Part-Time Navigator

Garen, having just delivered a speech on justice, naturally couldn't bring himself to shamelessly ask Wallace to rewrite a check, despite Miss Nami's strong support for the idea.

Garen had to focus on dealing with his "first pot of gold" that he already had in his hands.

Garen really had no experience in handling this kind of thing.

Fortunately, the well-informed and worldly-wise middle-aged sheriff provided Garen with a little help.

A moment later...

Garen looked at the exquisite box in his hand, and an indescribable feeling welled up in his heart.

This box was specially prepared for Garen by the middle-aged sheriff:

The entire box was made of natural anti-corrosion red pine, with a waterproof sealing ring attached to the outside, and lined with a lime base and sea salt coating.

Inside was none other than the head of the Steel Blade Captain, worth ten million Beli.

It was strange.

Garen wasn't afraid of the fierce living man, but after the man was in a box, he felt a strange chill down his spine.

In this regard, Miss Nami was doing much better than Garen.

Nami's eyes were completely fixed on the box containing the head, and the number symbol of ten million Beli kept flashing in her mind.

She almost forgot that it contained a hideous human head.

"Well then..."

Garen inconspicuously put his "first pot of gold" behind him, and muttered to himself with a sigh:

"Next stop, Loguetown."

Wallace quickly stepped forward and said in a gentle and refined tone:

"It just so happens that I also need to return to the East Blue Daily news agency in Loguetown to report on my work."

Before he could say a few words, the gentle reporter couldn't help but get excited again:

"I hope Sir Knight will allow me to travel with you!"

"Of course, no problem."

As a newbie player who had just left the novice village, having a local NPC to lead the way was naturally a welcome privilege.

So Garen agreed to Wallace's request without hesitation.

Then, Garen looked thoughtfully at Nami, who was still focused on looking at the "ten million Beli":

"Nami, what about you?"

"Where are you planning to go?"

Nami blurted out: "Wherever you go, I'll go!"

These words were indeed sincere, but not complete.

To be precise, Nami's words should have been "Wherever your money goes, I'll go."

Nami's desire for money was extremely strong.

She couldn't steal Garen's flying Greatsword, nor could she steal the armor he was wearing, but she could easily get her hands on the ten million in cash that would be exchanged for the head.

Although she vaguely felt a little sorry for the tin can who had saved her, Nami still decided to let this kind knight help her, a helpless girl, a little more.

And Garen, who knew Nami's nature well, instantly understood the inner meaning of her words.

He knew Nami's obsession with money, and he also knew why she was so eager to make money now.

So Garen didn't speak, but instead fell into a kind of contemplation that others couldn't understand.

But Wallace misunderstood.

He silently took out his notebook and recorded the clichéd plot of "hero saves damsel, damsel falls for hero," adding an emotional line to the draft for the "Knight Garen" feature.

The way Wallace looked at Garen and Nami also quietly flickered with the excited light of gossip.

"Cough cough..."

Miss Nami, realizing what she had said, reluctantly defended herself:

"I'm worried that you don't have a navigator and will easily get lost at sea."

Wallace subconsciously retorted:

"Loguetown isn't some remote backwater; we can get there by taking any passenger ship."

"Humph!"

Nami snorted unhappily, and said with her arms crossed and a imposing manner:

"How can a passenger ship be as fast as sailing your own ship?"

"I am a genius navigator who knows the hydrography and weather of every route in the East Blue like the back of my hand. With me navigating, it can save at least two days of travel!"

"Alright, alright..."

Garen, who had been contemplating all along, suddenly woke up, waved his hand, and smiled:

"You, navigator, I'm hiring you."

"Hiring?"

Nami chewed on the word that smelled of money, her tone immediately warming up:

"How much is the reward? 5 million Beli?"

"100,000 Beli, and that's my final offer."

Garen replied very seriously:

"Besides, you won't find it so easy to steal my 10 million Beli."

"You!"

Nami was so angry she couldn't speak, her pink and white cheeks flushed crimson.

This big tin can in front of her wasn't easy to fool.

"Steal?"

Wallace was suddenly shocked, and his eyes became wary as he looked at Nami: "Miss Nami is actually a thief?"

