Luffy silently watched Nami.
Even someone as carefree as him knew that Nami had made up her mind.
Nami gently laid Bellemere and Nojiko on the bed and covered them with blankets. Then she rested both hands on the windowsill and stared blankly into the distance with her beautiful eyes.
"If…"
After a long silence, Luffy finally said, "If you've overcome your weakness to sunlight, will you become my navigator?"
"…" Nami did not turn around. Muzan had also said that she had the potential to overcome sunlight, but who could really know for sure?
If she failed to overcome sunlight, then she would naturally be burned to ashes by the sun along with Muzan.
But what if she did overcome it?
If even the sun could no longer kill her, should she kill herself instead?
But if she did, what if Muzan took the chance to come back to life?
Nami was completely lost.
"This world is really huge," Luffy said. "There might be a way to turn you from a demon back into a human. There might even be a way to free you from Muzan's control."
Yes, the wonder of this world lay in its vastness and limitless possibilities.
Nami had become a demon, but who said a demon could never become human again?
Besides, if she really could overcome sunlight, then how different was Nami from an ordinary human?
She had not lost her reason. She still had a clear sense of self, and she could even live under the sun. In what way was this Nami different from the person she had been before?
The only problem was Muzan's will inside her body. So even if she could not become human again, as long as Muzan's will was destroyed, Nami could still return to her normal self.
Nami looked out the window at the full moon hanging in the sky and said softly, "Yes. After all, I already promised to become your navigator."
If she really had overcome sunlight, then this was the only path she could take.
She could not stay beside Bellemere and Nojiko. At any moment, Muzan might take control of her again, and if that happened, he would certainly kill them.
Besides, she had to go out to sea to find a way to solve her own problem.
So of course she would go with Luffy.
Luffy was the one who had defeated Muzan. He had also reached out and pulled her up when she had been struggling inside her own mind.
And when she had first become a demon, she had completely lost herself and kept attacking him. Even then, Luffy had insisted on protecting her.
Under those circumstances, how could Nami refuse his invitation?
"Me too!" Usopp's voice came from outside the door. "Luffy, take me with you too!"
"Usopp!" Luffy said in surprise when he saw him suddenly return. "Why are you back?"
The battle with the demons had left the entire village of Syrup in ruins, so Usopp and Ben had been helping the villagers rebuild it.
Usopp rubbed his nose with his index finger and said, "I've figured it out. Those monsters were actually coming after me. I became a Quincy, and those monsters wanted to destroy me."
"Muzan is dead too, and no demons have attacked the village since then. So now I can leave without worry and go out to sea to become a brave sailor!"
Zoro had remained silent the whole time. Now he looked at Ben standing behind Usopp and asked, "What about you, kid?"
He had heard Luffy talk about Ben before and knew that someone seemed to be hunting him.
The people chasing him sounded like both samurai and ninjas. That description interested Zoro, because his teacher, Himura Kenshin, seemed to come from a country like that.
"Right, Ben. Come out to sea with us too!" Luffy quickly added. "Being able to transform into other people is really cool!"
"Heh-heh, of course," Ben said proudly. "I was planning to head to the Grand Line soon anyway. But if I cause trouble for everyone, I'll leave once we reach the Grand Line!"
"You're underestimating us!" Luffy muttered. "If those shadowy things chasing you dare show up, I'll just knock them away!"
Ben smiled but said nothing more.
As far as he was concerned, Luffy and the others had no idea how terrifying the Shadow Troops were.
"Great! Now all we're missing is Sanji!" Luffy cheered when Ben seemed to agree. He had gone out to sea for two reasons: to become the Pirate King through adventure, and to find more companions.
Sanji was already one of the crew members he had decided on. Although they had not met many times, Luffy had already promised Uncle Zeff.
Besides, Sanji had saved them twice.
The first time was in Orange Town, when Sanji arrived and took them to the Baratie.
The second time was here, after defeating Upper Rank Two, when he found them a place to stay and gave them basic treatment.
And Sanji was a chef! How could a pirate crew go without a cook?
So no matter what, Luffy was determined to make Sanji one of his crew.
Sanji was not here right now, but they would pass by the Baratie when they left the East Blue for the Grand Line.
However, all of that would have to wait until daytime.
They would wait for daylight and see whether Nami could overcome the sun.
Nobody slept that night. Everyone waited for the sun to rise.
As they waited, the first ray of light appeared outside.
Just like during their battle with Muzan, the sun slowly rose from the darkness. Once it appeared, it drove away the darkness and cold.
When the first ray of sunlight reached the area outside the house, Nami walked to the door and looked at the brightening world, but she did not step outside.
She was still waiting for the sun to reach its strongest.
Luffy and the others went outside first, preparing to welcome Nami's new life.
Yes, every one of them believed that Nami would definitely survive in the sunlight.
And with their faith behind her, Nami finally took that step.
She stepped from darkness into the light.
Pff!
The moment her exposed calf touched the sunlight, it made a sound like boiling water. A burning pain shot into her head, and Nami's expression darkened slightly.
From the way it felt, she seemed to have failed to overcome the sunlight.
But perhaps that was for the best. She could let the sunlight destroy both her and Muzan together.
From now on, there would be no more evil demons in this world!
Nami took a deep breath, then stepped forward again, exposing her entire body to the sunlight.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle…
The skin exposed to the sun immediately turned red as it burned. Holes began to appear across her body, and intense pain stabbed at her nerves.
Nami spread her arms as if welcoming the sun, like a firefly flying toward a flame.
