"Huh?!"
Nami's eyes widened as she pointed at herself. "M-my opponent?"
"That's right."
Yami nodded with a smile. "In a moment I'll go visit one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Nami will be the one to challenge them."
"Gulp."
Nami swallowed, her voice uncertain. "You want me to fight a great pirate…"
"Don't sell yourself short."
Yami suddenly grasped Nami's shoulders, speaking with earnest seriousness. "You're a Logia Rumble-Rumble Fruit user, and the first among us to awaken Haki. Have confidence."
"Use this battle to rediscover the world and forge the heart of a strong one."
"I'll be facing all kinds of powerhouses from now on, and even their subordinates are first-rate."
"If you want to share the burden with me, then you must become a powerhouse too."
Hearing his final words, Nami's anxious, uncertain gaze gradually turned resolute. She nodded firmly. "I understand, Master!"
"Good. That look."
Seeing her expression change, Yami smiled with relief and patted her head. "Go fight with a calm heart. Even if you lose, it's fine. I'm here."
Nami nodded again, her face solemn as she shifted into battle-ready mode.
Next, they stopped playing and returned to the deck.
This time, Yami didn't make a move. He had Nami locate Thriller Bark's position.
Before long, Nami used her Observation Haki to find the ship known as the largest pirate ship in the world.
Then, acting as helmswoman, Nami steered the Pegasus, avoiding the ghost ships along the way and arriving at the entrance to Thriller Bark.
The entrance to Thriller Bark was a gigantic mouth.
In one corner of that mouth, Yami noticed a surveillance Transponder Snail.
Whoever was on the other end had clearly noticed the Pegasus as well.
The massive mouth slowly opened, inviting Yami's group inside.
At the same time, the intelligence agents of the Thriller Bark Pirates began looking into their identities.
They discovered that the one man and three women were not pirates.
But the ornate sailing ship was clearly worth a fortune.
The two maids and that secretary were all rare beauties.
Upon receiving the report, Absalom immediately volunteered to welcome the new guests, cutting through the graveyard toward Yami's group.
Along the way he muttered to himself, fantasizing in his mind about how beautiful Carina and the other two were.
He didn't realize that his conversations with the intel team were being eavesdropped on by Nami, whose Observation Haki had blanketed all of Thriller Bark.
As soon as he stepped out of the castle, Nami had him locked in.
Even so, Nami did not invoke God's Judgment to strike Absalom from ultra long range. After furling sails and dropping anchor, she boarded Thriller Bark together with Yami and the other two.
Nami took the lead and guided the way.
"Awooo…"
Just as they were about to pass through a trench, a surgically stitched Cerberus Hellhound suddenly blocked the path.
In short order, Nami electrocuted the Hellhound until it howled, smoke and the stench of char hung off its scorched body, and it collapsed motionless on the ground.
Seeing this, Yami couldn't help but chuckle.
In the original story, Nami, Chopper, and Usopp had been tormented by this Hellhound.
Now, the roles were reversed.
Crossing the trench, they entered a small grove.
Then, Yami took a gold coin from his pocket, flipped it with a flourish, and watched Nami walking ahead.
"God's Judgment!"
Nami did not disappoint.
As they passed a dead tree, she suddenly raised her hand and unleashed a massive pillar of lightning that engulfed it, obliterating every tree behind it.
The terrifying heat ignited even trees outside the strike zone and carved a charred furrow into the ground.
When the lightning faded, a body appeared out of thin air, lying in the trench.
"Who is this guy, showing up out of nowhere?" Seeing Absalom on the ground, Carina jumped in fright.
Robin was slightly surprised as well.
Walking through the eerie grove, even with Yami protecting them, she remained wary, scanning their surroundings.
She was certain there had been no one around that dead tree just now.
"This guy had been waiting here for me, and then his body suddenly turned transparent," Nami explained. "On the way here, I heard people addressing him as Lord Absalom."
"Lord? Sounds like a high-ranking member of the Thriller Bark Pirates," Carina analyzed.
"Yes. One of the three weirdos of the Thriller Bark Pirates, a Paramecia-type Clear-Clear Fruit user." Yami nodded, then praised Nami. "I thought you'd attack him as soon as he left the castle, but you were more cautious than I expected. Well done."
"Hehe…"
Nami smiled shyly at the praise, but her confidence surged again.
Carina pulled a face. "Paramecia Clear-Clear Fruit? How can a world have something so gross?"
"Paramecia-type Devil Fruits are full of bizarre abilities. A Clear-Clear Fruit is normal among them."
Yami walked over to Absalom, crouched, seized his neck, then crushed his throat. He said to Nami, "Nami, bring me a fruit."
"Yes, Master."
Nami nodded obediently, then turned into a streak of lightning and vanished.
A few breaths later, Nami reappeared beside Yami and handed him an ordinary fruit.
Taking it, Yami released a mass of black mist and skillfully began extracting the Devil Fruit power.
In no time, the black mist withdrew into his black-hole space.
The common fruit in his hand transformed into a Devil Fruit, precisely the Paramecia Clear-Clear Fruit that Sanji had dreamed of.
"Nami, put this Devil Fruit in my room."
Yami passed the Clear-Clear Fruit to her.
"Okay."
Nami nodded again, blinked away with the Clear-Clear Fruit, and quickly returned to his side.
She continued leading the way.
From start to finish, the three women never asked why Yami wouldn't eat the Clear-Clear Fruit.
First, they knew he disdained it. After all, he had refused even the Logia Sand-Sand Fruit.
Second, they felt the Clear-Clear Fruit's ability was simply too disgusting.
Having that ability on Yami would only tarnish the perfect image of him in their hearts.
Yami indeed looked down on the Clear-Clear Fruit.
To be precise, unless it was a strategic-class Devil Fruit or one of the truly unanswerable ones, he had little interest in any other Devil Fruit.
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