"So what?!"

Nami recklessly admitted:

"I am a thief! A thief who almost stole your knight into poverty!"

"So that's how it is..."

Wallace's eyes lit up, and he said excitedly:

"I didn't expect Lord Garen's character to be so noble!"

"Even if the other party is just a thief he met by chance, he doesn't hesitate to risk his life to save her."

"Unprecedented light illuminates the dark life of a lost girl..."

After imagining this, Wallace picked up his pen again and scribbled in his notebook, enriching the simple plot he had just written down, "Righteous Knight Saves a Beauty, Beautiful Girl's Heart Begins to Stir," into "Righteous Knight Repays Evil with Virtue, Beautiful Thief Turns from Darkness to Light."

"Hey, hey!"

Nami grabbed her orange short hair in embarrassment and said angrily:

"What on earth are you writing?!"

"Stop it!"

Wallace didn't even bother to lift his eyelids, just continuing to focus on scribbling in his notebook:

"Sorry."

"Nothing in this world can stop a journalist's pen."

"."

Miss Nami, who had suffered repeated setbacks, really wanted to punch someone with her fist imbued with intangible Haki.

"Alright..."

Garen stepped forward again to act as a peacemaker, and said to Nami:

"Although I'm giving you less money, I can give you another kind of reward."

"Another kind of reward?"

Nami was a little confused.

Garen raised the wide greatsword in his hand and said:

"Friendship, the friendship of a righteous knight."

"What do you mean?"

Nami's heart stirred, but she continued to ask.

"I can help you cut people."

Garen said it very directly this time, with some implicit meaning in his words:

"For example, cutting those bad guys you can't deal with but really want to cut."

"You..."

Nami's eyes suddenly deepened, and she silently sized Garen up for a long time.

After pondering for a moment, Nami suddenly covered her mouth and chuckled:

"Don't joke around..."

"I don't have any mortal enemies."

"I'm just giving an example."

Garen had a casual smile on his face, but his eyes were full of determination:

"But..."

"If someone like that really exists, I'll make sure he gets what he deserves."

The two fell into an eerie silence once more.

"You can't."

Nami suddenly wore a slightly mocking, helpless expression, and reached out to pat Garen's cold breastplate:

"Although your abilities are a bit strange, you're only barely evenly matched with someone like Steel Blade."

"Don't be so full of yourself about helping me take him down."

Arlong's strength can't be judged by his two million Beli bounty alone. The power he possesses is far greater than that number suggests; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a hidden overlord of the East Blue.

And those terrifying fish-men had already become an insurmountable nightmare in Nami's mind.

"Then consider it an IOU for now!"

Garen smiled, unconcerned:

"You can stick around me and see if I can actually pay that reward!"

Garen's smile was filled with a different kind of confidence:

"And don't underestimate me too much."

"I'll improve much faster than you think."

"Tch."

Nami snorted dismissively.

But somehow, just like when she was hijacked by Steel Blade, a long-lost glimmer of hope and light inexplicably appeared in Nami's heart:

Perhaps this so-called knight could really save her.

Finally, a fair, jade-like hand slowly extended towards Garen.

Garen tactfully grasped Nami's outstretched hand, and said with a smile:

"Then I look forward to working with you, my navigator!"

"Just temporary."

"Once we get to Loguetown, you better keep a close eye on your ten million Beli!"

Nami said that, but the strength of her grip on his hand wasn't small at all.

"Haha..."

Garen smiled, unconcerned, and suddenly shouted out with a burst of high spirits:

"Then, let's set off!"

"Target, Loguetown!"

"Wait!"

A somewhat familiar middle-aged male voice suddenly rang out from behind:

"Don't be in such a hurry to leave, Sir Knight!"

"Huh?"

Garen turned around abruptly and saw the restaurant's duty manager with a face full of grief and indignation.

"Did they chase me all the way here for the meal money?"

Garen, who was eating a free meal for the first time, felt very embarrassed about it.

"No! It's not about the meal money..."

The restaurant manager wiped the sweat from his forehead as he said, panting:

"It's your steed!"

"It, it..."

"It... it got all the other customers' horses..."