Time slowly passed.
The group spent three happy days together.
By the early morning of the fourth day, the banquet was still going strong.
Meanwhile,
the human villages around Cocoyasi Village, which had also been ruled and oppressed by the Fish-Men,
joined the banquet in droves after confirming that the Fish-Men had truly been dealt with once and for all.
Everyone also offered Will their most heartfelt thanks.
Many even brought out the little money they had left at home, hoping to give it to him as a token of their gratitude.
Will smiled and accepted their thanks, but politely refused the money the villagers offered him.
He had already found a huge amount of treasure in Arlong Park.
That was the spoils that truly belonged to him.
By noon,
the banquet was underway again.
Will, Nami, and the others sat around a table somewhere in the village, enjoying the various dishes before them.
Just then, Will turned his attention to a plate of steamed fish that had just been brought over. He picked up a piece and tasted it.
As soon as he took a bite,
his eyes lit up. He immediately lifted the plate and offered it to Nami and the others beside him, saying earnestly,
"This dish is great. It tastes incredibly delicious—you have to try it."
Seeing how highly Will praised it, Nami, Carina, and the others curiously picked up pieces of fish and tried them.
Their eyes lit up, too, and they nodded repeatedly in agreement.
The fish really was delicious.
Everyone ate and drank in a relaxed, cheerful mood.
A Jian, sitting beside Will, had already drunk until his face was bright red.
Suddenly,
A Jian turned to Will, his face flushed with drink, and earnestly entrusted Nami to him:
"Will, I'm leaving Nami in your hands from now on."
"Make sure you don't let her get hurt and cry again, or I won't let you off easy!"
"Ken-san!"
Nami's face inexplicably reddened at his words, and she hurriedly tried to cut him off. "What are you talking about?"
Will was taken aback, then grew just as serious. He nodded and promised,
"Don't worry. No one will hurt her while I'm around."
A Jian nodded in satisfaction. "Good."
Nojiko propped her head up with one hand and watched the two men across from her with a smile. "This is amusing."
"Ken-san really does look like a doting father."
Carina couldn't help teasing Nami, too.
"Why are you two getting involved, too...?" Nami looked utterly helpless.
The table was filled with laughter and cheerful chatter.
After lunch, the banquet gradually drew to a close.
After that,
Nami disappeared to who knew where and didn't show herself again.
With nothing else to do, Will returned to the ship with Carina.
They continued sorting through the treasure and spoils they had obtained from Arlong Park,
as well as the large quantities of food and drinks the villagers had generously given them.
After taking care of the odds and ends,
the two lounged in deck chairs on the deck, sipping chilled juice they had carefully mixed.
As Will gazed up at the blue sky and white clouds, he suddenly thought of those corrupt Marines from earlier.
After a moment's thought, he abruptly sat up and turned to ask,
"Carina, do you know where those Marines from earlier came from?"
"I mean the exact location of that so-called Marine Branch 16."
"Marine Branch 16?"
Carina pushed her sunglasses up onto her head and asked in surprise, "Why are you asking?"
She smiled. "You're not planning to go wipe out the rest of the Marines there, are you?"
Will didn't answer. He simply looked at her in silence.
"Wait!"
Seeing his expression, Carina immediately understood what he meant. She sat up in surprise.
"No way, Will. You're really planning to go to the Marine branch and pick a fight with them?"
"I'm definitely going."
Will raised an eyebrow and calmly explained, "That Rat Captain who led them has been over here for days and hasn't returned."
"Even if the people at Marine Branch 16 are slow on the uptake, they'll probably notice something's wrong within another day."
"There's a good chance they'll send more Marines to investigate."
"To make sure those Marines don't come after the villagers once we've left,"
"we have to deal with them first and eliminate the threat for good."
Hearing this, Carina fell into thought and murmured, "You're right. That bunch of Marines clearly aren't good people."
"And given Rat Captain's treacherous nature, there's probably no one decent left in the entire Marine Branch 16."
"If we leave them alone, those Marines will definitely come here and cause trouble for the villagers."
By now, Carina had realized where the problem lay, but she said regretfully,
"The only trouble is, I don't know exactly where Marine Branch 16 is."
"We'll have to ask around a bit to find out."
She hadn't spent much time in the waters around the Konomi Islands, so she knew little about the Marines in the area.
To find out more, they would have to ask some professional information brokers.
After all, the exact location of a Marine branch wasn't common knowledge.
Will furrowed his brow slightly, about to say something,
when Nami suddenly ran up the gangplank from beside the ship and onto the deck. She looked at Will and said earnestly,
"I know where Marine Branch 16 is!"
She had been running over happily, but happened to overhear Will's conversation from beside the ship, and immediately grew worried, too.
So when she heard Carina say she didn't know the exact location, she hurried onto the ship to chime in.
She hadn't even had time to show Will and Carina her new tattoo, which she had planned to reveal.
"Where is it?" Will asked without wasting words.
Nami answered at once, "On a small island in the nearby waters."
"I secretly followed them there once, but there were too many Marines, so I couldn't sneak inside."
After unexpectedly discovering the Marines meeting with Arlong and the others, she had already taken action.
Unfortunately, she had never managed to investigate the place properly.
On top of that, she had been under pressure to gather 100 million Berries, leaving her little time or energy to continue looking into it.
In the end, she had no choice but to give up.
"How long will it take to get there from here?" Will asked.
Nami quickly added, "If the wind's in our favor, we can get there in about half a day."
"Then there's no time to waste." Will made his decision without hesitation.
"We'll explain the situation to the villagers now and say our goodbyes, then head straight out to sea for Marine Branch 16!"
"Yeah!" Nami and Carina both nodded in agreement.
After that,
the three of them returned to Cocoyasi Village.
They carefully explained the problem with the Marine branch and the danger it posed to A Jian, Nojiko, and the other villagers.
Only then did the villagers realize that things might not be over just yet.
Before you continue