"I've made up my mind!"
Nami suddenly slapped her hand on the table and stood up, shouting with determination.
"What!?"
Startled by Nami's sudden outburst, Nojiko stared at her in surprise. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm setting out to sea for real this time! I'm going to find Luffy!" Nami declared firmly.
In the kitchen, Bell-mère, who had been chopping vegetables, froze mid-motion. A moment later, she resumed cutting, though now her movements were slow and distracted, her thoughts clearly elsewhere...
"Are you crazy? Where would you even start looking for him!?" Nojiko practically shouted, sounding shaken.
"If I search for him, I will find him!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Nami! Didn't he say he'd come back for you someday? What if he never, "
"Nojiko!"
Bell-mère's voice suddenly rang out from the kitchen, firm and cutting her off.
Nojiko fell silent at once. Something in her eyes shimmered, maybe emotion, maybe regret, but she didn't say anything else. She only bit her lip and whispered softly, "...Bell-mère."
Bell-mère didn't turn around. She just kept working at the stove, speaking in a quiet voice that was half wistful, half resigned.
"It's no use, Nojiko... the moment Nami decided to become a bounty hunter a year ago, I knew this day would come. Sooner or later, she was going to leave…"
"Bell-mère…"
Nami looked at Bell-mère's busy silhouette, and for the first time, her rock-solid resolve began to waver.
Since that day, she had been living for one goal: to fulfill the promise Luffy made to her.
She trained constantly, honed her Dragon Slayer magic, studied navigation relentlessly…
All to become worthy of being Luffy's crewmate, to not squander the power he had entrusted to her.
And in doing so…
She had almost forgotten about the people closest to her.
It was only now, at the moment of her final decision to leave, that she realized just how long it had been since the three of them had sat down and had a real conversation.
These past few years, she'd either been training, reading, or out at sea…
Bell-mère… her mother.
Nojiko… her sister.
The scent of sizzling food wafted from the kitchen, soothing the tension in the air like a gentle hand, calming the restless heart of someone about to leave home.
Clang.
Bell-mère suddenly set the spatula down, turned off the stove, and slowly turned around. She reached into her pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it.
This time, Nami said nothing.
"Nami... The day you came home crying after your first kill... that's when I truly understood how determined you were.
That day, I knew this place could no longer hold you. I knew you'd leave, just didn't expect it to be this soon."
She raised the cigarette in one hand, gazing at Nami through the drifting smoke. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
But then she shook her head slightly, brushing the moisture away, and said, "The sea is vast, Nami... and far more dangerous than you imagine.
So far, you've had smooth sailing. But I've always worried... that someone might trick you, that you'd get hurt, face setbacks.
Even if you never told us... the growing amount of Berries you brought home each time spoke volumes.
Nojiko and I both knew the dangers you were facing were getting worse."
She wiped away the tears that had started to fall and continued, her voice gentle and full of pride.
"But now... I realize I don't need to worry anymore.
Without even noticing, you've grown strong.
Stronger than I ever imagined.
You see the world from a different place than I do now.
And the sea,
It doesn't scare you anymore, does it?
So go, Nami!
Go do what you've set your heart on.
Home is your safe harbor, not your cage.
When you're ready to fly, the sky is where you belong!
Nojiko and I…We'll always be behind you."
Bell-mère's motherly face lit up with a proud, bittersweet smile. Her little girl had grown up.
"Bell-mère…" Nami choked up, whispering her name.
After a pause, she finally looked up and said, "I'm sorry. Really, I'm so sorry.
I didn't know how much you and Nojiko worried about me… but, "
She suddenly stepped outside the house, turning her gaze away from the orange groves and focusing ahead with gleaming eyes.
A sudden gust of wind rose, swirling around her. Her short orange hair lifted and danced in the breeze.
An overwhelming presence burst forth from Nami's body, like a powerful windstorm, shaking the orange trees around her with a loud whhhshhh!
Then she flung her arms wide open. The wind stopped. The air compressed and gathered tightly around her limbs, invisible yet tangible, shaping themselves like feathery wings.
Bell-mère and Nojiko stood speechless, stunned by what they saw.
They had never seen Nami's magic in action before. She always trained alone, meditating or exercising at a secluded beach.
But now…
Nami raised her arms and suddenly lashed them forward toward the forest.
"Sky Dragon Wing Attack!"
In an instant, the compressed wind exploded outward, razor-sharp and wild.
Thousands of invisible blades howled through the forest, slicing across the trees like a whirlwind of knives.
Leaves and branches flew everywhere, caught in the storm, whipped up and torn apart.
When the wind finally settled, what had once been a dense forest now had a clear path, over a hundred meters long.
Trees had been felled on both sides, and a trench nearly twenty centimeters deep carved into the earth exposed the wet, dark soil beneath.
Whoo…
Nami exhaled softly. The air currents around her dissipated in an instant.
She walked calmly back to the house and looked at the stunned Bell-mère and Nojiko. Then, flashing a bright, cheeky grin, she squinted her eyes and bared two rows of perfect white teeth.
"Now will you stop worrying about me?"
─────────🏴☠️─────────
Cocoyasi Village – Main Street
"Hey! Hey! What the heck is that!?"
"Is... is that a monster!?"
"Don't look at it!"
"Hurry! Get the kids inside!"
"He's looking this way! Run!"
Chaos broke out in the village street. People screamed and scattered, running in all directions.
"Hahaha! Brook, look at you, you've still got that scary pirate presence!"
Luffy laughed as he strolled casually down the now-empty street with Robin and Brook.
"Mmm-hmm~" Robin giggled, her eyes narrowing into crescents.
Brook hung his head, his bony skull tinged with a faint blush, somehow embarrassed despite having no face muscles.
"Oh come now! Everyone's being so mean… it's breaking my heart!
…Even though I don't have one!"
"Ahahaha! Don't take it personally! This is East Blue, after all, people here scare easy." Luffy reassured him, then pointed toward a small building up ahead.
"That one looks like the local security office. Let's check it out. Maybe someone familiar is in there."
─────────🏴☠️─────────
A few moments later.
"Genzo!"
The door to the security post slammed open.
Nami burst in, lugging a huge pack of luggage on her back and shouting at the top of her lungs.
=============
150+ Advance Chapters Available on Patreon! Patreon.com/Veltoria