Temporary Navigator

Having just delivered a speech on justice, Garen naturally could not shamelessly ask Wallace to write another check, even though Miss Nami strongly supported the idea.

Garen could only focus on dealing with the "first pot of gold" already in his hands.

He truly had no experience handling something like this.

Fortunately, the worldly and tactful middle-aged Peacekeeper offered Garen a little help.

A moment later.

Garen looked at the exquisite box in his hands, unable to keep a strange feeling from rising in his heart.

The box had been specially prepared for Garen by the middle-aged Peacekeeper:

It was made entirely from naturally preservative Scots pine, fitted with a waterproof sealing ring on the outside, and lined with a lime base and a sea salt coating.

Inside was nothing else but Steel Blade Captain's head, worth ten million Beli.

Strangely enough.

Garen was not afraid of fierce-looking living people, yet once the man had become a boxed-up head, he felt a peculiar chill crawl down his spine.

In that regard, Miss Nami showed far more promise than Garen.

Nami's eyes were completely fixed on the box containing the head, while the figure of ten million Beli kept appearing in her mind.

She had nearly forgotten that it contained a grotesque human head.

"Well, then."

Garen casually tucked his "first pot of gold in life" behind his back and muttered with a sigh:

"Next stop, Loguetown."

Wallace hurried forward and said in his gentle, measured tone:

"As it happens, I need to return to the East Blue Daily office in Loguetown to report on my work."

After only a few words, the refined reporter could no longer suppress his excitement.

"I hope Knight will permit me to travel with you!"

"Of course."

As a rookie player fresh out of the beginner village, having a local NPC show him the way was exactly what Garen wanted.

So Garen agreed to Wallace's request without a second thought.

Then Garen thoughtfully looked at Nami, who was still staring intently at "ten million Beli."

"Nami, what about you?"

"Where are you going?"

Nami blurted out, "Wherever you go, I go!"

Those words did come from her heart, but they were incomplete.

More precisely, Nami meant, "Wherever your money goes, I go."

Nami's desire for money was incomparably strong.

She could not steal Garen's flying Greatsword, nor could she steal the armor he wore, but the ten million Beli in cash he would receive for the head would be easy enough for her to get her hands on.

Though she vaguely felt sorry for the Iron Can in front of her who had saved her, Nami still decided to let this kind Knight provide a little more aid to a helpless girl like her.

And Garen, who knew Nami's true nature well, instantly understood the hidden meaning behind her words.

He knew of Nami's obsession with money, and he also knew why she was so desperate to amass wealth now.

So Garen said nothing and instead sank into thoughts no one else could understand.

But Wallace misunderstood.

He silently took out his notebook and recorded the cliché plotline of "the Knight of Justice saves a beautiful woman, and the lovely girl's heart begins to stir," adding another emotional thread to the feature report on "Knight Garen."

As Wallace looked at Garen and Nami, an excited glint of gossip quietly flashed in his eyes.

"Ahem."

Coming back to her senses, Miss Nami offered an insincere explanation:

"I'm worried that without a navigator to guide you, you'll get lost at sea."

Wallace instinctively retorted:

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

"Hmph!"

Nami snorted irritably, folded her arms, and declared with considerable force:

"How can a passenger ship be faster than sailing your own vessel?"

"I'm a genius navigator who knows the waters and weather of every route in the East Blue inside out. With me guiding you, we can save at least two days of travel!"

"All right, all right."

Garen, who had been deep in thought, suddenly snapped out of it. He waved a hand and smiled.

"I'm hiring you as my navigator."

"Hiring?"

Nami savored the money-scented word, and her tone immediately warmed considerably.

"How much are you paying? Five million Beli?"

"One hundred thousand Beli. Not a coin more."

Garen answered very seriously:

"And it won't be so easy for you to steal my ten million Beli."

"You!"

Nami was so angry that she could not speak. Her pale cheeks flushed a deep crimson.

This big Iron Can in front of her was not so easy to fool anymore.

"Steal?"

Wallace was startled, and his gaze toward Nami immediately turned wary. "Miss Nami is actually a thief?"

"So what?!"

Nami threw caution to the wind and admitted it:

"I'm a thief! A thief who nearly stole your precious Knight blind!"

"So that's how it is."

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

"I never expected Lord Garen's character to be so noble!"

"Even when the other person was a thief he had only just met, he still risked his life to save her."

"An unprecedented light illuminated the dark life of a fallen girl."

After imagining the scene, Wallace picked up his pen and scribbled in his notebook again, expanding the simple plot of "the Knight of Justice saves a beautiful woman, and the lovely girl's heart begins to stir" into "the Knight of Justice repays wrongdoing with virtue, and the Beautiful Thief turns from darkness to light."

"Hey, hey!"

Nami angrily grabbed at her orange hair and snapped:

"What nonsense are you writing down?!"

"Stop it!"

Wallace could not even be bothered to look up. He merely continued writing swiftly in his notebook.

"Sorry."

"Nothing in this world can make a journalist put down his pen."

"..."

After suffering setback after setback, Miss Nami really wanted to hit someone with her Haki-infused fist.

"All right."

Garen stepped in as a peacemaker again and said to Nami:

"Although I'm not paying much, I can offer you another kind of compensation."

"Another kind of compensation?"

Nami did not quite understand.

Garen raised the broad sword in his hand and said:

"Friendship. The friendship of a Knight of Justice."

"What do you mean?"

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

"I can help you cut people down."

This time, Garen spoke very directly, though there was a faint implication beneath his words:

"For example, cutting down bad people you cannot deal with but really want to cut down."

"You..."

Nami's gaze suddenly deepened. She silently studied Garen for a long while.

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

"Don't joke around."

"I don't have any enemies I hate that much."

"I was only giving an example."

Garen wore a casual smile, but his eyes were full of determination.

"But."

"If such a person really exists, I'll make him receive the punishment he deserves."

The two fell into another strange silence.

"You can't do it."

Nami suddenly showed a helpless expression tinged with mockery. She reached out and patted Garen's cold breastplate.

"Although your abilities are somewhat strange, you were only barely evenly matched with someone like Steel Cutlass."

"Don't get too full of yourself by talking about helping me cut people down."

Arlong's strength could not be judged by his surface bounty of twenty million Beli. The power he possessed far exceeded that figure; calling him the hidden overlord of the East Blue would not be an exaggeration.

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

"Then let's put it on credit for now!"

Garen smiled without concern.

"You can stay by my side and see whether I can pay this compensation in full!"

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

"And don't underestimate me."

"The speed at which I improve will be much faster than you imagine."

"Tch."

Nami snorted dismissively.

Yet for some reason, just as when she had been held hostage by Steel Cutlass, a little long-lost light and hope inexplicably appeared in Nami's heart.

Perhaps this so-called Knight before her really could save her.

In the end, a fair hand like jade slowly reached out before Garen.

Garen knowingly took the hand Nami offered and said with a smile:

"Then please take care of me, my navigator!"

"Only temporary work."

"Once we reach Loguetown, you'd better keep a close eye on your ten million Beli!"

Nami said that, but the grip of her hand was not weak in the slightest.

"Haha."

Garen laughed unconcernedly, then suddenly called out with high spirits:

"Then I—we're setting off!"

"Destination: Loguetown!"

"Wait!"

A somewhat familiar middle-aged man's voice suddenly rang out behind them:

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

"Huh?"

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

"Did you chase us all the way here over the meal bill?"

Having dined and dashed for the first time in his life, Garen felt terribly embarrassed.

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

The restaurant manager wiped the sweat from his forehead as he panted.

"It's your mount!"

"It, it..."

"It ate all the other customers' horses..."