The marines on the warship were all dumbfounded. Was there some special engine powering that little lifeboat? How could their entire shipful of marines rowing together still be slower than a single man paddling on that tiny wooden boat?
What struck the marines even more was the absurd contrast between the two people on the small boat: the man rowing looked like a beast, while the woman with bright orange hair sitting beside him looked like a stunning beauty. It was truly a "Beauty and the Beast" combination.
Well, to be fair, Alex had just been beaten up by Nami, so he was indeed looking pretty rough.
"Left!"
Nami gave her order in a simple, direct tone—without even glancing at Alex.
Alex was more than happy she ignored him. The less interaction, the lower the chance of accidentally offending her and getting another beating. That would really suck.
At first, Alex was annoyed that he had been separated from Luffy. By logic, he should've gone with Luffy to the place where Zoro was being held, rescued him, and recruited him into their pirate crew. That way, their crew would already be three strong.
But now, Alex was with Nami instead. He felt like he'd drifted off-script. Still, if he stuck with Nami, he figured he'd run into Luffy the glutton again eventually.
With that thought in mind, Alex stopped stressing out.
After a few calm days of sailing across the sea with Nami, they finally arrived at Shells Town.
During that time, the two barely spoke to each other beyond some routine questions about navigation. Nami looked at Alex with an unreadable expression, and Alex had no idea what was going through her mind.
Though they were on the same small boat, they might as well have been strangers. Alex didn't mind. He had learned from Luffy how to live without overthinking things. He had already completely forgotten the, uh... chest-grabbing incident from days ago, acting like it never happened. He was back to his usual routine of training nonstop on the boat.
Alex figured—Nami asked him for 100 million Berries, but she didn't demand anything else.
Since the incident was in the past, and neither of them seemed interested in taking things further, why not just forget about it completely? No need to bring it up and make things awkward.
When he got tired from training, Alex would just flop down on the boat and sleep soundly. Sometimes when he woke up, he'd find someone had covered him with a blanket.
Curious once, Alex asked Nami where the blanket came from. She completely ignored him.
"Listen carefully. We're going to sneak into the Marine base and steal the map of the Grand Line," Nami whispered to Alex as they docked the small boat.
Since Nami was speaking close to him, Alex caught a faint whiff of her sweet-smelling hair.
"Wait, did you just say there's a Marine base here?"
Alex asked in shock.
"So what?" Nami shot back, her tone cold as ever, like Alex owed her a fortune. She glared at him and continued, "That day, I heard you yelling something about 'battle power level five trash.' What does that mean? Was that your nickname or something?"
Alex nearly choked.
What the hell?! Who said I'm scared of the Marines? And calling me 'battle power level five trash' as my nickname? That's just straight-up slander!
He huffed. "Forget about that. Just tell me—is there someone named Zoro imprisoned at this Marine base?"
Just then, a few passersby happened to walk by and heard what Alex said. They immediately jumped back ten steps, as if they'd seen a ghost.
"You idiot! Don't mention the name Zoro around here!"
Nami scolded him, her tone righteous. "Look how scared you made everyone!"
Then she flashed a bright smile and asked a nearby merchant sweetly, "Don't be afraid! We're not bad people. We just want to ask if the Marine colonel in charge of this base is Axe-Hand Morgan?"
The remaining residents nearby all vanished in a flash, terrified looks on their faces.
It was odd—just earlier, a boy wearing a straw hat and a short chubby kid with pink hair had also been asking about Zoro and Colonel Morgan. Now, another pair of outsiders was doing the same? Something spooky was definitely going on today.
Nami's friendly smile froze awkwardly on her face. Alex almost burst out laughing.
Dumb girl! You just told me not to mention Zoro's name, and now you've scared everyone off by asking about the colonel!
Alex watched her calmly, not saying a word.
"These people are so weird. I get being scared of Zoro, since he's a notorious bounty hunter. But why are they even more scared when we mention the Marine colonel?"
Nami muttered, clearly puzzled.
"Who knows? Not our problem. Aren't we going to the Marine base? Let's go already,"
Alex shrugged and urged her forward. He was actually looking forward to seeing Zoro.
Once Zoro joined them, Alex figured that whenever he and Luffy sailed together, Luffy would finally stop messing with him and start messing with the muscle-bound swordsman instead.
With that satisfying thought, a smile crept onto Alex's face. But Nami, watching him from the side, suddenly felt a chill down her spine. She clenched her right fist, slowly raised it, and shouted:
"Don't smile like that, you creep!"
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