In this world, people who can complete a global voyage are very few, and people who can draw maps are even more rare."
"Because of that, this is also the first time I've heard of this thing called a world map."
"In my impression, only one person completed a global voyage, that person was the great pirate, Roger! But as for whether he had the kind of map you speak of, that I don't know."
Hearing this name, those who had heard of his legend had a change in expression.
Jotaro calmly asked, "Where is this person now?"
"Hey! Are you joking?" Nami asked in surprise, "Don't you know Roger is already dead. That was world-shaking news at the time. Even now, the heat still hasn't died down."
"Yare yare, that's really a pity." Jotaro closed his eyes and said helplessly.
"The Grand Line is the place all pirates yearn for, you must also want to go there, right?" Nami clapped her hands, the corners of her mouth raised in a cunning smile.
"As for the world map I can't help you, but... regarding the Grand Line map, I do know some information."
Jotaro silently listened, signaling her to continue.
Seeing Jotaro look over, Nami felt a sense of triumph from her plan's success.
"The Grand Line's map is in Buggy's hands."
Nami gave a simple explanation of the world's structure to Jotaro.
"You should know how important this map is for your future voyage. Of course, it also helps navigators like me avoid lots of trouble."
"So, you can't leave here easily, at least, not until you get the Grand Line map from Buggy."
Jotaro looked deeply at Nami and put his hands into his pants pockets.
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