At that moment, Nami closed her eyes. She wanted to calmly accept her end.
But then Luffy's excited voice rang out again.
"Nami! You did it!"
?
I…
Did it?
How could that be? My body was clearly being destroyed by the sun…
No, wait…
I'm still alive?!
Nami instinctively opened her eyes. She immediately saw her arms. The holes that had appeared when the sunlight first burned her had already healed completely. Her pale arms seemed to glow beneath the sunlight.
She…
She had overcome the sunlight! She could survive under the sun now!
The parts of her body that had been destroyed by the sun quickly regenerated. Afterward, her body seemed to have developed resistance to sunlight, and the sun could no longer melt her flesh away.
Nami felt as if she were trapped in a dream. She could not help taking a deep breath, as though she wanted to breathe the sunlight into her body.
She had only been away from the sun for a few days, but to Nami, those days had felt like years. The darkness had been frightening and maddening. Human beings were creatures meant to live beneath the sun!
"Luffy!"
Nami could not stop herself from grinning. "I did it!"
"Nami…"
Then Bellemere and Nojiko's voices came from behind her. The electric shock Nami had used to paralyze them should indeed have lasted until now.
They looked at Nami standing beneath the sunlight. There was a trace of shock in their eyes, but more than that, they looked relieved and happy.
The moment they woke up, they had guessed what Nami was trying to do. They had hurried downstairs to find her, but when they saw her standing beneath the sun, all the scolding and encouragement they had planned to give her suddenly disappeared.
"You did it."
Their voices were filled with blessing and joy.
"Yeah!" Nami said to them. "Bellemere, Nojiko…"
Nami looked at her adoptive mother, then at her older sister, and shouted, "I'm going out to sea! I'm going to find a way to turn demons back into humans. Then the three of us can grow oranges together under the sun again!"
Bellemere smiled with relief. "I knew you would say that!"
Nojiko waved and said, "Go, Nami! Bellemere, Miss Kaya, and I already discussed it. We'll stay here and wait for you to come back!"
"Okay!" Nami said with a smile. "We'll definitely come back! You have to stay safe and wait for us!"
She waved, then ran toward Luffy and the others.
"Luffy! You'd better take good care of Nami!" Bellemere suddenly shouted at him.
"Don't worry! I'm going to be the Pirate King!" Luffy grinned.
The group ran after Usopp and boarded the large ship he had prepared earlier.
"This ship was built with Kaya's support! I named it the Going Merry!"
Usopp proudly introduced the ship. "By the way, Luffy, you still have that shard you were carrying, right?"
After everyone boarded, Usopp continued introducing the ship while looking at Luffy.
Luffy blinked. "Shard? What shard?"
He was not pretending to be confused. He had genuinely forgotten that he was carrying any kind of shard.
Usopp saw that he did not seem to be pretending. Luffy also did not seem like the kind of person who would refuse to share something. So Usopp took the shard from his own pocket and said, "This kind. I saw that you had one like it too."
The others looked at the two of them curiously. At first, nobody knew what kind of shard they were talking about.
Then Ben suddenly widened his eyes and said, "The Shikon Jewel shard!"
The Shikon Jewel shard?
None of the others knew what that was. Usopp had only heard Arlong mention it once, so he knew nothing more than its name. He certainly had no idea what the Shikon Jewel shard actually was.
"You know what this is?" he quickly asked.
Usopp had spent the past few days rebuilding the village with Ben, so he had spent more time with him than anyone else on the ship. He knew that Ben looked like a child, but he also knew a great many things.
So it was not surprising that Ben might know what the Shikon Jewel shard was.
Although…
This seemed to be something even Kaido, one of the Four Emperors, cared deeply about.
Ben said seriously, "I don't know much, but I can say for certain that it's extremely important. The strongest forces in the world are all fighting over these shards."
"The Marine Headquarters, the Black Order, the Four Emperors, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and several other forces. The greatest powers on the ocean aren't fighting for control of the world. They're fighting for these Shikon Jewel shards!"
"…Wait, that powerful?" Usopp suddenly felt that the shard in his hand was burning hot. He widened his eyes and said, "Then won't we definitely become targets?"
"Yeah. If people find out that we have Shikon Jewel shards, we'll definitely face attacks from the strongest forces on the sea. Especially…"
Ben looked at Usopp, then at Luffy, and said seriously, "Especially since we have two of them!"
"As far as I know, even a pirate crew on the level of the Four Emperors might not have two Shikon Jewel shards!"
Usopp suddenly got goosebumps all over. Luffy, on the other hand, became excited.
"Then we have to collect even more Shikon Jewel shards!"
"Didn't you understand?" Usopp shouted. "The Four Emperors will immediately see us as enemies and targets!"
"Isn't that great?" Luffy said, showing all his bright white teeth.
He honestly had no idea what the Four Emperors were. He only knew that Shanks seemed to be one of them.
"Forget it. There's no way I can explain this to you," Usopp said gloomily.
He had never expected the Shikon Jewel shard to be so powerful. Now he suddenly felt like throwing it away.
But he held back. Not only did the shard possess tremendous power that could help him defeat Arlong, it was also a treasure left behind by his father, who had left a long time ago.
How could he throw it away under those circumstances?
"What I mean is, we should keep the shard in the ship!" Usopp said to Luffy. "I tested it before. After the ship absorbs a Shikon Jewel shard, the Going Merry becomes incredibly sturdy, and all of its abilities improve!"
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