Outside the lively crowd gathered around the main celebration, Carina raised her glass filled with fruit juice and gently clinked it against Nami's cup. Her expression grew thoughtful as she spoke with genuine emotion.
"Nami, I never imagined you've been living through such a nightmare since childhood... Is that why you risked your life stealing treasure from pirates all these years?"
Nami sighed deeply and was about to respond when a memory suddenly struck her. Her expression instantly transformed into that of a furious demon, complete with bared teeth, as she roared:
"You conniving witch! Don't think I've forgotten! How dare you steal my share of the treasure and then disappear without a trace!"
"Eh!? Uh... are you talking about that time we robbed that Pirates together and got caught?" Carina blinked in confusion before quickly realizing what incident Nami was referring to. "Oh, you mean our last job together..."
Without hesitation, Nami set down her drink and lunged forward with clawed hands, grabbing Carina by the neck and shaking her violently. "So you DO remember! You nearly got me killed!"
"Stop, stop, stop!" Carina finally managed to pry Nami's hands away from her throat, gasping for breath before explaining helplessly: "Listen, we were both caught red-handed back then! If we had handed over the treasure, we both would have died. So I came up with that plan on the spot—I took the loot and drew their attention away so you could escape alive."
Seeing that Nami was still glaring at her with obvious suspicion, Carina quickly tried to distance herself from any accusations of greed. "I wasn't trying to embezzle your share of the treasure!"
Before Nami could voice her skepticism, Carina continued earnestly: "Besides, I called in help this time and pulled you out of your personal hell. Shouldn't that earn me some forgiveness?"
BONK!
Nami raised her fist and delivered a solid knock to the back of Carina's head. She placed her hands on her hips and declared loudly, "Fine! I forgive you!"
"Hey! You're just using this as an excuse to get revenge!" Carina complained, rubbing the growing bump on her skull with both hands.
Seeing Nami casually pick up some food and begin eating as if nothing had happened, Carina's frown quickly dissolved into a warm smile.
"Nami, would you consider joining our pirate crew? I could talk to that obsessive fishing maniac Jerry, and we could team up again like old times."
As soon as those words left her mouth, Nami shook her head firmly and replied with flat finality: "Forget it. I hate pirates."
Even though Nami's expression and tone remained completely unchanged, Carina could still detect the deep-seated hatred lurking beneath her calm exterior.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense..." Carina nodded thoughtfully, then patted Nami's back gently. "If I hadn't met this particular pirate crew, I probably wouldn't have any positive feelings toward pirates either."
She paused, gathering her thoughts. "But you know, in this world, it's always individual people who are good or evil—not entire professions or groups..."
Despite being roughly the same age as Nami, Carina's experiences sailing across almost the entire world had allowed her to witness the incredible diversity of people and cultures that existed. Those travels had shaped her more nuanced worldview.
"What do you mean?" Nami looked at Carina with genuine curiosity.
"Over the past few years, I've been to..." Carina chuckled softly, raising her head with obvious pride as she began narrating her adventures to Nami in simple but enthusiastic terms.
Under Nami's increasingly surprised expression and wide-eyed amazement, it was now Carina's turn to place her hands on her hips and gesture dramatically with her cup.
After several minutes of storytelling, Carina concluded with serious conviction: "The point is, not all pirates are evil, and not all Marine officers are righteous!"
"If you pay attention to the world around you, you'll definitely discover that there are countless unique people and fascinating things out there. I hope you'll keep an open mind about it." She grinned mischievously and added, "Come find me anytime if you change your mind—I'll gladly take you on as our dishwasher!"
Carina patted Nami's shoulder confidently, but as soon as she finished speaking, she froze in embarrassment. She had suddenly remembered that her own official position on the ship was supposedly as the cook...
"Get your hands off me!" Without noticing Carina's momentary pause, Nami shrugged off the hand that was still resting on her shoulder.
Then her expression softened considerably, and a genuinely bright smile appeared on her face as she looked up at the star-filled night sky. "Next, I'm planning to continue targeting those pirates who prey on innocent people."
As she spoke, Nami stretched her right hand toward the heavens as if reaching for the twinkling stars, then clenched it into a determined fist. "This time, I'll be living for myself!"
Before she could finish her thought, her eyes instantly transformed into the distinctive shape of Berry symbols, and she continued with obvious infatuation: "Besides, I also have my treasure hoard..."
Through years of systematically robbing pirates, Nami had managed to accumulate nearly 100 million berries—originally intended as ransom money to buy the village's freedom from Arlong. But now that the fishman's reign of terror had ended unexpectedly, she could hardly contain her excitement at the realization that such an enormous fortune was suddenly hers to keep.
Although she was already planning to use most of the money for village reconstruction and improvement projects, the treasure still belonged to her personally until she decided to spend it.
Therefore, Nami wanted to savor this rare opportunity and fully enjoy the wonderful feeling of having hundreds of millions in personal savings.
"Huh!? You have treasure? How much are we talking about?" Carina's eyes widened with obvious interest.
BONK!
Nami's iron fist struck again, and she roared indignantly: "Mind your own business! I'm not telling you anything!"
Apparently, Nami immediately suspected that Carina was already scheming to steal her treasure again, leading to another round of their characteristic miscommunication and friendly violence.
The next morning, the first gentle rays of sunlight spread across the earth, and the world seemed to gradually awaken in that soft, golden light.
The residents of Cocoyasi Village all wore happy smiles on their faces, because for them, the world was now filled with genuine hope and warmth.
Since the villagers also needed to travel to other communities throughout the Konomi Islands to coordinate their joint report to Marine Headquarters, Jerry and his crew departed early in the morning. They preferred to avoid any potential encounters with the official Marines who would arrive later to investigate.
"Pirates... they're so difficult to understand," Nami murmured, standing on the shore and watching the Black Nova grow smaller and smaller until it finally disappeared beyond the horizon.
Genzo, standing beside her, nodded thoughtfully. "Who would have thought it? I never imagined we'd be saved by pirates in the end..."
After saying their farewells to the many grateful villagers, Jerry and his crew set sail once again.
During the previous night's celebration, everyone had learned about the general experiences that the people of Cocoyasi Village—including Nami—had endured over the years of oppression.
On deck, the crew wasn't particularly surprised to hear that Carina's invitation to Nami had been rejected, given how much the orange-haired thief clearly despised pirates.
If they put themselves in her position, it was easy to understand why Nami harbored such deep hatred toward piracy in general.
Jerry chuckled quietly to himself. He had so easily dealt with Arlong and his entire crew that he couldn't help wondering if Luffy would still be able to successfully convince Nami to join his crew when the time came. Otherwise, with just Luffy and Zoro as his only crew members, it would be extremely difficult for the future Pirate King to even reach the Grand Line safely.
The Baratie sea restaurant was located in the Sambas waters of East Blue—that is, in the southeastern region relative to the archipelago where Cocoyasi Village was situated. However, since it was a restaurant built on a ship, Baratie's exact location was never completely fixed.
This didn't pose any significant problem for Jerry's well-equipped crew. Relying on Skull's extensive information network, Deuce was able to pinpoint the approximate sea area where the floating restaurant operated. Both Jerry and Cavendish possessed advanced Observation Haki that could scan large areas effectively.
Therefore, they successfully spotted the Baratie restaurant, which was designed to resemble an enormous fish, floating peacefully on the ocean's surface.
"Honored guest, I have already warned you repeatedly not to waste food!"
When Jerry and his friends stepped through the restaurant's entrance, they were immediately greeted by loud, angry shouting echoing throughout the dining area.